Tannenberg: Clash of Empires, 1914 (Cornerstones of Military History)

by Dennis Showalter

  3Jack Dukes’ article, “Militarism and Arms Policy Revisited: The Origins of the German Army Law of 1913” in Another Germany: A Reconsideration of the Imperial Era, ed. J. R. Dukes, J. Remak (Boulder, Colo., 1987), 19–39, is an introduction to a major work in progress on the military bill. Michael Geyer, Deutsche Rüstungspolitik 1860–1980 (Frankfurt, 1984), 83 ff., highlights the quantity versus quality issue. For the debates on the bill itself see Stig Förster, Der doppelte Militärismus. Die deutsche Heeresrüstungspolitik zwischen Status-Quo-Sicherung und Aggression 1890–1913 (Stuttgart, 1983), 274 ff.; Helmut Altrichter, Konstitutionalismus und Imperialisms. Der Reichstag und die deutsch-russischen Beziehungen 1890–1914 (Frankfurt, 1977), 68 ff. The mobilization of public opinion is presented in Roger Chickering, “Der ‘Deutsche Wehrverein’ und die Reform der deutschen Armee 1912–1914,” Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilung XXV (1979), 7–33. The Socialist position is evaluated in Dieter Groh, Negative Integration und revolutionarer Attentismus: Die deutsche Sozialdemokratie am vorabend des Ersten Weltkrieges (Frankfurt, 1973); Bernstein’s and Eisner’s reactions are described in Roger Fletcher, Revisionism and Empire. Socialist Imperialism in Germany 1897–1914 (London, 1984), 116, 148.

  4Cf. G. A. Hosking, The Russian Constitutional Experiment. Government and Duma, 1906–1914 (Oxford, 1973); A. Levin, The Third Duma. Election and Profile (Hamden, Conn., 1973); and D. R. Costello, “Prime Minister Kokovtsov and the Duma: A Study in the Disintegration of the Tsarist Regime, 1911–1914” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Virginia, 1970).

  5France, Ministére des Affaires Étrangéres, Documents Diplomatiques Français (1871–1914), 41 vols. (Paris, 1929–59), 3rd Series, VIII, Nr. 79 (hereafter cited as DDF); Louis Garros, “En Marge de l’Alliance Franco-Russe, 1902–1914,” Revue Historique de l’Armee VI (June, 1950), 40.

  6For the attenuation of Russia’s Balkan position after 1912 cf. Andrew Rossos, Russia and the Balkans: Inter-Balkan Rivalries and Russian Foreign Policy, 1908–1914 (Toronto, 1981); and more specifically Henryk Batowski, “The Failure of the Balkan Alliance of 1912,” Balkan Studies VII (1966), 111–122; and L. A. Pejkovi, “La Serbie et les rapports entre les Puissances de l’Entente (1908–1913),” ibid., VI (1965), 305–344.

  7Scharfenberg to Bethmann, Jan. 30, 1914, Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes, Serbien 17/8 (hereafter cited as PAAA).

  8The role of Serbia’s journalists is detailed in Dragon Gasi, “Die Presse Serbiens 1903–1914 und Österreich-Ungarn” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Vienna, 1971).

  9Alan Badger, “Russia and the End of the Ottoman Empire,” in The Great Powers and the End of the Ottoman Empire, ed. M. Kent (London, 1984), 76–110, is a useful survey of Russia’s Turkish policies despite a tendency to exaggerate Russia’s harmlessness. M. Hiller, “Die politischen, militärischen und wirtschaftlichen Interessen Russlands im Nahen und Mittleren Osten 1905–1914” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Tubingen, 1978), is better balanced and more comprehensive.

  10Pourtales to Bethmann, Dec. 4, Dec. 12, 1913, PAAA, Deutschland 131/35; O’Bierne to Grey, Dec. 9, 1913; and O’Bierne to Nicholson, Dec. 11, 1913, British Documents on the Origins of the War, 1898–1914, ed. G. P. Gooch, H. W. V. Temperley, 11 vols. (London, 1926–38), X, Nrs. 413, 418 (hereafter cited as BD).

  11“Bompard to Pichón, Nov. 19, 29, 30, 1913, DDF 3rd Series, VIII, Nrs. 500, 550, 554; O’Bierne to Grey, Dec. 18, 1913; Buchanan to Grey, Dec. 19, 1913, in BD X, 1, Nrs. 412, 440.

