THE BOLSHEVIKI RESENT ALLIED INTERVENTION
The first landing of Allied soldiers, on the Murmansk Coast, had brought forth a strong protest from the Soviet Government in Moscow, and though the Allied Governments, and especially the United States, were still inclined to hold friendly relations with the Bolshevist Government, these relations now began undergoing a decided change. On July 29, 1918, Lenine, at a closed meeting of the executive committee of his Government, had declared that Russia was in a state of war with the Entente nations, but when the Entente diplomats sought further details regarding this statement, the Foreign Minister, Tchitcherin, replied that this was merely a private utterance on the part of the Bolshevist premier and had not been made in his official capacity; that, at any rate, it was meant only to imply that Russia was defending herself against foreign invasion. At the time he urged the American ambassador and the other Allied representatives, who were then in Vologda, to return to Moscow. But instead of complying with this request Mr. Francis and his colleagues removed to Archangel, where they would be under the protection of the Allied forces of occupation. In a final message to the Russian foreign minister, Mr. Francis stated that he had no intention of quitting Russia, and that at any rate he would only be absent temporarily. The Allied consuls, he added, would remain. Tchitcherin, on the other hand, said that, even if they did depart, the absence of the Allied diplomats would not affect the situation, and that there was no reason why the consuls and citizens of the Allied nations should not remain in Russia.
On August 10, 1918, the Bolshevist authorities arrested the British acting consul general in Moscow, together with six of his staff and several French diplomatic agents. The reason given was that the Bolshevist forces had been fired upon by the Allies on landing in Archangel. Great Britain immediately responded by arresting the Bolshevist representative in London, M. Litvinov. A few days later the Britishers arrested in Moscow were released. Nevertheless, De Witt C. Poole, American consul in Moscow, fearing that he might be arrested next, destroyed his private codes, turned over the archives of the consulate to the Swedish consul, then applied for a passport to leave the country.
Hitherto the Soviet Government had shown some discrimination in favor of the United States in dealing with foreign diplomats, its members recognizing the disinterestedness of the United States Government and showing appreciation of President Wilson's reluctance to interfere in the internal affairs of Russia. But after Washington's announcement of its decision to participate in the Siberian expedition together with Japan, this attitude underwent a change. After that announcement had been made, the Soviet Government at Moscow issued a reply to the Japanese and American statements (of August 3, 1918), which was published in the "Tageblatt" of Berlin on August 20, 1918. The following is a translation of this German version:
"The American and Japanese Governments have addressed a message to the Russian people in connection with the landing of their forces on Russian territory. Both Governments declare their armed intervention was dictated by the desire to come to the aid of the Czecho-Slovaks who, it is alleged, are menaced by Germans and Austrians.
"The Russian Federal Republic feels compelled to make this declaration:
"'The statement made by the American and Japanese Governments is not based on accurate information. The Czecho-Slovak detachments are not menaced by either Germans or Austrians. On the soil of the Soviet Republic the battle continues between the Red Soviet Army, created by peasants and workers, on the one hand, and Czecho-Slovak detachments, in concert with landowners, the bourgeoisie, and counter-revolutionaries, on the other.
"'In this battle the workmen and peasants are defending the revolution, which is endangered by the counter-revolution, aided and abetted by the Czecho-Slovaks. The Soviet Government is convinced that its enemies are only attempting to blind proletarian elements of the population and they seek to deceive them by fostering in them the belief that Germans and Austrians are menacing the Czecho-Slovaks.
"'Should, however, the grounds of this attack on the Soviet Republic be really those stated in the Japanese-American message, the Soviet Government suggests that the Governments exactly formulate their wishes in the matter.
"'Tchitcherin.'"
Of this and similar protests the Allied Governments took no notice beyond a communication which Minister Francis addressed to Foreign Minister Tchitcherin, in which he said that the pro-German activities of the Soviet Government were the cause of the animosity shown to the Bolsheviki by the Allies.
Toward the end of August, 1918, the British Government had released Litvinov, the Bolshevist representative in London, and the Soviet Government had freed the British subjects under arrest in Moscow, by mutual agreement; relations seemed about to improve. But on August 31, 1918, occurred an incident in Moscow which rendered the situation worse than ever, rousing very strong feeling against the Bolsheviki in Great Britain.
On the evening of August 30, 1918, Premier Lenine, while returning from a public meeting at which he had been a speaker, was shot by a woman and severely wounded. Lenine's place was immediately taken by Leo Kamenev, vice president of the Petrograd Soviet. The would-be assassin, a girl student by the name of Dora Kaplan, was a member of the Social Revolutionary Party, which had long since declared war against the Bolsheviki, but the Soviet officials apparently believed that the initiative for the attempt on Lenine's life came from outside sources.
