YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Bought with the income
of the
ALFRED E. PERKINS FUND

MEMOIRS OF
THE CROWN PRINCE OF GERMANY

^m,

MEMOIRS
OF THE CROWN PRINCE
OF GERMANY

ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1922

Copyright, 1922, bv
THE MUNDUS PUBLISHING CO., Ltd., AMSTERDAM
german edition
Copyright, 1922, by
J. G. COTTA, STUTTGART-BERLIN

Printed in the United States of America

Published May, 1922

CONTENTS

PAGE

Impulsus Scribendi  I
CHAPTER I
Childhood Days  3
Boys will be Boys  3
My Father's Nature  18
Princes, Sovereigns and Sayings  27
CHAPTER II
Soldier, Sportsman and Student ..... 35
The Value of Prussian Drill  35
The Queen ....  41
Student Life  44
In Command of the Foot-Guards .... 51
CHAPTER III
Matrimonial and Post-Matrimonial .... 60
Freely Chosen Freely Given  60
Recollections of Russia  65
Statecraft Studies in Germany and England . 70
The Row in the Reichstag  96
How the Kaiser Worked  104
Our pre- War Policy  108
Travel Impressions  118
CHAPTER IV
Stress and Storm  126
The Cloud on the Horizon  128
The Cloud Bursts  135
Our Military and Civil Leaders  157
My Memorials  163
Hindenburg and Ludendorff  184
V

vi CONTENTS
CHAPTER V i PAGE
Progress of the War  197
Battle of the Marne  198
Verdun  210
Princes and Politicians at the Front . . . 223
CHAPTER VI
The Great Collapse  237
Foreseeing the End  237
Mistaken Proceedings  248
Wilson and Foch  266
The Wrong Man  274
CHAPTER VII
Scenes at Spa  280
Schulenburg: Groner  285
The Forged Abdication  300
The Council of Officers  308
The Kaiser's Ejection  320
CHAPTER VIII
Exiled to Holland  328
Waiting for Berlin  329
Accepting the Inevitable  336
What was Done in My Absence . . . . 339
Farewell to My Troops  344
The Decisive Step  348
Wieringen  3^4
My Message  362

Index  ,67

ILLUSTRATIONS
The Crown Prince  Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
The Crown Prince and Crown Princess with
Their Children and with the Mayor of
Wieringen and His Wife  62
The Crown Prince and Crown Princess at
Wieringen  282
The Crown Prince's Residence in Wieringen . 354

IMPULSUS SCRIBENDI March, 1919.
It is evening. I have been wandering once more
along the deserted and silent ways between the
wind-swept and sodden meadows, through grayness
and shadow.
No human sound or sign. Only this seawind
grabbing at me and driving its fingers through my
clothing. A March wind ! Spring is near at hand.
I have been here four months.
In the vast expanse above me sparkle the eternal
stars, the same that look down upon Germany.
From the horizon of the Zuyder Zee, the lighthouses
of The Oever and of Texel fling their beams into the
deepening night.
On my return I find my companion waiting
anxiously at the little wicket-gate of the garden.
Had I been gone such a long time?
I am now sitting in this small room of the par
sonage. The paraffin lamp is lighted; it smokes and
smells a little; and the fire in the grate burns rather
low and cheerless.
Not a sound disturbs the silence, save this cease
less blowing of the wind across the lonesome and
slumbering island.
Four months !

2 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
In this seemingly endless time — which I have
spent in one unbroken waiting-for-something, listen-
ing-for-something — the thought has recurred again
and again to me: "Perhaps, if you were to write it
out of your heart?" This idea has seized me again
to-day; it was my one companion as I trudged the
silent roads this evening.
I will try it. I will write the pages which shall
recall and arrange the past, shall bring me out of
this turmoil into calmness and serenity. I will re
touch the half-faded remembrances, will give ac
count to myself of my own doings, wishes and omis
sions, will fix the truth concerning many important
events whose outlines are seen at present by the
world in a distorted and falsified picture. I will de
pict all events honestly and impartially, just as I
see them. I will not conceal my own errors nor in
veigh against the mistakes of others. I will compel
myself to objectivity and self-possession even where
recollection's turgid wave of pain, anger and bit
terness breaks over me and threatens to sweep me
along with it in its recoil. In the distant days of
my youth I will commence my reminiscences.

CHAPTER I
CHILDHOOD DAYS
When I look back upon my childhood, there rises
before me as it were a submerged world of radiance
and sunshine. We all loved our home in Potsdam
and Berlin just as every child does who is cherished
and cared for by loving hands. So, too, the joys of
our earliest childhood were, for sure, the same as the
joys of every happy and alert German lad. Whether
a boy's sword is of wood or of metal, whether his
rocking-horse is covered with calfskin or modestly
painted — this, at bottom, is all one to the child's
heart; it is the symbol of diminutive manliness — the
sword or the horse itself — that makes the boy happy.
We played the same boyish tricks as every other
German boy, — except, perhaps, that we spoiled bet
ter carpets and dearer furniture. Whenever and
with whomsoever I have talked of those childhood
years, I have found full confirmation of the truth
that — be he child of King or child of peasant, son of
the better class or son of the workman — every lad's
fancy has a stage of development in which it seeks
the same bold adventures and makes the same won
derful discoveries, undertakes expeditions into roomy
and mysterious lofts or dank cellars; there are hap-

4 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
penings with suddenly opened hydrants which refuse
to close again when the water gushes out, and secret
snowball attacks upon highly respectable and punc
tiliously correct state officials who, forgetting all at
once their reverend dignity, turn as red as turkey-
cocks and shout: "Damned young rascals!"
As far back as I can remember, the centre of our
existence has been our dearly beloved mother. She
has radiated a love which has warmed and com
forted us. Whatever joy or sorrow moved us,
she has always had for it understanding and sym
pathy. All that was best in our childhood, nay, all
the best that home and family can give, we owe to
her. What she was to us in our early youth, that
she has remained throughout our adolescence and
our manhood. The kindest and best woman is she
for whom living means helping, succoring and spend
ing herself in the interests of others; and such a
woman is our mother.
Being the eldest son I have always been partic
ularly close to our beloved mother. I have carried
to her all my requests, wishes and troubles, whether
big or little; and she, too, has shared honestly with
me the hopes and fears couched in her bosom, the
fulfilments and the disappointments which she has
experienced. In many a difficulty that has arisen
in the course of years between my father and me she
has mediated with a soothing, smoothing and adjust
ing hand. Not a heart's thought of any moment

CHILDHOOD DAYS 5
but I have dared to lay it before her; and this loving
and trustful intercourse continued throughout the
grievous days of the war; nor has the relationship
been destroyed by all the trying circumstances
which now separate me from her. I am particularly
happy to know that, in these painful times, she is
still, in misfortune, permitted to be the trusty help
mate of my severely tried father as she was once in
prosperity, and I am grateful for the dispensation
which has rendered it possible. She has been his
best friend, self-sacrificing, earnest, pure, great in
her goodness, perfect in her fidelity. As her son,
I say with ardent pride: she is the very pattern of a
German wife whose best characteristics are seen in
the fulfilment of her duties as wife and mother, and
in her they display themselves only the purer and
clearer now that the pomp of Imperial circumstance
has vanished and she stands forth in her simple
humanness. The relations between us children and our father
were totally different. He was always friendly and,
in his way, loving towards us; but, by the nature of
things, he had none too much time to devote to us.
As a consequence, in reviewing our early childhood,
I can discover scarcely a scene in which he joins in
our childish games with unconstrained mirth or
happy abandon. If I try now to explain it to my
self, it seems to me as though he were unable so to
divest himself of the dignity and superiority of the

6 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
mature adult man as to enable him to be properly
young with us little fellows. Hence, in his pres
ence we always retained a certain embarrassment,
and the occasional laxity of tone and expression
adopted in moments of good humor with the mani
fest purpose of gaining our confidence rather tended
to abash us. It may have been, too, that we felt
him so often to be absent from us in his thoughts
when present with us in the body, that rendered
him almost impersonal, absent-minded, and often
alien to our young hearts.
My sister is the only one of us who succeeded in
her childhood in gaining a snug place in his heart.
Moreover, all sorts of otherwise unaccustomed re
straints were experienced at his hands. When, for
instance, we entered his study — a thing which never
exactly pleased him — we had to hold our hands be
hind us lest we might knock something off one of
the tables. In addition to all this, there were the
reverence and the military subordination taught us
towards our father from our infancy; and this en
gendered in us a certain shyness and misgiving.
This sense of constraint was felt both by myself and
by my brother Fritz, though certainly neither of us
could ever have been characterized as bashful. I
myself have only got free of the feeling slowly and
with progressive development.
In recalling my father's study, I am reminded of
an incident of my childhood which has imprinted

CHILDHOOD DAYS 7
itself indelibly upon my memory because it involved
my first and unintentional visit to Prince Bismarck.
It was early in the morning. My brother Eitel
Friedrich and I were about to go to Bellevue for our
lessons, and I was strolling carelessly about in the
lower rooms of the palace. Accidentally I stumbled
into a small room in which the old Prince sat por
ing over the papers on his writing-desk. To my
dismay he at once turned his eyes full upon me.
My previous experience of such matters led me to
believe that I should be promptly and pitilessly ex
pelled. Indeed, I had already started a precipitate
retreat, when the old Prince called me back. He
laid down his pen, gripped my shoulder with his
giant palm and looked straight into my face with
his penetrating eyes. Then he nodded his head
several times and said: "Little Prince, I like the
look of you, keep your fresh naturalness." He gave
me a kiss and I dashed out of the room. I was so
proud of the occurrence that I treated my brothers
for several days as totally inferior beings. It was
incredible ! I had blundered into a study and had
not been thrown out — not even reprimanded. And
it was withal the study of the old Prince.
The nature of our later education tended to
estrange us from our father more and more. We
were soon intrusted entirely to tutors and governors,
and it was from them that we heard whether His
Majesty was satisfied with us or the reverse. Here,

8 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
in the family and in our own early youth, we
already began to experience the "System of the
Third," the unfortunate method whereby, to the
exclusion of any direct exchange of views, decisions
were made and issued by means of third persons
who were also the sole mouthpieces by which the
position of the interested party could be stated to
the judge. This principle, so attractive to a man
of such a many-sided character and so immersed in
affairs as unquestionably the Kaiser has always
been, took deeper and wider root with the advance
of years, and in cases in which place-seeking, in
gratiating and irremovable courtiers or politicians
have gained possession of average posts that gave
them the position of go-between has caused the ex
clusion of disagreeable reports and the doubtless
often quite unconscious distortion of news with
its consequent mischief. The "department" (Kab-
inet), especially the Department of Civil Adminis
tration was fundamentally nothing but a "personal
board," the head of the department (chef de cabinet)
was the mouthpiece and intermediary of any and
every voice that made itself heard in this sphere of
activity; he was also the bearer of the Imperial de
cision. The idea of such a position presupposes un
qualified and almost superhuman impartiality and
justice — doubly so, when the ruler (as in this case
the inner circle was well aware) is susceptible to in
fluence and is shaken by bitter experiences. Then

CHILDHOOD DAYS 9
the responsibility of these posts becomes as great
as the power they confer, if their occupant exceeds
the clearly defined limit indicated.
Then, and still more when they tacitly combine
their influences so as to strengthen their position,
they and their helpers at court become distorters of
the views upon which the ruler must base his final
and important decisions. It is they who are really
responsible for the wrong decisions that were made
in the name of the ruler and which possibly sealed
his fate and that of his people.
But who would think now of discussing the sins
committed against the German people by the heads
of many years' standing of the Civil Department and
the head of the Marine Department in their duo
logues over the daily "Vortrage." Closely and
firmly they held the Kaiser entangled in their con
ceptions of every weighty question. If, after all, a
mesh was rent, either through his own observation or
by the bold intervention of some outsider, their daily
function gave them the next morning an opportunity
of repairing the damage and of removing the im
pression left by the interloper. I am aware that
none of these men ever wittingly exercised a noxious
influence. Every one considers his own nostrum
the only one and the right one to effect a political
cure. Turning from those who were the pillars of this
principle back to the principle itself, I know too that

10 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
a chef de cabinet who would have influenced and
, moulded the decisions of the Kaiser in quite another
| way might have proved a blessing to the Fatherland
i and to us all, if that chef had been a firm, strong and
'steadfast personality. But unfortunately destiny
placed among the Kaiser's advisers no men of such a
| stamp with the single exception of the clever and
) resolute Geheimrat von Berg whose appointment to
Ahe responsible post of Chief of the Civil Depart-
; ment took place in the year 1918 — consequently too
late to be of any effective service. In general, the
notions of the rest were characterized by dull half-
heartedness. Wherever they had to suggest men
for the execution of new tasks, the men whom they
proposed and recommended were only too often
mediocre. Any one who was willing to go his own
road with a resolute tread was carefully avoided.
Hence, instead of a determined course, there was
eternal tacking — instead of a steadfast and clear
sighted grasp of the consequences of such a policy,
there was masking of the imminent dangers and a
deaf ear for the louder and louder warnings of
anxiety and alarm, until at last the cup of fate which
they had helped to fill flowed over.
It was in the obscurity of their departments that
these "advisers of the crown" labored, and it is
into the darkness of oblivion that their names will
disappear. But the taint of their doings will cleave
to His Majesty's memory where no more guilt at-

CHILDHOOD DAYS 11
taches to him than just this: not to have displayed
a better knowledge of character in the choice of his
entourage and not to have been more resolute in
dealing with his advisers when the wisest heads and
the stoutest hearts among all classes in Germany
were but just good enough for such responsible
positions. It was a fundamental mistake that only the Im
perial Chancellor made his report in private. All
other ministers were accompanied by the chiefs of
their respective departments; for the reports of the
Military and Naval Ministers, indeed, Adjutant-
General von Plessen was also present. In this way
the departments acquired a certain preponderance
over the minister or the man who was respon
sible. But this theme has led me far astray. I must re
turn to the recollections of my youth. I stopped at
the "System of the Third Party." In regard to us
boys, the result was that when we acquired military
rank, the Kaiser's intercourse with us was generally
conducted through the head of the Military Depart
ment or through General von Plessen and, indeed,
that in quite harmless matters of a purely personal
nature, we occasionally received formal military no
tices. (Kabinetts-Orders.) Amicable and friendly
discussion between father and son scarcely ever took
place. It was clear that the Kaiser avoided any
personal controversy in which decisions might be

12 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
necessary; here, again, the third party was inter
posed. For trivialities which, under other condi
tions, a few paternal words might have settled, in
termediaries and outsiders were employed and
thus made acquainted with the affair; in my own
case, since nature has not gifted me with a taste
for such punctilious formalities, the tension was
often increased. It is quite possible that these gen
tlemen, who were convinced of the very profound
importance of their missions, were not always re
ceived by me with a seriousness corresponding to
their own self-esteem and that they rewarded me
by taking the first opportunity to express to His
Majesty their views on my immaturity and lack of
courtesy and dignity. Most certainly these inter
mediaries are in no small degree answerable for mis
understandings, and for the fact that small conflicts
were occasionally intensified or caused all kinds of
prejudices and imputations. Sometimes I received
the impression that these little intrigues assumed
the character of mischief-making. Everything I
said or did was busily reported to His Majesty; and
I was then young and careless, and I certainly ut
tered many a thoughtless word and took many a
thoughtless step.
In such circumstances it was for me almost an
emancipation to be ordered before the Kaiser in
regimentals and to receive from him in private a
thorough dressing down on account of some inci-

CHILDHOOD DAYS 13
dent connected with a special escapade. It was
then that we understood one another best. More
over, one might often, in such colloquies, give rein
to one's tongue. An absolutely innocent example
just occurs to me. I had always been an enthu
siastic devotee of sport in all its forms: hunting,
racing, polo, etc. But even here there were re
strictions, considerations and inhibitions. One felt
just like a poacher. Thus I was not to take part
in races or in hunting on account of the dangers
involved. But it was for that very reason that I
liked this sport. Now I had just ridden my first
public race in the Berlin-Potsdam Riding Club —
and was hoping that there would be no sequel in
the shape of a row, when next morning the Kaiser
ordered me to appear before him at the New Palace
in regimentals. There was thunder in the air.
"You've been racing."
"Zu befehl."
"You know that it is forbidden."
"Zu befehl."
"Why did you do it, then?"
"Because I am passionately fond of it and be
cause I think it a good thing for the Crown Prince
to show his comrades that he does not fear danger
and thereby sets them a good example."
A moment's consideration, and then suddenly
His Majesty looks up at me and asks:
"Well, anyway, did you win?"

14 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
"Unfortunately Graf Koenigsmarck beat me by
a short head."
The Kaiser thumped the table irritably: "That's
very annoying. Now be off with you." This time
my father had understood me and had appreciated
the sportsman in me.
The older I grew, the oftener did it happen that
serious men of the most varied classes applied to
me to lay before the Kaiser matters in which they
took a special interest or to call the attention of
His Majesty to certain grievances or abuses. I took
such matters up only when I was able to inquire
into them thoroughly and to convince myself of
the justification for any interference. Even then
their number was considerable. In most cases the
subjects were disagreeable; and they concerned
affairs which my father would probably never other
wise have heard of and which he nevertheless ought,
in my opinion, to be made acquainted with.
The most difficult matter that I had to take to
him was doubtless the one which I was forced to
deal with in the year 1907. It was then that I had
to open his eyes to the affair of Prince Philip Eulen-
burg. Undoubtedly it was the duty of the respon
sible authorities to have called the Kaiser's atten
tion long before to this scandal which was becoming
known to an ever-widening circle. But they failed
to lay the matter before him; and since they left
him in total ignorance of it, I was obliged to inter-

CHILDHOOD DAYS 15
vene. Never shall I forget the pained and horrified
face of my father, who stared at me in dismay, when,
in the garden of the Marble Palace, I told him of
the delinquencies of his near friends. The moral
purity of the Kaiser was such that he could hardly
conceive the possibility of such aberrations. In this
case he thanked me unreservedly for my interference.
In contrast with the Eulenburg affair, most of the
questions which, on my own initiative or at the sug
gestion of others, I had to bring before His Majesty
were questions of home or foreign politics, or they
concerned leading personages, nay, rather persons
who were irresolute and flaccid, but who stuck tight
to posts which ought to have been occupied by clear
sighted and steadfast men. In such cases the Kaiser
generally listened to me quietly, and frequently he
took action; more often, however, he was talked
round again by some one else after I had left. It
was inevitable that, in the long run, my reports
and suggestions should affect him disagreeably. As
he travelled very much, I saw comparatively little
of him. In consequence, our meetings were mostly
encumbered with a whole series of communications
and questions by which he felt himself bothered. I
myself was fully conscious of the pressure of these
circumstances, but saw no means of altering them.
Anyway, I considered it my duty to keep the Kaiser
frankly informed of all that, in my view, he ought
to know but would otherwise remain ignorant of.

16 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Notwithstanding all this tension and although my
father was annoyed by certain idiosyncrasies of mine
— above all by my disinclination to adopt the tra
ditionally princely manner — he was, in his own way,
fond of me, and in the secret recesses of his heart
proud of me too.
Naturally, much was whispered, gossiped and
written in public about these personal relations of
ours. If I had possessed the nature to take all this
sort of thing seriously, I might soon have appeared
very important in my own eyes. Repeatedly there
was talk of marked discord, of sharp reprimands on
my father's part, of open or covert censure. In all
this, as I have shown and as I would in no wise cloak
or disguise, there was sometimes a grain of truth—
a grain about whose significance a mighty cackle
arose among the old women of both sexes. To re
iterate, there were early and manifold differences of
opinion and many of them led to some amount of
dispute. In so far as these conflicts were concerned
with personal affairs and not with political ques
tions, they were, at bottom, scarcely more last
ing or more serious than those which so often occur
everywhere between father and son, between repre
sentatives of one generation and another, between
the conceptions of to-day and those of to-morrow;
the difference lay in the enormous resonance of court
life which echoed so disproportionately such simple
events. Thus, these rumors do not really touch the

CHILDHOOD DAYS 17
heart of the matter. The frequently recurring fact
that father and son differ fundamentally in char
acter, temperament and nature, appears to me, so
far as I know the Kaiser and know myself, applic
able to us. It is, indeed, regularly observable in the
history of our house.
It is possible, too, that there has come between
us the great epochal change from traditional con
ceptions to a broader view of life — a change which
seems to have inserted itself between people of the
Kaiser's years and my contemporaries and by which
I have benefited while he has viewed it with hos
tility. At any rate, many of his notions, opinions
and actions appeared to me strange and even in
comprehensible; they struck me so at an early
period of my life and the more so the older I grew.
The first group of the questions towards which, even
as a lad, I felt a certain inner opposition, concerned
court ceremony as it was then practised. It was
painful to me to see people losing their freedom
through prescribed and often thoroughly musty
regulations. Each became, I may say, the actor
of a part; nay, under the influence of these sur
roundings, men who were otherwise clever lost their
own opinion and yielded here nothing more than the
average. Hence, wherever possible, I myself later
on avoided everything courtly, pompous or decora
tive; and, as far as was feasible, I suppressed all for
malities in my own circle. For my recreative hours

18 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
I desired, not endless reunions and ceremonious
gala performances, but unrestrained intercourse with
people of all kinds, sociability in a small circle,
theatres, concerts, hunting and sport.
Intercourse with persons of my own age always
had a greater attraction for me than association
with people much older than myself, though I never
designedly avoided the latter. Furthermore, my
natural bent bringing me perhaps more in touch with
actualities than was possible to my father and
giving me the chance to talk with and listen to a
greater number of unprejudiced persons of all pro
fessions, I frequently felt impelled by the convic
tions thus gained to warn and to contradict. But
I have ever recognized in the Kaiser my father, my
Imperial overlord, to whom it was my duty as well
as my heart's wish to show every respect and every
honor. I have been perusing the pages which I penned
recently as reminiscences of my childhood and of
my attitude towards my parents. The perusal sug
gests to me that my jottings are not quite just to
my father's character, that they speak only of petty
weakness, that, if I am to give a complete sketch of
his personality, I must dwell upon him more in
detail. When I try to distinguish his deepest charac
teristic, a word forces itself upon my attention
which I am almost shy of applying to any man of

CHILDHOOD DAYS 19
our own day, a word which seems hollow and trite
because, like some small coin, it is flung about so
continually and thoughtlessly: it is the word "Edel"
(noble). The Kaiser is noble in the best sense of
the word; he is full of the most upright desire for
goodness and piety, and the purity of his intel
lectual cosmos is without a blemish and without
a stain. Candor that makes no reservations, that
is perhaps too unbounded in its nature, ready con
fidence and belief in the like trustworthiness and
frankness on the part of others are the fundamental
features of his chatacter. Talleyrand is said to
have uttered somewhere the maxim: "La parole
a ete donnee a Vhomme pour deguiser sa pensee."
With my father it has often seemed to me as though
speech had been bestowed upon him that he might
unfold to his hearer every nook and cranny of his
rich and sparkling inner world. He has always al
lowed his thoughts and convictions to gush forth in
stantaneously and immediately — without prelude and
without prologue, an incautious and noble spend
thrift of an ever-fertile intellect which draws its
sustenance from comprehensive knowledge and a
fancy whose only fault is its exuberance. More
over, he is by nature and by ethico-religious train
ing free from all guile; he would regard secrecy,
dissimulation or insincerity as despicable and far
beneath his dignity. The idea that the Kaiser
could ever have wished to gain his ends by false

20 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
pretenses or to pursue them by tortuous routes is
for me quite unimaginable. It may be that, with
all this unreserved and unrestrained self-expression,
the passion for complete frankness which is implanted
in every virtuous being found, in the Kaiser, its
strongest support in his evident overestimation of
his momentary personal influence. In a personal
exchange of ideas he believed himself to be sure of
immediate victory and to need the expedients of
trickery or dodgery just as little as he did wordy
diplomatic skirmishing. I have a thousand times
observed the effects of his personality to be indeed
very great and have seen men of otherwise thor
oughly independent habit fall an easy prey to his
frequently fascinating, though perhaps only transi
tory, influence.
Nevertheless, such successes, experienced from
youth onward and, still more, the consequent ex
pressions of admiration and the flattery of com
plaisant friends and courtiers in the end clouded his
judgment concerning the expediency of thus sacrific
ing every final reserve as well as obscuring his in
sight into the fact that the individual — even though
he be an emperor and a never so energetic personal
ity — is of little ultimate weight in comparison with
the vast world-shifting currents of time.
To this lack of perspective in estimating his per
sonal relations and his personal influence may be
partly attributed his remaining so long unconscious

CHILDHOOD DAYS 21
of the full significance of the approaching danger.
Many a false estimate was formed by him in this re
gard, and his confiding trust was not seldom lulled
into security by clever opponents.
So it happened that, even when the enormous
pressure of economic and political forces was incon-
trollably driving the world towards the catastrophe
of war, he believed himself able to bring the wheels
of fate to a standstill by means of his influence in
London and St. Petersburg. The capacity to esti
mate men and things correctly — that is, impartially
and objectively and without any personal exaggera
tion — is of the greatest moment to rulers and states
men. It has not been liberally bestowed upon the
Kaiser, and my impression is that responsible indi
viduals and the heads of the various "cabinets"
have not, by any means, always intervened with
the energy necessary to correct erroneous concep
tions of this description.
In the depths of his nature my father is a thor
oughly kind-hearted man striving to make people
happy and to create joyousness around him. But
this trait is often concealed by his desire not to
appear tender but royal and exalted above the small
emotions of sentiment. He is thoroughly idealistic
in thought and feeling and full of confidence towards
every collaborator who enters fresh into his environ
ment. Present and future he has always seen and
gauged in the mirror of his own most individual

22 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
mental cosmos, which became all the more unreal,
the harder and the more inflexible grew the secret
and the open struggle for our national existence,
both within the realm and without it, or the more
harshly one fragment of this cosmos of ideas after
another was snatched away and crushed by the hand
of destiny.
In the chivalrous ethics of the Kaiser his con
ception of loyalty is of great moment. He de
mands it without reserve, and there is scarcely any
dereliction which he feels more keenly than actions
or omissions that he regards as breaches of trust.
Take one example: he has never, from the bottom
of his heart, pardoned Prince Billow for not giving
him that support which he might have expected in
the November incidents of 1908. As a matter of
fact, unless I am mistaken, those severe conflicts,
with their stormy Reichstag sittings and their num
berless press attacks, meant for him far more than
an affront to his Imperial position or dignity. It was
only to outsiders that they appeared to have this
effect. Possibly I was able at that time to see
deeper into the heart of my Imperial father than
any one, save my dear mother; and I am firmly
' convinced that, from experiences which were for
him barely conceivable and scarcely tolerable, his
j self-confidence received a blow from which it has
, never recovered. His joyous readiness of decision
i and intrepid energy of will, till then undaunted,

CHILDHOOD DAYS 23
were suddenly broken; and I believe that the germ
was then planted of the lack of decision and vacil
lation noticeable in the last ten years of his life and
especially during the war. From that moment on- •
ward, the Kaiser allowed affairs to glide more and
more into the hands of the responsible advisers in
the various Government departments, eliminating
himself and his own views either partially or even
entirely. A secret and never-expressed anxiety con
cerning possible fresh conflicts and responsibilities
which he might have to confront had come over him.
Where strong hands were needed, complaisant and
officious persons pushed themselves forward, and,
making use of the opportunity to usurp functions
which should never have come within their scope,
they dragged into the sphere of their own small-
mindedness matters which, so long as the then
current constitutional ideas remained valid, ought
never to have been withdrawn from the range of
the unhampered Imperial will. Still I will not be
too hard upon these advisers; I do not wish to be
unjust to them; it may be that, in the anguish of
those dark days, His Majesty was sometimes even
grateful to them for so busily troubling their heads
—it may be that they believed themselves to be
acting for the best while in reality creating only
evil. The Kaiser, too, in those years of self-depression
and of weakness just as in his days of unbroken

24 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
self-confidence, desired to do his best, and he re
garded as the best the peace of the realm. Nothing
should destroy that; with every means at his com
mand he would secure that to the empire. The ter
rible tragedy of his life and of his life's work lay in
the fact that everything he undertook to this end
turned to the reverse and became a countercheck
to his aims, so that finally a situation arose in which
we were faced by enemy upon enemy. April, 1919.
Weeks have passed since I last occupied myself
with these pages. Tidings have come to hand
which are enough almost to break one's heart,—
which show our poor country to be torn by internal
dissension and to be conducting a desperate struggle
with a pack of heartless and greedy "victors." In
the face of these monstrous events and problems, I
have felt as though the individual had no right
whatever to review and determine the petty incidents
of his own life and destiny. Thus spring has had to
come before I could revert once more to my task —
spring with its sunny, green pastures in which droll
little lambs are skipping beside the dirty winter-
woolled ewes, and across which blow the clear sea-
breezes in ceaseless restlessness.
In this radiance and in the revived color every
where visible, all things look better, and people too
have more genial faces.

