09-07-2013, 09:08 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-07-2013, 09:24 PM by Jim Hackett II.)
War never changes. Versions change and places change. Motives change. But not war.
Like the chessboard opening, the pieces (resources and logistics) have to be put hither and yon. Memos of understanding have to be understood. 1914's war too had to be made ready for european carnage again.
A geopolitical starting line procedure of sorts, like a prestage stage go sequence in drag race terms.
From: Preparata's Conjuring Hitler beginning on p. 22
"Besieging Germany
In the summer of 1914, Germany stood behind Austria, Russia behind Serbia. British diplomacy could now entrap both: the ally and enemy alike.
On July6, Britain's Foreign Secretary, Lord Grey, informed the German ambassador that Russia was yet unprepared to intervene, and that Britain had no binding obligation vis-Ã -vis either Russia or France: a deliberate lie. 42
Two days later, the British Foreign Minister assured the Russians that, according to very reliable military sources', the Germans were rapidly conveying divisions to the East, and that the situation looked upon the Reich with disfavor: an even bigger lie. 43
All such deceiving signals issued by the Foreign Office in cross-directions behind closed doors were accompanied in Britain by a public show of phoney attempts at mediation in the name of peace, initiated with an eye to deceive the multitudes. 44 Britain had always been careful to spin the international tangle so as to drive the opponent in the position of the assailant, and reserve for herself the role of the peace-loving defender. This was a psychological artifice tailored for mass seduction, and the Germans had no knowledge or understanding of such tricks.
Austria issued the ultimatum to Serbia: a comprehensive injunction to annihilate any form of anti-Austrian propaganda in Serbia, and to open a formal investigation into the assassination, [Archduke Ferdinand] in which delegates of the Austrian empire were to partake. 45 Serbia accepted all points but the last one, which, in a theatrical diplomatic counter-move, she offered to submit to international arbitration at the international court of The Hague. Clearly, she had been instructed to turn down the ultimatum by her patrons, who had been waiting a long time for this moment: already on July 25, the British Treasury began printing special Notes, non-convertible into gold, marked for war expenses. 46
The war against Serbia into which Austria was deliberately incited by the ruinous intrigues of Serbia at the instigation of Russia was a trap into which Austria fell, not knowing it was fomented by Russia to create a pretext of general mobilization and war and to make Austria and Germany appear to the world as the willful originators of the great conflict. 47
The armies of Franz Josef prepared the attack against Serbia, Wilhelm was overjoyed heedless of the consequences. After one more round of perfunctory diplomatic waltzes between London, Berlin, Paris and St. Petersburg, Austria-Hungary went ahead and on July 28 bombarded Belgrade. The war had begun.
Russia, secretly goaded by France, who promised her support,48 mobilized along her western frontier, and the German generals obviously awaited the green light from the Kaiser to launch the Schlieffen offensive. Portales, the German ambassador in St. Petersburg, rushed to the foreign ministry, and asked its head, Saznaov, to halt the Russian mobilization. He implored three times. When the Russian minister refused for the last time, Portales hand him with trembling hand, Germany's declaration of war. It happened on August 1.
However, upon hearing the news of Russia's massing troops, Wilhelm somewhat broke out of his stupor and commiseratively brought himself to acknowledge the truth of the situation:
In this way the stupidity and clumsiness of our ally is turned into a noose. So the celebrated encirclement of Germany has finally become an accomplished fact. … The net has suddenly closed over our heads, and the purely anti-German policy which England has been scornfully pursuing all over the world has won the most spectacular victory which we have proved powerless to prevent while they, having got us despite our struggles all alone into the net through our loyalty to Austria, proceed to throttle our political and economic existence. A magnificent achievement which even those for whom it means disaster are bound to admire. 49
Indeed it was, and for such a disaster, the Germans had only themselves to blame.
At the outbreak of war, Rasputin brooded: No more stars in the sky … An ocean of tears … Our Motherland has never suffered a martyrdom as that which awaits us … Russia will drown in her own blood.' 50
In yet another sudden coup de theatre, as Germany prepared to unleash the onslaught on the Western Front, Britain issued one last cunning call for peace by informing the soon-to-be-warring parties that she was willing to guarantee her neutrality and provide assurances that France would not join the side of Russia in an eventual Russo-German conflict, provided Germany did not attack France. This last mischievous prank, which Wilhelm with diabolical perseverance, took for a British accolade to his eastern invasion, nearly caused the already shaken Chief of the German General Staff, Helmuth Von Moltke, to break down the German mobilization was complete; the armies had to push forth, he insisted.