  12The protocol is in M. N. Pokrovsky, Drei Konferenzen. Zur Vorgeschichte des Krieges (Berlin, 1920), 32 ff. Bethmann had presented Germany’s position in detail during Kokovtsov’s visit to Berlin in Nov. Memoranda of Nov. 18 and Nov. 19, 1913; Die Grosse Politik der Europäischen Kabinette, 1871–1914, ed. J. Lipsius, A. Mendelsohn-Bartholdy, F. Thimme, 40 vols. (Berlin, 1922–27), XXXVIII, Nrs. 15 450, 15 451 (hereafter cited as GP).

  13Andreas Hillgruber, Germany and the Two World Wars, tr. W. C. Kirby (Cambridge, Mass., 1981), 20–21; and Fritz Fischer, “Weltpolitik, Weltmachtstreben und deutsche Kriegsziele,” Historische Zeitschrift 199 (1964), 265–346.

  14Wangenheim to Bethmann, PAAA, Orientalia Generalia 5/17. Jehuda Wallach, Anatomie einer Militärhilfe. Die preussisch-deutsche Militärmissionen in der Türkei 1835–1919 (Düsseldorf, 1976), 136 ff., show Liman’s shortcomings as a diplomat in uniform. Ulrich Trumpener, “Germany and the End of the Ottoman Empire,” in Great Powers and the End of the Ottoman Empire, 117–140; and H. S. W. Corrigan, “German-Turkish Relations and the Outbreak of War in 1914: A Reassessment,” Past and Present xxxvi (1967) 144–152, establish Turkey’s essential independence from Germany in 1914. David B. King, “Marschall von Biberstein and the New Course” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Cornell University, 1962) describes the positive role of the German ambassador in furthering his country’s Turkish policies. Charles D. Sullivan, “Stamboul Crossings: German Diplomacy in Turkey, 1908 to 1914” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Vanderbilt University, 1977); and Wilhelm van Kampen, “Studien zur deutschen Türkeipolitik in der Zeit Wilhelms II” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Kiel, 1968), put the Reich’s Ottoman frustrations in a broader context. Both stress the absence of a comprehensive, coherent German policy towards Turkey.

  15Engellbrecht to Bethmann, Jan. 3, 1914; Tiflis consulate to Bethmann, Apr. 8, 1914, PAAA, Russland 72/96; Cf. Roderic H. Davidson, “The Armenian Crisis, 1912–1914,” American Historical Review LIII (1948), 481–505. I. Klein, “The Anglo-Russian Convention and the Problem of Central Asia, 1907–1914,” Journal of British Studies XI (1971), 126–147; and Keith M. Wilson, “Imperial Interests in the British Decision for War: The Defence of India in Central Asia,” Review of International Studies IX (1984), 189–203.

  16D. C. B. Lieven, Russia and the Origins of the First World War (New York, 1983), 47.

  17Pourtalès to Bethmann, Feb. 25, 1914, PAAA, Deutschland 131/35; and Mar. 21, 1914, PAAA, Deutschland 131/36; report of the conversation between S. Lienow, editor of the Grenzboten, and Sazonov on Apr. 8, 1914, PAAA, Deutschland 131/36.

  18For Austro-German tension at this period, see Dörte Löding, Deutschlands und Oesterreich-Ungarns Balkanpolitik von 1912 bis 1914 under besonderer Berücksi-chtigung ihrer Wirtschaftsinteresse (Hamburg, 1969), which includes an excellent bibliography. Cf. also Willibald Gutsche, “Mitteleuropaplanung in der Aussenpolitik des deutschen Imperialismus vor 1918,” Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft XX (1972), 533–549; F. R. Bridge, “Tarde venietibus ossa: Austro-Hungarian Colonial Aspirations in Asia Minor,” Middle Eastern Studies IX (1970), 319–330, and Andrej Mitrovic, “Germany’s Attitude toward the Balkans, 1912–1914,” in East Central European Society and the Balkan Wars, ed. B. Kiraly, D. Djordievic (New York, 1987), 295–316.

  19For France’s approach to the Austrian and Balkan questions cf. John Keiger, France and the Origins of the First World War (New York, 1983), 82–83; David Dutton, “The Balkan Campaign and French War Aims in the Great War,” English Historical Review XCIV (1979), 97–113; and A. S. Mitrakos, France in Greece during World War I (New York, 1982). British policies are discussed in F. R Bridge, Great Britain and Austria-Hungary, 1906–14 (London, 1972); and Keith M. Wilson, “Isolating the Isolator: Cartwright, Grey and the Seduction of Austria-Hungary, 1908–1912,” Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs XXV (1982), 169–198. H. Hanak, Great Britain and Austria-Hungary during the First World War: A Study in the Formation of Public Opinion (Oxford, 1962); and P. Schuster, Henry Wickham Steed und die Habsburgermonarchie (Vienna, 1970), cover the growing intellectual hostility to the Habsburg system in Britain.

