The decline of the empire

Bethmann Hollweg

Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, the new chancellor, was a perfect symbol of the decline in the authority of the Reich. He had no experience either in politics or foreign affairs, and thus he was content to administer. Cultured and honest, he seemed filled with good intentions, and his high character often put William II and even the Reichstag on their best behaviour. He had no sense of power, though. He put forward sensible proposals and when these were defeated, he acquiesced in the wild policy of his opponents. This was early shown in his negotiations with Great Britain over the limitation of naval armaments. In March 1909, during the naval scare in Great Britain, the effect of an agreement would have been enormous on British opinion. Bethmann saw this clearly and tried to negotiate but he was resisted by Tirpitz, overruled by the emperor, and gave way without protest. Bethmann was led by Kiderlen, his secretary of state, into a second conflict with France over Morocco.

The Second Moroccan Crisis (July–November 1911)

Kiderlen’s object was to restore good relations with France, but, with German heavy-handedness, he chose the way of threats and bullying. A German warship, the Panther, was sent to the Moroccan port of Agadir in order to stake out a claim against the French. Kiderlen demanded the French Congo as compensation for surrendering German rights in Morocco which did not exist. Pan-German feeling was aroused, and Kiderlen received more support in Germany than he had bargained for. Against his will he had to create a war crisis, and in this crisis Germany was defeated by Anglo-French resolution. The Agadir affair ended with a settlement in which Germany received only a fragment of the French Congo. In the ensuing Reichstag debate, Bethmann and Kiderlen were excoriated for their timidity; these attacks were openly patronized by the crown prince William. Bethmann would not make a frank defense of his pacific policy yet was resolved against a policy of violence. Hence, as usual, he fell back on a policy of routine.

In the two and a half years between the Agadir crisis and the outbreak of World War I, Bethmann made sincere, though ineffectual, attempts to lessen the tension in international relations. He tried vainly to take advantage of the visit of British secretary of state for war Richard Burdon Haldane to Berlin (February 1912) to improve Anglo-German relations, an attempt once more wrecked by Tirpitz’s refusal to restrict his naval plans. Bethmann worked with Sir Edward Grey to limit the Balkan Wars and successfully prevented their turning into a conflict between Russia and Austria-Hungary. Finally, he and the British negotiated agreements settling the Baghdad railway and devising a new hypothetical partition of the Portuguese empire. These seemed signs of a policy of appeasement, but Bethmann was the prisoner both of German opinion and of the great general staff. He was engaged in postponing a European war, not in preventing one. Even the improved relations with Great Britain were aimed partly at detaching the British from France and Russia so that Germany would have more chance of winning a continental war.

Bethmann and the Reichstag (1912–14)

In home affairs, Bethmann also kept things at a standstill. Like Bülow and even Bismarck before him, he recognized that the only secure future for Germany was as a democratic monarchy with a government based on a solid Reichstag majority. Like his predecessors, he had no idea how this could be brought about and regarded himself as a “caretaker,” administering affairs on a day-to-day basis until the politicians of the Reichstag somehow accomplished the miracle which was beyond him. Yet the democratic majority was only just round the corner. The Progressive People’s Party (Fortschrittliche Volkspartei)—the banner under which the Radicals had come together again—the Centre, and the Social Democrats would provide a more or less permanent majority in the Reichstag, if they could only coalesce. This was impossible as long as the Social Democrats retained in theory the revolutionary principles which they had long discarded in practice. However, they could not drop these principles until they were faced with the responsibilities of office. Hence the incipient democratic majority never became a reality until after the defeat of Germany in war. Bethmann’s solution for every problem was to do nothing. Thus, to preserve peace with the Poles, he did not enforce Bülow’s anti-Polish laws, but, to avoid disturbing national feeling, he did not repeal them. The general election of 1912 returned the Social Democrats as the largest single party, and Bethmann did not attempt to renew Bismarck’s battle against them. On the other hand, he did not bring them over to the government side. As usual, he made gestures without taking action. He consulted the Social Democratic leaders but did not act on their advice. He promised a reform of the Prussian franchise but was unable to redeem his promise.

Bethmann’s helpless position was clearly shown in November 1913. The officers of the garrison at Saverne in Alsace provoked quarrels with the townspeople and arrested some of them in defiance of the law. Bethmann thought the military authorities were in the wrong, but he also thought it his duty to defend them. The Reichstag revolted, and Bethmann was censured by a vote of 293 to 54. It was a vote without a sequel. Bethmann did not resign, and the military authorities were not punished. The “progressive” Reichstag, which had condemned the military, voted an enormous capital levy for the further increase and equipment of the army. Thus, to the end, the German people tried to combine the rule of law at home and the rule of German military power abroad. It was certainly a great achievement that Germany remained a Rechtsstaat (“a state of law”) throughout the period of the empire, but it was an achievement that had to be paid for by the other peoples of Europe.