Something of a climax was reached in the affairs of the Hohenzollern dynasty just when the United States troops were preparing to take their places on the battle line in France and when the first of the conscripted forces of the country were being summoned to the colors.
With a suddenness that startled the entire world, Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, the German Imperial Chancellor, resigned on July 14, thus ending his career as the spokesman of the Kaiser, which he had maintained for a surprisingly long period. At the same time Dr. Alfred Zimmermann, Foreign Minister, who was responsible for the correspondence which revealed the fact that Germany was trying to induce Mexico and Japan to form an alliance against the United States, also quit his post.
The resignation of the Chancellor came quite unexpectedly, for von Hollweg, in the prolonged party discussion and heated debates of the main committee of the Reichstag which had been in progress, seemed to have triumphed over his opponents.
His opponents had been clamoring for his head, but he made concessions, and by the declaration that Germany was fighting defensively for her territorial possessions evolved a formula which for a time seemed satisfactory to both those who clamored for peace by agreement and those who demanded repudiation of the formula, "no annexation and no indemnities." In this position Dr. von Hollweg was backed by the Emperor.
The advent of the Crown Prince upon the scene—summoned by his imperial father to share the deliberations affecting the future of the dynasty—seems to have changed entirely the position with regard to the Imperial Chancellor. The Crown Prince at once took a leading part in the discussions with the party leaders, and his ancient hostility toward Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, coupled with his notorious dislike for political reform, undoubtedly precipitated the Chancellor's resignation.
APPOINTMENT OF DR. GEORG MICHAELIS.
The resignation of Dr. von Hollweg was followed by the appointment of Dr. Georg Michaelis, Prussian Under Secretary of Finance and Food Commissioner.
The fall of Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg removed the last of the statesmen who were in charge of the great Powers of Europe at the beginning of the war, and brought to an end a career which in successful playing of both ends against the middle was almost without parallel in recent history.
Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, an aristocrat and personal friend of the Emperor, stood out strongly against democratic agitation before the war, and at times was sharply outspoken in his defiance of socialism and his rejection of any move toward making the Chancellor and his subordinates, the other Ministers, responsible to the Reichstag. Yet in the early stages of the war he became known as a moderate, and it has been generally accepted that his influence was usually employed against the breaking of relations with America and ruthless submarine warfare.