Germany, The Next Republic?Ackerman, Carl W. (Carl William)
History
Germany, The Next Republic?
Ackerman, Carl W. (Carl William)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Germany
"Yet these plodding and undramatic notes arouse in Germany a feeling
very different from one of ridicule. The resentful respect for our
notes is there admirably summed up by a member of the Reichstag who to
the correspondent of the United Press exclaimed bitterly: 'Our present
navy is held in a net of notes.'
"Nets may not be so spectacular as knuckle-dusters, but they are
slightly more civilised and generally more efficient."
The National Liberal Reichstag member who was quoted was Dr. Gustav
Stressemann. Stressemann is one of the worst reactionaries in Germany
but he likes to pose as a progressive. He was one of the first men to
suggest that the Reichstag form a committee on foreign relations to
consult with and have equal power of decision with the Foreign Office.
For a great many months the Socialist deputies of the Prussian Diet
have been demanding election reforms. Their demands were so insistent
that over a year ago the Chancellor, when he read the Kaiser's address
from the throne room in the residence palace in Berlin to the deputies,
promised election reforms in Prussia--after the war. But during last
summer the Socialists began to demand immediate election reforms. To
further embarrass the Chancellor and the Government, the National
Liberals made the same demands, knowing all the time that if the
Government ever attempted it, they could swing the Reichstag majority
against the proposal by technicalities.
Throughout the summer months the Government could not hush up the
incessant discussion of war aims. More than one newspaper was
suppressed for demanding peace or for demanding a statement of the
Government's position in regard to Belgium and Northern France. The
peace movement within Germany grew by leaps and bounds. The Socialists
demanded immediate action by the Government. The Conservatives, the
National Liberals and the Catholic party wanted peace but only the kind
of a peace which Germany could force upon the Entente. The Chancellor
and other German leaders tried again throughout the summer and fall to
get the outside world interested in peace but at this time the English
and French attacks on the Somme were engaging the attention and the
resources of the whole world.
Before these conflicting movements within Germany can be understood one
must know something of the organisation of Germany in war time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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