  20Pertti Luntinen, French Information on the Russian War Plans (Helsinki, 1984), 69 ff.

  21Buchanan to Grey, Apr. 14, 1913, BD IX, 2, Nr. 849. Buchanan has no biography, but see the brief recent evaluation in Keith Neilson, Strategy and Supply. The Anglo-Russian Alliance, 1914–1917 (London, 1984), 24 ff., and the accompanying references.

  22Buchanan to Grey, Mar. 19, Mar. 31, 1914, BD X, 2, Nrs. 530, 536;
Sukhomlinov’s second comment is cited in F. N. Bradley, “Quelques aspects de la politique étrangère de Russe avant 1914 à travers les archives françaises,” Études slaves et est-européennes VII (1967), 100–101.

  23Paul W. Schroeder, “World War I as Galloping Gertie: A Reply to Joachim Remak,” Journal of Modern History XLIV (1972), 345.

  24Durnovo’s memorandum of Feb., 1914 to Tsar Nicholas is reprinted in F. Golder, Documents on Russian History, 1914–1917 (New York, 1927), 3 ff.; cf. D. C. B. Lieven, “Bureaucratic Authoritarianism in Late Imperial Russia: The Personality, Career, and Opinions of P. N. Durnovo,” Historical Journal XXVI (1983), 391–402. The activity of the “pro-Germans” in 1914 is generally discussed in M. Taube, La Politique Russe d’avant-guerre (Paris, 1928), 331 ff.

  25German naval attaché’s report to Marineamt, Mar. 30, 1914; Krupp to Bethmann, Apr. 21, 1914, PAAA, Deutschland 131/36; and Pourtalés to Bethmann, Feb. 25, 1914, PAAA, Russland 72/96. Ruth Ann E. Roosa, “The Association of Industry and Trade, 1906–1914: An Examination of the Economic Views of Organized Industrialists in Pre-Revolutionary Russia” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University, 1968); and Gregory Guroff, “The State and Industrialization in Russian Economic Thought” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Princeton University, 1970), integrate analyses of the business community’s attitude to Germany into the general question of economic development in Russia.

  26Report of Mar. 19, 1914, PAAA, Deutschland 131/36.

  27W. Bruce Lincoln, In War’s Dark Shadow: The Russians Before the Great War (New York, 1983) brilliantly evokes the mood of prewar Russia. Judith Head, “Russian Attitudes toward Germany and Austria” (Ph.D. Dissertation, North Texas State University, 1981), and Lieven, Russia and the Origins of the First World War, 83 ff., discuss the growing spectrum of anti-German attitudes. For the political aspects cf. Marguerite Wolters, Aussenpolitische Fragen vor der vierten Duma (Hamburg, 1969), and M. Jablonowski, “Die Stellungnahme der russischen Parteien zur Aussenpolitik der Regierung von der russisch-englischen Verständi-gung bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg,” Forschungen zur Osteuropäschen Geschichte V (1957), 60–92. On the press war in general, cf. Klaus Wernecke, Der Wille zur Weltgeltung. Aussenpolitik und Öffentlichkeit am Vorabend des Ersten Weltkrieges (Düsseldorf, 1969), 249 ff.; and A. Jux, Der Kriegsschrecken des Frühjahrs 1914 in der europäischen Presse (Berlin, 1929). The latter work remains particularly useful for its many quotations from contemporary newspapers.

  28For example Engelbrecht to Bethmann, Jan. 1, 1914, PAAA, Russland 72/96, specifically mentions the five-year lead time.

  29W. A. Sukhomlinov, Erinnerungen (Berlin, 1924), p. 252; cf. Buchanan to Grey, Mar. 15, 1914, in British Documents on Foreign Affairs: Reports and Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print, Series A, Russia 1859–1914, ed. O. Lieven, 6 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1983), VI, Nr. 173.

  30Louis Hirsch to Jagow, Mar. 12, 1914; Pourtalés to Bethmann, Mar. 13 and Mar. 16, 1914, PAAA, Deutschland 131/36; and Mar. 31, 1914, in PAAA, Russland 72/96.

