History of the World War

by Jr. Francis A. March; Richard J. Beamish

The Allied leaders were fighting for a principle. They could not be satisfied with a draw. They could not be satisfied if Germany were left in a position which would enable her after a rest of a few years to renew her effort to impose her will upon the world. It was unanimously recognized that the war must be carried on to the very end. The Allies took this position when the fortunes of war seemed to have gone against them, when Russia was defeated, Roumania and Serbia crushed, and the German lines in France were approaching the capital. It was unlikely that now, when Germany was suffering defeat and every day was yielding the Allied armies encouraging gains, there should be any change in the strong determination of the Allied leaders. Nevertheless, it was necessary to make the attempt.

On September 15th, the Austro-Hungarian Government addressed a communication to the Allied Powers and to the Holy See suggesting a meeting for a confidential and non-binding discussion of war aims, with a view to the possible calling of a peace conference.

The official communication from the Austro-Hungarian Government was handed to Secretary of State Lansing in Washington at 6.20 o'clock on September 16th.

At 6.45 the following abbreviated reply of the United States Government was made public, by the Secretary of State:

I am authorized by the President to state that the following will be the reply of this government to the Austro-Hungarian note proposing an unofficial conference of belligerents. "The Government of the United States feels that there is only one reply which it can make to the suggestion of the Austro-Hungarian Government. It has repeatedly and with entire candor stated the terms upon which the United States would consider peace, and can and will entertain no proposal for a conference upon the matter concerning which it has made its position and purpose so plain."

Arthur J. Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, in a statement made September 16th said: "It is incredible that anything can come of this proposal…. This cynical proposal of the Austrian Government is not a genuine attempt to obtain peace. It is an attempt to divide the Allies." Premier Clemenceau in France took similar grounds, and stated in the French Senate: "We will fight until the hour when the enemy comes to understand that bargaining between crime and right is no longer possible. We want a just and a strong peace, protecting the future against the abominations of the past." Italy joined with her Allies and declared that a negotiated peace was impossible.

The refusal on the part of the Allies to respond to the Austrian peace proposal evidently greatly disturbed the German leaders. The continued German reverses, and the surrender of Bulgaria had taken away all hope. They were anxious to conclude some kind of peace before meeting irretrievable disaster. They therefore determined to appoint as Chancellor of the Empire some statesman who might be represented as a supporter of an honest peace, and Count von Hertling, whose previous utterances might put under suspicion any peace move coming from him, was removed and Prince Maximilian of Baden appointed as his successor on September 30th.

Prince Maximilian was put forward as a Moderate, in accordance with the evident purpose of the government to continue peace proposals. He was the heir apparent to the Grand Ducal throne of Baden, and was the first man in public life in Germany to declare that the Empire could not conquer by the sword alone. He did this in an address to the Upper Chamber in Baden, of which he was President, on December 15, 1917. "Power alone can never secure our position," he said, "and our sword alone will never be able to tear down the opposition to us."

At the same time he made an attack upon the ideals set up by President Wilson. "President Wilson," he continued, "after three years of war gathers together all the outworn slogans of the Entente of 1914, and denounces Germany as the disturber of the peace, proclaiming a crusade for humanity, liberty and the rights of small nations." Then, forgetting that the United States had entered the war nearly a month after the abdication of the Czar of Russia, he added: "President Wilson has no right to speak in the name of democracy and liberty, for he was the mighty war ally of Russian Czardom, but he had deaf ears when the Russian democracy appealed to him to allow it to discuss peace conditions." The Baden address created a great sensation all over Germany, which was increased when, in an interview in January, he declared that all ideas of conquest must be abandoned, and that Germany must serve as a bulwark to prevent the spread of Bolshevism among the western nations.

There can be no doubt that the appointment of Prince Maximilian was a definite attempt to seek peace. It was thought that he would be recognized by the Allied leaders as an honest friend of peace, and that any effort he would make would be treated with respect. He was, however, a vigorous supporter of the Kaiser and of German autocracy, and while his appointment might mean that Germany was desirous of peace it did not mean that she had changed her ways. Three days before the appointment of Prince Maximilian, President Wilson, in an address delivered in the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, had restated the issues of the war, declaring (1) for impartial justice, (2) settlement to be made in the common interests of all, (3) no leagues within the common family of the league of nations, (4) no selfish economic combination within that league, and (5) all international agreements and treaties of every kind must be made known in their entirety to the rest of the world.