Fiany’s Confession of I
Responsibility for War g
j\ Being the Confession of Prince Lichnowsky,
German Ambassador to London
in 1914
(Printed under authority of the Committee on Public Information)
The famous memorandum of Prince
Lichnowsky. who was German ambas
sador to the court of St. James in
1914, at the time of the outbreak of
the world war, was made public in
this country some time ago, and cre
ated a profound sensation. The mem
orandum, written for private circula
tion among the friends and relatives
of the diplomatist, found its way Into
the columns of a Swedish newspaper,
and extracts were published in So
cialist newspapers in Germany. The
document fixes beyond the shadow of
doubt the responsibility of Germany
for the deliberate provocation of the
war, and substantiates in every detail
the contentions of the British official
statement as to the negotiations
which led to the opening of hostili
ties by Austria and Germany. The
following resume of the document has
been prepared for publication by the
federal committee on publication. It
is of interest to note that Prince Lich
nowsky, since the publication of the
startling document, has been a virtual
prisoner at his country estate, and
has been charged with high treason.
It has come at last. After pro
ten! ing innocence and brazenly deny
ing guilt for nearly lour years, Ger
many has admitted her crime against
civilization. ,
r she baa done it through her former
ambassador in England. Prince Lich
nowsky He has been corroborated by
a former director of the groat Krupp1
gun factory, a Dr. Muhlon. And the
truth of their testimony has been sub
st..ntially admitted by the man who
\*;• Germany’s former minister when
lb re Lichnowsky was German atm
b: idor in London- namely. Herr
m lagow.
’ * documents in the case have
l>» * i! obtained by the state department
at Washington and translated. They
are complete and convincing.
After setting forth nil the damning
evidence against Germany. Prince
Lichnowsky sums it up:
' Kir-d W e encouraged Count Perch
thold (the \utrian foreign minister) i
to attack Serbia, although ho German'
inter* i wa: involved and the danger!
i : .! win id war must have been known
t< i• • Whether or not we knew the!
(• -t <>i lie \ustri in ultimatum to Ser ■
Iiiu makes no different e whatever.
'Senmil We rejeeied (Ireut Brito
.tin- plan of mediation in the (lays,
tide.-tii tie j::<i and :!utli of July,
19 1. \\ i till this after Mr Sasaliofi
(■In I; 11 • e i.. n toreign minister) had
eniiJiatica'ly det-lared lliat lie could'
not toler te an altaek upon Serbia,;
after Serliia. upon pressure from Kng
land had uecepti-d nearly the whole
of the ultimatum, nil hut two points,
in then In s not hard to adjust; and
m u jitter Count Ben litold (the Aus
trian foreign ministeri was ready to
la ■ tisiird with the Serbian answer.
"Third (In the Until day of July,
with Count llerelitold willing to listea
to i-aM 'i. before Austria was touched,
on the mere mobilization of Russia we
sent our ultimatum to Russia and on
tin- i n day m July we declared war
on Russia, although the Czar had
pledged his word that as long as ne
gotiation ; were going on not one mail
would lie sent on the march. We thus
deliberately destroyed every chance of
| • aeef III set t lenient.
•|i is no wonder that in the pres
, m .■ ii those indisputable facts the
v. 111 ■ I■1 civilized world outside of (Ser
n, my lavs the entire blame for the
world war at our door is ii not nat
nral that our foes declare they will
not rest until they have destroyed
.. yslem which is a perpetual men
am to ii neighbors? Must they not
otherwise fear that in a few years
tin v will again he compelled to take
up arms and see their provinces over
run. Itudr i dies and villages laid to
w aste?"
Dr. Muhion's Evidence
Dr, Mulilon, of the board of Krupps
directors, does not make a summing
up He merely gives evidence that
in the middle of July. 1914, ho had a
business conversation with a director
of the Deutsche bank in Berlin, who
advised him that the bank would not
assist Krupps in “certain large trans
actions in Bulgaria and Turkey” be
cause the political situation had “be
come very menacing and the
Deutsche hank would have to wait
■'before entering into any fur
ther engagements abroad" This di
rector of the Deutsche bank was Dr.
UcHerrich, since vice chancellor of
(iormany. tic explained: "The Aus
trians have just been with the kaiser :
In a week's time Vienna will send a
very severe ultimatum to Serbia,
with a eery short interval for an nns
wer. * • * A w hole series of d* '
inite satisfactions will be demanded
at once: otherwise Austria-Hungary
will declare war on Serbia."