  31Fritz Fischer, War of Illusions, tr. M. Jackson (New York, 1975), 384 ff.; and Wernecke, Wille, 249 ff., tend to exaggerate the degree of government control over the press. Cf. Kurt Koszyk, Geschichte der deutschen Presse, Vol. II (Berlin, 1966), passim.

  32Paul Rohrbach, Zum Weltvolk hindurch (Stuttgart, 1914). Rohrbach was also one of the founders of Das grössere Deutschland.

  33Bethmann to foreign office, Apr. 22, 1914 and reply of Apr. 23, PAAA, Russland 72/96.

  34Pourtalés to Bethmann, Mar. 16 and Apr. 14, 1914, PAAA, Deutschland 121/36, and Mar. 11, PAAA, Russland 72/96.

  35Circular of the Friedrich Wilhelm Lebensversicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft zu Berlin, PAAA, Deutschland 131/36; report of the Italian embassy, Apr. 10, 1914, PAAA, Russland 72/96.

  36Moltke to Jagow, Feb. 24, 1914, GP, XXXIX, Nr. 15839; General Staff report, Mar. 1914, in Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv, RM5/1487.

  37Conrad recorded Moltke’s observation to him in Aus meiner Dienstzeit, 5 vols. (Vienna, 1921–25), III, 670. Jagow’s account of the later conversation, written down only after the war, was published in Egmont Zechlin, “Motive und Taktik der Reichsleitung 1914. Ein Nachtrag,” Der Monat 209 (Feb., 1966), 91–95. His letter to Lichnowski of July 18, 1914, is in Die Deutschen Dokumente zum Kriegsausbruch, ed. W. Schücking, M. Montgelas, rev. ed. 5 vols. (Berlin, 1927), I, Nr. 72 (hereafter cited as DD). The kaiser’s opinion is from Max Warburg, Aus meinen Aufzeichnungen (Glückstadt, 1952), 29.

  38Wilson’s comment is in Egmont Zechlin, “Cabinet versus Economic Warfare in Germany: Policy and Strategy During the Early Month of the First World War,” in The Origins of the First World War, ed. H. W. Koch (London, 1971), 150. Cf. Buchanan to Grey, Mar. 18, 1914, and Buchanan to Nicholson, Mar. 18, 1914, BD X, 2, Nrs. 528, 529; Grey to Bertie, May 1, 1914, BD X, 2, Nr. 541.

  39Yale University, Edward M. House Papers, Diary, Vol. IV, Jan. 1-July 3, 1914, entries of May 10, May 23, and June 1; House to Wilson, May 28, 1914, in Edward M. House Papers, Select Correspondence, 119a/4232.

  40House Papers, Diary, Vol. V, July 4, 1914-Jan. 1, 1915, entry of Aug. 30. House did add China to the President’s list.

  41Sazonov to Beneckendorff, Feb. 19, 1914, in Die internationalen Beziehungen im Zeitalter des Imperialismus. Dokumente aus den Archiven der Zarischen und der Provisorischen Regierung, ed. O. Hoetszch, Series I, 5 vols. (Berlin, 1931), Series I, Vol. 1, Nr. 289 (hereafter cited as Int.Bez); Nicolson to Bunsen, Apr. 27, 1914; and Grey to Bertie, May 1, 1914, BD X, 2, Nrs. 540, 541.

  42The conversation is quoted in Georges Michon, The Franco-Russian Alliance, 1891–1917, tr. N. Thomas (Paris, 1929), 274 ff. For the Three Years’ Law see most recently Gerd Krumeich, Armaments and Politics in France on the Eve of the First World War, tr. S. Conn (Dover, N.H.: 1984).

  43Cf. Jagow’s comments of June 15 to the British Ambassador; and Goschen to Grey, June 16, 1914, in BD X, 2, Nr. 550. The Novoye Vremya article is also extensively discussed in DDF, 3rd Series, X, Nr. 369. The quotation evaluating Sukhomlinov’s character is from Bernhard von Eggeling, Die russische Mobilmachung und der Kriegsausbruch (Oldenburg, 1919), 9.

  44Alex N. Dragnich, Serbia, Nicola PaŠi, and Yugoslavia (New Brunswick, N.J., 1974), 92.