On the following day, August 31, 1918, a search was ordered of the British embassy in Petrograd. One of the Bolshevist commissioners was instructed to conduct the search, it being reported that the Socialist Revolutionists, Savinkov and Filonenko, were hiding on the premises of the embassy. Accompanied by a detachment of Red Guards, the commissioner, Hillier, went to the embassy and, proceeding to the first floor, was met by shots which killed one of his escort and wounded another. A fight ensued in the corridor, in which Captain Francis Cromie, the British military attaché, was killed. The police then entered the embassy and arrested forty persons. As soon as the news of the attack reached London the British Government sent the following protest to the Soviet Government:
"An outrageous attack has been made on the British embassy in Petrograd, its contents have been sacked and destroyed, Captain Cromie, who tried to defend it, was murdered, and his body barbarously mutilated. We demand immediate reparation and the prompt punishment of anyone responsible for or concerned in this abominable outrage.
"Should the Russian Soviet Government fail to give complete satisfaction, or should any further acts of violence be committed against a British subject, His Majesty's Government will hold the members of the Soviet Government individually responsible and will make every endeavor to secure that they shall be treated as outlaws by the governments of all civilized nations, and that no place of refuge shall be left them. You have already been informed through M. Litvinov that His Majesty's Government was prepared to do everything possible to secure the immediate return of the official representatives of Great Britain and of the Russian Soviet Government to their respective countries. A guarantee was given by His Majesty's Government that as soon as the British officials were allowed to pass the Russo-Finnish frontier, M. Litvinov and all the members of his staff would have permission to proceed immediately to Russia.
"We have now learned that a decree was published on August 29, 1918, ordering the arrest of all British and French subjects between the ages of eighteen and forty, and that British officials have been arrested on trumped-up charges of conspiring against the Soviet Government.
"His Majesty's Government has therefore found it necessary to place M. Litvinov and the members of his staff under preventive arrest until such time as all British representatives are set at liberty and allowed to proceed to the Finnish frontier, free from molestation."
The protest had its effect, in so far that the subjects of the Allied Governments were gradually released and allowed to leave Russia, and late in September, 1918, the British Government allowed the Bolshevist representative, held under arrest in London, to proceed to Russia.
THE BALTIC PROVINCES
On September 10, 1918, a consular report received in Washington stated that the German Government had finally completed a plan for dividing the Baltic provinces of the former Russian empire into administrative districts, all to constitute a single military administration of the Baltic provinces, with headquarters in Riga. They were to be placed under the authority of the commanding officer of the town and of Von Goesler, the administration chief, who had been at the head of the German administration in Courland. The administration of the provinces included a provincial administration for Courland, with its seat at Mitau; an administration for Livonia, with a seat at Riga; and another for Esthonia, with a seat at Reval. The town of Riga constituted in itself a special administration district, placed under the authority of the captain of the town. Lithuania constituted the military administration of Lithuania, the seat being at Vilna.
Since the defeat of the German armies the peoples of all these provinces have been looking anxiously toward the Allies for some indication of the policy to be pursued regarding disposition of their territories. Early in November, 1918, Esthonia declared itself an independent republic. The Government consists of President Constantine Paets, former mayor of Reval, and a cabinet of eight ministers, the capital being at Reval. The proclamation declared that Esthonia wished to preserve absolute neutrality, and that the Esthonian soldiers in the Russian Army would be recalled and demobilized.
In the middle of October, 1918, the Lithuanians addressed to Prince Maximilian, German chancellor, a note demanding the immediate evacuation of Lithuanian territory. The National Assembly decided to set up a national government and to create an army and a police force. Plans were also announced for the convocation of a permanent national assembly.
THE AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT
The disastrous, abortive attempt of the Austro-Hungarian armies, made at the behest of the German high command as a blind to cover the operations planned for midsummer 1918 on the western front, has been described in detail in the last volume. It will be recalled that it consisted of two distinct phases: The Austrian offensive, begun on June 15, 1918, and resulting during the week following in considerable gains along the Piave; and the Italian counteroffensive, setting in on June 22, 1918, and resulting in the loss to the Austrians of all the newly gained ground, as well as of positions which they had held for quite some time. This counteroffensive had reached its end practically on July 6, 1918. From then on, for some three and one-half months, General Diaz employed his Italian armies, ably supported by various Allied detachments, carefully but continuously for the purpose of securing certain well-defined positions from which to land a powerful offensive movement against the Austro-Hungarians, a movement that had been planned months earlier by the now combined Supreme Command of the Allies at the head of which had been placed General Foch.
How far the new pooling of all Allied military resources had progressed by August, 1918, is, perhaps, most typically illustrated by the appearance on the Italian front of a regiment of United States infantry. Its reception and its review by King Victor Emmanuel of Italy on August 1, 1918, is graphically described by the London "Times" correspondent attached to Italian Headquarters.
