Imperial Requiem: Four Royal Women and the Fall of the Age of Empires

by Justin C. Vovk

  Once Britain and Germany were at war, most of the affection Wilhelm felt for his maternal homeland died. Like his grandfather the prince consort, he truly believed in maintaining international diplomacy through personal relationships between royals. With Britain and Russia’s declarations of war against Germany, the emperor took it as a personal knife in the back. “As it turned out,” wrote Wilhelm’s nephew Sigismund, “family relationships—or friendships between the European Monarchs for that matter—proved quite useless. The secret groups who pulled the strings of global politics were so powerful that familial influences were quite incapable of stopping them, however hard they tried.”787 There forever remained a small part of him that held affection for Britain, but he would never idolize it again. Bernhard von Bülow, who served as chancellor of Germany from 1900–09, recalled the emperor exploding in a rant against Nicholas and George: “History showed no greater perfidy.… God would punish them some day!… The Tsar’s ingratitude was revolting: he had always been the Tsar’s close friend. As for ‘Georgie,’ all the emperor had to say was that Queen Victoria, their grandmother, must have turned in her grave at the spectacle of her English grandson flinging down the gauntlet to the German.”788 Nicholas II perceived the depth of Wilhelm’s antipathy when he admitted, “I felt that all was over forever between me and William.”789

  Europe’s four imperial dynasties were to find themselves as much the victims of what would become the Great War as any of their subjects. Many have compared this titanic struggle to the opening of Pandora’s box, releasing an evil upon Europe’s crowned heads that could never be repealed. In four years’ time, Augusta Victoria, Alexandra, and Zita would be toppled from their thrones, each with far-reaching consequences for themselves and their families. Only Queen Mary would emerge victorious, but even her imperial luster would begin to dwindle.

  Blame for the continent’s first total war in a century was placed upon Germany and the Hohenzollerns. Augusta Victoria’s American physician—Dr. Arthur Davis—recalled that she was profoundly affected by the gravity of what was going on. He believed “that she was bitterly opposed to the war,” but that “if that were indeed the case, she must have masked her feelings very effectually to preserve harmony in the royal household.”790 Once the war began, she was busy with a flurry of activity. Properly understanding her role as Landsmutter, she made a public appeal to the women of Germany to step up and assume their rightful positions as contributing members of society during this difficult time.

  Obeying the summons of the Emperor our people are preparing for an unprecedented struggle which they did not provoke and which they are carrying on only in self-defense.

  Whoever can bear arms will joyfully fly to the colors to defend the Fatherland and his blood.

  The struggle will be gigantic and the wounds to be healed innumerable. Therefore, I call upon you women and girls of Germany, and upon all to whom it is not given to fight for our beloved home, for help. Let everyone now do what lies in her power to lighten the struggle for our husbands, sons, and brothers. I know that in all ranks of our people without exception the will exists to discharge this high duty, but may the Lord God strengthen us in our holy work of love, which summons us women to devote all our strength to the Fatherland in its decisive struggle.

  The organizations primarily concerned, to whom our support is above all things needful, have already sent out notices as to the mustering of volunteers and the collection of gifts of all kinds.

  Auguste Victoria

  Berlin, August 6, 1914791

  The first week of August saw the commencement of the First World War. For Dona, this served as an epic backdrop for the discreet weddings of her two sons. Afterward, those of her sons who were on active duty in the German military departed for the front lines. Berlin was “swept along in a sudden rush of patriotism.” Exhilarated crowds formed throughout the city every day, clogging the streets and blocking traffic. They celebrated and cheered on the troops that marched down Unter den Linden on their way to the front lines while the German national anthem played triumphantly in the background. “Life in the Germany of today,” recorded one witness, “seems to move to the rhythm of this tune. Every day troops pass by my window on their way to the station, and as they march along to this refrain, people rush to the windows and doors of the houses and take up the song so that it rings through the streets, almost like a solemn vow sung by these men on their way to death.”792

