German Press Campaign—Disseminating False News—The Secret Press Society—Sir E. Goschen's Report—A Suppressed Telegram.
It has been indicated in the preceding volumes in this series that the plans of the German Government had been very well thought out before the campaign was undertaken. When hostilities had been engaged only a few weeks, evidence came to hand from many parts of the world that the determination of the Kaiser and his advisers to wage war was no sudden whim, no definite stroke of policy dependent upon unexpected circumstances. For example, the proclamations issued by the German consuls in South Africa summoning reservists to the colours had been printed in Germany, it was ascertained, and sent out about the end of April or the beginning of May—in other words, some two months before the assassination of the heir-apparent to the Austrian throne, which was the nominal cause of the dispatch of the Austrian Note and consequently of the general European War.
Again, certain German merchant vessels in Australasian waters were observed on July 30th—i.e. the day before Germany declared war on Russia—to begin conveying wireless messages to one another in code. It was commented upon at the time that this was an unusual practice, especially as these steamers, with equal suddenness, refused to answer the wireless messages of British vessels. In other words, two or three days before the campaign was actually opened, means were found of notifying German vessels on the other side of the world that peace was about to be broken.
Nor were these the only preparations. Those who are interested in modern German history will well remember that practically every book relating to Bismarck's career emphasises time and again the use he made of all sections of the Press, independently of party and even of country. His agents, even before the war with Austria in 1866, and, of course, for long afterwards, were at all times endeavouring to bribe, cajole, or persuade newspaper editors in Germany, Russia, Italy, France, England, America and even Turkey and the Balkan States, to insert this or that article or paragraph, tending to assist in some way the achievement of the aims for the time being of the Monarch's most trusted adviser. Bismarck carried this employment of the Press to a very high degree of perfection; and readers of Busch's anecdotes in particular will recollect how often the unfortunate amanuensis was scolded for not writing what he had been told to write in the manner of the particular paper for which his article was intended.
This was one of the most useful diplomatic and political legacies bequeathed by the great Chancellor to the Germany of our own generation, and it is hardly necessary to add that both before and during the present war full advantage has been taken of it. It is no exaggeration whatever to say that in every country of importance throughout the world the most strenuous endeavours were made by the German Press agents to disseminate Germany's point of view—to show at the beginning that both Germany and Austria, particularly Germany, were two innocent but ill-used countries which were reluctantly compelled to go to war with their powerful neighbours, as, if they had remained inactive a day longer, they would have risked their very existence as independent States; and to show later on that, with the help of Providence, the German armies were winning remarkable victories all along the line.
Indeed, if we were to believe the German Press Bureau, the mere fact that the Fatherland had entered the lists was sufficient to cause panic among her enemies. Before the campaign had been in progress three days, the world was solemnly informed from German sources that a revolution had broken out in Paris, and that the President had fled from the city; that a similar revolution was breaking out in Russia, and that the Tsar's throne was in danger; and that the British Expeditionary Force could not be landed in France as the Channel was held by German warships and submarines. Subsequently we were told that Lord Kitchener's appeal for half a million men had utterly failed; that the British Fleet dare not venture to leave the coast on account of German warships and German mines, and that innumerable British merchantmen had been captured or sunk by German cruisers in the Atlantic, in the Pacific, and in the Mediterranean.
If these idle stories seem to us to be merely ridiculous, let it be remembered that they were retailed as solemn facts to newspapers in Italy, the Balkans, Turkey, Egypt and South America. Fully aware of the power of the newspaper, and determined that Germany's prestige should not be lost, the Berlin Government made the most complete preparations for fighting with the pen as well as with the sword; and it is rather unfortunate that this very common-sense example was not followed or had not been thought of by England, France, or Russia. One example may be given. As we now know, and as even the Germans themselves have admitted, the fighting which took place on the Mons-Charleroi line resulted in stalemate. The Germans were practically fought to a standstill, and the allied forces, in accordance with their own pre-arranged plan of campaign, effected gradually and in good order their retreat to their original base. German prisoners admitted that the small British force which had the noble but exceedingly arduous task of defending the left wing of the French army inflicted damage on the enemy out of all proportion to their numbers. The coolness of the British soldiers under a heavy fire, their intrepidity in hand-to-hand fighting, and the almost incredible accuracy of their markmanship were commented upon no less by their allies than by their foes.