"The American infantry," he says, "that have arrived on the Italian front marched past King Victor Emmanuel to-day. Signor Orlando, the prime minister, and Mr. Nelson Page, the American ambassador to Italy, were with the king. A cardinal-archbishop in his scarlet robes was a brilliant figure among the group of gray-clad generals and drab civilians who were waiting to pay their respects to the king.
"The unusual height and bigness of frame of the individual man was what struck one most as the long khaki column moved by. These Americans are comparatively young soldiers, but their review discipline was thoroughly steady. Looking them over, one had the feeling that in the American army the individual as such counts for more than in most European armies. The highly trained amateur, brought to the climax of personal perfection—that is the aim of American training, rather than the production of the machine-made professional soldier.
"The Italian peasants watched the Americans with admiration and delight. 'What a life I have had!' said an old dame, who served me with coffee in a wayside inn. 'I was here as a girl when the French and Piedmontese defeated the Austrians at Solferino. I remember the battle in 1866, when the Italians beat the Austrians again. Then in this war I have seen Italian, British, and French troops pass by, and at last here I am watching the Americans.'"
A stirring manifesto was issued to the Italian army recalling the close relations existing between the United States and Italy before the war and the important part Italians in recent years had been playing in the development of the New World.
Military operations on the Italian front on August 1, 1918, were of minor importance and, in this respect, were quite typical of what was to take place during August, September, and the first three weeks of October, 1918. There was moderate artillery activity along the whole front. At Alano Italian patrols forced advanced Austrian posts to withdraw, inflicting losses and taking some prisoners. A captive balloon and six hostile aeroplanes were brought down.
The Austrian activity moderated somewhat on August 2, 1918. Italian and Allied artillery effectively bombarded Austrian lines of communication at Asiago. Along the whole front Italian patrols were extremely active.
South of Nago, on August 3, 1918, an Italian assault detachment captured by a surprise attack Hill 173 on Dosso Alto, which the Austrians had taken on June 15, 1918. In spite of determined resistance four officers and 172 men were taken prisoners after many had been killed or wounded. During the preceding night French detachments in a series of brilliant surprise attacks had penetrated deeply into the Austrian lines at Zocchi, east of Asiago, capturing some 125 men and considerable material. West of Asiago British troops broke into Gaiga, making some prisoners. In the Tasson region and in the Alano Basin Italian reconnoitering patrols gathered in considerable booty and took some prisoners.
Between Asiago and the Brenta Italian patrols on August 6, 1918, effectively harassed the enemy's advanced lines, inflicting losses and capturing prisoners.
The largest operation that the British, fighting in Italy, had yet carried out was put through between midnight and 4 a. m., August 8, 1918. It was not an attack so much as a simultaneous series of about a dozen raids along the whole of our front. To blow up dugouts, destroy machine-gun emplacements, and take prisoners were the objectives and in realizing them the British troops reached the southern fringe of Asiago town, the first Allied troops to touch its outskirts since 1916.
Like a stroke of noisy magic the British barrage burst out in the silence of the mountain night exactly at 12 o'clock. The Asiago Plateau, a natural stage for warfare, five miles or so across, with barriers of black pine-grown hills to north and south, was for the next three hours ablaze with red, bursting shells, dazzling Verey flares of different colors, solo searchlights, and the dull glow of fires. One could imagine the commotion in the Austrian lines at that sudden interruption of the peace of the summer night. Hungarians, Croats, Bosniaks, tumbling pell-mell from their dugouts; staff officers behind the front, two hours abed, rushing half-dressed to the telephones. For three hours, while the British were about their work, the din went on, until at 3 o'clock they came back, bringing at a small cost 360 prisoners with them, and leaving many enemy dead in their ruined works.
On the same day in the Giudicaris region Italian parties forced the Chiese River. In the Daone Valley other Italian troops surprised a party of the enemy on the southern slope of Dosso del Morti and took twenty-one prisoners. This was a period of raids on a large scale. For several nights Italian or Allied guns spread their fire over the plain of northern Italy. Following on the successful British invasion of the enemy's front line, the French during the night of August 9, 1918, took five officers and 238 men in a surprise attack. On the Sisemol sector, and between there and the Brenta, the Italians brought in sixty prisoners from the enemy front lines.
Again on August 10, 1918, French troops penetrated deeply into the enemy's strong points in Monte Sisemol, destroying part of the garrison and forcing the remainder to surrender. Two hundred and fifty prisoners and eight machine guns were taken.
From their positions on Monte di Valbella, Col del Rosso, and Col di Chele Italian troops succeeded at various points in passing the enemy lines and inflicting heavy losses. They took fifty-nine prisoners, suffering only slight losses themselves.