Pressured by the general, the German government as a brash counter-bargain demanded no less than the acquisition of two French fortresses (Toul and Verdun) as security' for French neutrality. France naturally rejected the offer. On August 3, Germany declared war upon France. Staggering from one pitfall to another, Germany had turned herself into the world aggressor, Abel Ferry, the French Under-Secretary of State, wrote in his notebook" The web was spun and Germany entered it like a giant buzzing fly.' 51
Finally, as her turn came next, Britain came full circle: knowing that Moltke was ready to thrust Ludendorff's fusiliers through Belgium, the British government solemnly declared that it could not possibly tolerate the violation of Belgium's neutrality; it then professed its unconditional adherence to peace, and, shameless, assured the public that it had signed no secret compacts with France or Russia. 52
When the Schlieffen Plan was enacted and the Reich's armies crossed into Flanders, Britain sent Germany an ultimatum, which she knew the Reich would have ignored; but to avoid surprises (it expired at midnight) the British Cabinet exploited the time lag between London and Berlin, and shortened the waiting by an hour.
Sitting in silence round a large circular table covered with a neat green cloth, the ministers furtively eyed the big clock until it struck 11:00. Twenty minutes later Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, walked into the hall to inform his colleagues that a telegram had been dispatched across the empire summoning the Royal Fleet to begin operations. 53
And where did the summer of 1914 find Adolf Hitler? At 25, already a veteran of Viennese flophouses one amongst many bourgeois rates young Hitler joined, with a profound sense of deliverance and expectancy a Bavarian regiment with the rank of private. A man that enlists, said Pasternak, is not a happy man:
A few days[s] later I was wearing the tunic which I was not to doff until nearly six years later. For me as for every German, there now began the greatest and most unforgettable time of my early existence, Compared to the events of this gigantic struggle, everything past receded to shallow nothingness. 54
Hitler would fight on the Western Front and earn several decorations for bravery."
Notes:
42. Erusalimskij, Bismarck, p. 234.
43. Ibid., p. 235.
44. The philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote: 'I had noticed during the previous years how carefully Sir Edward Grey lied in order to prevent the public from knowing the methods by which he was committing us to the support of France in the event of war' (Fromkin, Peace, p. 125).
45. Tarle, Breve storia, p. 279.
46. Quigley, Tragedy, pp. 316-17.
47. Owen, Russian Imperial Conspiracy, p. 14
48. Erusalimskij, Bismarck, p. 269.
49. Balfour, The Kaiser, p. 351
50. Quoted in Geminello Alvi, Dell'estremo occidente. Il secolo americano in Europa. Storie economiche, (Firenze: Marco Nardi Editore, 1993), p. 75
51. Degrelle, Hitler, p. 86
52. Fromkin, Peace, p. 125.
53. Erusalimskij, Bismarck, pp. 255-56.
54. Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1971 [1924-26]) pp. 163-64
[End Quote from Conjuring Hitler]
Typos are mine, comments to follow.
Like the chessboard opening, the pieces (resources and logistics) have to be put hither and yon. Memos of understanding have to be understood. 1914's war too had to be made ready for european carnage again.
A geopolitical starting line procedure of sorts, like a prestage stage go sequence in drag race terms.
From: Preparata's Conjuring Hitler beginning on p. 22
"Besieging Germany
In the summer of 1914, Germany stood behind Austria, Russia behind Serbia. British diplomacy could now entrap both: the ally and enemy alike.
On July6, Britain's Foreign Secretary, Lord Grey, informed the German ambassador that Russia was yet unprepared to intervene, and that Britain had no binding obligation vis-Ã -vis either Russia or France: a deliberate lie. 42
Two days later, the British Foreign Minister assured the Russians that, according to very reliable military sources', the Germans were rapidly conveying divisions to the East, and that the situation looked upon the Reich with disfavor: an even bigger lie. 43
All such deceiving signals issued by the Foreign Office in cross-directions behind closed doors were accompanied in Britain by a public show of phoney attempts at mediation in the name of peace, initiated with an eye to deceive the multitudes. 44 Britain had always been careful to spin the international tangle so as to drive the opponent in the position of the assailant, and reserve for herself the role of the peace-loving defender. This was a psychological artifice tailored for mass seduction, and the Germans had no knowledge or understanding of such tricks.
Austria issued the ultimatum to Serbia: a comprehensive injunction to annihilate any form of anti-Austrian propaganda in Serbia, and to open a formal investigation into the assassination, [Archduke Ferdinand] in which delegates of the Austrian empire were to partake. 45 Serbia accepted all points but the last one, which, in a theatrical diplomatic counter-move, she offered to submit to international arbitration at the international court of The Hague. Clearly, she had been instructed to turn down the ultimatum by her patrons, who had been waiting a long time for this moment: already on July 25, the British Treasury began printing special Notes, non-convertible into gold, marked for war expenses. 46
The war against Serbia into which Austria was deliberately incited by the ruinous intrigues of Serbia at the instigation of Russia was a trap into which Austria fell, not knowing it was fomented by Russia to create a pretext of general mobilization and war and to make Austria and Germany appear to the world as the willful originators of the great conflict. 47
The armies of Franz Josef prepared the attack against Serbia, Wilhelm was overjoyed heedless of the consequences. After one more round of perfunctory diplomatic waltzes between London, Berlin, Paris and St. Petersburg, Austria-Hungary went ahead and on July 28 bombarded Belgrade. The war had begun.
