German Dispatches and the Kaiser's Annotations

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June-July, 1914


DISPATCHES ANNOTATIONS BY THE KAISER

<i>VIENNA, June 30, 1914.
Dispatch from the Ger-
man Ambassador at Vienna.
(German Documents, No. 7.)</i>

 . . . Here I hear even
serious people express the
desire of settling accounts
with the Serbs once for
all. A series of condi-
tions should be sent to the                    Now or never!
Serbs, and, if they did not
accept these, energetic
steps should be taken. I                       Who told him to do
take advantage of every                        this? It is very foolish.
such opportunity for                           This does not concern
quietly but earnestly dis-                     him in the least. It is en-
couraging precipitate                          tirely Austria's affair to
measures.                                      decide what he is to do.
_____________                                  _____________


<i>Vienna, July 10, 1914. Dis-
patch from the German Ambas-
sador at Vienna. (German
Documents, No. 2.)</i>

His Majesty discussed
the situation with the
greatest calm. Then he                          As His Majesty's me-
expressed hi cordial                            morial is dated a fortnight
thanks for the attitude of                      ago, this thing is lasting
our august Sovereign and                        too long. Nevertheless
of the Imperial Govern-                         it was only drawn up in
ment and declared that he                       order to make clear the
now shared our opinion                          reasons for the decision.
completely, that he
thought as we did that a
decision must be reached
in order to put an end to
the intolerable state of af-
fairs in Serbia.
_____________                                  _____________

<i>Vienna, July 14, 1914. Dis-
patch from the German Ambas-
sador at Vienna (German
Documents, No. 49.)</i>

. . . The Count told
me that he had been the
man who had always ad-
vised prudence, but that
every day had strength-
ened his opinion that the
Monarchy must come to
an energetic decision in
order to give proof of its
vitality and put an end to
the intolerable state of af-
fairs existing in the south
east.. . . .                                     Certainly.

As to the time for the
delivery to Serbia, it has
been decided that it
would be better to await
the departure of M. Poin-
caré from St. Petersburg
-that is, the 25th....                           That is too bad.
_____________                                  _____________

<i>Therapia, July 21, 1914.
Dispatch from the German Am-
bassador at Constaninople.
German Documents, No. 99.)</i>

. . . Not only Bulga-
ria, but also Rumania and                         We shall remind these
Turkey, would range                               gentlemen of this at the
themselves unreservedly                           right moment.
on the side of the Triple
Alliance, if Austria
should administer a se-
vere lesson to Serbia.
_____________                                  _____________

<i>London, July 24, 1914. Dis-
patch from the German Ambas-
sador at London. (German
Documents, No. 157.)</i>

. . . But he [Sir Ed-
ward Grey] doubted very
much that it would be
possible for the Russian
Government to advise the
Serbian Government to                        This would be very de-
accept the Austrian de-                      sirable. It is not a state
mands without reserva-                       in the European sense of
tion; a state accepting                      the word; it is a band of
such term would cease                        brigands!
to count among indepen-
dent states. He, Sir Ed-
ward Grey, found it dif-
ficult at this time to give
advice to St. Petersburg.
_____________                                  _____________

<i>St. Petersburg. July 25,
1914. Dispatch from the Ger-
man Ambassador at St. Peters-
burg. ( German Documents. No.
160.)</i>

. . . Russia knows
what is owing from her                    She knows this better
to the monarchical princi-                since her fraternizing
ple, and the present case                 with the French Socialis-
does not in the least af-                 tic Republic.
fect this principle.
_____________                                  _____________

<i>Berlin, July 25, 1914. Dis-
patch from the State Secretary
for Foreign Affairs to the Em-
peror. (German Documents,
No. 168.)</i>

. . . The text of the
Austrian note was writ-                    He wanted to swindle
ten in such an aggressive                  Albania, and Austria has
and awkward fashion                        bristled up.
that public opinion in Eu-
rope and Italy would be
against Austria, and so                   Piffle!
Italian Government could
oppose it. . . . .