During August 10 and 11, 1918, the fighting activity along the whole front was very moderate. North of Col del Rosso Italian patrols forced back an advanced Austrian outpost. Five hostile aeroplanes were brought down.
Fighting occurred during the next few days in the Tonale region and in the Lagarina Valley. On the Piave an Italian detachment crossed the western branch of the river, made a surprise landing on an islet west of Grave di Papadopoli and occupied it. Thirty-six prisoners and four machine guns were captured.
In the Tonale region Austrian reactions against advanced Italian positions were repulsed on August 15, 1918. On the Piave, southwest of Grave di Papadopoli, three hostile attacks against the Italian garrison were driven back with heavy losses. Four hostile aeroplanes and a captive balloon were brought down.
There was lively activity by both artilleries during August 16, 1918, on the Asiago Plateau, northwest of the region of Monte Grappa, and on the middle Piave. In the upper Zebru Valley one of the Italian patrols attacked an enemy advance post at an altitude of over 11,000 feet and drove it back. Two hostile aeroplanes were downed.
On August 17, 1918, there were isolated artillery actions from Stalvio to Asiago, in the Grappa region, and on the lower Piave. After violent artillery preparation the enemy attempted, by strong encircling attacks, to retake the Piave Islet, captured by the Italians a few days earlier. After suffering heavy losses, abandoning machine guns and material, and leaving twenty-nine prisoners in Italian hands, the Austrians were forced to retire.
Still another Austrian attack, made the next day, August 18, 1918, against the same position broke down under Italian fire. On the whole front there were artillery duels and considerable activity by reconnoitering patrols.
Early in the morning of August 19, 1918, after violent artillery bombardments, numerous enemy troops attacked from west and from north the Italian lines on the Cornone, forming southern slopes of the Sasso Rosso, on the Asiago front. The Italian garrison stopped the enemy after a brisk hand-to-hand struggle. Reenforcements quickly arrived, counterattacked the enemy, repulsed him with heavy losses, and captured prisoners. Austrian attempts to attack Italian advanced lines north of the Ledro Lake and to surprise protection patrols north of the Col del Rosso were hindered by Italian fire. British reconnoitering parties captured a few prisoners on the Asiago Plateau. Allied batteries had been very active from the Lagarina Valley to Astico Valley. An unusual enemy artillery activity in the Asalone area provoked effective concentrations of fire on the part of the Italian batteries.
These local minor engagements and artillery actions were typical of the fighting on the Austro-Italian front during the next ten days, indeed, with few exceptions one might say, almost during the next two months. Day by day fights between advanced posts were reported. Thus Italian reconnoitering patrols captured prisoners on August 27, 1918, as they did, indeed, on almost every day, in the Posina Valley, in the Val di Assa, and in the Grappa region. An Austrian motor boat, maneuvering on Lake Garda in the Grentino sector, was sunk by Italian artillery.
In the Concei Valley enemy attacks were averted on August 28, 1918, by Italian fire. Advanced posts were driven back with losses. Prisoners were taken on the northern slopes of Altissimo, and north of Col del Rosso hostile reconnoitering parties were dispersed.
On the following day, August 29, 1918, in the Brenta Valley, Italian infantry parties, in a successful surprise operation, captured the village of Rivalta. Successively other detachments, with the cooperation of the artillery, occupied the village of Sasso Stefani, after having overcome in a lively fight the stubborn resistance of the enemy. Thirty-eight prisoners, including one officer, were captured. In the region to the north of Col del Rosso, on the Asiago Plateau, two enemy thrusts were again completely arrested by Italian fire.
Italian artillery carried out concentrations in the mountain area on September 1, 1918. On the Piave some boats, containing Austrian troops attempting a surprise attack, were upset. At Stelvio and on the Asiago Plateau Austrian patrols were repulsed with heavy losses to them.
Along the mountainous front Italian artillery on September 6, 1918, effectively shelled the enemy's front lines and rear areas. In the Concalaghi, Pesina, and the Assa Valley Italian patrols engaged enemy exploring and drove them back. North of Monfenera an attempt to raid the advanced lines was arrested by the garrison, which afterward, by a counterattack, put the Austrians to flight with losses. On the lower Piave Austrian scouts attempting to cross the river in small boats were driven back by rifle fire.
During the night following the French carried out a raid which was typical of the work the Allied troops accomplished on the plateau of Asiago. The two companies that made the attack had a mile and a half of no-man's-land to cross. The ground was most difficult—cut up into ravines, pitted with flooded shell holes, densely overgrown with tall grass, and littered not only with old trenches, ruined dugouts and tangles of torn barbed wire, but also with Austrian dead, who still lay there unburied since the big attack in June.
