GERMAN PEACE OFFER

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 October 1939, Page 8

GERMAN PEACE OFFER

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF History’s odd repetitions reveal themselves again in the German offensive, for in the Great War the first German peace proposal also followed a conquest of Poland and a promise to the Poles of an Independent State, with pledges for the future. The proclamation on November 5, 1915, dealt with the restoration of Poland, which would, however, remain closely linked to the two empires. This proclamation produced results which were not expected; for the Russians countered by publishing a promise to establish a greater Poland under a guarantee of the Entente Powers.

The privations of the blockade were felt by 1916; moreover, the old Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria had died and been succeeded by the young Emperor Charles, who desired peace, and communicated his desire to the Kaiser. It met with approval, and the two Emperors, after a conference with their Ministers, suggested peace at a moment when their military successes enabled them to dictate terms. The conditions were conveyed by the German Chancellor in a Note to neutral countries. The offer was denounced by the Allies. The aims announced at the end of the war —the reduction of the territory of Germany, dismemberment of the Austro-Hungari-an Empire, and expulsion of the Turks from Europe. The whole matter was virtually killed by a Royal Council in Germany, which determined to embark on unrestricted submarine warware, which “would force Britain to sue for peace in five months.” The Austrians, however, continued to hope, and the Emperor Charles began ,to look for a way of escape. He wanted, above all, to preserve the Austrian monarchy, and, working through his Foreign Minister, even demanded that Germany should cede Alsace to France, receiving Poland as compensation, and that the submarine campaign should not go forward, and he said that Austria would cede territory if she were permitted to indemnify herself in Roumania. Through his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus, and without the knowledge of the Germans, he was also negotiating with France, offering to support the “just claims of France to Alsace-Lor-raine,” to work for the re-establish-ment of Belgium and Serbia as independent States, the granting of an indemnity to Belgium, and of an outlet to the Adriatic to Serbia. The Allies judged rightly when they saw in the letter containing these terms a proof of Austria’s weakness.