  The world now faced a perilous road, according to Tsarina Alexandra. “It will be a terrible, monstrous struggle; humanity is about to pass through ghastly sufferings,” she told Pierre Gilliard, her children’s French tutor. When it came to searching for the cause of the war, she looked no further than her cousin Wilhelm and Germany. “I have never liked the Emperor William, if only because he is not sincere,” she said. “He is vain and has always played the comedian. He was always reproaching me with doing nothing for Germany … He will never forgive me this war!”793 The tsar shared his wife’s views that blame for the war rested with the contemptible kaiser. “He could have stopped the war had he wanted to!” he told Prince Nicholas of Greece.794

  Not only did the war set nation against nation, it also divided Europe’s extended royal family. It was not hyperbolic to say the First World War was a macrocosmic family feud. The rulers of the continent’s monarchical powers were first cousins, grandchildren of Queen Victoria: King George V; Emperor Wilhelm II; Tsarina Alexandra; Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain; Queen Maud of Norway; Queen Sophie of Greece; Crown Princess Marie of Romania (queen after 1916); and Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden.795 The family hardships imposed by the war went far beyond these reigning (and future) monarchs and consorts. Alexandra was cut off from her sister Irene in Kiel. Her brother the Grand Duke of Hesse was required to side with Germany since he was a member of the Bundesrat. This was very painful for Alexandra, who had always been close to her brother. Her greatest worry was that Wilhelm would send Ernie to fight along the Russian front, against her own forces. A few months later, she learned Ernie refused to serve in the German military. A similar situation played out when Irene’s husband, Wilhelm II’s brother, was made an admiral in the German navy. Alexandra wrote to her sister Victoria shortly after the war began, “One’s heart bleeds, thinking of all the misery everywhere and what will be afterwards!”796 Many of the other Romanovs were affected as well. Almost every living member of the dynasty had a German parent or had married a German spouse.

  This schism of Europe’s royal houses was perhaps even more hurtful in England. The queen was cut off from her beloved aunt Augusta who, although a British princess by birth, became a German citizen in 1843 when she married the hereditary prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. King George V’s cousin the Duke of Brunswick—Dona’s son-in-law—held British titles but was declared an enemy combatant when the war started. George’s other cousin Charles Eduard became the Duke of Coburg in 1900. Like the Duke of Brunswick, he had been forced to side with the Germans. As far as the British were concerned, he was dead. There were also a number of royals living in England in 1914 with strong German connections. Almost all of them had been naturalized English citizens since childhood, but that did not immunize them from the anti-German xenophobia that was sweeping Great Britain. Prince Louis of Battenberg, one of George and Mary’s favorite cousins, was deeply wounded by the rising Germanophobia. Not only was he married to Tsarina Alexandra’s sister Victoria, he was also one of the most decorated officers in the Royal Navy. He was made First Sea Lord in 1912 after forty-six years of distinguished service, but in October 1914, he was forced to resign because he was German. His titles were German, he had a home in Germany, he spoke German, and even members of his personal staff were German nationals. His wife, Victoria, blamed George V for not doing more on her husband’s behalf. “The King is a nobody,” she declared angrily.797 The hostility shown toward the Battenbergs at the start of the war was both sadly misguided and ironic, since the family was staunchly pro-
British. Louis and Victoria’s son, later styled as Lord Louis Mountbatten, became “the most honored British soldier of World War II.”798

  There was even outrage when the king and queen met with some of their Greek cousins that summer. According to the ultraconservatives, Queen Sophie of Greece was Emperor Wilhelm II’s sister and therefore must be pro-German. Ignored was the fact that Sophie had long been at odds with Wilhelm and Dona and that they barely spoke by the outbreak of the First World War. Sophie and her husband, King Constantine, were further condemned for opting to remain neutral during the war, rather than side with the Britain and France. This was just more evidence, the critics claimed, to support the fact that the Greek monarchs were German at heart.