It was at night and in a dense fog that the French started out. It took three hours for the half battalion to grope its way toward the Austrian line, but shortly before 5 o'clock they were ready to attack, and at 9 minutes to 5 a fierce French box barrage—in front and behind the enemy trenches and from the flanks—was opened on the enemy trenches, and the Italian and British artillery on either side started a distracting bombardment. At 5 o'clock precisely the barrage lifted and the French infantry rushed forward to find a smashed trench in front of them, fuming with smoke and dust and strewn with dead and wounded men. Some of the stouter redoubts and machine-gun posts held out for a little while, but with bombs and fire boxes their garrisons were smoked or blasted into silence, and then with fifty prisoners the two French companies came back, having to pass, indeed, through the Austrian barrage, but losing only a few men on the way.
Austro-Hungarian patrols which attempted on September 13, 1918, to approach the Italian lines on Monte Corno, in the Grappa region of the mountain front, were repulsed by the Italian fire.
Italian infantry and ardoti parties after a short but effective artillery bombardment, and assisted by low-flying aeroplanes, in the morning of September 14, 1918, attacked and captured the whole of an Austrian defensive system on the Grovella, south of Corte. Three hundred and fifty prisoners, a number of machine guns, some hundreds of rifles, and much other war material fell into Italian hands.
In the region north and northwest of Grappa, on the northern Italian front, Italian detachments in the morning of September 15, 1918, raided the enemy lines and improved at some points the positions already occupied. The Italians took 321 prisoners and captured numerous machine guns. On the remainder of the front there were artillery duels and patrol activity.
On either side of the narrow and precipitous gorge of the Brenta River, at the point where it leaves the Austrian lines and enters the Vallian, an eyewitness of some of these attacks says, there has existed since last winter a formidable barricade of wire and a complex system of enemy trenches. Wire fills the whole valley with an impassable tangle. It lies half under water in the rushing stream itself and writhes up each wall of the steeply sloping rock on either side. Moreover, on the ledges and in the caves and crannies of those high cliffs were hidden Austrian machine guns to sweep the narrow gorge below.
Yet with a sudden attack at dawn of September 16, 1918, Italian infantry rushed the whole of this barrier system and captured nearly 350 prisoners. The fighting was severe, but short, in the dark ravine, and the Italians' victory was aided by their aeroplanes, which dived one after another into that gap between the high mountains, dropping bombs and emptying drums of machine-gun bullets upon the Austrian garrison below. Shortly afterward another sector close at hand, to the north of Mount Grappa broke into activity. A series of little raids and rushes were carried out there to improve the line in several places. At once, here too, the Italians made good their intentions, and took over 300 prisoners and a number of machine guns.
Along the whole front there were artillery actions of a harassing nature during September 10, 1918. Italian batteries caused fires at Melette, in the Asiago Plateau region and blew up an ammunition dump near Grisolera, on the lower Piave River. Attempts of hostile assault parties failed in front of the Italian lines south of Mori, at Mont Corno, and Val Arsa, to the north of Grappa and east of Salettuol.
On the other hand, Italian reconnoitering parties attacked and drove back in the Ledro Valley a small observation post of the enemy, who left dead and prisoners. Ammunition and various material were brought back from reconnoissances at Tonaleselle and on the islets in the Piave in the Montello region. One hostile aeroplane was brought down. West of Feeri, and in the valley of Jenioa, there were patrol encounters with the capture of some prisoners by the Italians.
Among the Allied troops fighting with the Italians was a Czecho-Slovak unit. On September 21, 1918, an action occurred between these troops and German and Hungarian forces on the Trentino front. It was the first in Italy in which the Czecho-Slovaks operated as a unit in their regular formation. The enemy launched the attack, prepared with greatest secrecy, east of Lake Garda. It appeared from the dispatches that the Germans and Magyars had no definite territorial objective, but planned the stroke in the hope of gaining support for the Austrian claim that the Czecho-Slovaks would give way voluntarily when faced by the army of the country that so long had held them in subjugation.
It was believed in Rome and by officials of the Czecho-Slovak Headquarters in Washington that if the Austrians had achieved even a local success they would, after executing as traitors any Czecho-Slovaks taken prisoners, have again affirmed that the Czecho-Slovaks did not wish to fight against Austria.
The assault was begun at daybreak by picked detachments composed exclusively of Magyars and Germans under General Schiesser. It followed a destructive artillery fire in which thousands of gas shells were used. The Czecho-Slovaks went over the top to meet the foe, and the first column was forced to retire. The second column, after desperate hand-to-hand fighting, succeeded in occupying a part of the Czecho-Slovak position, but was driven out after a bloody battle. No prisoners were taken by either side.
Premier Orlando of Italy paid homage to the valor of the Czecho-Slovaks by a telegram of congratulation to the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris.