. . . My impression is
that the only way to keep
Italy in the Alliance is to              The little thief always
promise her compensa-                    wants to gobble up some-
tions soon enough in case                thing whenever the rest
Austria proceeds to make                 do.
annexation of territory
or occupies Lovcen.
_____________                                  _____________

<i>Berlin, July 5, 1914. Dis-
patch from the Imperial Chan-
cellor to the Emperor. (German
Documents, No. 182.)</i>

The Chief of Staff of                      It is unbelievable that
the Navy informs me that                   such intention should be
Your Majesty, in view of                   credited to me! Unheard
a telegram issued by the                   of! Never would I have
Wolff Agency, has or-                      thought of such a thing
dered the fleet to prepare                 after my Minister re-
to return rapidly to Ger-                  ported to me the mobili-
man harbors . . .                          zation at Belgrade! That
                                           may bring about mobili-
                                           zation by Russia, which
                                           will cause Austrian mobi-
                                           lization! In that case I
                                           must concentrate my
                                           force on land and sea.
                                           In the Baltic there is not
                                           a single warship! More-
                                           over, I am not in the habit
                                           of taking my military
                                           measures in accordance
                                           with a Wolff telegram,
                                           but with an eye to the
                                           general situation, which
                                           is what the civilian Chan-
                                           cellor has as yet been un-
                                           able to understand.
_____________                                  _____________

<i>London, July 29, 1914.
Dispatch from the German
Ambassador at London. (Ger-
man Documents. No. 368.)</i>

Sir Edward Grey has                        The strongest and
just summoned me. The                      most unparalleled trait of
Minister was absolutely                    English pharisaism that I
calm, but very serious,                    ever saw! Never would
and he received me with                    I make an agreement con-
the word that the situa-                   cerning the fleet with
tion was becoming more                     such low-down fellows!
and more tense....

But he deemed media-                       If, instead of media-
tion an urgent necessity                   tion, there should be a
if those concerned did not                 warning to St. Petersburg
wish to have things be-                    and Paris to the effect
come a European catas-                     that England would not
trophe....                                 help them, it would im-
                                           mediately calm matters.
                                           England uncovers her-
                                           self, now that she thinks
                                           us chasing scarecrows
                                           and that our fate is, so to
                                           speak, sealed. The vile
                                           rabble of shopkeepers
                                           ought to deceive us by
                                           means of dinner and
                                           speeches. The grossest
                                           deceit lay in the words ad-
                                           dressed to me by the King
                                           through Henry: "We
                                           shall remain neutral and
                                           try to keep out of this as
                                           long as possible. "Grey
                                           inflicts a denial upon the
                                           King and what he said to
                                           Lichnowky is due to his
                                           remorse because he feels
                                           that he has deceived us.
                                           At the same time, it is a
                                           threat combined with a
                                           bluff for detaching us
                                           from Austria, preventing
                                           mobilization, and throw-
                                           ing back upon us the re-
                                           sponsibility for war. He
                                           knows quite well that if
                                           he said one single word in
                                           earnest and energetically
                                           to Paris and St. Peters-
                                           burg and invited them to
                                           be neutral, both would in-
                                           stantly be quiet. But, in-
                                           stead of this, he threatens
                                           us! The ignoble clown!
                                           Vile dog's excrement!
                                           England alone bears the
                                           responsibility for war or
                                           peace and it is no longer
                                           we! This must be proved
                                           publicly!
_____________                                  _____________

<i>German Document. No.</i>                       ... Here we have, in
<i>401 )</i>                                       all its nakedness, the ter-
                                           rible situation slowly and
                                           surely engineered by Ed
                                           ward VII, continued and
                                           systematically developed
                                           by conversations, after-
                                           ward denied, of England
                                           with Paris and St. Peters-
                                           burg, and finally brought
                                           to its conclusion by
                                           George V, and now to be
                                           made a reality. Thus,
                                           he stupidity and awk-
                                           wardness of our ally are
                                           to be the rope for hang-
                                           ing us.... A grandiose
                                           conception which arouses
                                           admiration even in him
                                           who is to be ruined there-
                                           by! Edward VII, after
                                           his death, is stronger than
                                           I, who am alive I . . .
                                           And we are caught in the
                                           noose.... Now all
                                           these machinations
                                           should be exposed piti-
                                           lessly, the mask of Chris-
                                           tian pacifism should be
                                           publicly torn off, and this
                                           Pharisaical hypocrisy
                                           about peace should be pil-
                                           loried! And our consuls
                                           in Turkey and the Indies,
                                           our agents, etc., should
                                           foment a savage insurrec-
                                           tion of the entire Mussul-
                                           man world against this
                                           nation of odious shop-
                                           keepers, these conscience-
                                           less liars, since, even if we
                                           are to be bled white, Eng-
                                           land must at least lose
                                           India.
_____________                                  _____________

