No doubt, as is shown on map (p. 46), Germany did not at the beginning of 1916 occupy quite all the territories she coveted. She missed Calais, Belfort, and Verdun, but it is easy to see that she did so only by a hair’s breadth.
The Western territories which were to enter into the Germanic Confederation of the 1911 plan include:
| Square Kilometres. | |
|---|---|
| Holland | 38,141 |
| Belgium | 29,451 |
| Luxemburg | 2,586 |
| French Departments | 50,271 |
| Total | 120,449 |
Now Luxemburg and Belgium were entirely occupied (excepting a patch of Belgium). If Germany was to hold Belgium, Holland, which is not occupied, but which is geographically invested, would inevitably be forced to enter into the Germanic Confederation. We must, therefore, consider Holland as being virtually under Germany’s thumb. As, on the other hand, out of 50,271 square kilometres which she wished to annex at the expense of France, Germany, at the beginning of 1916, occupied 20,300, we conclude that the German enterprises in the West, which, according to programme, ought to have comprised 120,449 square kilometres, in point of fact extended directly or indirectly over 90,478 square kilometres.
Germany therefore, early in 1916, had achieved in the West an occupation foreseen by the plan of 1911 and at the expense of non-Germans in the proportion of 76% or three-fourths.
II.
The Pangerman plan of 1911 had provided for the permanent exclusion of Russia as a great power by means of two measures:
1º. To carve out of the Empire of the Tsars and annex to the German Confederation a slice of territory large enough to cut off Russia entirely from the West.
2º. To constitute at the expense of Russia, thus reduced, new States which should bow the knee to Berlin.