For the next few weeks this continuous struggle on the part of the Italians to secure the positions necessary for their men was maintained without change.
THE INTERNAL COLLAPSE OF GERMANY
In spite of the decisive and continuous defeats which the Allies administered to the German armies on the western front in midsummer 1918, the German Government maintained in its public utterances its usual confidence in a victorious outcome of the war. Apropos of the fourth anniversary of the war the German emperor issued one of his typical, high-sounding addresses to the army and navy in which he said:
"Serious years of war lie behind you. The German people, convinced of its just cause, resting on its hard sword, and trusting in God's gracious help, has, with its faithful allies, confronted a world of enemies. Your vigorous fighting spirit carried war in the first year into the enemy's country and preserved the homeland from the horrors and devastations of war. In the second and third years of war you, by destructive blows, broke the strength of the enemy in the east. Meanwhile your comrades in the west offered a brave and victorious front to enormously superior forces.
"As the fruit of these victories the fourth year of war brought us peace in the east. In the west the enemy was heavily hit by the force of your assault. The battles won in recent months count among the highest deeds of fame of German history. You are in the midst of the hardest struggle. Desperate efforts of the enemy will, as hitherto, be foiled by your bravery. Of that I am certain, and with me the entire Fatherland.
"American armies and numerical superiority do not frighten us. It is spirit which brings a decision. Prussian and German history teaches that, as well as the course which the campaign has hitherto taken.
"In comradeship with the army stands my navy. In the unshakable will to victory, in the struggle with opponents who are often superior, and despite the united efforts of the greatest naval powers of the world, my submarines, sure of success, are tenaciously attacking and fighting the vital forces which are streaming across the sea to the enemy. Ever ready for battle, the high-sea forces in untiring work guard the road for the submarines to the open sea and, in union with the defenders of the coast, safeguard for them the sources of their strength.
"Far from home, a small heroic band of our colonial troops is offering a brave resistance to a crushingly superior force.
"We remember with reverence all who have given their lives for the Fatherland. Filled with care for its brothers in the field, the people at home is in its self-sacrificing devotion placing its entire strength at the service of our great cause. We must and we shall continue the fight until the enemy's will to destruction is broken. We will make every sacrifice and put forth every effort to that end. In this spirit the army and the homeland are inseparably bound together. Their united stand and their unbending will will bring victory in the struggle for Germany's right and Germany's freedom. God grant it!"
It was not long, however, before signs appeared that this spirit of confidence was gradually, but surely waning. During the latter part of August and the early part of September, 1918, no opportunity was permitted to pass by the leading men of the German Government that they did not use to indicate to the Allies that German demands had been extensively pared down. The emperor, the crown prince, Von Hindenburg, the chancellor (Von Hertling), Dr. Solf, the foreign minister, and a large number of minor lights continuously expressed in their speeches at every possible occasion how eager they were for peace and how willing they were to come to an understanding.
Early in September, 1918, it became known that General von Linsingen had placed the city of Berlin and the province of Brandenburg in a state of siege and had announced that heavy penalties would be imposed on persons inventing or circulating untrue rumors calculated to disquiet the populace. About the same time a proclamation of considerable length was issued by Field Marshal von Hindenburg warning the German people to resist the "poisonous" propaganda by which the Allies were attempting to undermine their morale. A few days later the emperor made a remarkable speech to the workers of the Krupp works at Essen, remarkable for its unusual moderation as well as for the plea it contained to support the army. Never before in the history of the German emperor had he addressed an assembly of workers in a similar tone of appeal and with as little of the spirit of command.
Momentous events now began to happen in Germany in quick succession. On September 29, 1918, Chancellor von Hertling, Vice Chancellor von Payer, and Foreign Minister von Hintze tendered their resignations, which the emperor accepted. They were succeeded respectively by Prince Max of Baden, Mathias Erzberger, and Dr. W. S. Solf. The first of these was the heir presumptive to the grand ducal throne of Baden, a man about fifty years old and with comparatively moderate and progressive views. The second was a leader of the Centrist (Catholic) party and had frequently expressed his opposition to indemnities and annexations. The third, the former Colonial Secretary, also could be considered as a man of moderate political views. At the same time a number of Socialists entered the Cabinet. Dr. Eduard David became Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Herr Bauer, Secretary of State of the Labor Office, and Philipp Scheidemann, Majority Socialist leader, Secretary of State without Portfolio.
No time was lost by the new chancellor in starting a new drive for a peace by negotiation. On October 4, 1918, he sent through the Swiss Government his famous note appealing to President Wilson for immediate institution of peace negotiations, based on the President's message to Congress on January 8, 1918, and on his speech of September 27, 1918, involving the "Fourteen Points." This was followed by an exchange of notes between the German Government and the President, in which Mr. Wilson stated the views of the Allies with firmness. These notes may be considered the beginning of the end.