CHILDHOOD DAYS 25
When I think of these first months here in the
island ! With the best will to make the best of it,
there was not much to be done. Distrust and re
serve in every one — among the fisherf oik and among
the peasants, and among the tradespeople in Ooster-
land, in Hippolytushoef and in Den Oever. A shy
edging to one side when you came by: "De kroon-
prins" — and that was as much as to say: "That
Boche — the murderer of Verdun, the libertine."
What the Entente with the help of their mendacious
press and their agents had beaten into the minds of
these good people had got thoroughly fixed. Nor
was there any possibility of an explanation with
them concerning this nonsense. Moreover, my quar
ters can scarcely be heated, since these little iron
stoves will not burn, and our famous single lamp
smokes and can only burn when petroleum is to
be had. Therefore, as soon as it is dark, one crawls
into bed and lies there sleepless to torture oneself
with the same matters over and over again, and
gets half mad with worrying over the questions:
"How did it all happen?"— "Where lies the blame?"
— "How might one have done better?"
Now, all has grown less hard and is more tolera
ble. To-day, the people of the island know that
none of all the slanders that have been circulated
about me are justified. Their distrust has van
ished; their simple, unsophisticated nature now
meets me frankly. Every one greets me in a friend-

26 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
ly manner, and most people shake hands. I
also receive occasional invitations and then sit in
these clean little rooms to sip a cup of cocoa
and make trial of my acquirements in the Dutch
language. One person in particular has done much to en
lighten people and to smooth my path, namely,
Burgomaster Peereboom. At the outset, he was the
only one who thrust aside all prejudice, and sought
to see and to help the human individual — he and
his family. And to him and to his warm-hearted
and active wife I am indebted for many a little im
provement in my modest household at the Parson
age as well as for many a wise hint that taught me
to understand my new environment. One or two
Germans also tendered me immediate help; among
them the experienced Count Bassenheim of Amster
dam, who knows Holland as well as he does his
beautiful Bavaria; then the clever and ever-faithful
Baron Huenefeld, formerly vice-consul at Maas
tricht, whose care for me has been most touching;
further, there are several German business men of
Amsterdam, faithful, self-sacrificing men to whom I
owe a lifelong debt of gratitude. And so there only
remains unchanged the anxiety as touching my old
home, my country, the longing for her and for those
to whom I belong.
But not of that now. I will talk here of that
other life which to me, in the seclusion of this island,

CHILDHOOD DAYS 27
often appears so distant as to be separated from the
present by a whole train of years.
* * # * %
Born heir-apparent to a throne, I was brought up
in the particular notions valid by tradition for a
Prussian prince. No one in the family had ever
cherished a doubt as to the suitability and excellence
of these principles, for in their youth all its male
members had traversed exactly the same path.
While fully recognizing the undeniable value of the
old Prussian traditions, I believe, nevertheless, that
the narrow, sharply defined and hedged-in educa
tion of Prussian princes (in which the rigid etiquette
of the court combines with the anxious care of the
parental home to provide instructions for mentor,
tutor and adviser) is calculated to produce a definite
and not very original product adapted to ceremonial
duties rather than a modern man capable of taking
an unswerving course in the life of his times. If
I had submitted tamely to the system, it would in
time have led me into a position in which I should
have been ignorant of the world, sequestered and
secluded. The worst of such a position appears to
me to be, not the Chinese Wall itself, but the ulti
mate incapacity to see the wall, so that the immured
imagines himself free while in reality his mental
range is closely circumscribed.
At an early age, and certainly at the outset as a
mere consequence of my natural disposition though

28 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
later with growing consciousness and maturer judg
ment, I opposed the efforts to level out the inde
pendent features in me with the object of creating
a "Normal Prussian Prince." Two directly diverg
ing views were at work here. On the one hand was
the traditional notion stressed so emphatically
throughout His Majesty's reign, the notion of the
augustness (erhabenheit, exaltedness) of the ruler,
the notion — figuratively expressed in the word itself
— that the Prince, King, Kaiser must stand elevated
high above the level of the governed classes; on the
other hand was my own conception that he must
become acquainted with life as it is and as it has to
be lived by people of every station. It remains to
be said that the endeavor to be true to my con
viction in thought and act caused me many a strug
gle and many an unpleasantness.
The upbringing and the daily life of us children
in the Imperial parental home was simple. We
certainly were not indulged — least of all by our
military governors.
My first military governor — I was then a lad of
seven years — was the subsequent General von Fal-
kenhayn. I remember him with reverence and
gratitude. He did not pamper me; permitted no
excuses; and even in those childhood years he im
pressed upon me that, for a man, the words "dan
ger" and "fear" should not exist. In the best sense,
he passed on to me the undaunted freshness of his

CHILDHOOD DAYS 29
faithful soldierliness. There was in me from infancy
a passion for horses and riding. General von Fal-
kenhayn arranged our rides in the beautiful environs
of Potsdam in such a way that we had obstacles to
surmount. Hedges, fences, walls, ditches and steep
gravel-pits had to be briskly taken. He used to say
on such occasions: "Fling your heart across first;
the rest will follow." That saying I have taken
with me through life; again and again, and in recent
circumstances when the drab hours of my destiny
and my loneliness here in this island have threatened
to stifle me, the general has stood before my mind's
eye and has helped me over my difficulties with his
brave soldierly philosophy.
Even when a lad I had to prove myself as patrol
and scout, and I was also instructed in reading maps.
Gymnastics, drill and swimming were ardently prac
tised as physical training.
An event that made a deep impression upon my
young mind recurs to me. I was permitted to pre
sent myself to Prince Bismarck in due form and not
in the unofficial way in which I had done so when,
as a youngster, I suddenly surprised him in his den.
From my father I received instructions to don my
uniform and meet him at Friedrichsruh; I was go
ing to the eightieth birthday of the ex-chancellor
(Alt-Reichskanzler). To don uniform was, even in
that early period, the acme of delight to my boyish
heart; and to this was to be added a visit to the

30 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
man whom, then as now, a healthy instinct taught
me to regard as a sort of legendary hero. In the
night before this journey, I did not sleep a wink.
Bismarck was suffering severely from gout, and
leaned upon a stick to welcome us in the castle.
At lunch he displayed an astounding liveliness and
vigor; but, as a consequence of the excitement nat
urally experienced in this first "official" appearance
of mine, this general impression is all that I have
preserved in my recollection. Moreover, it must be
confessed that I was rendered somewhat anxious
during the meal by the Prince's big boarhound, who
suddenly laid his cold nose on my knee under the
table, and growled very unmistakably whenever,
unobserved, I tried to free myself.
After lunch, His Majesty mounted horse and, on
a piece of ploughland close to the castle, awaited
Bismarck at the head of the Halberstadt Cuirassiers,
whose chief the aged Prince had been appointed. I
had the honor of accompanying the old gentleman
in his carriage. In a truly paternal manner, he
pointed out to me all the beauties of the Friedrichs-
ruh Park. My father delivered a very fine speech
and presented the Prince with a sumptuously
wrought sword of honor. The Prince replied with
a few pregnant words.
Then we returned to the castle. I noticed that
the Prince was very weary and fatigued; the pro
longed standing had doubtless put too great a strain

CHILDHOOD DAYS 31
upon him. His breathing was quick and heavy;
and finally he tried to open the tight collar of his
uniform, but failed. Almost startled by my own
boldness, I bent over him and undid it; then he
pressed my hand and nodded gratefully.
We left the same afternoon. On this beautiful
day, which I would not, for all that is dear to me,
have blotted out of my memory, I had seen for the
last time the greatest German of his century.
Our first scientific education we received from our
private tutor. I cannot approve of this method,
for the pupil misses the stimulating rivalry of com
rades. When I entered the Cadet School at Plon
as a lad of fourteen, in April, 1896, large gaps mani
fested themselves in my knowledge, which neces
sitated a good deal of overwork.
In my Plon days, the future General von Lyncker
acted as governor to me and to my brother Eitel
Friedrich. He was a typical high-minded Prussian
officer of the old school. His unswervingly serious
nature made it rather difficult for him to enter into
the ideas of us immature little creatures or to dis
cover the appropriate means of managing us. And
we were real children at that time. For him there
existed only orders, school, work and duty, and
again orders and duty. When I grew a bit older,
we often got to loggerheads. As a youth, I cer
tainly was not a pattern being for the show-window
of a boys' boarding-school; but that there was so

32 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
much to complain of as General von Lyncker man
aged to discover day in day out, I really cannot be
lieve. Moreover, although quite unintentionally on
his part, his somewhat hard and unyielding manner
hurt me. But it was this very General von Lyncker
whom the Kaiser afterwards employed as go-be
tween when disagreeable conflicts arose. Although
I readily and gratefully acknowledge that, in the task
imposed upon him, General von Lyncker never
adopted the r61e of time-serving tale-bearer or con
sciously increased the friction — anything of the kind
would have been totally irreconcilable with his sin
cere and lofty character — still, I cannot help saying
that the introduction of his frequently brusque
manner rather tended to widen the breach than to
narrow it.
As Plon cadets, we were very fond of Frau von
Lyncker. At that time a special School of Princes
was formed at Plon for my brother Fritz and me.
Each of us had three fellow pupils. In harmony
with the totally false educational principle which
this evinced, any association with the other cadets
was looked at askance. Nevertheless, from the
very first day onward, we continually leaped o'er
the barriers and seized every opportunity of culti
vating comradeship and friendly relations with the
other lads of the corps. The football, the rowing
matches and the snowball fights are still for me
pleasant recollections. Many of my then "corps"

CHILDHOOD DAYS 33
companions, drawn from the most varied classes,
have become good friends of mine with whom I
have remained bound by close ties ever since. Dur
ing the war, I often quite unexpectedly ran up
against one or other of my old Plon comrades in
distant France; and then, amid all the harsh ear
nestness of the time, the long-lost, care-free days
of youth rose before our memories like a sweet
smile. In acquiescence with my special wish, I was per
mitted to apprentice myself to a master turner.
Among the Hohenzollerns it is customary for every
Prince to learn a trade. In general, of course, such
princely apprenticeships must not be regarded too
seriously, though the tradition is a valuable symbol
and un beau geste. Now, while I will not assert
that I could make my way in the world with my
turner's craft, I can say with truth that I have prac
tised it with pleasure again and again and that mas
ter and apprentice took the matter quite seriously.
My good master kept me hard at it, and I was an
ardent and willing pupil, and felt thoroughly happy
in the atmosphere of the joiner's workshop and in
his simple, cleanly household.
Our associations at Plon took us into the families
of the masters, and we had also friendly relations
with the grammar-school boys. Furthermore, I had
a few "friends" among the farmers of the neighbor
hood; I ploughed many a piece of their land, and I

34 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
still remember how proud I was when my furrow
turned out neat and straight.
In the year 1887, that is, long before my Plon
days, an event happened which I must recall here as
it made a strong and vivid impression on my young
imagination. It was my first sea trip. The aged
Queen Victoria was to celebrate the jubilee of her
reign. My parents went to England to take part
in the festivity and took me with them. It was at
a great garden fete in St. James's Park that I first
saw the Queen — sitting in a bath-chair in front of
a sumptuously decorated tent. She was very
friendly to me, kissed me and kept on fondling me
with her aged and slightly trembling hands. Un
fortunately, I have no recollection whatever of the
words she spoke; I only know that my boyish fancy
was far more occupied with the two giant Indians
on guard before the tent than with the weary little
old lady herself.
The huge multitude in St. James's Park and the
intermingling of representatives of almost every
race made a deep impression upon me. And if my
youthfulness rendered me unable to appreciate the
symbolism of the British world-power embodied in
the picture, it nevertheless absorbed with awe the
astounding copiousness of what it saw and forever
guarded me from underrating the significance of the
British Empire.

CHAPTER II
SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, AND STUDENT
If I regard the turn of the century as the close of
my childhood and youth, I would consider the years
which followed as my apprenticeship.
After I had passed my matriculation examination,
and following upon the declaration of my majority
on May 6, 1900, my father placed me in the body
company of the First Foot-Guards, in which regi
ment, according to tradition, every Prussian Prince
must first serve. This was a good thing since that
regiment has always been conspicuous for its excel
lence, and the young Princes receive in it a thor
oughly strict training. I was afterwards appointed
lieutenant and chief of the 2d Company, which
my father had commanded when a young Prince;
accordingly, I said to myself: "You are taking here
the first steps on the road which is to lead you,
through years of learning, to the great tasks of life."
I was inspired by the strongest faith in my life
and my future — filled with a sacred determination
to be honest and conscientious. The moment when,
in the venerable old Schlosskapelle in Berlin, I took
the military oath on the colors of the body corps
before my Imperial father and Supreme War Lord
still stands out clearly before me in all its thrilling
solemnity. 35

36 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
The barracks of the First Foot-Guards, the regi
ment house and the Casino of the Officers' Corps
were now my new home; the rigid and numerous
military tasks were my new school. The chief of
my company, Count Rantzau, was a typical old,
experienced and conscientious Prussian officer of the
line. He himself was always punctual to the min
ute; he never spared himself, and he devoted him
self fully to his profession; but he also required the
utmost from his officers and his men. Accuracy in
every detail and strictness towards laxity were com
bined with an unerring sense of justice and a warm
heart which followed with human sympathy the
progress of every one. His company revered him.
Now, that excellent man rests in French soil before
Rheims. Stern but just, a man and superior as he ought to
be, honored and respected by me and by all was
likewise my first commander, Colonel von Pletten-
berg. With the same feelings, I recall also my old
battalion commander, Major von Pluskow; a giant
even among the tall officers of the regiment, he was
famous as a drill-master and, despite his strictness,
much liked as an ever-kind superior.
What I learned in the Foot-Guards formed the
foundation of my entire military career. The value
of faithfulness in little things, the much-decried
fatigue-uniform, the iron discipline and the abused,
because misunderstood, Prussian drill became clear

SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 37
to me in their full significance as a means of concen
trating the vast number of heads and forces into
a single unit of the greatest strength. The army
trained on these principles gained the great and im
perishable victories of the year 1914. Unfortu
nately, in the long course of the war, this admirable
Prussian method was pushed more and more into
the background, greatly to the detriment of the
army and its value.
On the whole, my lieutenancy was an incompar
ably pleasant time. I was young and healthy, ful
filled my duties with passionate devotion and saw
life in sunshine before me. A circle of friends of like
age with myself enabled me to enjoy the blessings
of that comradeship which is the most important
root whence a Prussian corps of officers draws its
strength. To-day, alas, the green sods of France
and Russia cover the mortal remains of most of the
brave and trusty men who were then young and
joyous and faithful; it is lonesome around me.
In those distant days of my lieutenancy and for
years afterwards, three dear friends stood particu
larly near to me; they were Count Finckenstein,
von Wedel and von Mitzlaff — all of them at that
time lieutenants. They shared with me joy and
sorrow till fate separated us forever. Fincken
stein and von Wedel fell in the ranks of our fine old
regiment — my dear Wedel at Colonfey and brave
Finckenstein at the head of his company at Ba-

38 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
paume. Mitzlaff was, for a time, orderly officer in
my staff; subsequently he took over a squadron in
the East and then returned to the west front as
battalion leader. A mournful shroud hangs over
the memory of my last sight of this trusty comrade.
It was in the summer of 1918, just before the last
great Rheims attack. On a visit to the staff of my
brave Seventh Reserve Division, I learned by acci
dent that my friend Mitzlaff was with his battalion
in the neighborhood. I at once drove over to him
and found him in a little half-demolished farmhouse.
Seated on a broken camp-bed, and sharing some
cigarettes and a bottle of bad claret which he had
managed to rake up somewhere in honor of my
visit, we chatted for a long time about the events
of our youth and exchanged many an anxious word
concerning the future. Both of us knew how mat
ters stood and how overfatigued the troops were.
Mitzlaff himself, however, was of good cheer. Then
we held each other's hand for a good while and
parted. I drove back to my staff quarters; while
he moved up into the front position with his men.
Three weeks later I stood beside his simple soldier's
grave; a few days after I had bidden him farewell,
the brave chap had fallen at the head of his men in
storming the enemy's position. He was the last of
my three faithful friends.
I remained with the First Foot-Guards one year.
During that time, the evening order-slip beside my

SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 39
bed determined the hours of the following day. But,
in that winter, there was not much sleep for me; for
my position demanded my presence at court festivi
ties and a crowd of private gatherings. Often I did
not get to bed till two o'clock, and by seven I was
in the barracks, where my duties kept me busy till
noon and again from two till five. Frequently, too,
after-dinner attendance at the cleaning of rifles,
saddlery, and so on, fell to my lot. This task I
was particularly fond of. My grenadiers sat in
the lamplight cleaning and polishing their kits.
This provided a natural opportunity to approach
them quite closely and humanly and to converse
with them about their little personal joys, sorrows
and wishes. They talked of their homes or of their
civilian occupations with brightened eyes, the fine
German folk-songs and soldier's ballads filling up
the intervals in the conversation. To have shared
in such an evening would perhaps have opened the
eyes of the clever people who babble so much about
the tyranny and harsh treatment of the militarism
of that time.
During my lieutenancy, as also afterwards, I de
voted as much of my leisure time as possible to sport.
This I did, not merely because of my natural in
clination for sport, but also because I considered its
practice to be of particular significance for the future
head of a state; and that is, after all, what I was.
The community of sport is calculated, more than

40 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
anything else, to remove internal and external bar
riers between people of like aims; for it is exactly
in sport that the actually and manifestly best
performance is decisive. Who accomplishes it —
whether junker, business man or factory-hand, Chris
tian, Jew or Moslem — is a matter of indifference.
Therefore I have repeatedly attended bicycle races,
football matches, route marches and other sporting
events; and, on suitable occasions, I have promoted
them by the presentation of prizes. This, again, is
one of the things by which I have given offense: a
properly brought up heir-apparent should, forsooth,
maintain an exalted position and hold himself aloof
from such noisy affairs. All right, then, I have pur
posely not been this ideal of a prescribed heir-appar
ent; instead, by visiting sporting events, I have
gained an insight into the life and bustle, and into
the exigencies and desires of many classes of people
with whom otherwise, by reason of my upbringing
and general circumstances, I should never have
come into touch.
In those days, however, I was, above all, heart
and soul a soldier; and it is no exaggeration to say
that, of an evening, I looked forward with pleasure
to my next day's duties. The training and the as
sociation with the rank and file, the strict old-Prus
sian discipline, the healthy physical exercise in wind
and weather, the pride taken in the ancient regi
mental uniform — all this made me love the service.

SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 41
As with all things else, so too with the soldier's
calling, one must bend to the task with one's whole
being and with real love and devotion, if success is
to be obtained. This is the spirit that must ani
mate both the officer and his troops.
Short energetic spells of work with the utmost
exercise of all one's capacity, smartness and dis
cipline, cleanliness and punctuality, punishment for
every negligence or passive resistance, but a warm
heart for the most meagre or the stupidest recruit,
gaiety in the barracks, as much furlough as possible,
exceptional distinctions for exceptional performances
— in a word, sunshine during military service formed
the fundamental principle which guided me.
May, 1919.
Two bitter-sweet days have been mine in this
month of May. On the sixth, I celebrated the
thirty-seventh anniversary of my birth. Loving
letters from family and numberless indications of
remembrance from all parts of my native country
the homeland proved to me here in my seclusion
that there are still people who feel that they belong
to me and cannot be alienated from me by a never
so wildly raging campaign of slander. From the
island and from the Dutch mainland, many touching
indications of love and sympathy have also reached
me — little, well-meant presents for the improvement
of my modest household, flowers in such plenty that

42 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
the small narrow rooms of the parsonage cannot
contain them.
And then, after all the unspeakably severe and
lonely experience of the past half-year, I was able,
with the consent of the Dutch Government, to leave
the island towards the end of the month and to
celebrate a day with my mother on the estate of
good Baron Wrangel. "Celebrate" ? I don't know
whether that word suits the hours in which, arm in
arm, and no one near, we walked up and down in
the rose-dappled garden, and, as so often in the bet
ter days gone by, I was able unreservedly to pour
out, to my heart's content, all that burdened it.
To my mother, to that ever-sympathetic and com
prehending woman, so clear-sighted and wide-vi-
sioned in her simple modesty, I could always come
in past years when my thoughts and my heart
needed the kindly and soothing hand of a mother to
smooth out their tangles and creases. It was so
when I was a child, it was so when I wore my lieu
tenant's uniform, it was so when later in life I had
duties to fulfil in responsible positions; and that it
has remained so to this day has been proved by
those few short hours in which, after the first shock
of reunion, we recovered our inward equanimity.
Scarcely ever before had I felt so deeply the measure
with which her nature and her blood had determined
my own.
During the initial period of my service in the

SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 43
First Foot-Guards, a sorrowful event at the begin
ning of the year 1901 took me once more to London,
namely, the death of my great-grandmother, the
aged Queen Victoria of England.
Since the affair in St. James's Park, in which my
boyish imagination had been too completely capti
vated by the exotic figures around her for me to
gain anything but a purely superficial idea of the
Queen, I had seen her twice. Each time the fea
tures of her character impressed themselves more
deeply upon me; my eyes had been opened to the
activities of this remarkable woman who maintained
to the end her resolute nature and strength of will.
Now, in the winter of 1901, I was to do her the
last reverence.
The Queen had died in her beautiful castle at
Osborne in the Isle of Wight. There the coffin had
been placed in a small room fitted up as a chapel.
Over it was spread the English ensign, and six of
the tallest officers of the Grenadier Guards kept
watch beside it. In their splendid uniforms, their
bearskin-covered heads bowed in sorrow, their folded
hands resting upon their sword-hilts, they guarded,
immovable as bronze knights, the last sleep of their
dead sovereign.
The transport of the dead Queen to London took
place on board the "Victoria and Albert." During
the entire passage, which lasted fully three hours,
we steamed between a double row of ships of the

44 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
entire British navy whose guns fired once more their
salutes to the Queen.
The funeral procession through the streets of Lon
don was most impressive.
A moving incident occurred at Windsor on the
way from Frogmore Lodge to the Mausoleum. It
was a bitter winter day; and the train which brought
the mortal remains of the Queen was several hours
behind time. Just as the procession was about to
start, the six artillery horses of the hearse began to
jib; one of the wheelers kicked over the pole; the
coffin began to sway, and threatened to slip from its
platform. Prompt and brief orders were at once
given by the then Prince Louis of Battenberg who
was in command of the naval division drawn up at
the spot. The horses were unharnessed, and, almost
before one could realize what had happened, three
hundred British seamen had their ropes fixed to the
hearse; with calm tread and almost inaudibly, the
dead Queen's sailors drew their sovereign to her
last resting-place.
In the spring of 1901 the period of my lieuten
ancy came to an end. I was now to study, and,
like my father before me, I matriculated at Bonn
University. The four semesters spent at the old alma mater
were for me two delightful and fruitful years, re
plete with serious study and happy student's life

SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 45
and filled with all the enchantment of Rhenish
charm and merriment.
In accordance with tradition I became a member
of the Borussia (Prussian) Corps. Nevertheless, I
was not simply and solely a "Bonner Prussian";
on the contrary and rather in despite of the strict
forms of the corps, I had many friends in other
corps of the "Bonner S. C."
My sport-loving heart led me to share with great
delight in the fencing practice which formed the
preparatory training for duelling. Fain would I have
taken active part in the latter; but, as an officer,
I was only permitted to use the unmuffled weapon
in serious affairs of honor. Comprehensible as this
youthful impulse still appears to me, though I by no
means wish to underrate the value of the "scharf en
mensur" for the training of eye, hand and nerve,
I believe, nevertheless, that our German studentry
exaggerated its value. As in the question of weap
ons, so, too, in regard to drinking-bouts, I consider
that the "Trinkkomment" (drinking statutes) — for
which I never had any great liking and to which,
as a student, I submitted unwillingly — needs to be
purged of many formulae that have developed into
abuses. This, moreover, is demanded by the pres
sure of present circumstances. Genuine and prac
tical love for the German Fatherland, in its distress
and humiliation, means work, and work and work
again; it means this especially for our youth, who,

46 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
in the self-training of their own personalities, are
preparing values for the national entity on which
may depend the fate of the coming generation.
The hours of my delightful Bonn days that
were not occupied in study or in corps life I em
ployed in intercourse with people of all classes in
the Rhineland. I accepted gratefully the hospi
tality of professors, merchants and manufacturers
in whose families I was welcomed with genuine
Rhenish cordiality. Having hitherto come into
touch mainly with people of the military class,
these new associations provided me with copious
fresh and vivid impressions as a valuable additional
gain to the intellectual stimulus of the university
studies proper. To these studies I devoted myself
with ardor, and I often think with gratitude of the
prominent men who acted as my counsellors and
mentors, such men as: Zitelmann, Litzmann, Go-
thein, Betzold, Schumacher, Clemen and Anschtitz.
With special indebtedness I recall the brilliant lec
tures of Zorn, the famous professor of constitutional
law; and a strong bond of confidence and friendship
still unites me with that great teacher.
Out of my intercourse at Bonn with intellectual
leaders in the fields of science, technology, industry
and politics, there arose in me the desire henceforth
to occupy myself more than ever before with the
problems of our home and foreign policy and espe
cially with matters of sociology.

SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 47
Like the lieutenant's period of my life, the two
sunny years at Bonn sped rapidly by. They
brought me an abundance of delightful and valua
ble experiences: the enjoyment of nature in a world
full of beauty, youthful knowledge, attachment to
select and clever men, Rhenish joyousness and the
germs of much knowledge that ripened later into
intellectual possessions.
Some amount of travel, undertaken during the
vacations (in the late summer of 1901 through
England and Holland) and, with my brother Eitel
Fritz, at the close of my university career, also
helped to widen my intellectual vision. The im
pressions afforded me I welcomed with an awakened
and more receptive mind than ever before.
When I recall those travels, two figures particu
larly stand out before me as lifelike and undimmed
as though, not years, but only days or at most
weeks separated me from them. These are Abdul
Hamid, the last of the Sultans of the old regime,
and Pope Leo XIII. Strange as it may seem, these
two men, who, in their natures and in their world,
differed in the extreme both outwardly and in
wardly, are inseparably united in my mind by
circumstances from which I can scarcely detach
myself. In the solemn completeness of the Vati
can, seemingly so untouched by haste or time, and
in the fairyland of the Sultan's court, so entirely
outside the range of every occidental gauge and law,

48 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
there was revealed to me something utterly new
and unsuspected, something into which I entered
with astonishment. These men — the most remark
able Pope of the 20th century (for whose spiritu
alized being I could not, for a moment, feel any
thing but the deepest awe) and the ruthless, al
mighty Padishah (in whose presence I quickly
recovered my self-possession) — both had the same
expression of eye. Penetrating, clever, infinitely
pondering and experienced, they looked at you with
their gray eyes in which age had drawn sharply de
fined white rings around the piercing pupils.
The picture that awaited my brother Eitel Fritz
and me as we arrived at Constantinople on board
the English yacht "Sapphire" on a wonderful spring
morning, was absolutely enchanting; and the events
of the few days during which we were guests at
the Golden Horn augmented the impression that
we were dreaming a dream out of the "Arabian
Nights." Shortly after our arrival in the harbor, the Sul
tan's favorite son came to welcome us in the name
of his father; and towards noon the Estrogul Dra
goons — excellent-looking troops on small white
Arabs — escorted us to the Yildiz Kiosk, where the
Sultan received us at the head of his General Staff
and his court suite.
Abdul Hamid was an exceptionally fascinating
personality— small, bow-legged, animated, a typical

SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 49
Armenian Semite. He was exceedingly friendly, I
might almost say paternal, towards us.
We were quartered in a very beautiful Kiosk of
the enormous palace buildings of the Yildiz. About
half an hour after we had occupied our rooms, the
Sultan came to pay us a return visit. He arrived
in a little basket-chaise, driving the nimble horses
himself and followed on foot by his entire big suite.
This included many elderly stout generals, and as
the Sultan drove at a trot and these good digni
taries were determined not to be left behind, their
appearance when they got to the palace was any
thing but ravishing.
The rules of the country permitted Abdul Hamid
to speak nothing but Turkish; consequently, our
conversations with him had to be interpreted sen
tence by sentence and were excessively wearisome.
Moreover, the old gentleman understood our French
perfectly, and when I happened to tell him some
humorous anecdote or other, it was most amus
ing to see him laughing heartily long before the
dragoman, with the solemnity of a judge, had given
him the translation.
In the evening a banquet was to be given in our
honor. Where this was to take place no one knew
at first, since the Sultan's fear of would-be assassins
was so great that he took the precaution to keep
the time and place of such festivities secret as long
as possible. At the last minute, therefore, and much

50 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
to the confusion of the marshals of his court, he
issued the command for the dinner to be given in
a great reception-room.
The Sultan and I sat at the head of an intermi
nably long table. Every one else, including my poor
brother, had to sit sidewise so as to face the
Padishah; there was not much chance of eating
anything, but the sight of the Sultan is as good as
meat and drink to a believing Mohammedan.
It struck me that my exalted host was wearing
a very thick and badly fitting uniform, till a sudden
movement on his part revealed to me the fact that
he had a shirt of mail concealed underneath it. In
conversation he evinced great interest in all German
affairs and proved to be thoroughly informed on the
most varied subjects; we discussed naval problems,
the recent results of Polar research, the latest pub
lications on the German book market and, above
all, military questions.
The days that followed were no less interesting
than the first. We visited the sights of the city and
its environs, and the old gentleman displayed a
touching care for our welfare.
On the last day of our sojourn he invited us to a
private dinner in his own apartments. The only
other people present were my attendants, the Ger
man ambassador and the Sultan's favorite son. The
Sultan, who was very fond of music, had asked me
to play him something on the violin. The Prince

SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 51
accompanied me on the piano, and we played an
air from "Cavalleria Rusticana," a cavatina by
Raff and Schumann's "Traumerei." Then there
followed an affecting incident. As a surprise for the
old gentleman, I had practised the Turkish National
Anthem with my army doctor, Oberstabsarzt Wide-
mann; and as soon as we had finished playing it,
the Sultan, who seemed to be deeply moved, flung
his arms about me; then, at a sign from him, an
adjutant appeared with a cushion on which lay the
gold and silver medal for arts and sciences, and this
the ruler of all the Ottomans pinned to my breast.
Then he showed us his private museum containing
all the presents received by him and his ancestors
from other European Princes. Here, among a great
quantity of trash, were grouped a number of beau
tiful and valuable articles. Thus, I recall an amber
cupboard presented by Frederick William I.
This meeting with old Abdul Hamid has remained
for me one of the most interesting encounters that
I have ever had with foreign Princes.
In my twenty-second year, I was appointed to
the command of the 2d Company of the First Foot-
Guards. The amplitude of work involved by this
responsible position for the next two and a half years
brought me the greatest satisfaction. That I was
intrusted with this particular company filled me with
peculiar pleasure, as I had become acquainted with

52 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
all my non-commissioned officers when a lieutenant.
The heads of companies, squadrons and batteries
form, in conjunction with the regimental com
manders, the backbone of the army, inasmuch as,
within the scope of their duties, the value of the
individual as leader and trainer has a chance of
making itself felt. But not much inferior to the
personal importance of the head of the company
must be ranked the personality of the sergeant-
major, significantly dubbed in Germany the "com
pany's mother." My own sergeant-major, Wergin,
was a devoted and conscientious man who set an
example to all in the company. Early and late his
thoughts were occupied with the Royal Prussian
service and he was, at the same time, continually
busied about the welfare of his hundred and twenty
grenadiers. In themselves the labors which fell to us captains
in the First Foot-Guards were light and gratifying.
The corps of non-commissioned officers was complete
and consisted throughout of thoroughly efficient
men; while the recruits of each year were excellent,
all of them being well-educated young fellows and
representing, in many cases, the fourth generation
of service with the regiment or even with the same
company. On the other hand, there was a certain
difficulty in the bodily dimensions of the men. The
height of many of them was altogether out of pro
portion to their breadth, and it was necessary to

SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 53
exercise great care lest they should, at the outset,
be subjected to overexertion. Furthermore, my tall
grenadiers could eat an incredible quantity of food !
With my company and with the troops afterwards
intrusted to me, I laid great stress upon smartness
and discipline. Our combined movements and our
drill as a whole were worth seeing, and the grena
diers themselves were proud of their unimpeach
able form.
My general principles were: short but very ener
getic spells of duty; for the rest, leave the men as
much as possible unmolested; plenty of furlough,
merriment in the barracks, excursions, visits to the
sights of the town and its surroundings, occasional
attendance at theatres, a minimum of disciplinary
punishments. My men soon knew that, when he
had to punish them, their captain suffered more
than they did themselves. I endeavored to work
upon their sense of honor, and that was nearly al
ways effective.
Of course, in the foregoing, the duties and labors
of a company's captain are anything but exhausted.
Apart from all questions of military service, he must
be a true father to his soldiers; he must know each
individual and know where the shoe pinches in every
particular case. Just this phase of the officer's call
ing gave me the greatest pleasure, and its exercise
gained for me the confidence and the attachment of
every one of my grenadiers. They came to me with

54 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
their troubles both small and great, and I felt my
self happy in their firm and honest confidingness.
Some fine, charming young fellows have passed thus
through my hands. Many a one I met again after
wards in the war; many a one now rests in foreign
soil, true to the motto on the helmet of our first
battalion: Semper talis.
Despite this passionate and devoted attention to
my duties with the First Foot-Guards, in which
regiment I made closer acquaintance with my two
former adjutants and future lords in waiting — the
conscientious Stiilpnagel and the faithful Behr — I
was not purely and solely a soldier during those
years. The Bonn impetus continued active, and
the living questions of politics, economics, art and
technical science occupied even more of my leisure
time than in the years which had opened my eyes
to their importance.
Whereas, in the year of my lieutenancy, I had
joined with a certain interest and curiosity in all the
court festivities that came in my way, an ever-
increasing dislike for the pomp of these affairs
began to develop within me as my judgment ma
tured. The much too frequently repeated cere
monial, maintained as it was here in rigid form,
appeared to me often enough to be an empty and
almost painful anachronism. How many deeply
reproachful or gently admonitory glances have I not
received from the eyes of court marshals whose

SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 55
holiest feelings I had wounded ! But here, as in so
many other spheres, the exaggeration of the circum
scribed, the "exalted," the congealed, had impelled
me to a noticeable nonchalance — not by any means
always intentional, often enough involuntary and as
though a reaction was bound to take place of its
own accord.
Court festivities ! Thinking of them reminds me
of a man for whom, and for whose art, I always cher
ished the greatest veneration and the sight of whom
on these occasions invariably filled me with plea
sure and brought a smile to my lips. It was Adolf
Menzel. His appearance was generally preceded by
a tragi-comedy in his home and on the way to the
palace, since he was so deeply absorbed in his work
till the last moment that no amount of subsequent
haste in dressing could enable him to arrive in time.
In his later years an adjutant of my father's was
always sent to fetch him, and this messenger often
enough had to help in getting him dressed. But it
was all to no purpose; he still came late.
Indelibly imprinted in my memory is Menzel as
I saw him at the celebration of the Order of the
Black Eagle. On this occasion, the knights wear
the big red-velvet robes and the chain of this high
order. The little man, whom none of the robes
would fit, struggled wildly the whole time with his
train, at which he kept looking daggers from his
spectacled, but expressively flashing eyes.

56 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
At the close of the ceremony, it was customary
for the knights to defile, two by two, before the
throne, to make their obeisance to the Kaiser and
to leave the chamber. According to the order of
rank, it always happened that the dwarfish Menzel
was accompanied by the abnormally tall haus-
minister, von Wedel. When this ill-matched couple
stood before the throne, the sight was in itself suffi
cient to fill one with a warm sense of amusement.
But when, at the same time, the artist was aroused
in Menzel's bosom, it was difficult to restrain one's
hilarity. Menzel seemed to forget altogether where
he was, and I have seen him, entirely captivated by
the picturesqueness of the scene before him, give
his head a sudden jerk, set his arms akimbo and
stare long and fixedly at my father. — Meantime old
Wedel had delivered his correct court bow and was
marching off, when, to his horror, he noticed, his
partner still planted before the throne.
I don't know which delighted me more at that
moment, whether the perplexed and dismayed face
of the hausminister, who felt himself implicated in
an unheard of breach of traditional etiquette, or
the little genius who, turning his head first one way
then the other, gazed at the Kaiser, heedless of
those waiting impatiently behind him for the space
in front of the throne. In the end, Wedel took
courage and plucked Menzel by the sleeve. This
interruption greatly annoyed the seemingly very

SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 57
choleric master of the brush. If a look can foam
with rage, it was the one which, with head thrown
back, Menzel flung up into the eyes of his tall com
panion. Then, gathering up the skirts of his robe,
he stumbled angry and offended out of the room.
It was as though he seemed to be saying to himself:
"Bah! What a gathering, where one may not
even look at people for a bit,"
Time and again have I stood and chatted with
him at such court ceremonies. He was full of dry
humor, sarcasm and criticism. Nothing escaped his
notice; and since, little by little, people had ceased
to expect from him a strict subordination to rules,
he had come to regard himself as a species of supe
rior outsider and perhaps felt fairly happy in the
exceptional position which certainly provided him
with many an artistic suggestion.
For my part, as already stated, these festivities,
in which every one made a show of his own vain
glory, soon lost all attraction for me. Their rigid
mechanical nature became dreary; their stiff pomp
was like a mosaic made up of a thousand petty
vanities set in consequentialism of every shade. I
perfectly well recognized that ceremonial festivities
necessitated a certain formality; but it appeared to
me that they ought also to be animated by an in
nate freedom, and of this there was scarcely a trace
perceptible. In free and unconstrained intercourse with capa-

58 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
ble men of every category, with artists, authors,
sportsmen, merchants, and manufacturers, I found
greater stimulus than in these courtly shows.
Moreover, as a lover of sport and the chase, I gave
my physical frame its due share in cheerful exer
tion. Withal, I felt the vexation of having continually
to take into consideration my position as Prince.
In everything that I undertook, I was surrounded
by people who — with the best intentions, no doubt,
but much to my annoyance — rehearsed, again and
again, their two little maxims: "Your Imperial
Highness must not do that" and "Your Imperial
Highness must now do this." Any attempt to re
pulse these admonitions or to introduce the freedom
of action of a free being into this fusty formalism
met with a total lack of understanding. It was,
therefore, best to let people talk and to do what
seemed most simple and natural.
Only one person showed any sympathy with my
opposition or any comprehension of my desire to
be a Uttle less "Crown Prince" and a little more of
a contemporary human being. It was my dear
mother. Ever and again, when I sat talking with
her on such matters, I felt how much of her nature
she had passed on to me — only that what in my
blood offered masculine resistance had ultimately
accommodated itself and quieted down in her. For
this self-resignation she undoubtedly drew never-

SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 59
failing energy from the deep religiousness of her
nature. To the strictly reUgious character of her ethical
views is also to be attributed her urgent desire that
we, her sons, should enter wedlock "pure," and un
touched by experiences with other women. With
this object in view, she and those around us whom
she had instructed endeavored to keep us, as far as
practicable, aloof from any one and every one who
might possibly lead us astray from the straight
paths of virtue. Undoubtedly my mother, in her
thoughts and purposes, was inspired by the best
intentions in regard to us and to our moral and
physical welfare; and, whatever nonsense may have
been early circulated about me, I, at any rate,
cannot have greatly disappointed her.

CHAPTER III
MATRIMONIAL AND POST-MATRIMONIAL June, 1919.
Wrote letters first thing. Then, after breakfast,
two hours at the anvil in the smithy. Luijt told me
that an American had offered twenty-five guilders
for a horseshoe that I had forged. Might he give
him one? These people are, after all, incorrigibly
ready to inspire the likes of us with megalomania-
even when we sit on a grassy island far from their
madding crowd. At one time they used to pick up
my cigarette-ends; and now, for a piece of iron that
has been under my hammer, a snob offers a sum
that would help a poor man out of his misery in the
old homeland. It is not surprising to me that many
a one, under the influence of this cult, has become
what he is ! No, we are not always the sole culprits !
I left Luijt and went down to the sea, stripped
and plunged in. How that washes the wretched
ness out of you for a while and makes you forget the
whole thing !
About noon, I told my dear Kummer, who has
been with me for some time, the story of the Ameri
can. He is on fire with enthusiasm ! "Twenty-five
gmlders, at the present rate of exchange ! I'd keep
on making horseshoes for them the whole day."
60

MATRIMONIAL 61
After dinner, looked through the old notes of the
battles at Verdun and worked at the subject for the
book. Took a walk with Kummer.
And now it is evening again.
Another day passed. How long will it be now?
On a beautiful and memorable summer's day of
the year 1904, in fir-encircled Gelbensande, the seat
of the Dowager Grand Duchess Anastasia Michail-
ovna of Mecklenburg, I was betrothed to Cecilie,
Duchess of Mecklenburg. Not quite eighteen years
of age, she was in the first blush of youth and full of
gaiety and joyousness. The years of her childhood,
in the society of her somewhat self-willed but loving
and beautiful mother, had been replete with serene
happiness. On a bright June day of the following year, my
beautiful young bride gave me her hand for life.
She entered Berlin on roses; she was received by the
welcoming shouts of many thousands; she started
upon her new career upborne by the love and sym
pathy of a whole people. And as, on that day, I
rode down the Linden with my 2d Company to
form the guard of honor, the warm-hearted partici
pation of all that great throng touched me very
deeply. Moreover, the city and the happy faces,
the many pretty lasses and the roses all over the
place presented an unforgetable picture. My gren-

62 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
adiers naturally felt that they quite belonged to the
family and strode along smartly.
A kind destiny permitted my choice to be free
from all political or dynastic considerations. It fell
upon her to whom my heart went out and who gave
me her hand as freely and whole-heartedly in return.
Our union was the outcome of genuine and sincere
affection. Shall I take any notice of all the nonsense that
has been talked and written concerning my wedded
life? If the good people who have such "brilliant
connections" and consequently such "intimate in
sight" and "reliable information" would but be a
little less self-important. I can say this: whenever
the newspapers printed such things as "The Divorce
of the Crown Prince Imminent," my wife and I had
a good laugh over the matter. What a craving for
sensation possesses the public !
I can only thank my wife from the bottom of my
heart for having been to me the best and most faith
ful friend and companion, a tender helpmate and
mother, forbearing and forgiving in regard to many
a fault, full of comprehension for what I am, hold
ing to me unswervingly in fortune and in distress.
She has presented me with six healthy and dear
children whom I am proud of with all my heart and
for whom I feel a longing as often as I stroke the
head of one of these flaxen-haired little fisher lads
here, May my four boys some day be brave Ger-

THE CROWN PRINCE AND CROWN PRINCESS WITH THEIR CHILDREN AND WITH THE MAYOR OF
WIERINGEN AND HIS WIFE

MATRIMONIAL 63
man men, doing their duty to their country as true
Hohenzollerns !
During the time of severe torment that followed
Germany's downfall, my wife stuck to her post with
exemplary faithfulness and bravery and, in a hun
dred difficult situations, proved herself to possess
that strong, noble nature for which I love and revere
her. After all "war" has entered our married life!
In 1915, the Crown Princess paid me a two-days'
visit in my headquarters at Stenay. At 4 o'clock
in the morning of the second day, there began a
French air attack manifestly aimed full at my house
which, at that time, had no bomb-proof cellar or
dugout. A direct hit would undoubtedly have
meant thorough work. The attack lasted two hours.
In that time, twenty-four aeroplanes dropped bombs
around us and a hundred and sixty bombs were
counted. Several of them landed only a few yards
from the house and, unfortunately, claimed a num
ber of victims. It was the severest air attack that I
had ever experienced, and was a test to the nerves
in which my wife showed the greatest courage and
calmness. The way in which she stood the strain
was magnificent.
Following upon my captaincy in the First Foot-
Guards, I was now to be appointed to the command
of a squadron. Through the mediation of his Excel-

64 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
lency, von Hiilsen, I requested His Majesty to in
trust me with a squadron of the Gardes du Corps.
At first, His Majesty wished to appoint me to the
Hussars. Ultimately, he gave way and placed me,
in January, 1906, at the head of the body squadron
of the Gardes du Corps, though, instead of the
handsome uniform of that regiment, he ordered me,
by special decree, to wear the uniform of the Queen's
Cuirassiers. In this new position, my love of horsee found
once more a wide field of activity, and I look back
with great satisfaction to the delightful period dur
ing which I was attached to this proud regiment
whose glorious traditions are so intimately bound up
with the history of the Brandenburg-Prussian state.
That it was no mere parade troop was proved at
Zorndorf and again in the gigantic struggle of the
world war. It was a bitter-sweet joy to me to re
ceive, only a few days ago, a loving sign that the old
and well-tried members of the body squadron had
not forgotten their former leader in his present
misfortune: on my birthday, May 6, a small album
containing the signatures of the officers and gardes
du corps of the old squadron found its way to my
quiet island. — Of the officers and of the gardes du
corps ! — How many names are wanting ! East and
west repose those whose names are not in the album.
My thoughts wander in both directions to greet the
brave dead.
Here, although it belongs to a later period, I

MATRIMONIAL 65
would say a word about my appointment to the
third military weapon — the artillery. To render me
familiar with it, I was appointed, in the spring of
1909, to the command of the Leibbatterie of the
First Field Artillery. I felt particularly happy in
this excellent regiment — excellent both from a mili
tary standpoint and in its comradeship; and I recall
with sincere gratitude the assistance given me by
my faithful mentor, Major the Count Hopfgarten,
and his manifold suggestions in matters relating to
artillery. Even at that time, the mode of employing our
field artillery and, to some extent, also, our mode
of firing struck me, in some points, as out-of-date
when compared with French regulations. About
five years later, the experiences of the war demon
strated that the French army really had gained a
start of us in the development of this weapon.
With us the technology of artillery had dropped be
hind the equestrology; the horse had obtained too
many privileges over the cannon.
As personal adjutant, I asked and obtained the
services of Captain von der Planitz. This excellent
and well-trained officer, whom I shall ever grate-
fuUy remember as a sincere and noble man and as
my long-standing and trusted companion and coun
sellor, fell as commander of a division in Flanders.
A report is being circulated by the newspapers
which purports to come from an eye-witness of the

66 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
murder of Tsar Nicholas and to reveal, in all its
horrors, his bloody end.
This description, whose ghastUness is only en
hanced by its cold objectivity, I read this morning.
Ever since, as the rain outside has continued to
pour down ceaselessly, my thoughts have reverted
again and again to this poor man — to him and those
around him on the two occasions that I came into
closer contact with him, — first, as his guest in Rus
sia and, afterwards, on the one occasion that he was
our guest in Berlin.
Now, as I write these Unes in recollection of him,
it is night.
When I first met Tsar Nicholas at St. Petersburg
in January, 1903, he was at the height of his power.
I had been despatched to take part in the Bene
diction of the Waters. The court and the troops
formed an exceptionally brilliant framework to the
celebration. But the Tsar, himself, who was at
bottom a simple and homely person and most cor
dial and unconstrained in intimate circles, appeared
irresolute, I might almost say timid, in his public
capacity. The ravishingly beautiful Empress Alex
andra was, in such matters, no support for him,
since she herself was painfully bashful, indeed al
most shy. In complete contrast to her, the Dowager
Empress, Maria Feodorovna, embodied perfectly the
conception of majesty and of the grande dame, and
she exercised also the chief influence in the poUtical

MATRIMONIAL 67
and court circles of St. Petersburg. It was par
ticularly noticeable how little the Tsar understood
how to ensure the prestige due to him from the
members of his family, i. e., from the Grand Dukes
and Grand Duchesses. When, for instance, the
company had met previous to a dinner, and the
Imperial couple entered, scarcely a member of the
family took any notice of it. An absolutely pro
voking laxity was displayed on such occasions by
the Grand Duke Nicholai Nicholaievitch, who, by
the way, did not hesitate, in conversation with me,
to give fairly pointed expression to his dislike of
everything German. In vain did I look for traces,
in St. Petersburg, of the old friendship between
Prussia and Russia; English and French were the
linguistic mediums; for Germany no one had any
interest; more often than not I even came across
open repugnance. Only two men did I meet with
who manifested any marked liking for Germany,
namely, Baron Fredericks and Sergei Julivitch
Witte, who, a few years later, was made a count.
With Witte I had a long talk upon the question of
a new Russo-German treaty of commerce, in the
course of which the politician, with his far-sighted
views of finance and political economy, maintained
emphatically that, in his opinion, the healthy devel
opment of Russia depended closely upon her pro
ceeding economically hand in hand with Germany.
The fear of assassins was very great at the court.

68 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Among the many precautionary and preventive
measures which I saw taken everywhere, one that I
met with on paying the Tsar a late evening visit
made a deep impression upon me. In the vestibule
of his private apartments, the Emperor's entire
body-guard of about one hundred men were posted
like the pieces on a chess-board. It was impossible
for any one to pass; and my entrance created the
greatest alarm and excitement.
Within the inner circle of his family, the Emperor
was an utterly changed being. He was a happy,
harmless, amiable man, tenderly attached to his
wife and children. From the Empress, too, disap
peared that nervousness and restlessness which took
possession of her in public, she became a lovable,
warm-hearted woman and, surrounded by her young
and well-bred daughters, she presented a picture of
grace and beauty. I spent some delightful hours
there. On the second occasion, my wife and I were in
vited to Zarskoe Selo. Here I might have imagined
myself on the country estate of some wealthy pri
vate magnate, but that, at every step, the poUce
and miUtary precautions reminded me that I was
the guest of a ruler who did not trust his own peo
ple. Zarskoe stands in a great park. Outside the
palings was drawn up a cordon of cossacks who
trotted up and down night and day to keep watch.
Within the park stood innumerable sentinels, while

MATRIMONIAL 69
inside the palace one saw everywhere sentinels in
couples with fixed bayonets. I said to my wife
at the time that it made you feel as though you
were in a prison, and that I would rather risk being
bombed than live permanently such a life as that.
A distressing motor drive still remains vivid in
my memory. The Tsar wanted to show us the
palace on the lake side. We started off in a closed
carriage. It was the first time, for months, that
the Emperor had left Zarskoe. The drive lasted
about four hours. The impression was cheerless
and deeply depressing. Every place we passed
through seemed dead; no one was permitted to show
himself in the streets or at the windows — save, of
course, soldiers and policemen. Weird silence and
oppressive anxiety hung over everybody and every
thing. To be forced to conceal oneself like that!
Eh, it was a life not worth living.
We also took part in a great military review.
The guards looked brilliant; and, true to their an
cient tradition, they later on fought brilliantly in
the war. An uncommonly picturesque impression
was made by the bold-looking Don, Ural and Trans-
baikal cossacks on their small, scrubby horses.
The reception in the family circle was as hearty
as on my first visit. For hours we canoed about
the canals, and discussed exhaustively many a
political problem. These talks convinced me that
the Tsar cherished sincere sympathy for Germany,

70 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
but was too weak to combat effectually the influ
ence of the great anti-German party; the Dowager
Empress and the Grand Duke Nicholai — both pro
nounced opponents of Germany — possessed the up
per hand.
Tsar Nicholas was not, in my judgment, the per
sonality that Russia needed on the throne. He
lacked resolution and courage and was out of touch
with his people. As a simple, country gentleman,
he might perhaps have been happy and have had
many friends; but he did not possess the qualities
essential to lead a nation in the development of its
capacities; possibly, indeed, his timid mind scarcely
dared to reflect upon the merest shadow of such
qualities. Deeply tragical appeared to us, even at that time,
the weakly and continually ailing little heir-ap
parent, Alexis Nicholaievitch. Though already nine
years old, he was usually carried about like a little
wounded creature by a giant of a sailor. With
anxious and trembling tenderness, the parents clung
to this fragile offspring of the later years of their
wedlock who was expected some day to wear the
Imperial crown of Russia.
All over! Gone in blood and horror this little
wearily flickering life. * * * * *
After I had completed another two and a half
years of military service, I felt a lively desire to
fill in the very considerable gaps in my knowledge

MATRIMONIAL 71
of political and economic affairs. Wishes repeatedly
expressed by me in the matter had hitherto been
disregarded, which was the more remarkable as, in
the history of our house, the ruler for the time being
had always treated the due preparation of the heir-
apparent for his future career as a particularly ur
gent duty of the office conferred upon him. Con
sequently, I felt myself ill used in being thus denied
the opportunity to grasp and fathom subjects whose
mastery was essential for me. Without exaggera
tion, I can say that I had to wrestle tenaciously
and uncompromisingly for admission to an environ
ment in which I might acquire this indispensable
knowledge. It was therefore with all the greater satisfaction
that, in October, 1907, I welcomed the Kaiser's
finally consenting to attach me to the bureau of the
Lord Lieutenant at Potsdam, to the Home Office,
to the Exchequer and to the Admiralty. I was,
however, to wait a while before being initiated into
questions of foreign policy; these were treated as
a trifle mysterious — and as though they lay within
the sphere of some occult art. For the present,
therefore, I was to have the opportunity of attend
ing lectures on machine construction and electro-
technics at the University of Technology in Char-
lottenburg, where I might acquire a more extensive
acquaintance with these subjects which had always
aroused my peculiar interest.
Thus the obstacles that had heretofore stood in

72 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
my way were now removed; doors which had been
kept religiously closed to me at last opened to my
hankering for knowledge.
My self -instructive activities in the various minis
tries — which were greatly facilitated by my father's
orders to supply me with every desired information
— speedily led to my occupying myself busily with
the great questions of the day and their international
interdependence; and thus I soon found myself ab
sorbed in the study of the German and the foreign
press. The pulse of our life is the newspaper; in it beats
the heart of the times; inertness and activity, lassi
tude and fever find in it their efficacy and expression
and, for him who has to care for the well-being of
the entire organism, they became, under certain
circumstances, admonishing and warning voices.
In that year of study which I devoted to the press,
my first modest gain was that I learned to estimate
clearly the significance of the newspaper for those
who are willing to hear, to see and to recognize;—
yes, for those who will hear, see and recognize, and
are not blinded to the signs of the times by an os
trich-like psychology either imposed upon them or
voluntarily adopted.
Of course, I had read the newspapers before,
in the ordinary acceptation of the term. Mainly,
I had confined myself to journals of the conserva
tive type and colorless, well-disposed news-sheets;

MATRIMONIAL 73
though I had, at any rate, read them unmutilated
by anybody else's scissors. Now, I ploughed my
way daily through the whole field from the Kreuz-
zeitung to the Vorwdrts ; and often an article marked
by me found its way to the proper persons to give
me the required explanations and enlightenment.
Consequently, in regard to particular cultural
and political questions, I soon arrived at a point of
view which showed me the problems from quite a
different angle from that adopted by His Majesty
on the ground of the press cuttings and the reports
presented to him. The humor of history was gro
tesquely inverted: the King was guided ad usum
delphini, and the Dauphin drew his knowledge out
of the fulness of life. By reason of this deeper in
sight into the driving forces of the masses and of
the times, many of the fundamental notions kept
to by the Kaiser in his method of government ap
peared to me to have lost their roots and to be no
longer reconcilable with the spirit of modern mon
archy with its wise recognition of recent develop
ments and current phenomena.
Besides the German state organization, there was
another which, at that time, aroused my special in
terest, namely, the British. I had been about a
good deal in England, and, in many an hour's talk
on this fascinating subject my uncle, King Edward,
had lovingly instructed me concerning England's
political structure, in which I recognized many a

74 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
feature of value to our younger development. When
I recall these memorable conversations, in which
my part was that of a thoroughly unsophisticated
young disciple of a successful past master and
fatherly friend, it strikes me that the King wanted
to bestow upon me something more than a simple
lesson in the conditions of England; it was rather
as though this, in his own way highly talented man
recognized that the ideas which had governed the
first two decades of my father's reign had been lead
ing farther and farther from the lines along which
the monarchy of Germany ought to develop, if that
monarchy were to remain the firmly established and
organic consummation of the state's structure; it
was as though he clearly and consciously meant to
call my attention to this danger point, in order to
warn me and to win me to better ways even at the
threshold of my political career.
All that my old great-uncle imparted to me out
of the fulness of his observation and experience I
gladly accepted and developed, and doubtless this
has had its share in forming my views concerning
the Kaiser's maxims of government and in my feel
ing a strong inclination for the constitutional sys
tem in operation in England.
During this period of eager study, I received from
Admiral von Tirpitz, the head of the Admiralty,
some particularly deep and stimulating impressions.
In him I found a really surpassing personality, a

MATRIMONIAL 75
man who did not stare rigidly at the narrow field
of his own tasks and duties, but who saw the effects
of the whole as they appeared in the distant political
perspective and who served the whole with all the
comprehensive capacities of his ample creative
vigor. The great work of producing a German navy had
been intrusted to him by the Kaiser, and his life,
his thoughts and his activities were entirely filled
with the desire and determination to master the
enormous task for the good of the empire and in
spite of all external and internal opposition. How
well he succeeded has been proved by the Battle of
Jutland which will ever remain for him an honor
able witness and memorial — Jutland, where the
fleet created by him and inspired by his mind passed
so brilliantly through its baptismal fire in contest
with the immensely stronger first navy of the world.
Germany had then every reason to be proud of the
glorious valor and exemplary discipline of her young
bluejackets. Only in one fundamental question did I, in that
year of co-operation, differ from the lord high ad
miral. He held firmly to the conviction that the
struggle with England for the freedom of the seas
must, sooner or later, be fought out. His object was
the "risk idea," that is to say, he maintained that
our navy must be made so strong that any possible
contest with us would appear to the English to be

76 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
a dangerous experiment because the chances of the
game would then be too great — chances that could
not be risked without involving the possibility of
the EngUsh dominion of the seas being entirely lost.
To the ideal principle underlying this defense the
ory I did not shut my eyes; but, considering our
political and economic position, it seemed to me
that its form, which presupposed our being the sole
opposing rival of England at sea, did not permit its
realization. I was rather of opinion that the "risk
idea" could only ripen into a healthy, vigorous and
real balance of power at sea, if the counterpoise to
England were formed in combination with another
great power whose land forces for this purpose would
not come into consideration, but whose navy in
conjunction with our own would yield a force ade
quate to gain the respect and restraint aimed at. In
this way, if the thing were at all feasible, not only
could an immense reduction of our naval burden
be effected, but it would be easier to overcome the
great danger of the whole problem, namely, the
smothering of our sea forces before their goal had
been reached; for, I always frankly maintained and
asserted that the British would never wait until
our "risk idea" had materialized, but, consistently
pursuing their own policy, would destroy our greatly
suspected navy long before it could develop into an
equally matched and — in the sense of the "risk
idea" — dangerous adversary.

