GERMANY 301 GERMANY occo. England supported France, and Germany was obliged to acknowledge the supremacy of French claims. In return, France ceded to Germany 112 square miles in the French Congo. Rapid increase in the war armament in the years preceding the World War made it necessary to levy special taxes on prop- erty value and incomes. The military system received severe criticism in 1913, owing to disturbances at Zabern, in which German officers were found to have acted with great brutality toward the people. The outbreak of the World War found Germany well prepared from a military standpoint. Indeed, there was abundant evidence to show that for 30 years previous economic and military preparations had been made for a great European war, and that only the oppor- tunity was lacking. This was furnished by the assassination of the Crown Prince Ferdinand, on June 24, 1914. The details of the part played by Ger- many in the World War are told in the article of that title. The nation was well united at the out- break of the war, and the first war loan of 4,505,000,000 marks was easily raised. All political parties supported the war. With the beginning of 1915 the question of regulating the food supply became important, and the food question con- tinued throughout the years following to be the most acute of the domestic prob- lems of the country. Political opposition to the war developed in 1916, when a split was brought about in the ranks of the Social Democratic party. The opposition was led by Carl Liebknecht, who on January 13, 1916, was expelled from membership in the party. Lieb- knecht was later arrested and im- prisoned. The question of possible terms of peace continued throughout 1916. The Socialists opposed the annexation of any territory, while the Supreme War party insisted upon annexation of all conquered territory. At the beginning of 1917 war appropriations had reached the total of 40,000,000,000 marks. There were during this year a number of im- portant cabinet changes, the most im- portant of these being in the navy de- partment, where Grand Admiral von Tir- pitz, who had inaugurated and ardently supported the submarine campaign, was succeeded by Admiral von Capelle. Political conditions during 1917 rapidly grew more acute. The position of the Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, became continually more difficult. The condition was rendered more complicated by the revolution in Russia, which raised a demand for electoral reforms in Ger- many. These were promised by the Em- peror and by the Chancellor. The op- Vol. IV— Cyc— T position to the conduct of the war g^rew serious and was led by Mathias Erzber- ger. He attacked the government for antagonizing the United States, and for its erroneous predictions in regard to the successful conclusion of the war. A de- mand for peace continued to grow. Bethmann-Hollweg resigned on July 14, 1917, and was succeeded by Dr. George Michaelis, who in turn was suc- ceeded on November 1, 1917, by Count George von Hertling. There was great dissatisfaction in the military party over the terms of peace with Russia. The reactionary, or military element, was strong enough to defeat the reform measures undertaken by the government. They also strongly insisted upon a dic- tated peace, involving the annexation of large parts of Belgium and France, and the payment to Germany of a vast in- demnity. This party was strongly op- posed by the Socialists, and there were other indications that the people were becoming restless. This unrest was in- creased by the uncompromising attitude taken by the Chancellor toward concili- atory speeches made by President Wil- son and Lloyd George. In March, 1918. there was published the so-called Lich- nowsky memorandum which revealed the unsuccessful attempts of the former German ambassador at London to pre- vent war. The failure of the final German drive in spring of 1918 brought about a re- versal of the government's position in regard to peace terms. The Chancellor in July declared that Germany did not intend to hold Belgium permanently. There were also many signs of dissen- sion between the separate German states and between Germany and Austria. In September separate peace overtures were made with Belgium. Von Hertling re- signed on September 29, 1918, and Prince Max von Baden became Imperial Chan- cellor. On October 5, he appealed to the President of the United States, ask- ing him to take steps to bring about peace, and on October 21, sent another note to President Wilson describing the changes that had been made in the Ger- man Government and claiming that the Government was now in complete accord with the principle of representation of the people. The note also stated that orders had been issued to all German submarines to cease the torpedoing of passenger ships. President Wilson re- plied on October 23, expressing his will- ingness to consider the question of an armistice. The discussion was carried on in the German Reichstag during, the weeks following. In the meantime, an armistice had l^en signed between Aus- tria and Italy, and political unrest in