The day after Prince Max had sent his first note he made a speech in the Reichstag which perhaps was the most moderate utterance made by any member of the German Government since the start of the war. In it he declares his agreement with the program of the majority parties in the Reichstag which, according to the "Berliner Tageblatt," involved:
"(1) Adherence to the Imperial Government's reply to the papal note of August 1, 1917.
"(2) Declaration of readiness to join the League of Nations in accordance with the following principles—namely, that the league shall comprise all states, and be based on the idea of equality for all peoples, its aim is to safeguard a lasting peace, independent existence and free economic development for all peoples; the League of Nations, with all its resources, protects the states which join it in the rights guaranteed to them by the league, which recognizes their possessions and excludes all special treaties opposed to the aims of the league; the foundations of the league are comprehensive, and comprise the extension of international law, reciprocal obligation of states to submit to peaceful treatment every conflict which is not solvable by diplomatic means, the carrying out of the principle of freedom of the seas, the understanding regarding all-round simultaneous disarmament on land and water, the guaranteeing of an open door for economic, civil, and legal intercourse between nations, and international extension of social legislation and protection for workers.
"(3) An unequivocal declaration regarding the restoration of Belgium and an agreement regarding indemnification.
"(4) The peace treaties hitherto concluded must form no hindrance to the general conclusion of peace. In the Baltic provinces of Lithuania and Poland, popular assemblies are to be created at the earliest possible moment on a broad basis. These states, where civil administration is to be introduced at the earliest possible moment, are to settle their own constitutions and their relations to neighboring peoples.
"(5) Provides for the establishment of an independent federal state of Alsace-Lorraine, with full autonomy corresponding to the demand of Alsace-Lorraine for a popular assembly.
"(6) The carrying out without delay of electoral reform in Prussia; likewise the endeavor to bring about such reform in those federal states which are still without it.
"(7) Aims at coordination of the Imperial Government and the summoning of Government representatives from Parliament to carry out a uniform Imperial policy. The strict observance of all constitutional responsibility. The abolition of all military institutions that serve for the exercise of political influence.
"(8) Says that with a view to the protection of personal liberty, right of meeting, and the freedom of the press, prescriptions regarding the state of siege shall immediately be amended and the censorship restricted to questions of relations to foreign governments, war, strategy, and tactics, troop movements, and the manufacture of war material. The establishment of a political control department for all measures taken on the ground of the state of siege is also demanded."
During the next two weeks a number of constitutional reforms were instituted. The Prussian Diet passed an equal franchise law. The emperor's prerogative to make war and peace and to make treaties with foreign nations was abridged and required the consent of the Federal Council and the Reichstag.
Day by day now the signs of internal collapse became more evident. On October 24, 1918, Dr. Karl Liebknecht was released from prison. Three days later the emperor accepted the resignation of General von Ludendorff, considered generally the head and leader of the militarists and junkers. On the same day a meeting of the Crown Council and of many dignitaries of the entire empire took place. Abdication of the emperor and crown prince became one of the principal topics of discussion, even though the emperor on November 3, 1918, in a manifesto expressed his full support of all reforms.
On November 7, 1918, the German fleet revolted. Kiel was seized by the Soldiers' Council. The emperor's brother, Prince Henry of Prussia, was reported to have fled. On November 8, 1918, the chancellor resigned, but his resignation was not accepted. On the same day Bavaria was declared a republic. The revolution broke out in many other parts of the empire. On November 9, 1918, the chancellor published the following decree:
"The kaiser and king has decided to renounce the throne.
"The Imperial Chancellor will remain in office until the questions connected with the abdication of the kaiser, the renouncing by the crown prince of the throne of the German Empire and of Prussia, and the setting up of a regency have been settled.
"For the regency he intends to appoint Deputy Ebert as Imperial Chancellor, and he proposes that a bill shall be brought in for the establishment of a law providing for the immediate promulgation of general suffrage and for a constitutional German National Assembly, which will settle finally the future form of government of the German nation and of those peoples which might be desirous of coming within the empire.
The Imperial Chancellor."
The new German chancellor, the Socialist Deputy Friedrich Ebert, announced these momentous events in the following manifesto, dated November 10, 1918:
"Citizens: The ex-Chancellor, Prince Max of Baden, in agreement with all the secretaries of state, has handed over to me the task of liquidating his affairs as chancellor. I am on the point of forming a new Government in accord with the various parties, and will keep public opinion freely informed of the course of events.
"The new Government will be a Government of the people. It must make every effort to secure in the quickest possible time peace for the German people and consolidate the liberty which they have won.