MATRIMONIAL 77
That, in point of fact, the will to adopt such a
radical course was not wanting, was further proved
to me recently on reading Admiral Fisher's book.
He states the matter with astounding candor in the
following way: "Already in the year 1908, I pro
posed to the King to Copenhagen the German navy."
In consequence of our political isolation, all my
doubts and considerations had to remain doubts
and considerations. An ally whose navy came into
consideration as an adjunct to ours we did not pos
sess. Nor would an alliance with Russia, such as
was aimed at by Tirpitz, have given us the help of
such a navy.
When the various efforts to bring about an under
standing over the naval question had all failed, the
right moment and the last chance arrived for Eng
land to try conclusions with the German navy with
some UkeUhood of success. The opportunity of war
in the year 1914 offered that chance and provided
also an unexampled slogan: there were binding
treaties to be kept, and England could likewise ap
pear as a spotless hero and the protector of all small
nations. In all this, too, it was naturally not the naval
problem per se which induced England to seize this
opportunity of joining in a war against Germany.
Sea power is world-power; our navy was the pro
tecting shield of our world-wide trade; it was not
the shield, but the values which it covered, at which

78 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
the blow was aimed, in the not overwillingly waged
war. The motive forces which urged towards war,
towards final settlement, across the Channel were
the same that had previously effected our economic
isolation; they grew out of England's struggle for
existence with the vast development of German
industry and German commerce. Her attempted
strangling of these in pre-war years had failed;
the German expansion continued. Hence England
gave up the endeavor to avoid war; the final settle
ment must be faced. No one who knew the situa
tion could doubt that England would make the
utmost use of such an excellent opportunity as that
provided by our treatment of the Austro-Serbian
dispute. Only lack of political insight on the part
of our statesmen could overlook all this and hope
for the neutrality of England as Bethmann Hollweg
did. And when we were once involved in war with
England and problems of attack were presented to
our navy in place of the defensive tasks for which it
had been created, it was a fatal blunder to keep it
out of the fray, or to deny a free hand in its employ
ment to Grand-Admiral von Tirpitz who knew the
instrument forged by him as no one else could.
The parties who, at that time, had to decide con
cerning the fate of the navy failed to gain that im
mortality which lay within their reach. Although
it lay within arm's length of both von Miiller and

MATRIMONIAL 79
of Admiral Pohl neither of these men has succeeded
in gaining immortality. Everybody clung to Beth-
mann's notion of carrying the fleet as safe and sound
as possible through the war in order to use it as a
factor in possible peace negotiations — an idea that
was scarcely more sensible than, say, the idea of
carrying the army and its ammunition intact
through the war with a like purpose. People philo
sophized over distant possibilities and missed the
hour for acting!
Admiral von Tirpitz was a highly talented and
strong-willed man, looked up to by the entire navy.
His sense of responsibility and his resoluteness per
sonified, as it were, for them the fighting ideal of his
weapon, and I am still convinced that he would have
turned the full force of the fleet against England as
rapidly as possible. Such an attack, carried out
with fresh confidence in one's own strength and
under the conviction of victory, would not have
failed. That such a view is not in the least fantastic
and is shared by the enemy is evidenced by a pas
sage in Admiral Jellicoe's book, in which he writes: —
"With my knowledge of the German navy, with
my appreciation of its performances and with a
view to the spirit of its officers and its men, it was
a great surprise to me to see the first weeks and
months of the war pass by without the German
navy having conducted any enterprises in the Chan
nel or against our coasts. The possibilities of sue-

80 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
cess of an immediate employment of the German
forces I should not have underrated."
But, as Goethe says, enthusiasm is not like her
rings; it cannot be pickled and kept for years; and
the spirit of attack, national consciousness and dis
cipline cannot be preserved or bottled. In our
navy, so proud and powerful at the outbreak of the
war, these qualities withered and decayed because
that navy was not allowed to prove its strength,
and was not used at the right moment.
Hence, the weapon which failed to strike when it
ought to have struck finally turned against our
Fatherland and helped to bring about our defeat.
I have perused the sheets written yesterday.
These jottings of mine will not constitute a regular
and well-arranged book of reminiscences reproducing
events in their exact order of time. I had intended
to write of my inauguration into the affairs of the
Admiralty and of the valuable work in conjunction
with Admiral von Tirpitz; and, in the ineradicable
bitterness of my recollections, I sped into the events
of later years.
In mentioning the "risk idea" of Tirpitz, I
touched upon our political isolation. On this sub
ject there is, perhaps, much more to be said.
When, soon after the completion of my labors at
the Admiralty, I penetrated farther and farther into
the problems of the foreign policy of the empire, I
repeatedly found confirmation of the fact that, as I

MATRIMONIAL 81
had observed during my travels, our country was
not much loved anywhere and was indeed frequently
hated. Apart from our allies on the Danube and
possibly the Swedes, Spaniards, Turks and Argen
tinians, no one really cared for us. Whence came
this? Undoubtedly, in the first place, from a cer
tain envy of our immense economic progress, envy
of the unceasing growth of the German merchant's
influence on the world market, envy of the great
dUigence and of the creative intelligence and energy
of the German people. England, above all, felt her
peculiar economic position threatened by these cir
cumstances. This was naturally no reason for us to
feel any self-reproach, since every people has a per
fect right, by healthy and honorable endeavors, to
promote its own material well-being and to increase
its economic sphere of influence. By fair competi
tion between one nation and another, humanity as a
whole attains higher and higher stages of civiliza
tion. Only ignorant visionaries can imagine that
progress in the life of the individual, of a people
or of the world can be expected if competition be
barred. But it was not alone envy of German efficiency
that gained for us the aversion of the great majority;
we had managed by less worthy qualities to make
ourselves disliked. It is imprudent and tactless for
individuals or peoples to push themselves forward
with excessive noisiness in their efforts to get on; dis-

82 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
trust, opposition, repulsion and enmity are thereby
provoked. Yet it is into this fault that we Ger
mans, both officially and personally, have lapsed
only too often. The openly provocative and blus
tering deportment, the attitude adopted by many
Germans abroad of continually wishing to teach
everybody and to act as guardians to the whole
world ruffled the nerves of other people. In con
junction with the stupidity and bad taste of a kin
dred character proceeding from leading personages
and public officials at home and readily heard and
caught up abroad, this conduct did immense dam
age, more especially, again, in the case of England,
who felt herself particularly menaced by modern'
Germany. In many a political chat, that was as good as a
lesson to me, my great-uncle, King Edward VII —
with whom I always stood on a good footing and
who was undoubtedly a remarkable personality en
dowed with vast experience, as well as great wisdom
and practical intelligence — repeatedly expressed his
anxiety that the economic competition of Germany
would some day lead to a collision with England.
"There must be a stop put to it," he would say on
such occasions.
Facing all these facts objectively and remember
ing that England's forces had always been employed
against that Continental power which at any given
moment happened to be the strongest, it followed

MATRIMONIAL 83
that, sooner or later, the German Empire would in
evitably become involved in a war unless the oppo
sition between it and England were removed.
Personally, I considered it desirable to strive for
an understanding with England on economic, eco-
nomico-political and colonial questions. I did not,
however, entertain any Ulusions as to the difficulty
of such an undertaking. I was quite aware that
any such effort presupposed a thorough discussion
both of the naval programme and of economic mat
ters. The goal appeared to me well worth the sac
rifice, for the relaxation of the political tension
followed ultimately by an alliance with England
would not merely have secured peace, but would
have provided us with advantages amply compen
sating for the concessions made. Prince Biilow, with
whom I once talked about this delicate question, re
ferred me to a saying of Prince Bismarck's, namely,
that he was quite willing to love the English, but
that they refused to be loved. For an alliance with
England, which, while not involving the sombre
risk of war with Russia, would have been calculated
to bind England really and seriously, he seemed at
that time not at all disinclined. But as, accord
ing to him, Lord Salisbury, the British Prime Minis
ter in the early years of the century, was not to be
persuaded to such an alliance, he thought to do
better, under the circumstances, by adopting a
"policy of the free hand." Similar answers were

84 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
given me by all the other leading statesmen of the
realm to whom I disclosed my ideas: an under
standing with England, they said, was impossible;
England would not have it; or, if a basis were found,
we should lose by the whole affair. But their rea
sons failed to convince me. Why, a glance across
the black, white and red frontier poles showed that,
all around us, quite other political feats had been
performed; but they had been performed by men
who understood their profession and the signs of the
times. Nor do I consider that, in the years to
which I refer here, England was indisposed or could
not have been won over, even though matters were
no longer presented to us on a silver tray as they
had been at the beginning of the Boer War, when
Joseph Chamberlain quite openly tried to bring
about an alliance between Germany, England and
the United States. Even now the possibility of start
ing over at the point where we had then failed was
by no means out of the question. Nevertheless, I
had to accept the fact that Prince Biilow and his
politicians were not to be persuaded to a serious,
well-grounded understanding with England; they
seemed thoroughly satisfied with the outwardly
amiable and courteous relations, they considered the
situation well tried and satisfactory, and saw no
reason to regard it as so acute or threatening.
Hence, for the future, I endeavored to think the
matter over on the rigid lines laid down by Wilhelm-

MATRIMONIAL 85
strasse. Assuming it to be impossible to alter the dif
ferences with England or to bridge the gap opened
during the Boer War by the overhasty Kriiger tele
gram (the responsibility for which, by the way, has
been quite unjustifiably charged to the Kaiser), the
only possible and capable ally left for us in Europe
was Russia. If we had an alliance with Russia,
England would never risk a war with us; nay, she
would have to be satisfied if this alliance did not
menace her Indian dominions. Consequently every
effort should be made to re-establish the bond which,
subsequent to Bismarck's retirement, had been
broken by denouncing the reinsurance treaty; every
thing ought to be done to loosen the Franco-Russian
Alliance and to draw Russia into co-operation with
ourselves. This, too, was no easy task ; but there was
a prospect of succeeding, if we supported Russia's
wishes in regard to the Dardanelles and the Persian
Gulf. I talked at the time with Turkish politicians
about the matter and found them anything but in
accessible in regard to the question of a free passage
through the Dardanelles. Moreover, opposition to
this solution was scarcely to be feared from our
allies Austria-Hungary. Here, therefore, I seemed
to see a suitable starting-point.
From all these considerations France was excluded
since, after the weakening of Russia, we had missed
the opportunity of coming to a complete under
standing with the well-intentioned Rouvier Cabinet

86 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
in the early summer of 1905. In the meantime, by
skilful cultivation of the idea of revenge against
Germany, even the bitterness towards England
caused by the Fashoda affront had been dissipated.
The conditio sine qua non for any agreement would
be the sacrifice of at least a part of the Reichsland, a
thing which we could not even discuss in times of
peace. But, neither during Billow's chancellorship nor
Herr von Bethmann's, was any energetic action
undertaken or well-defined programme adopted by
the Government to bring about an understanding
with England or to attach our policy to Russia.
People clung to the hope of sailing round any pos
sible rocks of war; they wished to offend nobody
and therefore conducted a short-term hand-to-mouth
policy which had no longer anything in common
with the clever and wide-spun conceptions of Bis
marck tradition.
As a consequence, very depressing misgivings
often overcame me when I thought what notions
our leading statesmen entertained of our political
position. That they misconstrued the seriousness
of affairs I refused to believe, for the fact of our
isolation was sufficient to prove even to the most
inexperienced observer with any sound common
sense that, with our peace policy of "niemand zu
Liebe und niemand zu Leide" (without considera
tion of persons) we were in danger, between two

MATRIMONIAL 87
stools, of coming to the ground. Hence I was
obliged just to recognize the incomprehensible calm
with which our political leaders guided the realm
through those times while our opponents' ring
closed tighter and tighter.
The game was an unequal one !
It was unequal in the parties that faced each other
as exponents of the two sets of effective forces.
On this side was His Majesty, who, down to the
crisis of November, 1908, ruled with great self-con
fidence and a perhaps too assiduously manifested
desire for power; beside him and severely handi
capped by all kinds of moods and political sym
pathies and antipathies of the Kaiser's, stood Prince
Biilow, whose place was taken the following summer
by Theobald von Bethmann.
On the other side was King Edward VII, and be
side him and after him half a dozen strong, clear
headed men who, misled by no sentiment, worked
along the lines of a firmly established tradition to
accomplish the programme mapped out for Eng
land and England's weal.
I repeat it: the game was unequal.
I do not underestimate the great talents which,
in the most difficult circumstances, enabled Prince
Biilow, time and again, to bridge over gulfs, to ef
fect compromises and adjustments, and to disguise
fissures. But he was not a great architect; he was
not a man of Bismarck's mighty mould; he was not

88 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
a Faust with eyes fixed on the heights and the hori
zon; no, he was none of these, but he was a brilUant
master of little remedies with which to save oneself
from an evil to-day for a possibly more bearable to
morrow; he was a serious politician who had thor
oughly learned his handicraft and exercised it with
graceful ease; firm in the possession of this, he was
therefore no charlatan; he was a reader of char
acter, too, who knew how to deal with his men — a
personality. Of all post-Bismarckian chancellors, Prince Biilow
strikes me as, far and away, the most noteworthy;
indeed, I would place him well outside the frame of
this very relative compliment that really does not
say much. He understood perfectly how to defend
his policy in the Reichstag; and his speeches, with
their genuine national feeling, scarcely ever missed
their mark. Moreover, he could negotiate, he
showed skill and tact in personal intercourse with
parliamentarians, foreigners and press men; and,
like no one else since the first chancellor, he gave a
due place in his calculations to the value of the press
and of public opinion. I look back with pleasure to
my conversations with him. What a gaily pliable
intellect ! What sound sense ! What excellent judg
ment of men and of problems !
He was also, I consider, the best man at hand
in the summer of 1917; and I greatly regretted, at
that time, his not being called to the chief post after

MATRIMONIAL 89
Bethmann's exit. His peculiar character would as
suredly have understood how to bring about fruit
ful co-operation between the Government and the
Higher Command; I believe, too, that this adroit
diplomatist would have succeeded in finding a way
out of the difficulties of the World War, and that he
would have effected a peace that would have been
tolerable for our country.
On each of the two occasions when a fresh chancel
lor was to be appointed, I advised His Majesty to
select either him or Tirpitz, — unfortunately, with
out success! The reappointment of Biilow as
chancellor would not have been prevented by the
aversion which the Kaiser had conceived during
the events of November, 1908, if the proper influen
tial parties had assiduously supported the choice.
I was able to ascertain that, on both occasions, the
necessary precautions had been taken to ensure
Billow's being passed over by the Kaiser.
Yonder stood the King.
I am aware that there is a tendency (not by any
means confined to the general public) to impute to
King Edward a personal hatred of Germany — a
diabolical relish for destruction which found expres
sion in forging a noose for the strangling of our
country. To my mind such a presentation of his
character is totally lacking in reality. Among
others, my father has never viewed King Edward
without all sorts of prejudices, and has conse-

90 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
quently never formed a just estimate of him. That
trait — so constantly visible in the Kaiser's actions
— of readily attributing positive failures to the
activities of individuals and of regarding them as
the result of machinations directed against him
personally may play some part here. But there
was doubtless always, as a matter of fact, what I
might call a latent and mutual disapproval present
in the minds of these two men, notwithstanding all
their outward cordiality. The Kaiser may have felt
that his somewhat loud and jingling rather than
essential manner often sounded in vain upon the ear
of King Edward with his experience of the world
and his sense of realities; that it encountered scep
ticism; that perhaps it was even received sometimes
with ironic silence; that it met with a sort of quiet
obstruction too smoothly polished to present any
point of attack and thus easily tempted the Kaiser
to exaggerate it.
Having myself known King Edward from my
earliest youth and having had ample opportunity
of talking with him on past and current affairs al
most up to his death, my own conception of his
character is an utterly different one. I see in him
the serene world-experienced man and the most
successful monarch in Europe for many a long day.
Personally, he was, as far as I can remember, ex
tremely friendly to me and, as I have said before, he
took a most active interest in my development. In

MATRIMONIAL 91
the year 1901, just after the passing of the Queen, he
invested me with the Order of the Garter; the cere
mony took place in Osborne Castle, and King Ed
ward addressed to me an exceedingly warm-hearted
and kinsman-like speech; I was then on the threshold
of my twentieth year, and my great-uncle seemed,
from what he said, to feel a sort of responsibility for
my welfare. His sense of family attachment was
altogether strongly marked; to see him in the circle
of his Danish relatives at Copenhagen filled the be
holder with delight: there, he was only the good
uncle and the amiable man.
Often we have sat talking for hours in the most
unconstrained fashion — he leaning back in a great
easy chair and smoking an enormous cigar. At such
times, he narrated many interesting things — some
times out of his own life. And it is from what he
imparted to me and from what I saw with my own
eyes that I have formed my picture of him — a pic-
true that contains not a single trait of duplicity,
a picture that reveals him as a brilliant representa
tive of his country's interests and one who, I am
convinced, would rather have secured those inter
ests in co-operation with Germany than in spite of
her, but who, finding the former way barred, turned
with all his energies to the one thing possible and
needful, namely, the assurance of that security per se.
Owing to the great length of his mother's reign,
Edward VII did not come to the throne till he was

92 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
a man of very ripe age. As Prince of Wales he had
abundantly exploited his excessively long period of
probation. On leaving his parental home with a
good training and education, he rushed into life
with an ardent thirst for pleasure and gave himself
up to his strong passions for women, gambling and
sport. In this way he passed through all circles
and all strata of society — good, bad and indifferent
— and nothing human remained alien to him. Just
as an old and tranquillized mariner talks of the voy
ages weathered in years gone by, so did King Ed
ward speak to me of those experiences of his which
had evoked from the public only hard and dispar
aging judgments. Yet, for him and for his country,
those years of restless vagabondage became fruitful.
His clear, cool and deliberative insight and his prac
tical common sense brought him an unerring knowl
edge of mankind and taught him the difficult art of
dealing properly with differing types of humanity.
I have scarcely ever met any other person who
understood as he did how to charm the people with
whom he came in contact. And yet he had no
vanity, he displayed no visible wish to make any
impression by his urbanity or his conversation. On
the contrary, he almost faded into the background;
the other party seemed to become more important
than himself. Thus he could listen, interject a
question, be talked to and arouse in each individual
the feeling that he, the King, took a most kindly

MATRIMONIAL 93
interest in his thoughts and actions— that he was
fascinated and stimulated by him. In this way he
gained the friendship and attachment of a great
number of people — above all of those who were of
value to him.
In his own country, his taste for sport secured
him an enviable position. He owned a superb
racing stud, devoted himself with great enthusiasm
to yachting, and was perhaps the best shot in
England. Moreover, that partiality for beautiful
women which he kept even throughout the later
years of his Ufe became finally a key to the extra
ordinary popularity enjoyed by him in England
and throughout the Continent. In his outward
appearance and bearing he was the grand seigneur
and finished man of the world.
It is thus that I see the King and the qualities
that served him in carrying out his policy. An ex
cellent reader of character and a cool tactician, he
gained permanent successes wherever he interposed
his personality. It was his influence that drew
France into the entente cordiale with England in
spite of Fashoda; and it was he, personally, who
attracted the Tsar farther and farther away from
Germany and won him for England notwithstand
ing the great commercial antitheses in the Far East
and in Persia.
Why all that ? To destroy Germany ? Certainly
not ! But he and his country had recognized that,

94 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
for some years, the curve of Germany's commercial,
economico-poUtical and industrial progress had been
such that England was in danger of being outstripped.
Here he had to step in. As an agreement could not
be effected, commercial isolation became his instru
ment for curtailing our development. War with
Germany the King, I believe, never wanted. I be
lieve, too, that not only would he have been able to
prevent the outbreak of war, but that he would in
deed have prevented it. I believe so, because his
statesmanlike foresight would have recognized both
the revolutionary dangers and the risk run by the
great European powers of losing authority and in
fluence in world-competition if — armed as never
before — they tore and lacerated each other by war
among themselves. I will go further and assert
that, with the acknowledged status enjoyed by him
in Europe and in the world at large, King Edward,
if he had lived longer, would probably not have
stopped at the creation of a Triple Entente but would
perhaps have built a bridge between the Entente and
the Triple Alliance and thus have brought into being
the United States of Europe. He, but only he,
could have done it.
His epigones have placed the outcome of his
labors in the service of Russia and France; and there
with began the war, long, long before the sword it
self was unsheathed.
In the face of all this and in certain anticipation

MATRIMONIAL 95
of this final settlement, it became the bounden duty
of the German Empire to arm itself as thoroughly as
possible and to demand a similar fighting power
from Austria, which country, under the influence of
the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and the men
selected by him, had become politically very active.
This was the least we could do to ensure some pros
pect of an honorable and bearable settlement. And
that there was danger in the air was proved not
merely by the general political complexion; the fe
verish and unconcealed warlike preparations of the
Entente were clearly directed against us and showed
that they wanted to be ready and then to await the
right watchword for a rupture. France exhausted
her man-power and her finances in order to maintain
a disproportionately large army; Russia, in return
for French money, placed hundreds of thousands
of peasants in sombre earth-hued uniforms; Italy
glared greedily at Turkish Tripoli and built fortress
after fortress along the frontiers of its deeply hated
ally, Austria. England watched this activity and
launched ship after ship.
In spite of these huge dangers, our own prepara
tions were limited to the minimum of the essential;
and if proofs were required that we did not desire
the war, it would suffice to point out that it did not
find us prepared as we ought to have been. So far
as my very circumscribed capacities and my feeble
influence went in the years preceding the war, I per-

96 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
sistently advocated, in view of the menacing situa
tion, an augmentation of our military resources.
Not much was done, however. The last Defense
Bill of 1913 had to be forced down the throat of the
Imperial Chancellor von Bethmann Hollweg. The
re-equipment of the field artillery could not be car
ried out before the outbreak of war, with the result
that the superior French field-guns gave us a deal
of trouble for a long time.
I am speaking here of the Bethmann era, and yet
I would not leave the period of Prince Billow's
chancellorship without dwelling for a little on one
of the most perturbing incidents in the life of the
Kaiser, namely, the conflict of November, 1908.
In the Reichstag sitting of the tenth — ten years to
the day before all ended in the journey to Holland
— the storm began to howl and lasted throughout
the following day. The causes are known.
In reality, how did matters stand?
In the year 1907, while staying with the retired
General Stuart Wortley at Highcliffe Castle on the
Isle of Wight, my father had entered into a number
of informal conversations in which, undeniably, sev
eral unintentional and therefore injudicious remarks
and communications escaped him. With the help
of the English journalist, Harold Spender, these com
munications were afterwards worked up by Wort
ley into the form of an interview to be published

MATRIMONIAL 97
in the Daily Telegraph. The manuscript was for
warded to the Kaiser with a request that he would
give his consent to its publication. In a perfectly
loyal way, the Kaiser sent it on to the Imperial
Chancellor and asked him for his opinion. The pro
ceedings were consequently all absolutely correct;
and nothing improper had occurred, unless the re
marks themselves are to be characterized as such;
and even then, one must give the Kaiser credit for
having made them with the object of improving
Anglo-German relations, just as General Stuart
Wortley, with the like intention, hit upon the idea
of making them known to wider circles.
The manuscript was returned to the Kaiser with
the remark that there was no objection to its being
published — save that, through negligence and a
number of unfortunate coincidences, none of the
gentlemen who were responsible for this judgment
had actually read the text with any care. And so
mischief stalked his way.
For two days the Reichstag raged at the absent
Kaiser; two groups of representatives of almost
every party poured out their pent-up floods of in
dignation; all the dissatisfaction with his methods
and his rule that had been accumulating for two
decades now burst forth in an unimpeded stream.
And yet the man who was called by my father's
trust to stand by his Imperial master, to cover him
and to defend him, — that man failed, that man

98 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
shrugged his shoulders and shuffled off with a scarce
concealed gesture of resignation. Nerves, you say?
Possibly. The only man who, on that occasion,
chivalrously rushed into the breach in defense of his
King was the old and splendidly faithful deputy von
Oldenburg. Considering the general indignation
that had arisen, the task before which Prince Biilow
stood was indisputably very difficult; but, on the
other hand, it is perfectly comprehensible that the
Kaiser — who, in this case, had acted quite correctly,
and now saw himself suddenly, and for the first
time, face to face with an almost united opposition
of the people — was wrenched out of his security and
confidence and felt that he was deserted and aban
doned by the chancellor.
Meantime, the press storm continued and pro
duced day after day a dozen or so of accusatory
and disapproving articles.
My father had returned. Prostrated by the ex
citing and violent events and still more by the lack
of understanding he had met with, he lay ill at
Potsdam. The incomprehensible had happened:
after twenty years, during which he had imagined
himself to be the idol of the majority of his people
and had supposed his rule to be exemplary, disap
proval of him and of his character was quite unmis
takably pronounced.
It was under these circumstances that I was ur
gently called to the New Palace. At the door, my

MATRIMONIAL 99
mother's old valet de chambre awaited me to say that
Her Majesty wanted to see me before I went to the
Kaiser. I rushed up-stairs. My mother received me im
mediately. She was agitated, and her eyes were
red. She kissed me and held my head before her in
both hands. Then she said:
"You know, my boy, what you are here for?"
"No, mother."
"Then go to your father. But sound your heart
before you decide."
Then I knew what was coming.
A few minutes later I stood beside my father's
sick-bed. I was shocked at his appearance. Only once
since have I seen him thus. It was ten years later,
on the fatal date at Spa, when General Groner
struck away his last foothold and, with a shrug,
coldly destroyed his belief in the fidelity of the
army. He seemed aged by years; he had lost hope, and
felt himself to be deserted by everybody; he was
broken down by the catastrophe which had snatched
the ground from beneath his feet; his self-confidence
and his trust were shattered.
A deep pity was in me. Scarcely ever have I felt
myself so near him as in that hour.
He told me to sit down. He talked urgently, ac
cusingly and hurriedly of the incidents; and the bit-

100 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
terness aroused by the injustice which he saw in
them kept reasserting itself.
I tried to soothe and encourage him.
I stayed with him for quite an hour sitting on his
bed, a thing which, so long as I can remember, had
never happened before.
In the end it was arranged that, for a short time,
and till he had completely recovered from his ill
ness, I should act as a kind of locum tenens for the
Kaiser. In exercising this office I kept entirely in the back
ground, and was soon released from the duties alto
gether, since, in a few weeks, the Kaiser was seem
ingly himself again.
Seemingly! For, as I have already said, he has
never really recovered from the blow. Under the
cloak of his old self-confidence, he assumed an ever-
increasing reserve, which, though hidden from the
outside world, was often more restricting than the
limits of his constitutional position. In the war,
this personal modesty led to an almost complete ex
clusion of his own person from the military and
organization measures and commands of the chief
of his General Staff. Those of us officers who had
an insight into the business of the leading military
posts could not but regret this fact, as we had un
reservedly admired the sound judgment and the
military perception of the Kaiser even in operations
on a grand scale. During the war, I had frequent
occasion to discuss the entire strategic situation

MATRIMONIAL 101
with my father, and I generally received the impres
sion that he hit the nail on the head. July, 1919.
Bright midsummer days are now passing over the
island in which I have lived for roughly three-quar
ters of a year.
Three-quarters of a year in which the closely cir
cumscribed space and its inhabitants have become
dear to me; in which the vast silence and the sky
and the sea, the privacy and the seclusion have
brought me much that I had never before possessed
— change and ripening in my own nature, changes in
my views and judgments on the things that lie be
hind, around and before me. It is not inactive
revery with me, for each day is filled up from morn
ing till night with letter-writing, with my reminis
cences, diaries, reading, music, sketching and sport.
I am not unhappy in my loneliness, and I almost
believe that to be due to all the unstifled desire to
produce which is still unreleased within me and
makes me hope in spite of everything — makes me
hope that the future will somehow open up the pos
sibility of my laboring as a German for the German
Fatherland. Anxieties as to the pending extradition wishes of
the Entente? That is a question constantly re
peated in the letters sent by good people at home
and I can only repeat as often: No, that really will
not turn my hair gray.

