| |
| |
Caption: War Publications - WWI Compilation 1923 - Article 15
This is a reduced-resolution page image for fast online browsing.
EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:
12 ibjcct of a gnustil reduction of armaments be discussed at the scct^ 'tqm Confer-nee; the Kaiser promptly replied that in that easel! ould have nothing to do with the conference. The ard visite< I his imperial nephew and proposed that Engiand Germany should cease their competition in the build war ships, btu to no purpose. The Kaiser "avowed his intention to go to war rather than submit to such a thing."' The King returned to the subject in 190*). but without success. Lord Haldane was sent to Berlin on a similar mission in 1912; and in 1913 Winston Churchill suggested that the two countries should declare " a naval holiday"; but results were not forthcoming, and the two governments continued to build more and larger ships. In 1911 the Kaiser created a crisis in Morocco, which happily found a peaceful outcome. In 1913 the Reichstag voted large additions to the German army. Various suggestions 1 toward the arbitration of disputes were made, by our own government among others, but Berlin would not listen. And during the whole period a series of chauvinistic and abusive books and pamphlets came from the German presses in which England was characterized as the rival and enemy which must be dealt with at the earliest opportunity, 2 whether the Kiel Canal were finished or not. V. The Eve of the War. Time came, however, when those responsible for governmental action in Berlin felt less inclined to provoke England. Naval competition with the island kingdom looked hopeless, and von Tirpitz finally concluded that Germany need not be disturbed if England should build sixteen warships to her own ten. A timid, cautious man of rather limited abilities, von Bethmann-Hollweg, had come into the chancellorship, and he even began to hope for better relations wi th the EnglishAccordingly, in 1912, he sent to England as German ambassador, Karl Max, Prince Lichnowsky, a Silesian nobleman who was not without successful diplomatic experience and was known to favor an understanding with Westminster the new ambassa dor found Sir Edward Grey anxious to accomplish the same purpose' and the two men proceeded to discuss the terms of a new "cordial understanding.'' 1 A l W h W ' ? * " * '. Schmitt.e England and Germany, p. 184. 0 G rman "They » y we mu^ wTiw^H. .". " t n m e n t ' « g j ^ ' policie.." (1912). favored a war for Morocco, w t ora b tt r naval t > ^ r r m T ^ l „ * ' . f , , ? S ? . - Wait lot the deepening of the Kiel v n 1 for our Canal, lw naval program to have taken full effect," etc. Conquest and KuUur (1918). p. 117. -* * ' 6 10 E
| |