  Of the four great empires that went to war in 1914, Russia suffered the most when the first volleys were fired. Within a matter of months, Nicholas II’s armies were in retreat. Germany had proved her military might from the outset. Russian troops soon pulled out of Poland altogether for the first time in nearly 150 years. Nearly three million men were lost before Poland was finally surrendered. Sadly, Russia was in no shape to wage war. In 1914, there were “a million fewer rifles in her arsenal than the number of men who were mobilized, and the same arsenals proved to be almost 600 million rounds of rifle ammunition short. There was only about one machine gun for every six hundred infantry … [and] the entire Russian army had only 60 batteries of heavy artillery with which to face the Austrians and the Germans, while the Germans alone had 381 to direct against the Russians.”799

  As Nicholas II was forced to deal with Russia’s shattering defeats on the battlefield, he also had to contend with the return of Rasputin to his family’s life. The staretz was one of the most vocal opponents of the war, even going so far as to send Nicholas a telegram warning him, “Let Papa not plan war for with war will come the end of Russia and yourselves and you will lose to the last man.” The tsar was so outraged by Rasputin’s note that he tore it up the moment he read it.800 Within a year, Rasputin became a regular personage in the tsarina’s entourage. “The mad monk,” as he was derisively known, was a master manipulator who used Alexandra’s fears over Alexei’s health to his advantage. He recounted that, once, during an argument with the tsar and tsarina, “I threatened to go away and leave them to their fate; they then agreed to everything.”801 The staretz spread many stories about his relationship with Alexandra. “Many tales are told of the Empress and me,” he told a diplomat. “I know this. It is infamous. Yesterday I went to see her. The poor little thing; she too is in need of being able to speak frankly with some one. She suffers much. I console her. I talk to her of God, and of us peasants and she becomes calm. Ah! It is but yesterday she went to sleep on my shoulder.”802 Rasputin knew exactly how to twist and pull Alexandra as he desired. Preying upon her darkest fears, he once declared, “Remember that I need neither the Emperor nor yourself. If you abandon me to my enemies it will not worry me. I’m quite able to cope with them. The demons themselves are helpless against me.… But neither the Emperor nor you can do without me. If I am not there to protect you, your son will come to harm.”803

  In declaring war on the Central powers, Great Britain faced a daunting task. It faced the obstacle of transporting troops and supplies across the English Channel to the front lines in France. The risk of convoys being attacked by German submarines was ever present. But King George V refused to be intimidated; so too did his wife. Queen Mary took a leading role in getting the British people behind the government and the war. In August, she met with Lady Bertha Dawkins, one of her ladies-in-waiting, to begin planning relief for the soldiers. “We must have everything ready,” she said. “I do not want to have the state of things which prevailed during the Boer War, with everybody just sending what they liked, without relation to the real needs of our soldiers, without organisation. It entails too much waste, and too great loss of time.”804 The queen was instrumental in organizing the “monstrous regiment of women” who took over many of the responsibilities on the home front when the men went off to war. Determined to keep the public morale afloat, she devoted herself to visiting hospitals and encouraging the troops. According to one of her biographers, Mary’s “whole life now seemed to have been a preparation for [this,] her finest hour.”805

  She took it upon herself to mobilize England’s vast group of unemployed women. She organized entire manufacturing sectors, especially munitions, with only women workers. These groups later formed the Women’s Legion, which in turn became the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. By the end of the summer, she was furiously working to get women workers the equality and respect they deserved. After haranguing much of the government, she was thrilled when the Central Committee on Women’s Employment was formed in 1914. Included on the roster was Margaret Bondfield, the first female cabinet minister in British history.

  Along with organizing help for the war effort, the queen took special delight in bringing comfort and compassion to those whom society had neglected. Shortly after the war began, Mary was at Sandringham when she heard about an elderly widow in a nearby village who had fallen ill with a serious disease. The townspeople were too frightened of catching the illness to visit her, so she was alone. A few days later, onlookers were stunned when they saw Queen Mary go into the woman’s house and march straight up to the bedroom with her arms filled with flowers—which she picked herself—to visit the woman. In caring for others, Mary did not limit her time to just to the sick and wounded. She sought to inspire all her subjects.