"The new Government has taken charge of the administration, to preserve the German people from civil war and famine and to accomplish their legitimate claim to autonomy. The Government can solve this problem only if all the officials in town and country will help.
"I know it will be difficult for some to work with the new men who have taken charge of the empire, but I appeal to their love of the people. Lack of organization would in this heavy time mean anarchy in Germany and the surrender of the country to tremendous misery. Therefore, help your native country with fearless, indefatigable work for the future, everyone at his post.
"I demand everyone's support in the hard task awaiting us. You know how seriously the war has menaced the provisioning of the people, which is the first condition of the people's existence. The political transformation should not trouble the people. The food supply is the first duty of all, whether in town or country, and they should not embarrass, but rather aid, the production of food supplies and their transport to the towns.
"Food shortage signifies pillage and robbery, with great misery. The poorest will suffer the most, and the industrial worker will be affected hardest. All who illicitly lay hands on food supplies or other supplies of prime necessity or the means of transport necessary for their distribution will be guilty in the highest degree toward the community.
"I ask you immediately to leave the streets and remain orderly and calm."
On the same day the emperor and the crown prince fled to Holland, where they were promptly interned. Not until some time later did the actual text of their abdications become known; that of the emperor was published on November 30, 1918, and that of his eldest son on December 6, 1918. The former read:
"I hereby for all the future renounce my rights to the Crown of Prussia and my rights to the German Imperial Crown. At the same time I release all officials of the German Empire and Prussia, as well as all the noncommissioned officers and men of the Navy, of the Prussian Army, and of the Federal contingents, from the oath of fealty which they have made to me as their Kaiser, King, and Supreme Commander. I expect of them that until the reorganization of the German people they will assist those who have been entrusted with the duty of protecting the nation against the threatening danger of anarchy, famine, and foreign rule.
"Given under our own hand and our Imperial Seal, Amerongen, November 28, 1918.
"(Signed) Wilhelm."
One by one the kings, grand dukes, dukes, and princes of the various German states abdicated and, finally, the last autocratic monarchies of the western world had disappeared.
THE LIBERATION OF THE HOLY LAND—MESOPOTAMIAN CAMPAIGN
Jerusalem surrendered, it will be recalled, to General Allenby, commander in chief of the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force, on December 9, 1917. Two days later he entered, at the head of his victorious army, the Holy City, at last again in the hands of Christendom. From then on the British advance continued steadily, even if slowly, toward the north across the whole breadth of Palestine. Jericho fell on February 21, 1918. There was much fighting during March and April, 1918, but after that a period of comparative inactivity set in which was utilized by the British to repair the damages which war had wrought in the Holy Land and to carry through sanitary and administrative reforms which laid a sound foundation for bringing back some of the glory of past centuries. Not until September, 1918, did any military operations of importance occur. Then, however, a new British offensive set in, described in the following pages, which was to drive the Turks forever out of Palestine, Syria, and Arabia.
Much the same story is to be told about the British operations in Mesopotamia, along the Tigris and Euphrates. There, it will be remembered, General Maude had captured Bagdad, the ancient capital of the Caliphs, on March 11, 1917, and had then followed up his success by a steady advance in a northwesterly direction until he fell a victim to cholera on November 19, 1917. He had been succeeded in the command in chief of the Indian Expeditionary Force by General Marshall, who, with the same tenacity as his lamented predecessor and as his companion in arms in Palestine, continued to push the British advance during the balance of 1917 and the first half of 1918. The ancient city of Hit was captured in March, 1918, and from then on the Turks were driven back without let-up.
A considerable share of the victory in Palestine was due to the Arabs who had rebelled against the Turk and, under the king of the Hedjaz, had allied themselves with the British. As early as February, 1918, the Arab and British fronts had been joined at the Dead Sea, and from then on had cooperated in the closest possible manner against the common enemy whom even German support was to avail nothing.
During the early summer of 1918, comparative inactivity ruled along the Palestine front. In August, 1918, only a few minor operations were reported. Thus, on the morning of August 8, 1918, an extensive bombing raid was carried out by Royal Air Force and Australian units against the Turkish camps and establishments in the vicinity of Amman railway station, on the Hedjaz Railway, twenty-five miles east of the Jericho bridgehead.
On the same day Imperial Camel troops, cooperating with the Arab forces of the king of the Hedjaz, seized Mudawara railway station on the Hedjaz Railway, sixty-five miles south of Maan, killing thirty-five and capturing 120 of the enemy, with two guns and three machine guns.
During the night of August 12, 1918, British troops carried out a series of successful raids at various points on a frontage of ten miles astride the Jerusalem-Nablus (Shechem) road, killing some 200 of the enemy and capturing seventeen Turkish officers and 230 of other ranks, with fifteen machine guns.