102 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
I have a longing for home, for my wife, for my
children. Often it comes over me suddenly, through
some accidental word, through a recollection, a
picture. Recently, as I had just got out my violin
and was about to play a bit, I couldn't bring my
self to do so, the yearning had got such a hold of me.
And then at night ! The windows are wide open,
and one can hear the distant plash of the sea and
often the deep lowing of the cattle in the pastures.
Heinrich Heine says somewhere: "Denk' ich an
Deutschland in der Nacht, bin ich um meinen
Schlaf gebracht."
In the June days just gone by, came the news
that the Versailles "Diktat" had been signed. The
Peace Treaty! The word will scarcely flow from
my pen, when I think of this chastising rod, this
birch that blind revenge has bound for us there,
this closely woven network of chains into which
our poor Fatherland has been cast. Preposterous
demands, that even with the very best intentions
no one can fulfil ! Brutal threats of strangulation
in the event of any failure of strength! Withal,
unexampled stupidity — a document that perpetuates
hatred and bitterness, where only liberation from
the pressure of the past years and new faith in one
another could unite the peoples into a fresh and
peacefully reconstructive community.
There remains only trust in the oft-tried energy
and capacity of the German himself who, when
time after time gruesome fate has led him through

MATRIMONIAL 103
darkness and the depths, has found the way up to
the light again; and there remains, too, the great
truth of all world experience that presumption, in the
end, goes to pieces of itself.
Poverty-stricken, Germany and the German
people go to meet the future. The wicked treaty,
that rests upon the question of war guilt as upon
a huge lie, has torn from them colonies, provinces,
and ships. Workshops are destroyed, intellectual
achievements stolen, competition in wide spheres of
activity violently throttled. The treaty prepares
for Germany the bitterest humiliation; it purposes
to strangle and destroy her in unappeased hate and
unabated terror.
But, in spite of it all, Germany will persist and
will flourish again; and a time will come when this
enforced pact will be talked of only as a stigma of a
bygone day.
I wish for the homeland tranquillity and internal
peace in which to get back to its wonted self, in
which this earthly kingdom — exhausted by unheard-
of sacrifices and damaged by the blows of fate — may
recover its strength. And I should like to share in
its new era ! Yet, the only service I can render to
my country is to stand aside and continue to bear
this exile.
The short space of time during winch I was in
trusted with the representation of the Kaiser gave

104 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
me a deeper insight than any previous period of
my life into the mechanism of his technical Govern
ment labors, into the manner in which he was kept
informed by the various officials and into the dis
posal of his time. Although, from years of cursory
observation, I was fairly familiar with the outlines
of this mechanism, I clearly remember that the
closer acquaintance I now made with its structure
filled me with the greatest amazement. That I
speak of it here with unreserved candor is evidence
that I do not regard my father as ultimately and
solely responsible for this state of affairs. If you
remove the mask of monarchy, the Kaiser is, by
nature, simple in his character; and if he allowed
these evils to arise about him, his share in them was
due partly to the out-of-date upbringing caused by
an old-fashioned conception of the royal dignity, and
still more to his innate adaptability to the arrange
ments of his environment and to his renunciation
of that simplicity and directness which might better
have become his deepest nature. As a consequence,
there developed, little by little, out of the zeal dis
played by those around him for the pettiest affairs,
a vast ceremonial that robbed the simplest pro
ceedings of their naturalness, that removed every
little stone against which the monarch might have
struck his foot, and that strove to drown every
whisper which might have been disagreeable to his
ear. In the course of decades, this system deprived

MATRIMONIAL 105
the Kaiser more and more of his capacity to meet
hard realities with a firm, resolute and tenacious
perseverance. How can a man, accustomed to expect as a matter
of course the spreading of a carpet before his feet
for every step he takes, maintain himself when he
is suddenly confronted with really serious conflicts
in which nothing can help him but his own resolu
tion? Time seemed to be no object in ceremonial affairs;
yet often none could be found for questions that
demanded serious and calm consideration.
Not only for me, but for many a minister and state
secretary, it was often quite a feat to break through
the protective ring of zealous gentlemen who wished
to prevent His Majesty from being "worried" with
troublesome affairs and to save him from overfa
tigue and annoyance. Even when the ring was
pierced, one had not, by any means, gained one's
point; I remember many a case in which one or the
other "Excellency" who had come to report to the
Kaiser on a certain burning question, returned home
ward with an admirable impression of the anima
tion, the vigor and the communicativeness of His
Majesty, and possibly with enriched knowledge con
cerning some sphere of research or technology, but
without having unburdened himself of the burning
question with which he came. Any one who failed
to proceed, more or less inconsiderately, with his re-

106 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
port, might well find himself listening instead to a
report of the Kaiser's on the subject in hand based
upon preconceived notions; the would-be adviser
would then be dismissed without ever having found
an opportunity of stating his own views.
I have already hinted that the Imperial Chancery
prepared for the Kaiser a filtration of public opinion
in the form of press cuttings. The preparation of
this material appeared to me to be influenced too
much by the desire to exclude the disagreeable and
even the minatory — to be pleasant rather than
thorough. Many things, therefore, that ought to
have come under the Kaiser's eyes, even if they were
not exactly gratifying, were never seen by him. In
much the same plane lay the consular reports. They
were often nothing more than amusing chats and
feuilletons. When these "political reports" passed
through my hands in 1908, I missed any clear judg
ment of the situation, any sharply defined presen
tation or positive suggestion.
A favorable exception among the communications
sent in by our representatives abroad was to be
found in the reports of the naval commanders.
They were evidently drawn up by men whose eyes
had been trained to look broadly at the world, to see
things as they really are and to form a just estima
tion of the whole; they manifested calm and objec
tive criticism and furnished cautious and far-sighted
suggestions.

MATRIMONIAL 107
August, 1919.
The last few days have brought me again one or
two welcome visitors from the homeland — above
all, excellent Major Beck, to whom I am attached
by so many hard experiences shared in the army.
Hours and hours were spent in taking long walks
and sitting together — sometimes talking, sometimes
silent. And during those hours, the prodigious strug
gle of the past came vividly before me again — espe
cially the last anguish that followed our failure at
Rheims, the unceasing decay of energy and con
fidence, and then the end.
A few Dutch families have also been to see me;
and Ilsemann came over from Amerongen, and had
much to tell me about my dear mother; she suffers
severely, is physically ill, but will not give way; she
knows only one thought, namely, the welfare of my
father and of us all, and has only one wish, which
is to lighten for us what we have to bear.
But the best visit is still to come. My wife and
the children are to spend a short time with me here
on the island. How we shall manage with such
limited room and such a lack of every accommoda
tion I don't know myself — but we shall do it some
how. It was touching to see the ready proffers of
help that were made on the mere report of my ex
pecting my wife and children. Not only on the
island — where every one now likes me and where
the Frisian reserve has long given place to hearty

108 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
participation in my joys and sorrows — but from
yonder on the mainland also.
In a day or two, Miildner, my untiring and faith
ful companion in this solitude, is to go to Amsterdam
to do some shopping and other errands. In one of
the rooms, the wall-paper is to be renewed; all sorts
of household utensils need supplementing; and
Amsterdam friends are going to lend me furniture.
The parsonage is to become more respectable; in
its present condition, it would really be quite im
possible for it to lodge a lady. These capital people
of mine are working feverishly.
But to get back to my subject. I stopped at my
recollections of our foreign policy in the years prior
to the war. Closely connected with it were our home
politics. Here, too, we suffered from the same lack
of resolution, firmness and foresight. People fixed
their eyes upon the things of to-day instead of on
those of to-morrow. Hence, only half -measures were
taken, and everybody was dissatisfied.
Ever since I began to concern myself with politics,
I have become more and more convinced that our
home policy should develop along more liberal lines.
It was clear to me that one could no longer govern
on the principles of Frederick the Great — still less
by outwardly imitating his manner. Just as little
could I sympathize with the continually yielding
and generally belated manner in which our liberal
reforms were carried out. The almost systematic

MATRIMONIAL 109
method of first refusing altogether and then finding
oneself obliged to grant a part of what was de
manded appeared to me doubtful and dangerous.
A foresighted and properly timed liberal_ policy
ought to have been able to reject inordinate wishes
from whatever quarter they came, and thus to main
tain a just balance of forces for the welfare of the
whole. Such government would also have been able
to reckon with a certain constancy of parliamentary
grouping. But after the collapse of the Biilow bloc
— which certainly, in itself, presented no very great
attractions — the only policy we had was Bethmann's
"governing over the heads of the parties," with its
convulsive formation of majorities from case to
case and its silencing of the minorities.
In so far as they could be fitted into the historic
ally determined development of the State, the polit
ical and economic aims of the social democratic
party as the representative of a large portion of
organized labor, ought to have been taken into con
sideration unequivocally and without any miscon
struction or suffocation of what was possible; though
the Government had no cause and no right to allow
themselves to be pushed or driven in every ques
tion. In its ideological endeavors to entice the social
democrats away from their policy of negation into
the sphere of productive co-operation and in its
misconception of the fact that, for purely tactical

110 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
reasons, the social democrats of that period would
not give up their policy of opposition within the
then existing constitution, Bethmann's Government
allowed itself to be exploited and weakened by the
extraordinarily . well-managed and well-disciplined
social democratic party. To the other parties little
attention was paid. Moreover, the fact was alto
gether overlooked that, in their humane and pro
gressive spirit, the social legislation in the care for
workmen in Germany was already a very long way
ahead of all measures of the kind in other countries
and that this great work had been ardently pro
moted by the Kaiser. As in its attitude towards
the opposition so in the Polish and Alsace-Lorraine
questions, the policy of the Government was un
certain, being almost invariably harsh where it ought
to have been yielding and yielding where it ought
to have been firm. Absolutely nothing was done
in the way of economic mobilization to meet the
eventuality of war, although there could be no doubt
that, if an ultima ratio ensued, England would at
once endeavor to cut us off from every oversea com
munication and that, in respect to foodstuffs and
raw materials of every kind, we should be thrown
on our own stocks and resources.
As in all problems of foreign policy, so again in
this question, the only man in the Government who
showed any understanding for my fears and anxie
ties was Admiral von Tirpitz.

MATRIMONIAL 111
In the eight years' chancellorship of Herr von
Bethmann HoUweg I over and over again took the
opportunity of talking to him about the attitude of
the Government towards foreign and home affairs.
Here, in one and the same sentence in which I write
that I always found him to be high-principled in
thought and action and a man of irreproachable
honor, I would state that we were not friends, and
that an impassable chasm lay between his mentality
and my own. In the post for which we ought to
have desired the best, the boldest, the most far-
sighted and the wisest of statesmen, there stood a
bureaucrat of sluggish and irresolute character, his
mind in a revery of weary and resigned cosmopoli
tanism and tranquil acceptance of immutable
developments. People liked to call him the "Phi
losopher of Hohensinow." I never succeeded in
discovering a trace of philosophic wisdom in the
languid nature of this man who dropped so easily
into tactless fatalism and who qualified even an
upward flight with the motto of "divinely ordained
dependency." His hesitating heart had no wings,
his will was joyless, his resolve was lame.
This man, eternally vacillating in his decisions
and oppressed by any contact wifh natures of a
fresher hue, was certainly not the suitable person
ality, in the years prior to the war, — least of all in
the three that immediately preceded its outbreak —
to represent German policy against the energetic,

112 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
resolute, quick-witted and inexorable men whom
England and France had selected as exponents of
their power.
Even in the days when I was attached to the
various ministries for purposes of study, many peo
ple of excellent judgment told me that it was easy
to discuss questions with Bethmann, but the disap
pointing thing about it was that one never reached
any conclusive result; for, whatever the seemingly
final outcome might be, he had, after musing for a
while, one more sentence to utter, and that sentence
began with the word "nevertheless." This word
"nevertheless" stands for me Uke a motto above
Herr von Bethmann Hollweg's political career.
On one single occasion I allowed myself to be
swept into a marked demonstration against him be
fore the whole world, and I readily admit that this
public utterance of my opinion would have been
better left unmanifested. It will be remembered
that, in the Reichstag sitting of November 9, 1911,
I gave clear expression to my approval of the speeches
hurled against Herr von Bethmann's and Kiderlen-
Wachter's, at first galling and afterwards retracting,
policy in the Morocco affair, which had brought us
a severe diplomatic check. At the time, the press
of the left hastened to stigmatize me as a batter
ing-ram of extravagant and bellicose pan-German
ideas. Nothing of the kind ! The case was quite
different! The drastic methods of Kiderlen, the

MATRIMONIAL 113
wanton provocation implied by the despatch of the
"Panther" to Agadir was just as disagreeable to me
as the hasty retreat which followed Lloyd George's
threats in his Mansion House speech: both bore evi
dence of the groping uncertainty of our leadership, a
leadership which failed to see how sadly the first
step affected the mentality of the other side and
how much the second impaired our prestige in the
eyes of the world. Thus, it was from the feeling
that poUtical tension had risen to fever-heat that,
on that 9th of November, 1911, I spontaneously ap
plauded those speeches which were directed against
the feeble and oscillating policy of the Govern
ment. What a curious part coincidence plays in our
affairs! Once again the 9th of November stands
marked in the book of my remembrances — three
years after the great Reichstag storm concerning the
Kaiser interview of the Daily Telegraph and seven
years to the day before the last act of the collapse
in Berlin and Spa! A discussion of the incident
soon followed — on the same evening, as a matter
of fact.
To begin with, the Kaiser admonished me. All
right. Then I gave vent to my thoughts and feelings;
and I blurted out all my fears for the future, my
wishes for the suppression of a shilly-shally policy.
I spoke without the slightest reserve; — and once

114 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
more I was forced to note the fact that the Kaiser
could not Usten.
In the end we dined together in a not particularly
talkative mood.
Then, at His Majesty's request and in his pres
ence, Bethmann, who, withal, was once again highly
interesting and to the point, gave me, the "fron-
deur," a long lecture which failed to convince me.
PoUtics, even high politics, are not an occult sci
ence. The times are dead and gone in which they
could be conducted with Metternichian ruses. They
can nowadays dispense with apergus of speech and
with the jabot of the Viennese Congress just as well
as with the monocle of a later epoch of development.
But they presuppose, besides all the obvious and
the learnable, a few such things as practical com
mon sense to reduce all their problems to the sim
plest formulae, knowledge of human character and
an eye for the general mentality of the peoples with
whom one has to reckon.
Herr von Bethmann Hollweg — who, by the way,
knew scarcely anything of foreign countries — pos
sessed none of these things; and neither Kiderlen-
Wachter nor Secretary of State Jagow was the man
to fill the gap with his intellectual talents.
True, there were, in our diplomacy, men of quite
another category, who thought broadly and saw
clearly; but people were content to know that they
filled posts abroad where their voices could be heard

MATRIMONIAL 115
but where their influence upon the conduct of for
eign politics was bound to remain very slight. I
entertain not the least doubt that such men as
Wangenheim and Marschall — even Mont and Met-
ternich — would have understood how to give a
timely turn to our foreign policy so as to conduct it
into the proper and the constant way.
Just this very Herr von Kiderlen used to be
praised by Bethmann as the great political light
from the East. Personally, too, I myself liked this
agreeably natural and courageous Swabian, despite
his panther-like leap into the china-shop of Agadir.
But his special suitability for the highly important
post of foreign secretary did not strike me, the
more so as he entirely lacked the most important
quality for such a position, namely, the capacity to
see things from the point of view of others. He
not only utterly failed to consider the mentality of
France and England, but he did not even appreciate
the poUtical tendencies of Roumania, the country in
which, for ten years, he had charge of Germany's
interests. That sounds almost like a bad joke, and it is,
after all, only an example of what a poor reader of
character the chancellor himself was and how lim
ited was the horizon of his staff at the Foreign Office.
But it is incumbent upon me to furnish evidence
for my views as to Herr von Kiderlen's knowledge
of Roumania. On returning from my Roumanian

116 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
travels in April, 1909, 1 told my father I had received
the impression that there was only one person in
Roufnania who was friendly to us, namely, King
Carol himself. The leading political circles, who
were only waiting for the decease of the aged King,
were thoroughly and firmly under French and Rus
sian influence. The sympathies of the Crown Prin
cess were directed towards England, and the Crown
Prince was very much under her influence. Conse
quently, I could not help thinking that, in the event
of war, Roumania would fail her allies, even if she
did not go over to the other party altogether. His
Majesty sent me to the secretary for foreign affairs
in Wilhelmstrasse to report my impressions. Herr
von Kiderlen-Wachter listened with complaisant
superiority and smiled. He thought I must be mis
taken; believed I must have had a bad dream; the-
whole of Roumania, with which he was as familiar
as with his own hat ("wie sei' Weste' tasch' ") was,
to the backbone, our sterling ally. "Sozusage' miin-
delsicher!" Soon afterwards, we had to experience
the trend of events which followed upon King Carol's
death. But, after all, what is the false estimate of Rou
mania in comparison with the erroneous conception
formed by Herr von Bethmann HoUweg and his
ExceUency von Jagow concerning the attitude of
England? They remained hoodwinked in the mat
ter until, in August, 1914, Sir Edward Goschen tore

MATRIMONIAL 117
the bandage from the chanceUor's dismayed and
horror-struck eyes.
Because — be it said to his credit — he had repeat
edly made mild and inadequate attempts at a rap'
prochement with England without encountering any
notable opposition, and because he knew that Eng
land had repeatedly stated in Paris that she de
sired to avoid a provocative policy and did not wish
to participate in a war called forth by France,
Bethmann imagined that the rapprochement had
thriven to such an extent as to preclude England's
joining in war against us at all. But the last effort
made in the year 1912 by inviting Lord Haldane, the
minister of war, to come to Berlin, had also been
a failure. It had failed because, meantime, the re
lations of England to France and thereby to Russia
had become too intimate; so that even the great
sacrifice which Admiral von Tirpitz declared himself
prepared to make in the question of the Navy Bill
in exchange for a British neutrality clause was in
effective. England was determined to maintain her
"two keels for one" standard under all circum
stances. Sir Edward Grey declined to enter into
any engagement on account of "existing friendship
for other powers"; and therewith matters became
clear to any one who had eyes to see.
Nor did Haldane make any secret of England's
attitude in the event of war with France and Rus
sia; as the Kaiser told me himself later, Haldane

118 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
informed our ambassador, Prince Lichnowsky, in a
visit concerning political questions, that under the
suppositions stated and irrespective of what party
might set the ball rolling, his Government could not
agree to a defeat of France by us and a consequent
domination of Germany on the Continent. They
would intervene in favor of the powers allied with
England. That, in spite of this fact, the gentlemen at the
Foreign Office and above all the minister responsible
for our foreign policy continued to live on calmly
and self-complaisantly in their world of dreams dur
ing those perilous and menacing times one finds it
difficult to understand. The ears of our politicians
had caught up the voices from Paris in which they
heard England's desire for peace and they allowed
themselves to be misled by the alluring idea that
England would maintain peace in Europe in any
circumstances; they assumed that the serious, warn
ing words spoken by Lord Haldane in London were
intended solely to prevent a breach of peace on the
part of Germany.
"F *?• *t* *i» •!•
I have again run off the track of my story; it
seems that I cannot even make a chronicle of the
affairs. But I must try to take up the thread
again. Down to the year 1909, I had visited, sometimes
alone and sometimes in my father's suite, England,

MATRIMONIAL 119
Holland, Italy, Egypt, Greece, Turkey and a few
districts of Asia Minor. My stay in these countries
had always been relatively short, but had sufficed to
provide me with valuable opportunities of com
parison and to convince me of the necessity for see
ing more of the world.
It was, therefore, a great satisfaction to my de
sire for further knowledge when, in 1909, my father
consented to my undertaking an extensive tour in
the Far East. My wife accompanied me as far as
Ceylon and then went to Egypt; while I proceeded
to travel through India. The British Government
had prepared for my journey in the most friendly
way; so that I really obtained a great deal of in
formation. In every detail and everywhere I went,
I met with the greatest hospitality. I recall with
special pleasure Lord Hardinge, Sir Harold Stuart,
Sir John Havitt and Sir Roos-Keppel. The Ma
harajah of Dschaipur and the Nisam of Hyderabad
also provided me with a splendid reception.
In India my love of hunting and sport found all
that my heart could desire. The magnificence of
Indian landscape and of Indian architecture opened
up a new world to me. The profusion of experiences
of all kinds presented to me I welcomed with all the
susceptibility and power of enjoyment of my youth;
I wished to devote myself unrestrictedly to all that
was great and novel, and I sometimes forgot, per
haps, that people expected to find in me the son

120 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
of the German Emperor and the great-grandson
of the Queen.
Of all the impressions I received the greatest and
most lasting was that made upon me by the organ
izing and administrative talent of the English. It
struck me, too, as a noticeable peculiarity, that, in
the various branches of administration, compara
tively very young officials were employed, but that
they were energetic and were invested with great
independence and responsibility. Extensive and
healthy decentralization prevailed generally. Every
where I was impressed by the vast power of Eng
land, whose magnitude was, before the war, fre
quently and considerably undervalued in Germany
intoxicated as she was with her own rapid rise.
But it became just as clear to me how enormous
was the competition which Germany created for the
British in the emporiums of the Far East. Thus,
many an English merchant told me, in confidential
talk, that it could not go as it was — England could
not and would not allow herself to be pushed to the
wall by us. I myself, during the sea voyage, no
ticed that we met about as many German merchant
vessels as British ones. Moreover, the muttered
curse, "Those damned Germans!" occasionally
reached my ear.
Omens of a gathering storm !
When, later on, I talked of these observations to
the responsible parties at home, the warning was

MATRIMONIAL 121
treated very light-heartedly. That some English
shopkeeper or another swore when we spoiled his
business for him didn't matter in the least; the man
should give up his "week-end" and work the way
our people did, then he would have no need to
swear. Besides we really wanted to live in peace
with those gentlemen. "And Your Imperial High
ness has seen for yourself how you were received
there." Thus, there was not much to be done. I,
for my part, knew that the "shopkeeper" was Eng
land herself, that no one over there was willing to
sacrifice his week-end and that my reception was an
act of international courtesy and nothing more.
The will to live at peace with others has only a sig
nificance if one knows and adopts the means by
which that peace may be realized.
After my return and in pursuance of His Ma
jesty's commands, I visited with my wife the courts
of Rome, Vienna, St. Petersburg and St. James —
the last on the occasion of the coronation.
Everywhere we met with the most friendly per
sonal reception; but everywhere, too, appeared
warning signs of the conflict and danger which were
gathering ominously around the realm.
The journey to England we performed on board
the new and heavily armored cruiser "Von der
Tann." This excellently constructed vessel aroused
the utmost excitement in England. During the
great naval review in the Solent, it was interesting

122 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
to observe the British marine officers and sailors
devoting the greatest attention to our "Von der
Tann." For the war vessels of other nations they
displayed not the slightest interest. Their judgment
culminated in unbounded praise of the wonderful
lines of the ship and of the practical distribution of
the guns.
During the coronation festivities in London, the
reception accorded me and my wife by aU classes
of the population was exceptionally cordial. The
English press also welcomed us warmly; and during
those days we noticed nothing of the hatred of Ger
many. But if an eloquent illustration were needed
of how misleading it is to draw conclusions from the
signs of sympathy shown towards Princes and heirs-
apparent, such an iUustration is to be found in an
experience of our own. It has hung a signum vani-
tatis in my memory.
As King George and Queen Mary at the close of
the coronation ceremony left Westminster Abbey,
spontaneous cheers rose from the assembly. Imme
diately afterwards, the foreign Princes moved down
the gigantic church, and, as the Crown Princess and
I reached the middle of the nave, the same spon
taneous cheers that had greeted the King and
Queen were accorded us. Afterwards I was told
by English people that I might be "proud of my
self"; for never before in the history of England
had a foreign princely couple received such an ova-

MATRIMONIAL 123
tion in Westminster Abbey. Four years later we
were at war; four years later, the man whom they
then cheered had become a "hun."
Here I should like to mention an incident in my
London sojourn which casts a light on the ideas of
a leading English statesman of that day. The for
eign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, was introduced
to me, and, in the course of the thoroughly animated
conversation which ensued, I made the incautious
remark, that, in my opinion and with a view to the
certainty of peace, it would be far and away the
wisest thing for Germany and England, the two
greatest Teutonic nations — the strongest land power
and the strongest sea power — to co-operate; they
could then moreover (if need be) divide the world
between them. Grey listened, nodded and said:
"Yes, true, but England does not wish to divide
with anybody — not even with Germany."
In Vienna, the then heir-apparent, Francis Ferdi
nand, spoke with me very earnestly and very anx
iously about the dangerous Serbian propaganda; he
foresaw an early European conflict in these intrigues
that Russia was fanning. I had, for a long time,
been watching with discomfort the growing depen
dence of our Near East policy upon the ideas of
the Vienna Ballplatz; consequently the remarks of
the Archduke raised in my mind grave doubts
as to this shifting of our political focus from Ber
lin to Vienna; these doubts continued to worry

124 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
me from that day onward, but the unreserved ex
pression I gave to them, both in the Foreign Office
and in the presence of individual representatives of
our diplomatic service, was all in vain. The fears
that the Reich would some day become fatally de
pendent upon the superior diplomacy of Austria-
Hungary, as expressed with such anxious prescience
by Prince Bismarck in his last memoirs, seemed to
me to have long ago found their fulfilment. In the
Vienna Belvedere, under the influence of the
strangely suggestive words of this dangerously am
bitious Archduke, — who was prepared to act an any
thing but modest part and who was as clever as he
was ruthless, — the definite feeling came over me that,
as a result of this too great dependence, we should
sooner or later become involved in a conflict brought
about for the purpose of promoting the ambitions of
the Austro-Hungarian dynasty; that the Archduke
was putting out feelers and developing ideas which
should enable him to see what he might expect from
me. Destiny took the game out of the hands of
that undoubtedly remarkable man and made of him
the spark which was to kindle the great conflagra
tion. But, after bringing him to a bloody end, it
spared us none of the bitter effects of our depen
dence and subordination; the results of the excessive
Viennese demands upon Serbia involved us in the
war against our will. On July 28, 1914, when Ser
bia had accepted almost all the points of the Aus-

MATRIMONIAL 125
trian ultimatum, my father annotated thus the
telegram which brought the news of Serbia's sub
mission: — "A brilliant performance within a limit of
48 hours. That is more than one could expect. A
great moral success for Vienna; but with it disap
pears every reason for war, and the Austrian minis
ter, Giesl, ought to have remained quietly in Bel
grade. After that, I should never have ordered the
mobilization." I quote this telegram and its mar
ginal notes, because they prove irrefutably the
peaceful desires of Germany and the Kaiser. They
prove the good-wiU, in spite of which our destiny —
bound to the policy of the Vienna Ballplatz to the
extent of vassalage — strode its way.
In Russia, where, as already stated, I sojourned
with my wife after my Indian travels, I received
the impression that the Tsar was as friendly to Ger
many as ever, but that he was less able to put his
friendliness into action. He was completely en
meshed by the pan-Slav and anti-German party of
the Grand Duke Nicholai Nicholaievitch and power
less to oppose that Prince, who made a public ex
hibition of his hatred for Germany.