  45For the diplomats’ perspective cf. Tschirsky to Bethmann, Feb. 13, 1914, PAAA, Russland 72/96; Treutler to Bethmann, Mar. 4, 1914, PAAA, Deutschland 131/36; Berchtold to Franz Josef, July 14, 1914, in Ludwig Bittner, et. al. Oesterreich-Ungarns Aussenpolitik von der bosnische Krise 1908 bis zum Kriegsausbruch 1914, 8 vols. (Vienna, 1930), VIII, Nr. 1072. (Hereafter cited as Oe-U). For the soldiers cf. the German military attaché’s reports to the foreign ministry of Feb. 11, 1914, PAAA, Russland 72/96; Mar. 3 and 17, 1914, PAAA, Deutschland 131/36; May 30, 1914, PAAA, Russland 72/97; and July 13, 1914, in Immanuel Geiss, ed., Julikrise und Kriegsausbruch 1914, 2 vols. (Hanover, 1963–64), I, Nr. 84. General treatments of the decision making climate in Vienna at the time of Sarajevo include M. B. A. Peterson, “Das österreichisch-ungarische Memorandum an Deutschland vom 5. Juli 1914,” Scandia XXX (1964), 138–190; Hugo Hantsch, Leopold Graf Berchtold, 2 vols. (Graz, 1963), II, 608 passim; and Gary W. Shanafelt, The Secret Enemy: Austria-Hungary and the German Alliance, 1914–1918 (Boulder, Colo.: 1985), 7 ff.

  46Cf. inter alia Alan N. Sabrosky, “From Bosnia to Sarajevo,” Journal of Conflict Resolution XIX (1975), 3–24; William Jannen, Jr., “The Austro-Hungarian Decision for War in July, 1914,” Essays on World War I, ed. S. R. Williamson, P. Pastor (New York, 1983), 55–81; Remak, “Third Balkan War,” 363.

  47Samuel R. Williamson, Jr., “Vienna and July 1914: The Origins of the Great War Once More,” in Essays on World War I, 9–36.

  48Waldhausen to Bethmann, Apr. 19, 1914, PAAA, Deutschland 143.

  49On the changing military balance in the Balkans cf. Gunther Rothenberg, The Army of Francis Joseph (Lafayette, Ind., 1976), 170 ff.; and Horst Brettner-Messler, “Die Balkanpolitik Conrad von Hötzendorfs von seiner Wiederernen-nung zum Chef des Generalstabes
bis zum Oktober-Ultimatum 1913,” Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs XX (1967), 180 ff.

  50John R. Lampe, “Financial Structure and the Economic Development of Serbia, 1878–1912,” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Wisconsin, 1971).

  51Berchtold to Czernin, Nov. 26, 1913, Oe-U, VII, 592. For a more general example of this attitude see the diaries of Josef Redlich, Schicksalsjahre Österreich, 1908–1919. Das politische Tagebuch Joseph Redlichs, ed. F. Fellner, Vol. I (Graz, 1953), 209 passim.

  52Cf. D. C. Watt, “The British Reactions to the Assassination at Sarajevo,” European Studies Review I (1971), 233–247; and A. J. A. Morris, The Scaremongers: The Advocacy of War and Rearmament 1896–1914 (London, 1984), 354 ff.

  53Grey to Bunsen, BD XI, Nr. 91.

  54Anthony Di Ionic, “Italy, Austria-Hungary, and the Balkans, 1904–1914: Italy’s Appraisal” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Illinois, 1980), documents this process from the perspective of another regional power.

  55Cf. David Mackenzie, “Serbian Nationalist and Military Organization and the Piedmont Idea, 1844–1914,” East European Quarterly XVI (1982), 323–344; and Ilja Garasanin: Balkan Bismarck (Boulder, Colo., 1985).

  56The process of decision making in Serbia in 1914 remains controversial. The most complete collection of Serbian diplomatic documents from the period is Dokumenti o spoljnoj politici Krajelvine Srbije, 1903–1914, Vol. VII, Part 2, 1/14 maj - 22. juli/4. avgust 1914, ed. V. Dedijer, Z. Amic (Belgrade, 1980). Samuel R. Williamson, Jr., “The Origins of World War I,” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History XVIII (1988), 810–811; and Gale Stokes, “The Serbian Documents from 1914: A Preview,” Journal of Modern History XLVIII, Supplement (1976), both exaggerate Russia’s importance. The best secondary accounts in English remain Joachim Remak, Sarajevo: The Story of a Political Murder (New York, 1959); and Vladimir Dedijer, The Road to Sarajevo, (New York, 1966). Friedrich Würthle, Die Spur fuhr nach Belgrade (Vienna, 1975), expresses its approach in its title. Willibald Gutsche, Sarajevo 1914 (Berlin, 1984) is a recent East German work denying any significant importance to the question of Serbia’s role in the assassination.