  Throughout that summer of 1914, Mary would sit by her window at Buckingham Palace and watch one regiment after another marching to the train station bound for Dover, and beyond that, France. This sight gnawed at her heart, especially because two of her sons were on active duty. The Prince of Wales was serving with the Grenadier Guards in France, and Bertie was an officer in the Royal Navy. Deeply moved by the sight of so many young men ready to give their lives for king and country, the queen issued a heartfelt letter addressed to “the Men of Our Army, Navy, and Air Force.” Reminiscent of Dona’s letter to the women of Germany, Mary’s note touched on national pride and the honor that the troops were rendering to Britain.

  I send this message to tell every man how much we, the women of the British Empire at home, watch and pray for you during the long hours of these days of stress and endurance.

  Our pride in you is immeasurable, our hope unbounded, our trust absolute. You are fighting in the cause of Righteousness and Freedom, fighting to defend the children and women of our land from the horrors that have overtaken other countries, fighting for our very existence as a People at Home and Across the Seas …

  We, on our part, send forth, with full hearts and unfaltering will, the lives we hold most dear …

  … I know that I am expressing what is felt by thousands of wives and mothers when I say that we are determined to help one another in keeping your homes ready against your glad home-coming.

  In God’s Name we bless you and by His help we too will do our best.806

  War brought upon Austria-Hungary a cataclysm it was unprepared to face. Its army, though large, was a hodgepodge of different ethnicities that did not even share a common language. Once fighting broke out, the empire suffered serious defeats on the battlefield, though not nearly as badly as those that had befallen Russia. The invasion of Serbia, expected to take only a matter of days, came to a screeching halt despite Austria’s forty-eight infantry divisions, compared with Serbia’s eleven. At the Battle of Cer in August 1914, the Austrians suffered the loss of 27,500 men compared to the Serbians’ 16,500. When it became obvious that Austria could not conquer Serbia so easily, imperial forces were sent north against the Russians, but that too failed. Despite their defeat in Poland, the tsarist armies quickly overran Galicia, making it as far west as the Carpathian Mountains. Part of the reason for Russia’s success was that they were in possession of Austrian mobilization schedules, thanks to Alfred Redl, an Austrian colonel who was selling state secrets t
o Russia. Austrian attempts to reclaim Galicia failed dismally, with more than 350,000 soldiers killed in the process. In the aftermath, Ukrainian citizens in Galicia suspected of being disloyal to Austria were executed. Only the defeat of the Russian army at Tannenberg by the German Eighth Army, which cost another 250,000 lives, slowed their advance into Hungary. By the end of the year, “some 82 percent of the original infantry complement of the Habsburg armed forces were casualties. About a million men were dead, wounded, or sick. The rest of the war would be fought by reserves, civilians, and officers just completing their training.”807

  Emperor Franz Joseph believed the causes of the war were just and righteous. Throughout his sixty-year reign, he had watched as one territory after another was ripped away from his empire. Lombardy, Venice, and parts of Switzerland, Germany, Poland, and Romania had all belonged to the Habsburg monarchy at one time or another, but military defeats had forced the emperor to surrender them. He believed this war was an attack on Austria’s imperial sovereignty, and for this cause, Franz Joseph refused to back down, even if it meant the destruction of his empire. But he was also a pragmatist; every war of his reign had ended in a defeat for Austria. When Austria achieved a victory in one of its early battles in the fall of 1914, Zita congratulated the emperor, who forlornly and prophetically replied, “Yes it is a victory, but that is the way my wars always begin, only to end in defeat. And this time it will be even worse. They will say that I am old and cannot cope any more, and that after that revolutions will break out and then it will be the end.”808