CHAPTER IV
STRESS AND STORM September, 1919.
The beautiful, happy days are past which I was
able to spend here with my dear wife and the boys,
the days in which we all wanted to enjoy the brief
pleasure like simple, rustic holiday-makers and in
which I purposely tried to forget that my nearest
and dearest were staying for only a short sojourn
with a voluntary exile.
By nature and upbringing I am not sentimental,
and I wul not lose myself in sentimental emotions;
but I can honestly say that the island is more deso
late than ever, now that I have to go my walks be
tween the pastures, along the irrigation canals, up
the shore and through the villages without my wife
and without the boys. In their childish way, the
Uttle chaps found everything that was strange and
new to them here incomparably delightful, thought
it all a thousand times finer than the best that they
had in our own Cicilienhof at Potsdam or at Ols.
Everywhere I now miss those boys, miss the inquir
ing remarks of those youngest ones who really made
their first acquaintance with their father here on
the island, miss continually the kind, wise and under
standing words of the wife who has so many sorrows
126

STRESS AND STORM 127
and worries of her own to bear and who yet never
loses courage. Over there, at Hippolytushof, we
stowed the little fellows in the house of the ever-
ready Burgomaster Peereboom — for we had no
room for them in my parsonage — and there they
were soon the friends and confidants of all the lads
anywhere near their own age. In our Oosterland
cottage, quarters were found only for my wife and
her companion. Everything now seems empty,
since it is no longer filled with her fun at the primi
tive glories and makeshifts of our "bachelor's house
hold." On her way home she stayed at Amerongen.
It is depressing to read what she writes about
things there. Our dear mother suffering, and yet
unwearily troubling about the Kaiser, about my
brothers, my Uttle sister and her grandchildren; my
father bitter and not yet able to release himself from
the ever-revolving circle of brooding about the things
that have been.
It is a very different question whether the will
and vital courage of a man of thirty-six years are
to withstand the test of such a terrible strain of
destiny, or whether a man of sixty is able to see
shattered before him his Ufe's work that he had re
garded as imperishable.
In the last few days, my thoughts have reverted
to him over and over again.

128 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
At the time that I was about to start on my In
dian tour, my military career had reached the point
where I was to receive the command of a cavalry
regiment. It was a matter of great moment to me;
and, with a view to the political situation, I did not
wish to be too far away from the centre of govern
ment, from those men who had to cook the broth in
the serving out of which I was at the time so inter
ested. In this matter of the army I could not approach
the Kaiser directly. My appointed intermediary
was the chef du cabinet militaire, General von
Lyncker. I discussed the affair with him and asked
for the Gardes du Corps. Herr von Lyncker, who
treated my request quite impartially and without
any prepossession, entertained great doubts; he told
me that His Majesty would almost certainly not
consent; rather than raise this "problem" again,
they would prefer to drop my suggestion. From
the trend of the conversation, moreover, it was ob
servable that the inner circle of His Majesty's ad
visers and certain Government officers did not pas
sionately share my wish that I should remain near
the centre of government.
I therefore asked for the King's Uhlans in Han
over or the Breslau Body Cuirassiers; and Herr von
Lyncker said that would not create any difficulty,
and he would advise His Majesty accordingly. I
was content; after all, Hanover and Breslau did not

STRESS AND STORM 129
lie quite outside the world and one might keep
fairly in touch with things from either place.
Such was the situation when I left for India.
But at Peshawar I read in an English newspaper
that His Majesty had appointed me to the com
mand of his First Body Hussars at Langfuhr by
Danzig. My prime feeling was one of disappointment, not
only because my wishes had been once more totally
pushed aside, but because it seemed to be a sort of
principle to refuse the fulfilment of the wishes of us
sons in military matters. Nor was this all. The
remote position of Danzig and the bleak climate,
which I feared especially on my wife's account, were
not particularly alluring. Contrary to my expecta
tions, everything turned out capitally, and, but for
my worries about the general situation of affairs, the
two years and a half spent in Danzig became the
happiest time of my life.
We lived in a small villa which scarcely afforded
sufficient room for my already considerable family.
But we made ourselves very comfortable and led a
happy and peaceful life.
It was an honor and a pleasure to be the com
mander of that fine old regiment. The officers
were all young, — a companionable medley of nobles
and commoners. The serious and faithful character
of my old regimental adjutant, Count Dolina, I
recall with particular pleasure. Most of the officers

130 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
were the sons of landed proprietors in East and
West Prussia whose fathers and grandfathers had
worn the Black Attila and the Death's Head of the
Body Hussars. Similarly, the regiment recruited its
non-commissioned officers and men almost exclu
sively from among the young country people of East
Prussia, West Prussia and Posen, tip-top soldiers
who brought with them from their homes a love of
horses and an understanding for their management.
Finally, the horses themselves were excellent; and
we were the only white-horse regiment in the army.
The love of riding which had been in me from
childhood could now have full away. In accor
dance with the convictions gained by experience, I
limited the course-riding to the minimum, and laid
chief stress upon cross-country and hurdle riding,
in which really first-class results were obtained.
Great emphasis was placed upon foot-practice and
firing, more perhaps than was then customary with
confirmed cavalrymen. The war showed that this
training is, even for cavalry, a thing that should not
be neglected.
I did my best to maintain a liking for the ser
vice among my Hussars. I had a nice commodi
ous Casino installed for the use of the non-commis
sioned officers, as well as comfortable quarters for
the men. The men who had been in the ranks for
a year or more were lodged separately from the re
cruits to prevent possible difficulties. In the leisure

STRESS AND STORM 131
hours there were plenty of outdoor games. Towards
the end of my time, we had a well-trained football
team in which the officers participated.
It was during this period of my life that " Deutsch-
land in Waffen" was published, a picture-book for
young Germans. The preface which I wrote for it
has been unjustly taken to indicate that I had
ranged myself among the war firebrands. Nothing
was ever further from my thoughts; nor can an im
partial perusal of my paragraphs discover such a
meaning in them. The preface was written in con
sequence of the increasing dangers that threatened
us; it was directed against sordid materialism and
pointed out to the youth of Germany that it was
their duty and honor to fight, if necessary, for their
country. It was the admonition of a German and a
soldier to the rising generation of Germans whose
young energies and whose patriotic spirit of self-
sacrifice we could not dispense with in the hour of
need. Since my demonstration against Bethmann Holl-
weg's Morocco policy, I was labelled as a war inciter
by every blind pacifist in Germany and by their
friends abroad whenever I came before the public.
So it was in the case of this little dissertation on our
army: people sought in it evidence of the tendencies
unjustly ascribed to me. Similarly they imagined
themselves to have pinned me tight when, a short
time afterwards, I came forward in another public

132 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
affair, namely, the Zabern incident which obtained
such unfortunate notoriety.
Our policy in the Reichslanden (Alsace-Lorraine)
had, for years, caused me great anxiety. My visits
to these provinces, as well as the reports of many of
my comrades in the garrisons of the west frontier
and the honest descriptions given me of conditions
there by those familiar with them, had opened my
eyes to the realities of the situation. Sugar-plums
and the whip had prevailed ever since 1871. The
results corresponded to the tactics. The last period
had been one of sugar-plums, and the reichsldndische
constitution had been its consummation. French
propaganda now had its own way and did what
ever it pleased. The pro-French notables set the
fashion and called the tune for the civil administra
tion. The military were, in a sense, merely tol
erated by the irredentist circles. Just one example
to illustrate the pre-war conditions in the German
Reichslanden and the attitude of the governmental
authorities. Two of my flying officers told me one
day that, in the year 1913, a great French presenta
tion of the colors took place, and they — the military
— were advised not to show themselves in the streets
on that day lest the sight of their Prussian uniform
might irritate the French. Under such conditions it
was that the conflict arose. The civil population
had heckled the Prussian military, the officer had
defended himself, and then the whole world sud-

STRESS AND STORM 133
denly howled at Prussian militarism. At this mo
ment, at a time when foreign countries and the
never-lacking sophist advocates of absolute justice
in our own poor Germany were doing everything
to discredit our last and only asset, our army, in the
eyes of friend and foe, I readily and "without the
proper reserve," as it was said, took my stand by
my comrades who were so hard pressed by the at
tacks of pubUc discussion. I wired to General von
Deimling and to Colonel von Reuter. That is all
true. But that I sent the colonel a telegram con
taining the words "Immer feste druff" I learned
from the newspapers, and this invention was due to
the falsifying fantasy of those peace-lovers who
sought perhaps to strengthen the great hankerings
for peace all around us. In truth I had telegraphed
to Colonel von Reuter as a comrade that he should
take severe measures, since the prestige of the army
was at stake. If Lieutenant von Forstner had been
condemned, every hooligan would have felt encour
aged to attack the uniform. An untenable situation
would have been sanctioned, doubly untenable in
the Reichslanden, where, in consequence of the lax
attitude of the civil authorities, the military already
found themselves in the most difficult circum
stances. I should like to have seen what would
have happened in England or France, if an officer
had been provoked as Lieutenant von Forstner was.
But we were in Germany. German pubUc opinion

134 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
had once more a pretext for busying itself with me
in conjunction with the events described; the old
talk about a camarilla, about the war firebrand and
the frondeur of Langfuhr were dished up again in the
leading articles of the scribblers. If they were to be
beUeved, I had once again made myself "impossi
ble." The highest dignitaries wore the doubtful
faces prescribed for such occasions of national mourn
ing, and His Majesty was highly displeased.
Schiller says in "William TeU": "The waters rage
and clamour for their victims"; and another passage
runs: "'Twas blessing in disguise; it raised me up
wards." Out of the blue and with great suddenness every
thing happened. His Majesty took my regiment
from me and ordered me to Berlin, so that my over
grown independence might be curtailed and my do
ings better watched. I was to work in the General
Staff. In this way a ring was completed: the wish not to
have me too near the central authorities had sent
me to Langfuhr by Danzig; the wish to have me
within reach brought me back again; in both cases,
a Uttle indignation and a little annoyance played
their part.
At any rate, among the incorrigible pacifists who
wished to disperse with pretty speeches the war
menace already hanging above the horizon, indigna
tion was aroused by my farewell words to my Hus-

STRESS AND STORM 135
sars. I had called it a moment of the greatest hap
piness to the soldier, "when the King called and
March ! March ! was sounded." According to them
I ought doubtless to have told my brave comrades
some beautiful fairy-tale.
When I rode for the last time down the front of
my fine regiment and the farewell shouts of my
Hussars rang in my ears, my heart became unspeak
ably heavy. It was as though a still, small voice
whispered that this was the farewell to a peaceful
soldier's Ufe which I was never again to know.
What I was now to leave had all been so beautiful,
so happy and so replete with honest labor.
In foreign soil, sleeping their eternal sleep, now
rest many — too, too many — of the bright and capa
ble young comrades of my beloved and courageous
regiment of Hussars whose uniform I wore through
out the war with joyous pride. Among them lies
my cousin, Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia, a
particularly undaunted rider and soldier. My recol
lections will be with them all in grateful sadness as
long as I live.
Perhaps I ought to have torn up the sheets I
wrote yesterday and to have rewritten them in a
different style. When I read them through to-day,
I found in them a note of irritability that I would
rather not introduce into my memoirs. But I shall
let them remain as they are; they bear witness to

136 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
the bitterness which still possesses me when I recall
that last year before the war and the absurdity of
our "ostrich" policy. What a sorry humor comes
over me when I remember how they dubbed me the
instigator to a "fresh, free, rollicking war" because
of my warning: "Then preserve at least your last
for the grave day and keep yourselves armed for the
struggle that is surely coming!"
The truth is that I was clearly conscious of the
terrible seriousness of our position, that I neither
was nor am a Cassandra, filUng the haUs of Troy
with verses of lament, but a man and a soldier.
Yet people in our beloved homeland took it very Ul
that I was the latter, and they do so still.
For the winter 1913-14 I was ordered to the
Great General Staff for purposes of initiation
and study. My instructor was Lieutenant-General
Schmidt von Knobelsdorf, who became afterwards
my chief of general staff in the Upper Command of
the Fifth Army. In matters of military science I
owe much to His Excellency von Knobelsdorf. He
was a brilliant teacher in every domain of tactics
and strategy. His lectures and the themes he set
for me were masterpieces. His chief maxim was:
clearness of decision on the part of the leader; trans
lation of the decision into commands; leave your
subordinates the widest scope of personal responsi
biUty. My appointment to the General Staff gave me an

STRESS AND STORM 137
exhaustive insight into the enormous amount of
work it performed. I was able to penetrate into the
superb organization of the whole, to become ac
quainted with the maintenance, the re-enforcement
and the movements of the army, and to form an
opinion concerning the defensive forces of other na
tions. In the operations department I heard lec
tures on the proposed concentration of the armies
in the event of war.
In the lectures and discussions concerning a possi
ble world war, I received the impression that the
British army and its possibilities of development in
case of war were treated too lightly. People seemed
to reckon too much with the disposable forces of the
moment and too little with the values which might
be created under the pressure of war and resistance.
I knew something of the English and their army
from my various visits and from personal observa
tion, and I knew, too, their great talent for organiza
tion as well as their skiU in improvising. If a
conceivable war were carried successfully through
before these talents could be brought into play, the
estimates of our General Staff might prove correct,
but not otherwise. The Russian army I also con
sidered not to have been always rated at its full
significance. In regard to our western neighbor and presum
ably immediate adversary, I have only to recall that
France, at that time, despite her considerably smaller

138 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
population, maintained an army almost as large as
ours. To do so, she levied eighty per cent of her
men, whereas we contented ourselves with about
fifty per cent.
The general view of the peace strength in the
event of a war such as that which actually occurred
may be put thus: — For Germany not quite 900,000
troops, and for Austria-Hungary about 500,000—
together, roughly 1,400,000 men on the side of the
Central Powers. On the other hand, Russia alone
provided the Entente with well over 2,000,000 sol
diers, to whom were to be added those of France and
Belgium. Thus, even at the outset of the war, we
were outnumbered in the ratio of two to one. Reck
oning the quality of the German as high as you
please — and to place him very high was quite justi
fiable — the odds were too great.
With all that, we had, in 1914, an army which, in
every way, was brilliantly trained; and consequently,
in the summer of that year, when the die was cast,
we took the field "with the best army in the world."
But, so far as provision for war was concerned,
we had unfortunately not, in our peace prepara
tions, attained the maximum of striking energy.
We had not, by a long way, exploited all the re
sources of power in people and land or mobilized
them in time. That the Great General Staff had
repeatedly expressed urgent wishes in this matter I
can myself testify. The fault did not lie there.

STRESS AND STORM 139
Nor did it lie with the German Reichstag, which, in
consideration of the menacing seriousness of the
situation, would not, despite its party differences,
have refused to provide the German sword with all
possible force and keenness, if the responsible min
isters had used all their weight to this end. But
it seemed then, as it had done in peace time, as
though all communications, suggestions or inquiries
issuing from military quarters, and especially from
the General Staff feU on barren ground. Close
co-operation was, under such circumstances, impos
sible. In that very year 1914, a question arose which
was viewed from totally different standpoints by
the two parties. The Russians began to make a
comprehensive redisposition of their troops. Quite
evidently the centre of gravity was being shifted
towards the German and Austrian frontiers, which
felt more and more the pressure of these amassments.
From the interior of Russia, also, the General Staff
received news of curious troop movements. How
were these proceedings to be explained? The miU
tary view that they gave us good reason to be pre
pared for any event was met by the watery explana
tion that the affair was only a test mobilization;
and, in stupid anxiety lest a definite clearing of the
matter might "start the avalanche," the political
gentlemen adopted the attitude of "wait and see."

140 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Subsequent to the summer sojourn of the General
Staff in the Vosges under the leadership of its chief,
von Moltke, I received a few weeks' furlough, which
I spent in West Prussia. Early in July, I joined
my family in a charming little villa presented to
us by the town of Zoppot. It was a magnificently
brilliant summer, and the days were quickly spent
in such recreations as swimming, rowing, riding and
tennis. Zoppot was filled with strangers, including
many Poles.
In the midst of this serene peacefulness, I was
startled by the gruesome telegram which brought me
the tidings of the Archduke's assassination. That
this political murder would have serious conse
quences was obvious. But this dull, anxious con
viction remained, for the present, confined to my
own bosom; not a soul among our leading states
men thought it necessary to hear my views or to
inform me of those of our ministers. Neither from
the Imperial Chancellor, nor from the Foreign Office,
nor from the chief of the general staff did I learn
a thing about the course of affairs.
The Kaiser was cruising in Norwegian waters,
which I had to take as an indication that nothing
unusual was to be anticipated. Only the news
paper reports strengthened my belief that serious
developments were approaching. From Danzig mer
chants who had just returned from Russia I also
received news indicating that an extensive west-

STRESS AND STORM 141
ward movement of Russian troops was taking place ;
though, naturally, I had no means of checking the
correctness of this information.
It was also from the press that I gleaned my first
information concerning the Austrian ultimatum.
Its wording left the door open to every possibility,
according to the political attitude adopted towards
it by our Foreign Office. To me it seemed quite
self-evident that the Wilhelmstrasse ought to as
sume an independent position and certainly ought
not to allow itself to be drawn once more, as, unhap
pily, had previously been the case, into the wake of
a pronounced Austrian policy.
To these days, in which the world faced such tre
mendous decisions, belongs an interlude — a painful
one to me, that was once more to reveal to me,
just before the eleventh hour, the chasm between
my own conception of things and the Imperial
Chancellor's. It was my last peace conflict with
Herr von Bethmann — in reality a matter of no con
sequence, and one of which I speak here only be
cause, at the time, it was dragged into the news
papers and capital made of it to my detriment.
I had given expression to my interest in the ut
terances of two Germans who, like myself, saw the
gathering storm and raised their voices in warning.
The one was the retired lieutenant-colonel, D. H.
Frobenius, who had published a political pamphlet
called "The German Empire's Hour of Destiny";

142 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
the other was Professor Gustav Buchholz who had
delivered a speech on Bismarck at Posen. The
wording of my telegram to Frobenius ran: — "I have
read with great interest your splendid brochure 'Des
Deutschen Reiches Schicksalsstunde' and wish it
the widest circulation among the German people,
Wilhelm Kronprinz."
These "bellicose manifestations" ("Kriegshetze-
rischen Kundgebungen") Herr von Bethmann con
sidered calculated to "compromise and cross"
("kompromittieren und kontrekarrieren") his firmly
established policy; and he found time, on July 20th,
to address personally to His Majesty a long tele
gram complaining of my action and requesting
him to forbid me by telegram all interference in
politics. Thereupon, in a telegram from Balholm,
dated July 21, the Kaiser, appealing to my sense
of duty and honor as a Prussian officer, reminded
me of my promise to refrain from all political
activity; accordingly and without any discussion as
to whether, in my telegram quoted above, could be
found anything more than the thanks of an inter
ested and approving reader, I wired to His Majesty
on July 23: "Commands will be carried out." At
that moment I had other matters to worry about
than disputes with Herr von Bethmann over the
limits of my right to thank some one for a book that
had been sent me.
The next tiling I learned touching the great prob-

STRESS AND STORM 143
lem was that the Kaiser had arrived at Kiel on
board the "Hohenzollern" on the morning of the
twenty-sixth and that he had proceeded immedi
ately to Potsdam. That was comforting, since, if
there were any prospect of maintaining peace, he
would exert himself to the utmost to do so.
Then sUence again. Then, in the newspapers,
which we Caught at hungrily: "Grey has suggested
in Paris, Berlin and Rome a concerted action at
Vienna and Belgrade — the crown council in Cetinje
has resolved upon mobilization."
Distinctly and clearly, as though it were but
yesterday, I still recall the 30th of July. My adju
tant MiiUer and I were lying in the dunes sunning
ourselves after a delightful swim, when an urgent
telegram was brought me by special messenger. It
contained His Majesty's orders for me to come
at once to Potsdam. We now saw the full serious
ness of the situation.
I started immediately.
On the thirty-first, there was a supper at the New
Palace, at which my uncle, Prince Henry, was also
present. After supper, His Majesty walked up and down
in the garden with Prince Henry and me. He was
excessively serious; he did not conceal from himself
the enormous peril of the situation, but he expressed
the hope that a European war might be avoided; he
himself had sent detailed telegrams to the Tsar and

144 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
to the King of England and believed he might an
ticipate success.
Some difference arose between my uncle and my
self through my asserting that, if it came to war,
England would most assuredly take the side of our
adversaries. Prince Henry contested this. Thus I
found here the same optimism that had clouded the
views of the Imperial Chancellor who, to the last
moment, held firm and fast to his beUef in England's
neutrality. His Majesty was in some doubt as to
the attitude which England would adopt in the event
of war.
My last conversation on this question with the
Imperial Chancellor, von Bethmann HoUweg, took
place at the palace in Berlin on August 3. It is
stamped into my memory — sharp and indelible; the
impressive hour in which it occurred enhanced the
depth and significance of the effect, which, with
final and terrible clearness, once more revealed to
me, on the threshold of war, that our only prospect
of success lay in the strength of the German army.
On that 3d of August, I had just taken leave of
my father to join the army. My car stood ready.
As I was about to leave the little garden between
the palace and the Spree, I met the chancellor com
ing in to report to His Majesty, and we spent a few
minutes in talk.
Bethmann: Your Imperial Highness is going to
the front?

STRESS AND STORM 145
I: Yes.
Bethmann: Will the army do it?
I: Whatever an army can do we shall do; but I
feel constrained to point out to Your Excellency that
the political aspect of the stars under which we are
entering the war is the most unfavorable that one can
imagine. Bethmann: In what way?
I: Well that is clear: Russia, France, England on
the other side; Italy and Roumania at most neutral
—though even that is improbable.
Bethmann: Why that is impossible. England
wUl certainly remain neutral.
I: Your Excellency will receive the declaration of
war in a few days. There is only one thing to be
done: to find allies. In my opinion, we must do
everything to induce Turkey and Bulgaria to con
clude alliances with us as soon as possible.
Bethmann: I should consider that the greatest
misfortune for Germany.
I stared at him puzzled, till I perceived the con
nection between his remark and what had gone be
fore. In his incomprehensible ideology he meant
that, by such alliances, we might forfeit the friend
ship and the certain neutrality of England — friend
ship and neutraUty that existed only in his own head.
As soon as I grasped this, our conversation was
over. I saluted him and drove off.
There was only one hope, one support, on which

146 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
we could lean; that was the German people in arms,
the German army. With that we might perhaps
succeed in our task despite our diplomatists and
despite the naive imaginings of this chancellor who
was so spiritually minded as to be almost out of
touch with mundane realities.
The incredible conception of our political situa
tion, as revealed by Herr von Bethmann HoUweg in
the conversation just cited, is apparent also in the re
port of the British ambassador, Sir Edward Goschen,
on his decisive interview with the chancellor the
next day. According to that report, Herr von Beth
mann, now that he was at last bound to see before
him England's true face, admitted with emotion
that his entire policy had collapsed like a house of
cards. Since those fateful summer days of the year 1914,
I have thought much and often about these inci
dents; and here in the solitude of the island I have
occupied myself particularly with the matter. The
blue, the red and the white books of the various
countries have furnished me with many a hint as to
the actual proceedings of the weeks immediately
before the war, and I find myself obliged to formu
late a judgment in even more severe terms than
before, that in those fateful days Bethmann Holl-
weg's policy and the Foreign Office failed more
completely than one might have expected from the
example of preceding years.

STRESS AND STORM 147
That, in a war between Austria and Serbia, Rus
sia would back Serbia and France Russia, and so
on, was known to every amateur politician in Ger
many. Instead of critically examining Austria's
action and saying categorically to the Ballplatz:
"We shall not wage war for Serbia," people did as
I had feared; they allowed themselves to be com
pletely taken in tow by Austria. That is what hap
pened, and in my opinion, none of the other rep
resentations of the case by the Foreign Office go to
the root of the matter. The totally incomprehen
sible attitude of the Foreign Office placed us in
quite a false light; so that the Entente, adducing
the outward appearance as proof, assert that we
declined the mediation of England because we
wished to go to war.
Withal, this Foreign Office was so sure of itself
that it allowed the Kaiser to proceed to Norway,
the chief of the general staff to stay at Carlsbad,
and His Excellency, von Tirpitz, to remain on fur
lough in the Black Forest.
Thanks to an incredibly blind management of our
foreign affairs, we just blundered into the world
war. So remarkable was the incompetence of our
responsible authorities that the world refused to
believe us, refused to regard such simplicity as pos
sible, took it to be a cleverly selected mask behind
which was hidden some particularly cunning scheme.
When the Kaiser1 returned from Norway, it was

148 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
too late to accomplish anything. Destiny strode
her way. June, 1920.
For considerably more than half a year, I have
not had in my hands these sheets on which I had
set down a review of my life and of my immediate
environment down to the outbreak of war and, at
the same time, my impressions and reminiscences of
the events which led up to it. Not that I had given
up the idea of sketching the incidents of the war in
a similar way, but because, in the progress of the
work, it soon appeared necessary to lift these out
of the scope of personal reminiscences and to mould
them into the form of an historical presentation of
the events of the war.
Consequently, from October of last year till now,
my task has been the recording of the purely mili
tary happenings which from the day we took the
field I shared and experienced in common with the
troops intrusted to me, during the long days of the
war as leader of the Fifth Army and as commander-
in-chief of the "Kronprinz" group of armies.
All the great events experienced in those years
and all the sufferings that I had to wrestle with and
to bear I have conscientiously noted down. In this
way there has been laid the foundation of a presen
tation of the tremendous military performances of
that fellowship whose members stood as comrades

STRESS AND STORM 149
under me and with me in the field. It is a presen
tation which, the more I occupied myself with it,
tempted me the more to make the utmost use of the
copious material in my possession; I was lured, too,
by the thought of erecting to my faithful fellow
soldiers a chaste and simple monument in the shape
of a straightforward and unadorned narration of
their doings.
The account that I have given in it, as a soldier,
of those bloody and yet immortally great four and
a half years will not fit into the framework of what
I have previously recounted in these pages. It is
military technical writing in the strictest sense of
the word and is to take the character of a separate
and complete volume.
These considerations have led me to decide upon
lifting the presentation of the military enterprises
and battles bodily out of these present memoirs and
to proceed, as before, with the frank and free de
scription of my most personal impressions and ex
periences and my attitude towards the most weighty
problems brought before me by the war and into
which I was swept by the general collapse and crash.
But before returning to my remembrances of that
more distant past, I should like to say something of
the eight or nine months which have elapsed since I
wrote of them last in this manuscript.
If any one had said to me last autumn: When the
New Year comes, the spring, the summer, you wiU

150 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
still be on this island and far from your home, I
should not have believed him, should scarcely have
been able to bear the thought of it. Thus the never-
failing hopes of a progressive restoration of our
homeland to fresh order and tranquillity coupled
with the work which — alongside of everything else
brought by the days, months and seasons — I have
never interrupted for any length of time, have helped
me over this period. Friends, also, who have visited
me in my solitude and brought me a kind of echo
from the world, have helped to lighten my seques
tered lot; so, too, have the good, simple people
around me, who, since they made the acquaintance
of my wife, have grown doubly fond of me; finally,
there is my faithful comrade, Major von Muldner,
who, in self-sacrificing devotion, shares with me this
solitude and, ever and again, takes upon himself a
thousand and one troubles and worries in order to
spare me the burden.
Who were all the people that came? In autumn
there was that fine editor, Prell, a thorough Ger
man, who conducts the Niederldndische Wochen-
schrift in Amsterdam, accompanied by his col
league, Mr. Rostock. This German-American gave
me some interesting descriptions of anti-German
war propaganda in America. He also brought with
him a propaganda picture which is said to have met
with great success over there; it represented me
armed as an ancient Teutonic warrior, fighting

STRESS AND STORM 151
women and children in the attack on Verdun. An
other visitor was Captain Konig, the famous com
mander of the submarine " Deutschland." Then there
were Mr. Kan, the secretary general to the Home
Office, a strictly correct Dutch state official, to whose
truly humane care I owe so much — and His Excel
lency, von Berg, formerly Supreme President of
East Prussia and afterwards chief of the depart
ment of home affairs, who has proved one of the
best and most unerringly faithful advisers of our
house in fortune and misfortune; he belongs to the
distant "Borussia" days of Bonn, was a friend of
the Kaiser's in his youth, and is one of the men
who, with deep human comprehension, have re
mained true to the lonely, aging man at Amerongen.
The winter has set in with comfortless and sombre
severity. The anniversary of my landing on the
island was shrouded in grayness and mist, like the
day itself. Leaden clouds lay heavy over the sea
and over the little island; and, day and night, tem
pests swept across the dikes and scourged the un
happy country. A few days' work with Major
Kurt, my former clever and indefatigably active
intelligence officer, constituted a welcome respite.
Shortly before Christmas, Muller, my old adju
tant and chief of staff, arrived with Christmas
presents from home — presents sent by relatives and
touching tokens of affection from modest, unknown
persons. For the German children who, at the

152 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
time, were staying with good people on the island
to recuperate from the gruesome effects of the famine
blockade, I arranged a Christmas feast in the little
Seeblick Inn at Oosterland with a Christmas tree
and all sorts of presents and old German carols.
On December 23, the small and intimate circle of
my household celebrated Christmas in the parson
age; and next day Muldner and I, accompanied by
two gentlemen appointed by the Dutch Government,
crossed over to the mainland and proceeded to
Amerongen to keep Christmas with my parents in
the hospitable home of Count Bentinck. A few
months before — in October — I had seen my father
for the first time since that 9th of November of the
previous year, on which day, after grave talks, I
had left him in Spa under the assured conviction
that, in spite of all opposition, he would remain
with the army.
Ineffaceable is the image left to me of that man
with silver-gray hair standing in the light of the
many candles on the tall, dark-green tree; still there
rings in my ear the unforgetable voice as, on that
Christmas Eve, he read the gospel of the first Noel:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good-will toward men."
On the twenty-seventh I travelled back to
Wieringen. The New Year came and its days resembled the
days of the year gone by. "Peace on earth"?