<i>London, August 1, 1914,
Dispatch from the German Am-
bassador at London. (German
Document. No. 596.)</i>

  Sir Edward Grey has                       The rubbish talked by
jut read me the follow-                     this man Grey shows that
ing declaration which has                   he has absolutely no idea
been unanimously adopt-                     what he ought to do. Now
ed by the Cabinet:                          we shall await England's
                                            decision. I have just
"His Majesty's Gov-                         learned that England has
ernment cannot for a mo-                    cut the Emden cable.
ment entertain the Chan-                    This is a war measure!
cellor's proposal that they                 And while he is still ne-
should bind themselves to                   gotiating.
neutrality on such terms.
What he asks us in effect
is to engage to stand by
while French Colonies are
taken if France is beaten,
so long as Germany does
not take French terri-
tory as distinct from the
colonies.... Such a pro-
posal is unacceptable, for
France, without further
territory in Europe being
taken from her, could be
so crushed as to lose her
position as a Great Pow-
er, and become subordi-
nate to German policy.
Altogether apart from
that, it would be a dis-
grace for us to make this
bargain with Germany at
the expense of France, a
disgrace from which the
good name of this coun-
try would never recover.
The Chancellor also in ef-
fect asks us to bargain
away whatever obligation
or interest we have as re-
gards the neutrality of
Belgium. We could not
entertain that bargain
either. We must pre-
serve our full freedom
to act, as circumstances
may seem to us to re-
quire....

. . . .When I asked
him whether, if we re-
pected Belgian neutral-
ity, he could give me a
definite declaration that                    What A low cheat I
Great Britain would re-
main neutral, the Minis-
ter answered that this was
not possible for him, but
that this question would
play a great role in public                  The fellow is insane or
opinion here...                              an idiot! Moreover, the
                                             French began the war and
. . . .He had also                           violated international law
asked himself if it would                    by having their aviators
not be possible for us and                   throw bombs.
for France, in case of a                     My impression is that
Russian war, to stand in                     Mr. Grey is a low scoun-
arms opposite each other                     drel who is afraid of his
without attacking. I                         own dirty tricks and of
asked him whether he                         his lying policy, who does
was in a position to state                   not wish to take part
to me that France would                      openly against us, but
enter into a compact of                      wishes to be forced to do
this nature.                                 so by us.
_____________                                  _____________

<i>Rome, August 1, 1914.
Dispatch from the German Am-
bassador at Rome. (German
Documents, No. 614.)</i>

. . . He made cease-
less repetition of the ex-                  The rascal! The King
ternal and internal rea-                    has not yet answered me
sons militating here                        even!
against participation in
the war. . . .

  . . . Through a man
in the confidence of M.
Barriere I have received                   So if we do not respect
secret information that                    Belgian neutrality Eng-
M. Barriere declared that                  land will attack us and
the Italian Government                     Italy detach herself from
had taken steps to draw                    us--that is the situation
closer to the English Gov-                 in a nutshell!
ernment. Perhaps, in
spite of the denial of the
Marquis di San Giuliano,                   So our allies are be-
conversation have al-                      traying us also!
ready been begun with
England.
_____________                                  _____________

<i>Rome. August 4, 1914.
Dispatch from the German Am-
bassador at Rome. (German
Documents, No. 850.)</i>

. . . Even a partisan
of the Triple Alliance like
Giolitti, who has just re-
turned here, thinks that
the <I>casus foederis</i> has not
arisen, that the country
needs tranquillity and                      The unbelievable
should remain neutral,                      scoundrel!
since there is no reason
for its active participation.

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