Russia, secretly goaded by France, who promised her support,48 mobilized along her western frontier, and the German generals obviously awaited the green light from the Kaiser to launch the Schlieffen offensive. Portales, the German ambassador in St. Petersburg, rushed to the foreign ministry, and asked its head, Saznaov, to halt the Russian mobilization. He implored three times. When the Russian minister refused for the last time, Portales hand him with trembling hand, Germany's declaration of war. It happened on August 1.
However, upon hearing the news of Russia's massing troops, Wilhelm somewhat broke out of his stupor and commiseratively brought himself to acknowledge the truth of the situation:
In this way the stupidity and clumsiness of our ally is turned into a noose. So the celebrated encirclement of Germany has finally become an accomplished fact. … The net has suddenly closed over our heads, and the purely anti-German policy which England has been scornfully pursuing all over the world has won the most spectacular victory which we have proved powerless to prevent while they, having got us despite our struggles all alone into the net through our loyalty to Austria, proceed to throttle our political and economic existence. A magnificent achievement which even those for whom it means disaster are bound to admire. 49
Indeed it was, and for such a disaster, the Germans had only themselves to blame.
At the outbreak of war, Rasputin brooded: No more stars in the sky … An ocean of tears … Our Motherland has never suffered a martyrdom as that which awaits us … Russia will drown in her own blood.' 50
In yet another sudden coup de theatre, as Germany prepared to unleash the onslaught on the Western Front, Britain issued one last cunning call for peace by informing the soon-to-be-warring parties that she was willing to guarantee her neutrality and provide assurances that France would not join the side of Russia in an eventual Russo-German conflict, provided Germany did not attack France. This last mischievous prank, which Wilhelm with diabolical perseverance, took for a British accolade to his eastern invasion, nearly caused the already shaken Chief of the German General Staff, Helmuth Von Moltke, to break down the German mobilization was complete; the armies had to push forth, he insisted.
Pressured by the general, the German government as a brash counter-bargain demanded no less than the acquisition of two French fortresses (Toul and Verdun) as security' for French neutrality. France naturally rejected the offer. On August 3, Germany declared war upon France. Staggering from one pitfall to another, Germany had turned herself into the world aggressor, Abel Ferry, the French Under-Secretary of State, wrote in his notebook" The web was spun and Germany entered it like a giant buzzing fly.' 51
Finally, as her turn came next, Britain came full circle: knowing that Moltke was ready to thrust Ludendorff's fusiliers through Belgium, the British government solemnly declared that it could not possibly tolerate the violation of Belgium's neutrality; it then professed its unconditional adherence to peace, and, shameless, assured the public that it had signed no secret compacts with France or Russia. 52
When the Schlieffen Plan was enacted and the Reich's armies crossed into Flanders, Britain sent Germany an ultimatum, which she knew the Reich would have ignored; but to avoid surprises (it expired at midnight) the British Cabinet exploited the time lag between London and Berlin, and shortened the waiting by an hour.
Sitting in silence round a large circular table covered with a neat green cloth, the ministers furtively eyed the big clock until it struck 11:00. Twenty minutes later Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, walked into the hall to inform his colleagues that a telegram had been dispatched across the empire summoning the Royal Fleet to begin operations. 53
And where did the summer of 1914 find Adolf Hitler? At 25, already a veteran of Viennese flophouses one amongst many bourgeois rates young Hitler joined, with a profound sense of deliverance and expectancy a Bavarian regiment with the rank of private. A man that enlists, said Pasternak, is not a happy man:
A few days[s] later I was wearing the tunic which I was not to doff until nearly six years later. For me as for every German, there now began the greatest and most unforgettable time of my early existence, Compared to the events of this gigantic struggle, everything past receded to shallow nothingness. 54
Hitler would fight on the Western Front and earn several decorations for bravery."
Notes:
42. Erusalimskij, Bismarck, p. 234.
43. Ibid., p. 235.
44. The philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote: 'I had noticed during the previous years how carefully Sir Edward Grey lied in order to prevent the public from knowing the methods by which he was committing us to the support of France in the event of war' (Fromkin, Peace, p. 125).
45. Tarle, Breve storia, p. 279.
46. Quigley, Tragedy, pp. 316-17.
47. Owen, Russian Imperial Conspiracy, p. 14
48. Erusalimskij, Bismarck, p. 269.
49. Balfour, The Kaiser, p. 351
50. Quoted in Geminello Alvi, Dell'estremo occidente. Il secolo americano in Europa. Storie economiche, (Firenze: Marco Nardi Editore, 1993), p. 75
51. Degrelle, Hitler, p. 86
52. Fromkin, Peace, p. 125.
53. Erusalimskij, Bismarck, pp. 255-56.
54. Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1971 [1924-26]) pp. 163-64
[End Quote from Conjuring Hitler]
Typos are mine, comments to follow.
Read not to contradict and confute;
nor to believe and take for granted;
nor to find talk and discourse;
but to weigh and consider.
FRANCIS BACON
nor to believe and take for granted;
nor to find talk and discourse;
but to weigh and consider.
FRANCIS BACON