STRESS AND STORM 153
Hatred and revenge more savage than ever before !
The unbroken determination to destroy on the part
of France, who cannot pardon us the mendacity of
her theses on war guilt ! The newspapers once more
fuU of inflammatory comments on the extradition
question! And, very amusing for me, the wild
rumors of my approaching or even accomplished
flight in an aeroplane, a submarine or God knows
what! On one occasion two American journalists
actually appeared in my cottage and asked permis
sion to assure themselves of my presence here with
their own eyes. I willingly consented to their re
quest. In the beginning of February, the official extradi
tion list was made known — nine hundred names,
with mine at the head. On that occasion, for the
first time, I interrupted the aloofness of my life here
on this island, and addressed a telegram to the
Allied powers, offering to place myself voluntarily at
their disposal in lieu of the other men claimed.
This step, a simple outcome of my feelings, evoked
no reply from any one of the powers and was exten
sively misinterpreted both at home and abroad.
Buoyed up by the reports in the various news
papers, I lived on into March in the hope that,
despite all the after effects of the revolution fever
and party strife, our homeland was on the road to
internal tranquillity and consolidation. This belief
was suddenly crushed by the news of the Kapp

154 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
putsch and its important consequences. Over and
above the pain caused by this relapse into san
guinary disturbances, the incident meant for me a
bitter disappointment of my hopes that, at perhaps
no very distant date, I might venture to return to my
place within my family and on German soil without
risk of introducing fresh inflammable matter into
the Fatherland. Events had demonstrated that
the hour of my return had not yet come, that pos
sibly it still lay in the distant future. Considering
the mentality manifested by the homeland, I was
forced to fear that I might become the apple of dis
cord among opposing parties, to fear that — hold
aloof from all political affairs as I might — my return
would be made the countersign for fresh struggles
for and against existing conditions by one party or
another without any consideration of my wishes in
the matter. The reasons which, on November 11,
1918, had decided me, with a heavy heart, to go to
Holland proved to be still valid; hence, if I were
not to render null and void the object of my sacrifice
by failure half-way to its completion, I had still to
remain and to endure.
I frankly concede that those March days, in which,
with intense bitterness, I struggled through to this
conviction, held some of the hardest hours of my life.
The fifteen months spent on my island in primitive
surroundings and far from every intellectual stimulus
and from all culture had been rendered tolerable by

STRESS AND STORM 155
the beUef that the end of my solitude and the re-
entrance into the circle of my people and into the
Ufe of German labor were within measurable dis
tance of being accomplished. The goal had seemed
to be attainable in perhaps a few months. This
open outlook had enabled me to endure really very
great hardships with courage, and the thought that it
was now only a little while longer had been my best
solace. In this way everything acquired the char
acter of the transitory and provisional.
It would have been stupid self-deception for me
to try to maintain this confidence after those days
of March. The old wounds that had been ripped
open again could not be healed in months; it would
take years for that.
It is strange how small, external aids of nature
often give us sudden strength to overcome the sever
est mental conflicts that have lasted for days and
nights together. I quite clearly see a day at the
end of March. I smell the keen sea breeze and the
vapors of the ground as the earth awakened in the
early spring. From the study in my parsonage a
small veranda, bitterly cold in winter, communi
cates with the vegetable garden — long and narrow
like a towel and not much bigger. On the day in
question, I was standing in the doorway of the ver
anda and looking pensively across the desolate
winter-worn garden. In the previous spring we
had letevery thing grow as rank and wild as it

156 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
pleased. Why not? We should be gone in three
months or so. But now, at the sight of the tangled
and unkempt beds, the raggedness of the shrubs,
and the paths weather-worn by frost and rain, I
felt suddenly the impulse to do something here.
Against a little kennel-like shed attached to the
house there leaned a spade. I snatched it up with
an ardent will, and set to digging. I went on and
on till my back ached. The work of that hour was
a relief from the inner burden I bore. I would not
let the time pass in vainly waiting for the hour of
my return home. Strive for the attainment of your
wishes and your longings, but accept the hardships
of the times and so live that they, too, may help to
determine the future. Since that morning, I have
worked daily in our little garden. It is restored to
order. Some one will reap the fruits — I or another.
That was in the days of the Kapp putsch. I must
say something more about this unhappy episode.
Feeling and believing that a monarchical Govern
ment, which stands above all party differences, best
suits the peculiar political and complex conditions
of our homeland — of the German country and the
German people — I should not be true to my convic
tions if I did not frankly state that I can understand
the temptations and allurements which enmeshed
so many excellent, experienced men — men of high
ideals — in this mistaken enterprise. That they
lacked a proper understanding of the new situation

STRESS AND STORM 157
created by the collapse of Germany and consequently
had not the necessary strength to withstand the
temptation of the moment I deeply regret. To
reckon with facts, even when the facts do not re
spond to our wishes, is more essential for us Germans
than ever, because our prime and weightiest duty
towards ourselves and our successors is first to re
build our demolished house, and every particle of
strength squandered in pursuing other aims is lost
to the main object. So soon as that house stands
once more grand and firm on the soil of our home,
our disease-stricken and debiUtated German na
tional feeling will find its strength again in its pride
over what has been done.
What more have I to report ? A mild spring has
come — my second spring on the island. My parents
have removed to their new residence.
%: * ^ * $
In his records pubUshed towards the end of 1919,
Lord Fisher says with blunt candor: —
"The essence of War is Violence."
"Moderation in War is Imbecility."
"It is the duty of the Government — of any Gov
ernment — to rely very largely upon the advice of
its miUtary and naval counsellors; but in the long
run, a Government which is worthy of the name,
which is adequate in the discharge of the trust which

158 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
the nation reposes in it, must bring all these things
into some kind of proportion one to the other; and
sometimes it is not only expedient, but necessary,
to run risks and to encounter dangers which pure
naval or military policy would warn you against."
If we admit the correctness of these maxims of
Lord Fisher — and, for my own part, I do not hesi
tate to subscribe to them — we find in them a keen
criticism of the attitude of our Imperial Government,
since, throughout the war, there was no such co
operation between it and the Higher Command,
and, above all, there was no such preponderance of
the Government. The Imperial Government, which
ought to have uttered the final and decisive word in
all matters touching the sphere of politics, played
much too passive a part. In critical moments, when
events clamored for decision and for action, little
or nothing was done. At the best, the Government
"weighed considerations," "made inquiries," swayed
between the "to be sure" of their discernment and
the "but nevertheless" of their fear of every ac
tivity, so that the right moment was allowed to
pass unseized. So it came about that the Higher
Command occasionally interfered more in questions
of home and foreign policy than, according to its
province, it ought strictly to have done. It is this
which now forms the principal accusation against
General Ludendorff. But the Higher Command
did so, because it was forced to do so; it did so in

STRESS AND STORM 159
order that something, at any rate, might be under
taken for the solution of pressing questions, that
things might not simply disappear in sand. If,
therefore, the public blamed General Ludendorff,
and still blame him for having ruled like a dictator
inasmuch as he meddled with all political affairs
and with problems of substitutes of every kind, food,
raw materials and labor, no one acquainted with the
actual circumstances and events is likely to deny that
there is a grain of truth in the assertion. He will have
to point out, however, that General Ludendorff was
compelled to interfere by the inactivity and weak
ness of the authorities and personages whose right
and whose duty it was to fulfil the tasks arising out
of the matters in question. I could not contradict
Ludendorff when he used to say to me: "All that is
really no business of mine; but something must be
done, and if I don't do it, nothing will be done at
home," meaning by the Government. In such
moments, my heart well understood this energetic
and resolute man, albeit my reason told me that
there was too, too much piled upon his shoulders.
Every man's capacities have their limit; and no
day has more than 24 hours. Hence it was impos
sible for one man, even one of our best, to supervise
and direct both the enormous apparatus of our
Higher Command and also every domain of our
economics and of our home and foreign policy. The
necessity of adapting himself to such excessive tasks

160 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
was bound to cause some detriment to the powers
of the most highly gifted person.
The unfavorable issue of the Battle of the Marne
in September, 1914, frustrated the prospects of
Schlieffen's programme of first rapidly prostrating
France and then dealing with Russia. That we
were faced with a war of indefinite duration now
seemed probable and, personally — in the year 1915
— I came to the conclusion that, in the event of an
excessive prolongation of the war, time would be on
the side of our adversaries. It was bound to give
them the opportunity of mobflizing the immeasur
able resources of the world which lay like a hinter
land behind their fronts. It would give them the
chance of marshalling these against us, while our
mewed-up Central Europe had to confine itself to
the exploitation of its own raw material which,
moreover, had not been supplemented by any sys
tematic pre-war preparation. Time, too, would af
ford our adversaries opportunity to levy and train
enormous armies and to reduce to a minimum the
calls made upon the individual fighter; whereas we
should be forced to demand from every German the
sacrifice of his last ounce of energy, thus, in the end,
exhausting our strength by the inequality of the
terms imposed.
From the moment that this was recognized, it be
came the duty and task of the leading statesman,
the Imperial Chancellor, continually to consider

STRESS AND STORM 161
political steps for the conclusion of the war more
or less independently of the plans and views of
the mUitary leadership. Whatever successes were
achieved by the army, were they never so brilliant,
the far-sighted politician ought to have made use
of them solely and simply as footholds and rungs
for him to climb by; on no account ought he to
have been dazzled by them; on no account ought he
to have adopted towards the Higher Command the
attitude: "Finish your work first; then it will be
my turn, for the present there is nothing for me to
do." But had Herr von Bethmann HoUweg the
least capacity to will vigorously or boldly to dare
anything? Had he survived the terrible collapse of
his "England theory" or the political hara-kiri of his
declaration of August 4, 1914, as a man psychically
unimpaired? Be that as it may, our political des
tiny continued to remain intrusted to this man,
whose hands had been palsied by ill-starred enter
prises and whose eyes had acquired the lack-lustre
of resignation. When I seek for any energy in Beth
mann HoUweg, there occurs forcibly to my mind an
episode told me, with every guarantee for its ve
racity, by a Hamburg ship owner in the summer of
1915. Ballin, he said, had called on the Imperial
ChanceUor and, out of the wealth of his knowledge
concerning world affairs, had urgently talked to
him about the general situation. When he stopped,
Bethmann heaved a deep sigh, drew his hand across

162 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
his forehead and said: "I only wish I were dead. . . ."
In order to rouse him out of his lethargy, Ballin,
with an attempt to laugh, replied: "I dare say you
do. No doubt it would just suit you admirably to
Ue in your coffin aU day long and watch other people
toiling and worrying."
Quite certainly it would have been no easy matter,
and for that discouraged heart it would have been
impossible, to detach one of our enemies from the
alliance and come to a separate understanding with
him; but that it would have been useless, as the
Foreign Office assumed, to make the attempt, I
failed to see during the war and I fail to see still.
Separate peace might, I conceive, have been con
cluded perhaps with Russia, say in the early sum
mer of 1915, immediately after our break through
at GorUce. StUl the difficulties of negotiating
with Russia at that time were very great. Nicolai
Nicolaievitch and the entire Russian war party
were at the helm of affairs, the Entente agreement
to conclude no separate peace was still quite young,
and Italy's entrance into the war dated only from
May. But, for all that, it is impossible to say what
attitude Russia would have adopted towards pro
posals on our part if they had included the preser
vation of her frontier-line of August 1, 1914, and a
big financial loan or the guarantee of her financial
obligations towards France.
In any case, the chances of a separate arrange-

STRESS AND STORM 163
ment with Russia were excellent in the latter part
of the summer of 1915, when Russia was in very
serious military difficulties and the Tsar had ap
pointed the admittedly pro-German Stuermer, to
the premiership. I considered it, at the time, an
unmistakable sign of willingness to negotiate, and
I urged our leaders to grasp the opportunity. As a
matter of fact, in the course of the summer- and in
the early autumn, numerous deliberations of a gen
eral character were carried on and terms consid
ered; but all this took place privately among Ger
man diplomatists or extended only to conversations
between them and the Higher Command. Prac
tical deductions which might have resulted in the
inauguration of relations with Stuermer were not
discussed. We got no farther than empty lamen
tations and futile complaints that the war had
completely cut us off from all possibility of com
municating with people across the frontier, that we
could not join them, "the water was much too
deep." If it be contended that it is all very easy, now
that the war has been lost, to come forward and
say "I always told you so; if you had listened to
me, things might have turned out differently," I
would meet such not altogether unjustifiable argu
ments by quoting some thoughts and suggestions
from a memorial drawn up and addressed by me
to all persons concerned on December 18, 1915,

164 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
that is to say, at a time when such ideas might have
borne fruit. In this memorial, I maintained that
we ought to strain every nerve to achieve a separate
peace with one of our opponents. Russia appeared
to me to be the most suitable. At the end of the
memorial I wrote: —
"What our people have accomplished in this war
will only be properly valued by historians of a
future date. But we will not flatter ourselves with
any complaisant self-deception. The sacrifice of
blood already made by the German people is enor
mous. ... It is not my office here to marshal the
figures; but a series of very grave indications ought
to make us consider how long we can continue to
fill up the gaps in our army. I am quite aware
that, if we were to drain our national energy in
the same way as France, the war might be con
tinued for a very long time. But this is just what
ought to be avoided. Every one who is at all in
intimate touch with the front is deeply saddened
when he sees what children now find their way into
the trenches. We ought to consider that, after the
war, Germany will need forces to enable her tp ful
fil her mission. I will not speak here of the finan
cial situation because, I am not in a position to
form a competent opinion. In an economic sense,
Germany has adapted herself to the circumstances
of the war most admirably; but still in this domain
also should be the desire not to prolong the war un-

STRESS AND STORM 165
necessarily, as that would cause too heavy a loss.
Moreover, despite all the wise measures of the
Government, the progressive rise in the cost of
Uving continues to weigh upon the poorer classes of
the population, and there is a great lack of fodder
in the country. AU this, with all that it involves,
makes a curtailment of the war very desirable; so
that the answer to the question 'What can we at
tain?' is simply this: —
"If we get a separate peace with Russia, we can
make a clean sweep in the west. If this is im
possible, we ought to endeavor to bring about an
understanding with England. Only in one of these
ways, is it, I believe, feasible to bring the end
within sight; and an end must be made visible, un
less we are to fight on till our country is utterly
exhausted. "Our present favorable situation makes it pos
sible to proceed on the lines suggested."
That is what I wrote and advocated before
Christmas, 1915. It had no effect whatever; I
might as well have shouted to the winds.
Similar circumstances arose the following year;
but it was not until the autumn of 1916 that the
Imperial Chancellor had carried his ponderings to
the conclusion that there was no prospect of a sepa
rate peace with Russia: Russia, he said, was under
the dictation of England, and England was for con
tinuing the war. Meantime we had truly gained a

166 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
success which was bound to exclude all possibility
of an amicable understanding with Tsarist Russia;
we had created the Kingdom of Poland and, in the
summer of 1916, we had drafted a Polish programme
that could not but act like a blow in the face to the
Tsar and to all Russia. Stuermer fell; and, in the
early spring of 1917, the Tsar was swept off the
throne by the waves of the revolution which the
Entente had been promoting. During the months
which followed the outbreak of that revolution, the
east front was quiet. It was not until the last day
of June that the Russians attacked again under
Brussilov. A fortnight later, our counter-attack
pierced their lines at Tarnopol and a great victory
was gained over the already decaying Russian army.
At about the same time, namely, on July 12,
Bethmann resigned. In the main, the chancellor's
remarks in his second volume concerning my share
in the proceedings are correct, and I have nothing of
moment to add to them. Herr Michaelis, a man
of unproven political possibUities and concerning
whose capacities or incapacities no one, at that
time, was able to express a convincing judgment,
took over the inheritance. According to what I
heard, Valentini, wringing his hands and crying "A
kingdom for a chancellor," stumbled, in his search,
across this official, who, within the scope of his pre
vious labors, had certainly merited well. I myself
had never yet met Dr. Michaelis. He was now in-

STRESS AND STORM 167
troduced to me as an exceptionally capable man to
whom one might apply the proverb "Still waters
run deep." This was in July, 1917, just before
his presentation to the Kaiser, and when, at the
command of His Majesty, I was to negotiate with
the party leaders at Schloss Bellevue in connection
with the Bethmann crisis. The conversation turned
upon the burning question of the situation created
by the action of Erzberger in the Reichstag Com
mittee, and still more upon the bad impression made
upon the enemy by the matter and form of the
peace resolution, whose drafting was so impolitic,
unwise and clumsy that it had seriously injured our
interests. Instead of being the expression of a
genuine desire for peace on the part of an unbroken
combatant, this" resolution looked like a sign of
miUtary weakness and waning resistance. Only the
reverse of the desired effect could be expected. I
found Michaelis in general quite of my own opin
ion; but I could not induce him, in this short inter
view, to disclose his own ideas, and consequently I
could form no image of the plans he carried in his
pocket for grappling with the exceedingly difficult
task which was to fall to him as Bethmann's heir.
But in Dr. Michaelis, the best of intentions coupled
with pious confidence was recognizable. That was
not exactly a great deal; but I said to myself: He
is about to present himself to His Majesty, he knows
your antipathy to the policy prevailing hitherto

168 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
and does not know how much he can venture to say
to you; you must wait and see. In any case, the
change of chancellors appeared to provide the right
moment for me to risk raising my voice once again
and to place my view of things before the deciding
authorities. I was induced to take this course by
the conviction that, after all, the criticism which I
had expressed upon the Bethmann HoUweg Govern
ment, a judgment upon a system which, with Beth
mann's exit, had come to a certain formal close,
should not exhaust itself in rejection and negation;
I felt that he who claimed the right to criticise as
sumed the duty of proposing something better and
of defending it both in the present and in the future.
Consequently, in the summer of 1917, while we
were fighting in Russia, I worked out another
memorial and laid it simultaneously before the
Kaiser, the Imperial Chancellor and the Higher
Command. It came into being in the days when,
as leader of my army, I had just gained on the
Aisne and in the Champagne an extensive defensive
victory against an attempt of 79 French divisions
to pierce my lines; and I will gladly leave it to
public opinion to decide whether, in this memorial,
the "war fanatic" and "victor" is speaking or
whether it is a witness to my desire for an honorable
peace. This memorial was written after a conver
sation with the clever and politically far-sighted
Dr. Victor Naumann, but only those paragraphs re-

STRESS AND STORM 169
ferring to our foreign policy have any significance
for my then attitude towards the peace question in
the East. I quote here the principal passages, be
cause, taken together as a whole, they show my atti
tude at that time towards many other important
questions connected with the war: —
"The change in the leadership of the empire,
with which is to begin a new era in German and
Russian policy, wUl naturally necessitate the draw
ing up of a balance concerning the past, in order to
find a more or less reliable basis for future plans.
In my opinion, therefore, the following points must
be determined: —
1) What stocks have we of raw materials of
every kind ?
2) What is our maximum capacity for work
ing up these materials ?
3) What stocks of coal do we possess ?
4) What stocks of food and fodder have we?
5) What is the position of our transport facili
ties?
"When this has been determined, it will be neces
sary to decide how many military recruits Germany
can call up and train next year without imperilling
her absolutely essential economic capacity.
"But this is not all. We must also consider the
moral values, the mood of the people; and in test
ing these, one may with tolerable certainty predict
that the longing for peace in the masses of the

170 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
population has become very strong. The enormous
sacrifices of blood during the three years of war
already experienced — sacrifices which have cast al
most every German home and every German family
into mourning — the prospect of fresh and severe
losses of valuable human life, the mental depression
caused and augmented by privations of every kind,
the dearth of food and coal — all these things com
bined have awakened a dissatisfaction in wide
circles of the people (and not by any means only
among the social democrats) which is as hampering
to the continuance of the war as it is disintegrating
to the monarchical idea.
" If it be added that the assured hope of a rapid
conclusion of the U-boat warfare has not been ful-
fiUed, this serious mood ceases to cause surprise.
"We ought to construct, from the best accessible
data, schedules of the resources of our allies parallel
with those drawn up concerning our own; for only
so can we learn what we have to expect and what
we can accomplish.
"All this information in regard to ourselves and
our allies having been collected, we shall have to
obtain an approximately accurate knowledge of the
forces and reserves of the enemy. Without exposing
oneself to the reproach of being a pessimist, one
may say at once that a comparison of the schedules
will scarcely turn out favorable to ourselves. The
natural deduction is that, even at the best, an at-

STRESS AND STORM 171
tack on our part is no longer to be thought of, but
only a maintenance of our position coupled with
intensive prosecution of the U-boat warfare for a
certain period. If this expires without having
brought us any hope of a cessation of hostilities, we
must seek the peace which our diplomatists will
meanwhile have been preparing. This duty is all
the more incumbent upon us inasmuch as we must
say to ourselves that our chief ally, Austria-Hun
gary, by reason of her economic and, still more, her
political conditions at home, will be unable to prose
cute the war for more than a moderate length of
time. I need scarcely add that, in Turkey also,
the situation is anything but rosy.
"Now I do not for one moment overlook the fact
that our adversaries also find themselves in a diffi
cult position or that they dread another winter
campaign extremely. Yet, there are two factors
which have recently evoked a certain change of
feeling. The first is America's entrance into the
struggle, and the hopes which it has awakened; the
second is the overhasty action of the Reichstag (in
the peace resolution), which, in enemy and neutral
countries, is regarded as an absolute declaration of
bankruptcy. To-day, in London and Paris, and
even in Rome, people believe that they may wait
for us to lay down our arms, since it is now only a
question of time.
"Now, what are we to do in order to persist with

172 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
honor and, if possible, with success, despite all
these things? First, what are we to do at home?
We must have maintenance of the line of demarca
tion between the individual offices of the empire
without prejudice to united action. Although, there
fore, the leading minister bears the full responsibUity
for our home and foreign policy, wholesome co
operation with the Higher Command, the Admiralty,
etc., is indispensable. The larger federal states must
also be kept informed as to our situation. Serious
attention must continue to be paid to the regulation
of our coal and food supplies.
"Foreign Policy. — Here again only one will can
dominate, but it must be aided by the mutual and
candid information of the directing offices, e.g.,
the Foreign Office, the Higher Command, the Ad
miralty. Candor towards our allies is a duty. So
far as possible we must spare the neutrals and defer
to their wishes.
"Every idea of seeking peace via England is to
be given up, and a resolute endeavor made to ob
tain peace with Russia. There is hope that, with
the repulse of the present attack, a change of mood
will take place in Russia; then we must seize the
right opportunity. We may also advise the neu
trals that, in general, we are not averse to peace on
the basis of the status quo ante; they will let the
other side know. Simultaneously, deft negotiators
must use persuasion with the Russians.

STRESS AND STORM 173
"It is almost certain that the West will decline.
On the other hand, it may be hoped that Russia will
seek peace. In this case, we shall have created a
situation which will render England — already groan
ing under the effects of the U-boat privations — some
what dubious as to whether she and her allies shall
fight on or, within a reasonable time, enter into
negotiations with us. Should Russia not give way,
then we can come before the people and say: 'We
have done everything to bring about peace. It is
now demonstrated that our enemies wish to de
stroy us; therefore we must strain every nerve to
frustrate their aim.' Possibly such action may
bring us unsuspected help out of the ranks of the
people. Under aU circumstances, it is our duty to
work for a not too distant peace; for, unless the
U-boats shall have brought England to reason within
the next few months, their further employment wiU
not have the same effect as heretofore. Distress
with us will increase, and the replenishment of our
reserves of men will become more difficult from day
to day. The vital energy of our people wiU be di
minished by further blood-letting; in the interior,
strikes and revolts may occur; a failure in the pro
duction of ammunition may render us defenseless.
The financial burden of the empire will swell to
gigantic proportions; our allies will possibly seek
separate peace; the neutrals may be forced to join
the enemy.

