When the opposition of the parties favoring the most desperate measures became too strong for him, he conceded a little ground, taking up a middle position in which he balanced himself for a long time against both the Conservative Junkers and the National Liberal trust magnates on the one side and the radical Socialists on the other. Neither side could claim him; neither could interpret his ambiguous utterances as support of its policies, and between the antagonisms of the two he maintained his position until at last he was overthrown by the attack of Erzberger, leader of the more liberal wing of the Catholic party, the traditional holders of the middle ground.
Bethmann-Hollweg's agility was demonstrated by the fact that he survived Asquith and Grey, Viviani, Sazonoff, Berchtold, Salandra, Jagow, and all the rest of the statesmen who were in power in Europe in August, 1914.
In personality the Chancellor was studious, scholarly and pleasant, lacking the brilliance of his predecessor, Von Buelow, but generally regarded as one who was if anything too mild rather than too severe.
Dr. Georg Michaelis, the successor to Hollweg, was the first commoner to be appointed to that high office, without even a "von" before his name.
The son of a Prussian official, he was born on September 8, 1857, in Haynan, Silesia. He received a university education, making the law his profession. In 1879 he became a court referee in Berlin, and in 1884 was attached to the District Attorney's office in that city. Several years later he went as professor of law and political economy to the University of Tokio.
Returning to Germany in 1889, he was chosen District Attorney for Berlin. His services won much praise and he was afterward sent by the government as an official in the provisional government at Trevas, Germany. In 1897 he was transferred to Westphalia, where he was Chief Councilor for the government there.
In 1900 he was made Provisional President of Liebnitz and in 1902 First Privy Councilor in Breslau. His work there won him an appointment as Under Secretary of State in the Department of Finance, which post he held in connection with his work as Food Commissioner.
Doctor Michaelis was selected for the post of Prussian Food Commissioner in February, 1917, after all efforts of Adolph von Batocki's organization—the food regulation board—had failed to lay hands on large supplies of grain, potatoes and other produce which the Prussian landlords were holding for the fattening of cattle and swine instead of making them available for general consumption.
GOVERNMENT ORDERS DISREGARDED.
The orders of Herr Batocki and the Central Government for the surrender of these supplies were disregarded or evaded at least, if not, as charged in Germany, with the actual assistance and support of the reactionary Prussian Minister of Agriculture, Baron von Schorlemer.