This is the ultimatum about which
the Herman authorities have insisted1
:hev were not consulted
Dr. Muhlon routines: "Dr. Helffer
ich atldetl ill: ' the kaiser had cx
pressed his decided approval of this1
procedure on the par, of Austria-Hun
gary He said that he regarded a
conflict with Serbia as an internal af
fair .between two countries, in which;
he would permit no other state to
interfere. If Russia mobilized, he also
would mobilize. Hut in this case mob
ilization meant immediate war."
"This uncanny communication.” Dr
Muhlon says, "converted my fears of
a world war, which were already very
strong, into absolute certainty.” He
consulted with Herr Krupp von Boh
len himself in Berlin. And Krupp con
firmed the news. He said "that the
kaiser had told him (Krupp) that he
would declare war immediately if Rus
sia mobilized, and that this time peo
ple would see that he did not turn
about. The kaiser's repented insis
tence that this time nobody would lie
able to accuse him of indedson had.
he said, been almost comic in its .ef
fect." * - - ’
On the day when the Austrian ul
limatum to Serbia was delivered thy
kaiser was on a yachting trip in the
North sen. That fact has often been
advanced as a proof of Herman inno
cence. But when Dr. Muhlon read the
ultimatum to Serbia he had another
interview with Helfferich, and he tes
tifies that "Helfferich said to me that
ltu> kaiser had gone on his northern
cruise only as a blind; he had not ar
ranged the cruise on the usual exten
sive scale. Iml was remaining close at
hand and keeping in constant touch "
Von Jagow's Admissions
And finally Herr ton Jugow. Ger
many's foreign minister at (lie out
break of the war. in replying to
IYim-e ldchnnwsky's evidence, makes
[his startling admission, among the
dhers "I by no means share the
(pinion pretalent among us today,
;hat Kugland laid all the mines for the
mtbreiik of the war: on the contrary,
I believe in Sir Kdtvard Crev s love
d' peace and in his earnest wish to
mite at ail agreement w ith us. • * *
Wither was tin* war popular with
ihe Knglish people Belgium had to
serve as a battle field " Von Jagott
■ten admits that war might have been
iverted by an international conference
:>11 the Serbian situation. "We could
mil agree." he says, "to the Knglish
proposal of a conference of ambassa
dors. for it would doubtless have led
to a serious diplomatic defeat. Kor
Italy, too. was pro-Serb, and. with her
Balkan interests, stood rather opposed
to Austria ” That is to say, \ on »Iu
gow admits that war was chosen by
Germany as an alternative to an in
ternational conference, which would
have declared the Austrian demands
ell Serbia unjust even in the eves ot
Italy, the ally ol Austria and Germany
Dr. Muhlon's Conscience
With Hr Mult Ion it was evidently a
, ;isi> of conscience. iim tin w.ir
began lie resigned his position as a
director ol Krupp's Works, at lessen,
. nd reimsl lo his estate in Switzer
land near Berne. There he lived a re
tired life. After a time reports began
lo circulate of statements which he
had made to visitors, and lie was put
under the surveillance of spies from
the German embassy at Berne, latter,
members from the Socialist party in
the Reichstag visited him, and the
German press reported that u retired
Krupp official living In Switzerland
“claimed to be In possession of cer
tain secrets seriously compromlang the
honor of the German government In
the matter ot responsibility for the
war." The newspapers began to hint
that this official was out of his mind
I)r. Muhlon's statements were then
published either as a vindication ol
»
him or as an exposure which should
aid the democratic revolution In Her
nia ny.
With Prince Lichnowsky it is a dif
ferent matter. He is a nobleman of
semi royal lineage, “the sixth prince of
tin* princedom of Hratz in Austria
uni Kik Indna in Prussia “ His grand
father was one ol Beethoven's pa
trons Beethoven wrote many of his
works in tin* Llchnowsky castle at
Hratz. where the piano that he used
is still preserved, and tin* present
prince. Karl Max Lichnowsky, has car
ried on tin* tradition of culture and
liberalism which lie inherited from
bis family. He was a brother officer
of tin* present kaiser in tin* Life Huard
Hussars of Potsdam, but after a brief
career In* entered tin* diplomatic
service, and held important posts in!
Stockholm, Constantinople, Bucharest'
and Vienna He retired in 11*04, being,
out of sympathy with tin* Junker at
mosphere of the court He was not
a Prussian, nor even a Herman. His
family was Bohemian, and his mind
has rover been militaristic
To his “great surprise," In* says, he |
was offered the post of Herman am- ^
bassador to London in October, 11*12, |
after he had panned eight years |
“among flax and turnips, on horse
back and in my meadows," amusing j
his leisure with reading and with i
writing occasional articles. “I do not ]
know," he says, “to whom my appoint j
ment was due—at all events, not to (
his majesty, as I did not belong to
his immediate set. although he was
always gracious to me. I believe that
they agreed on me because no other
candidate was available."
(To Be Continuedt
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