174 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
"To carry out a policy properly one must have
the courage to look facts in the face. A danger
recognized is a danger half surmounted. Just now
the preservation of the dynasty, the maintenance of
the German Empire and the existence of the Ger
man people are all concerned. If our enemies dic
tate peace, the last syllable of Hohenzollern, Prus
sian and German history will have been written.
It must not come to that; and therefore, it is our
duty, if so it must be, to attain a peace of compro
mise. Such a peace would truly be a disappoint
ment; but an indefinite prolongation of the war
might see us, in the spring of 1918, facing the whole
world alone, shorn of our allies, bleeding from the
severe wounds of a three and a half years' war and
threatened with destruction.
" If we conclude an early peace with our eastern
adversary, Russia will Ue open to us as a domain
for economic expansion. If that peace comes too
late, then we come too late, because the Americans
will have gained a firm footing in that vast realm.
But we must also remember that, with an early
peace, we should have financially won the war.
"One thing is certain: if we but maintain our
selves in this war, we shall be the real victors, be
cause we shall have fought the whole world without
being destroyed. This will procure us after the war
an unexampled prestige and an enormous increase
of power. Our position resembles that of Frederick

STRESS AND STORM 175
the Great, prior to the Peace of Hubertsburg. He
stands rightly recorded in history as the victor, be
cause he was not defeated. (Signed) "WILHELM,
Crown Prince of the German Empire and of Prussia."
In March, 1918, roughly three-quarters of a year
after the drafting of my memorial, we concluded a
peace with revolutionary Russia. What a peace!
On the one hand with the dominating demeanor of
the victor who dictatorially imposes his will, — on the
other hand yielding and accommodatingly trustful
in questions that concerned our vitals. Joffe was
permitted to come to Berlin and circulate his rou
bles in Germany for the world revolution. Once
more the old half-and-half methods.
No, so far as I can see, the Government did not
make a sufficiently earnest effort to supplement the
work of the sword with vigorous, prompt and ade
quate political measures.
In quoting the memorials addressed by me, in
December 1915, and in July 1917, to the Kaiser,
the Higher Command and the Imperial Chancellor,
I have demonstrated that, during the war, I repeat
edly and urgently advocated preparing the way for
a peace by compromise. Of course the drafts re
ferred to were only two of the many efforts which
I made in the same direction. It would vastly ex
ceed the limits proposed for these memoirs if I were

176 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
to give chapter and verse for all that I undertook,
subsequent to the Battle of the Marne, for the carry
ing out of my ideas which I never recanted, that the
indefinite prolonging of the war would be intoler
able, both for those at the front and those at home,
as well as the urgent need for a compromise, and
how advantageous (even though it might appear
scarcely beneficial at first) this compromise would
be compared with a similar agreement reached after
complete exhaustion. Besides this from my own
knowledge gained in personal contact with soldiers
and civUians I have made attempts to correct the
erroneous and optimistic notions entertained in cer
tain high quarters concerning the privations of the
people at home, about the power of endurance of
the troops at the front who had been overburdened
during the past year and about many similar ques
tions. To all these questions I may refer later on.
"But," many wUl say, "in public and especially
to the troops, the Crown Prince, more than once,
both by word of mouth and in writing, expressed
and demanded determination to conquer and con
fidence of victory. He wished to prevent certain
German journals, which tended to damp this con
fidence, from reaching the front."
Yes, assuredly I did ! And, in doing so, I fulfilled
my duty as an officer and a soldier, just as I fulfilled
my duty as a politically thinking man and as Crown
Prince of the German Empire and of Prussia when

STRESS AND STORM 177
I endeavored to induce the proper authorities to
face unwelcome facts and to strive for a peace by
compromise. I am of the firm opinion that each of
these apparently so opposite actions was perfectly
justified and that they were, indeed, complementary.
I only regret that, as an adviser without political re
sponsibiUty, I possessed neither the means nor the
power to influence successfully the politically re
sponsible persons, and that I had to look on while
political resolutions and irresolution were, as I be
lieved, determining unhappily the destiny of Ger
many. I referred just now to my suggested prohibition
at the front of various journals which systematically
injured our prospects of winning the war. At that
time the democrats talked with great indignation
about a deliberate gagging of the press and of the
public if the idea were carried out — at that time,
forsooth, when it was essential to preserve for its
sole task the army on which everything depended
and to shield it from any deteriorating or disin
tegrating influences. As a matter of fact, nothing
was done; the evil was permitted to continue its
corrosion. Only with the support of a people determined to
win and convinced of victory could the Government
risk steps to bring about a separate peace — an un
derstanding with one or another of our adversaries.
Every effort in this direction was futile, nay, per-

178 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
nicious and injurious, when we gave the impression
of being unable to continue the war and urgently
needing peace. Useless and senseless, therefore,
were the offers of peace publicly shouted out to
the world — offers which also gave no clear notion
of what we really wanted. These offers — as any
statesmen ought to have foreseen — only served to
strengthen our enemies' hopes of an early coUapse
of our country, to increase their confidence and
their determination to hold on till the "knock-out-
blow" all to our detriment, all to our doom.
For the duration of the war and to carry it to a
fortunate issue, determination to win and confidence
of victory were only to be maintained in people or
army if, at the head of affairs, stood not merely vigor
ous and bold military leaders but likewise an equally
capable Government, which, during the bloody
struggle on land, at sea, in the air, should not for
one second lose control of the numberless threads
of its foreign policy and which should never allow
the slightest favorable movement of events in the
war-fevered world to escape the grasp of its ever-
ready hand — a Government that, with keen fore
sight, yet with wise recognition and consideration of
what was possible, was able to see before it the road
along which it could lead the country as rapidly as
possible to a happy and honorable peace.
* % * if *
The only Government that could be a sure guide
to satisfactory peace was one which, by means of a

STRESS AND STORM 179
wise home policy, had under complete control all the
various elements, classes, members and parties of
the entire people.
That it was particularly difficult to concentrate
into one dynamic entity the variety of opinions,
wishes and impulses of a people so inclined to inter
nal differences and quarrels as the Germans is quite
true. The sense of nationality that, in such countries
as England and France, fused all parties into a single
will for the whole duration of the war, unfortunately
suffered manifest disintegration among us Germans
by reason of the multiplicity of party views which
soon began to be active, and through which the idea
of a party truce was undermined and our vigor of at
tack weakened. Nor was it, by any means, only
among the parties of the left that such sins were com
mitted against the great idea of unselfish patriotism.
By leaving to the war speculator unlimited indepen
dence and unbounded opportunities of profit and by
not organizing properly the industries essential to
the existence of the struggling State, our mistaken
economic policy was responsible for the early reap
pearance of the old social and economic animosities
which soon became very bitter. Moreover, an abso
lutely morbid tendency to a mistaken objectivity
at all cost repeatedly drove a large portion of our
German people, even during the war, into extensive
discussions and to self-examination that bordered
upon mental chastisement. This was done openly
before the whole world, and ultimately made the

180 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
world beUeve that the conscientious amongst us
doubted the justice of our deeds and aims. In Eng
land, all parties had only one principle for every pro
gramme and every action of their Government, the
strong principle of a firmly established nation, the
principle of "right or wrong — my country."
A miserable hero of such mistaken objectivity, a
man in whose heart the bright flame of the greater
idea could never blaze up, was the first war chan
cellor. His Reichstag declaration on August 4,
1914, concerning our advance into Belgium, is the
great and bitter classic example of his incapacity
to understand either the soul of his own people or
the mentality of our adversaries. On that 4th of
August, 1914, before a single shot had been fired over
yonder, we Germans had lost the first great battle in
the eyes of the world.
And blind he remained to all the events and de
velopments around him throughout the long years
of the war during which we had to put up with him.
Thus, he stressed again and again the special
merits, as he called them, of the social-democratic
party in offering to co-operate at the outset of the
war. As though, at that time, the working masses
would not simply have swept away their leaders if
they had dared to express themselves against co
operation ! At that moment, the entire German peo
ple were unanimous in their deep conviction that we
were on the threshold of a war forced upon us, of an

STRESS AND STORM 181
inevitable war from which we could be delivered only
by resolutely and victoriously struggling through to
an assured peace. That many a leader of the ex
treme left never in his heart of hearts desired a com
plete German victory seems to have remained long
hidden from the chancellor's perception. At any
rate, he did nothing to combat their efforts to under
mine the confidence of the masses in the German
cause. General Ludendorff complains bitterly in his war
memoirs that the Government at home did scarcely
anything to keep aUve the "will to victory" in the
German people, or to combat energetically the ten
dency to defaitisme. I, too, could not resist the im
pression that, during the war, the proper authori
ties permitted these tendenices to grow without
adopting any energetic counter measures. Defait
isme, which, regardless of every other consideration,
was rigorously crushed in France, England and Amer
ica, as a principle adverse to the necessities of the
hour and opposed to the interests of the State, was
allowed to run riot with us. Our Government was
powerless to cope with it, yet believed itself able to
sUence and neutralize anti-national conduct by weak
indulgence. Nervelessly they let things take their
course, seemingly disinclined to picture to themselves
the fatal end to which, sooner or later, it all must
lead. Wherever difficulties and impediments arose, re-

182 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
course was had to small remedies, to half-measures,
to extravagant concessions flung down with both
hands or to compliance that was hesitating and be
lated. They made shift with patchwork until no more
patching was possible and everything fell to pieces.
CivU dictators, conscious of their road and with
eyes fixed on victory, like Clemenceau and Lloyd
George, were utterly lacking with us. The longer
the war lasted, the more autocratic and severe be
came the governments of the hostile countries and
the more vacillating and yielding our own. — The
munition workers at home were given fabulous wages
to keep them in a good temper. The only effect was
that their cupidity was enhanced, a higher premium
put upon shirking, the soldier at the front irritated
and deprived of his willingness to fight. Why was
not every caUing of importance to the war made
compulsory? Why were not those levied for work
at home placed in the same category as to wages and
rations as those under the colors? People talk ad
nauseum of the dutiful home warriors ! "War" em
ployer and "war" employee ought both to have been
compassed by the organization of "war" industry.
For the organization of industry at home, the
AuxUiary Service Act (Hilfsdienstgesetz) was ulti
mately adopted. But it was due to the initiative of
the Higher Command, whose business it was not;
and when it came, what a maimed creature it was !
Irresolute and somewhat unfortunate was like-

STRESS AND STORM 183
wise the attitude of the Government towards the
problem of the Prussian suffrage question during the
war. The social democrats, making a slogan of the
idea, conducted vigorous propaganda and — while our
armies were engaged in the severest struggles and
their welfare depended upon the smooth working of
the industrial mechanism at home — even did not
hesitate to throw out threats of a strike.
Two courses were open to the Government. One
was to say that wartime was unsuitable for deal
ing with changes of the constitution, especially as
the best part of the people were then under arms
at the front and consequently unable to co-operate
in the reorganization; but then it would have
had to pull itself together and ruthlessly repress
every agitation aimed in a different direction. The
other course was for the Government to decide
upon a revision of the Suffrage Act, but in that case
it ought not to have hesitated to arrange for a speedy
dissolution of the House of Deputies, and should have
resorted to every possible means to carry out its
purpose. The Government once more adopted the fatal
method of half-measures.
When His Excellency, von Valentini, the chef du
cabinet civil, brought me the so-called "Easter mes
sage" in 1917, I expressed to him my astonishment
at this patchwork, and pointed out to him that such
a decree would satisfy nobody, that, in a short time,

184 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
the Government would be forced to grant direct
suffrage, and it would be better to do it straight
away as a spontaneous act of His Majesty. Val
entini replied: "The direct secret ballot is out of
the question; what is proposed is a plurality vote
similar to the Belgian arrangement." Count von
der Schulenburg, chief of the General Staff of my
army, was present at this conversation. August, 1920.
Since I last had these sheets in my hand, our
parents and we children have suffered a heavy blow:
my brother Joachim, utterly broken down, has
passed out of this Ufe. Immediately on receipt of
the news, I travelled to Doom, in order to be with
my mother in, at any rate, the first and severest
hours of her sorrow. What a deal of suffering des
tiny has heaped upon this poor and sick maternal
heart. At the beginning of the month, my brother Oscar,
who had arrived at Doom just after me, came to
see me here on the island. Eitel Friedrich was also
here; and so, little by little, they are aU making ac
quaintance with the smaU plot of earth on which I
have lived for over 20 months. I can imagine that,
when they happen to have good weather here for
their short stay, the place will not seem- so very
dreadful to them. It was a great pleasure to me to
receive a visit from my old and trusted Maltzahn,

STRESS AND STORM 185
who, when he came to see us at the front, shared
with me many an anxiety concerning our internal
situation. At the end of the month, my wife is to
come here again — this time with all four boys.
In these personal recollections of mine, I feel im
pelled to say a few words about the two men whose
names personify, for the whole German people, their
idea of military leadership, namely Field-Marshal
von Hindenburg and his first quartermaster-gen
eral, General Ludendorff.
It is superfluous to say much here of what our
country owes to these two men. Suffice it to call
to mind the great victories at Tannenberg and at
the Masurian Lakes. At that time, the names of
these two were in everybody's mouth, and both at
home and at the front arose the wish that the lead
ership of the entire German army might be placed
in their hands. We commanders-in-chief shared
fully this general desire to see Hindenburg and
Ludendorff in the most responsible positions, and
we received, with joy and hope, the ultimate de
cision of His Majesty to place them there. Never
have I seen any other two men of such different
character complement one another to form a single
entity as did these two. In aU questions that arose
during their period of co-operation, the weal of the
Fatherland and the happiness and honor of the
army were, for them, the common basis for their
deliberations, their plans and their resolutions.

186 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
If I were to characterize the field-marshal general
as he appeared to me in the years of his zenith,
I would say that the greatest impression was made
by the simple energy and composure of his self-
contained personality. It was a composure that
communicated itself to every one who came into
contact with him, convinced every one that the fate
of the armies was well cared for in that calm, firm
hand, watched over by those earnest and yet ever-
friendly eyes. If he spoke, the effect was height
ened: one was then impressed not merely by the
statuesqueness of his tall, broad-shouldered figure,
but by the depth and timbre of his voice and the
fluency of his measured, thoughtful and deliberate
speech; the conviction was confirmed that the
speaker was absolute master of the situation and
expressed views that could be thoroughly relied on.
This feeling was not confined to the individual ad
dressed, it extended to the masses when the field-
marshal general appeared before them. Further
more, a scarcely definable peculiarity of manner
seemed to efface the dividing-line between his pro
fessional and his human interest in people, problems
and things.
The great and emancipating victories in the East
were soon invested with almost mythical features;
with these as a background, Hindenburg's personal
ity became, for people and army, a symbol of German
victory and of rescue from the exigencies of war.

STRESS AND STORM 187
That unrevealed something, which largely has its
roots in the judgment of the heart and the feeling,
which creates the hero for the multitude and which
never appeared in such men as Falkenhayn or Lu
dendorff, soon fashioned a halo about Hindenburg
and made him the ideal leader in the eyes of the Ger
mans. At home and at the front, I have heard this
confidence, so touching in its primitive simplicity,
expressed over and over again in the words: "Our
old Hindenburg'U manage it"; the utterance was,
as it were, a refuge from the pressure of the time,
and remained so later, when, for us leaders, who had
long since been stripped of our optimism by our
knowledge of the true state of affairs, the only reply
possible was dead silence.
Even more now than during the war, there is a
very wide-spread belief that, as field-marshal gen
eral, Hindenburg played little more than a decora
tive part beside General Ludendorff, who has been
regarded as the real spiritus rector of the Higher
Command. My insight into the admirable rela
tions between these two leaders fully justifies me in
characterizing such a view as mistaken; in no case
could it be said of the era in which the field-marshal
general was in unimpaired enjoyment of his physical
strength and energy. That even a Hindenburg —
who, though in full possession of his mental and
bodily vigor, was nearly sixty-seven years old when
he entered the campaign — could not help feeling

188 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
the effects of his increasing age after three or four
years of excessive work, worry and responsibility
may be safely asserted without fear of detracting
in any way from the imperishable services of this
venerable commander and estimable man. As, in
the course of time, some relief became necessary, the
indefatigable energy of the so much younger friend
and close collaborator took over a portion of the
burden; and their admirable unity remained a strong
and resolute will without any bargaining about the
intellectual share of each. How much aid Hinden
burg received from his comrade became bitterly
evident when the unity was broken by the retire
ment of Ludendorff, and his place was filled by one
whose inadequacy despaired all too soon at the
thought of keeping the leaky ship above water and
bringing it safely to port through all storms and
with its old flag still flying. The character of this
new man was such that he struck the flag with an
indifferent shrug just as coolly as he flung away as
empty "ideas" the things that till then had been
sacred to the German people; the energies of the
same successor exerted in a different direction be
came the strongest shaping forces of the peculiar
development of the events of November in the Great
Headquarters at Spa.
Owing to the nature of my tasks and duties, I
came much more into contact with General Luden
dorff than with the field-marshal general. I can

STRESS AND STORM 189
conscientiously say that I always felt a strong sense
of being in the presence of a personality of steely
energy and keenly sharpened intellect, of a Prussian
leader of the traditional glorious type in the best
sense of the term. In his bright office-room, in which
were focussed the rays from every front of the foe-
girt Fatherland, I have, on countless occasions, dis
cussed with him the questions and problems of the
war and especially the situation of my own troops.
Whereas, on the one hand, in talks with the field-
marshal general, one felt, as I have already hinted,
that his grave and easy speech was the outcome of
the deepest assurance, on the other hand, one seemed,
in conversation with General Ludendorff, to be in
the glittering workshop where only the greatest
mental wrestling succeeded in regaining this assur
ance from day to day by an unceasing struggle with
untold antagonisms, hostile principles, obstacles,
difficulties and shortcomings of every kind.
It has already been stated that this mass of af
fairs brought before him for settlement tasks and
problems which did not properly belong within the
traditional scope of his post. He took them upon
himself because their solution was of the greatest
significance for the military situation and because
without his intervention they would have remained
undealt with. Successful and deserving of thanks as
many of his performances in these domains that lay
outside his own proper sphere certainly appear to

190 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
me, still, I believe I may say, without in any way
giving a wrong impression of his strong personality,
that his essential importance and greatness lay in
the provinces of strategy, tactics and organization.
In these fields and so long as the troops and material
lay intact in his hands, his brilliant mastery of the
whole theory of war, his wealth of ideas and mar
vellously exact intellect solved with astounding cer
tainty miUtary problems of the most difficult char
acter and won for him and for the German arms im
perishable fame. His keen and complete analysis
of a situation, his unfailing conversion of theory into
command and act, his accurate knowledge of the
value of the forces employed, with which he could
reckon as though they were invariable mathematical
quantities — all these things contributed to win for
him the great victories at Tannenberg, Lodz and
the Masurian Lakes. Afterwards, when he had
taken over the gigantic tasks of the Higher Com
mand, they secured him successes in imperishable
strategic significance during the struggle for the
German Line down to the spring of 1918 — successes
whose lustre is perhaps still dimmed by the lack of
ultimate effect and the shadow of the miscarriage in
the final combat, but which the verdict of the future
will unquestionably range with the greatest military
performances of all time.
His great and bold ideas were only impaired when
the units which he fitted into his structure were no

STRESS AND STORM 191
longer capable of satisfying the demands which, ac
cording to tradition, he believed himself justified in
making upon the troops — when the normally ac
cepted fighting value of the units became subject to
the ups and downs, produced by physical and psy
chical influence, and the uncertainty and friability
of the material introduced factors which caused ir
remediable errors in the calculations of the machine.
The successful designer of battles and calculator of
victories, who, ever since he led his first men as a
little lieutenant, had been accustomed to regard the
concepts of discipline, punctuality and fighting
courage as things of iron-like rigidity, the prac
tised strategist, who, ever since he first donned
red-striped trousers as a young officer of the Gen
eral Staff, had combined with the idea of a battery
or a division definite striking values and calculable
effects, now suddenly saw himself compelled to
query all these notions. Enterprises which, assum
ing the reliability of the individual factors, bore ev
ery promise of success, broke down in the execution
because the machine, partly overstrained and partly
rusty, failed to perform its task. The last German
attacks, *. e., from March 21, 1918, down to the de
cisive turning-point of the war — the irruption of the
enemy at the Forest of Villers-Cotterets on July 18
—were, notwithstanding some brilliant initial suc
cesses, nothing but a series of bitter examples of this
fact.

192 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Both as a man and as a soldier, General Luden
dorff suffered severely under these conditions and
bore them with a heavy heart. Like, doubtless,
every other commander, I sympathized with him in
this torture. All of us, who had passed through the
iron school of the grand old army and had breathed
the air of the Military Academy in Konigsplatz, had
been equipped in that famous building with the
firmest confidence in the unflinchingness of the
great army which was the embodiment of the
strength and pride of the German people; and this
palladium we now saw tottering.
For my part, I had, at an early period, been un
able to shut my eyes to these cracks, rents and
flaws; and I dutifully laid my observations and
suggestions before the quartermaster-general. Even
yet, when I recall those conversations, I am filled
with gratitude by the remembrance of the friendli
ness and attention with which General Ludendorff
listened to the views and wishes of one so much
younger than himself, and did all he could to meet
the demands which he recognized as justified.
It is tme that, especially in the later period of our
increasing exhaustion of man-power, food-stuffs and
war material, he was only too often obliged, with a
resigned ultra posse, to decline what he would cer
tainly have gladly conceded had he been able. As
I learned to know him in years of mutual labor for
the same end, General Ludendorff was never a daz-

STRESS AND STORM 193
zler or a thruster. To his upright and stem sol
dierly character it would be as alien to seek the favor
of individuals or to fear their disfavor as it would be
to court the approval or dread the disapproval of
the masses. For his decisions he knew only one cri
terion; that was their practical fitness for the attain
ment of his great aim; and that one aim was to carry
the Central Powers, and especially Germany, out
of the war into a firm peace which would leave us
room and light for our further natural development.
With absolutely passionate devotion and creative
energy, he threw the whole of his abundant per
sonality into the accomplishment of his military
tasks, never seeing in this immense self-sacrifice
anything more than the fulfilment of the obvious
duty owed to the Fatherland by every German,
whether civilian or soldier. This admirable and
robust conception of duty and of faithful perse
verance, coupled with a high estimate of the inher
ent moral worth of the German at the front and
the German at home, inclined him, particularly in
the last periods of the war, to assume and presuppose
such vigor and virtue as a reliable basis for military
operations and for demands upon the homeland,
even when privations and disappointments as well
as disintegrating influences and anti-moral forces
had already enfeebled and corroded the original
soundness. FiUed by the strongest sense of na
tional honor, he found it bitter to have to believe

194 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
in the decay of this vigorous moral stamina of the
German people, when no eye could any longer re
main closed to the painful fact. For a long time he
refused to recognize the reality of the situation, and
wrestled to preserve within himself the proud image
of the German immutably tme to Kaiser and empire.
This high estimation of the masses caused him for a
long time to regard the disintegrating forces as
merely pernicious, exceptional phenomena; it was
also, perhaps, the ultimate reason of his attention
being turned so late to the agitators and their vic
tims — too late, indeed, for any energetic action to
be taken. In regard to the moral fighting value and
physical capacity of the troops, which constituted
the most important factors in calculating the
chances of an early and fortunate conclusion of the
war, our views differed more and more as time went
on and the gap became very wide in the latter half
of the war. Nor would I conceal my opinion that,
in the choice of his immediate co-operators, General
Ludendorff was not always happy, nor always open
to representations as to the incompetency of such
individuals or willing to consider statements which
ran counter to their reports. Severe views of fidel
ity towards painstaking subordinates who gave him
the best assistance of which they were capable in
duced him to leave posts inadequately filled for a
longer time than was consistent with the best in
terests of public affairs.

STRESS AND STORM 195
While anything but an uncritical upholder of
General Ludendorff's views or a mute admirer of all
his acts, I nevertheless account him to be a surpass
ingly great German commander, characterized by
the strongest patriotic energy and faithfulness — a
man who stood at the head of the German army like
a symbol of its traditions and of its conscience.
For his enemies to feature him as a "gambler" and
"hasardeur" is to circulate an untmth. Would to
God we had had, among the political leaders of the
realm, experts of equal capacity, of equally thorough
deliberation and equally conscientious daring; would
to God it had remained possible for each and every
individual to turn to good account all his energies
in the sphere of his own most special calling.
In the chapter on Rome in Count York von
Wartenburg's "Weltgeschichte in Umrissen," which
I have recently been reading, I came across a pas
sage the other day concerning the Battle of Cannse
and steadfastness in defeat which has imprinted it
self upon my memory as particularly applicable to
our own times. Referring to epochs subsequent to
the days of Rome, York speaks of the disgraceful
manner in which the Pmssian people heaped con
tempt and contumely upon the army for having suf
fered defeat at Jena when "it was neither the only
culprit nor even the principal one.' ' Farther he says :
— "If a people wishes to survive victoriously a
Cannae, it must never lose completely its regard for
its leaders and its standard."

196 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
From the bottom of my heart I wish for the
resurrection and the new greatness of our German
Fatherland and its people. But only when the
vast multitude, now blinded by the ranting agita
tion of false prophets, has recovered its vision for
past greatness will it be able to understand and
appreciate the old that was and to labor indomi
tably for the new that is some day to be.

CHAPTER V
PROGRESS OF THE WAR October, 1920.
At the beginning of the month I spent a few days
on the mainland. I had to visit a dentist in Over-
veen named Schaefer. I could never have believed
it possible for any one to enjoy so much the modest
little pleasures which a dentist can provide with all
his smaU instruments of torture. I felt thoroughly
comfortable as I leaned back in his swivel-chair —
rather different sort of furniture from our Wieringen
appointments. The trip was the first interruption
for a long time to the persistent quiet and solitude
of the island; and just at present, when the advance
of autumn is robbing the drab landscape of its last
few charms and the equinoctial gales are beginning
to rage, it helped me to surmount the prospect of
another long, hard and sombre winter in this seclu
sion and in the restricted accommodation of this
little dwelling, so far from my home and my loved
ones. Moreover, in Schaefer's delightful little villa
near Haarlem, we found high-minded, amiable and
well-educated people whose hospitality it was a
pleasure to enjoy. On the way back, we called at
Burgomaster Peereboom's and spent an hour or two
197

198 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
with that old friend, who now lives at Bergen, his
place at Wieringen having been taken by the equally
excellent and ever-helpful Mr. Kolff. This new
Burgomaster and his wife, who is of German origin,
do everything in their power to render my life more
bearable. Among the letters from home which awaited me
on my return, was one from a war comrade. It
spoke of a hundred matters and touched upon the
silly twaddle that is circulating among those who
know more than anybody else in the world about
my activities as commander of the Fifth Arm^ So,
then, I am said to be answerable for the disastrous
retreat ordered by the Higher Command after the
Battle of the Marnq in the year 1914. These exces
sively clever people know that with unerring cer
tainty. Perhaps, therefore, it will not be altogether
out of place if I state what I know of this battle
that formed the turning-point of our destiny — more
particularly, since what has so far been said on the
subject by serious and critical observers tells very
Uttle concerning the events of the Fifth, Sixth and
Seventh Armies.
What I intend to write here is not a description
of the military developments and the operations of
my Fifth Army in those bitter days; for that I have
made other arrangements; I propose here only to
sketch in broad outline the circumstances which, at

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 199
that time, led the German army to desist from its
victorious advance and to start a tragic retreat.
The blame mine? Only mean malice could invent
such an idea, only unbounded stupidity could be
Ueve it !
As commander-in-chief of the Fifth Army, I led
the advance of my army in August, 1914; I saw the
decisions and notices that were issued and was
present at the scanty discussions with the General
Higher Command and with the adjacent armies;
finally, I had the best of opportunities to watch and
study hour by hour the development of affairs dur
ing the Battle of the Marne. My impression is that
it was an unfortunate combination of many circum
stances that led to this pernicious result. Besides
the unquestionable incompetence and the consequent
moral and physical collapse of General von Moltke,
there was the unfortunate and rapidly discouraged
leadership of the Second Army by General von
Biilow, and the absolutely disastrous activity of an
officer of the Headquarters Staff, who, oppressed by
a sense of responsibility and personal pessimism,
assumed a verbal order given to meet a particular
emergency, as conferring full powers upon him, and
so occasioned a retreat of the two victorious armies
on the wings before a decision had been reached.
Whenever I think of the senseless and incompre
hensible flinging away of the successes gained at
that time, whenever aU the horror of that insensate

200 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
folly comes before me, I see the tragic figure of a
man who ought to have led, but who was no leader,
and who broke down when the rising pressure of
events broke down the traditional scheme: that fig
ure is the figure of Lieutenant-General von Moltke.
I knew the general well, I sincerely revered him as a
man, and I feel deeply the tragedy of a fate which,
in its purely human features, seems to me to have a
certain intrinsic resemblance to the fate of the un
fortunate Austrian, Benedik. General Moltke was
a thoroughly high-minded man and a devoted friend
of my father's. When, on the urgent recommenda
tion of his most intimate advisers, the Kaiser, in
1906, called him to the chief position in the General
Staff, von Moltke earnestly begged His Majesty to
excuse him as he did not feel competent to fill the
post. When, however, the Kaiser insisted upon his
decision, the Prussian officer obeyed. He subse
quently endeavored, with inexhaustible diligence,
to master the enormous detail of the work of the
General Staff. There was something shy in his
character; he seemed occasionally to have but little
confidence in himself, and so he soon became totally
dependent upon his collaborators. The great per
sonal amiability and ardent human cordiality which
he possessed made it difficult for him to gain that
authority which is so essential to the chief of a Gen
eral Staff. During my service with that staff, it
was mentioned to me as typical that even the quar-

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 201
termasters-general used to report to the old and in
exorable Schlieffen with a certain feeling of nervous
ness, whereas everybody Uked appearing before
General von Moltke.
General von Moltke was never a robust man.
When the war broke out, he had just completed two
drastic cures at Carlsbad. He entered the war as a
sick man. The direction of the various armies by
the chief of the general staff was a very loose one.
His headquarters in Luxembourg were much too far
removed from the scene of battle; and, at such a
distance, he could not follow events with the neces
sary accuracy — could not supervise them with the
necessary clearness; possibly, too, the eye for the
essential and the requisite rapidity of resolve failed
him at the cmcial moments of the battle. In any
case, the great imperfections of communication at
that time gave rise to difficulties, so that there was
occasionally a complete lack of connection with the
advancing army. This destroyed the unity of lead
ership; ultimately, the armies, when they had once
started their advance and knew their road, waged
war more or less independently, each communicating
with its neighbor as occasion required. Immediately
after the Battle of Longwy, I was called to the Great
Headquarters in Luxembourg. I took the oppor
tunity of talking quite unequivocally with Moltke's
right-hand man, Lieutenant-Colonel Tappen, con
cerning the loose control of the armies by the Higher

202 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Command, and I demanded the appointment of per
manent liaison officers between the General Higher
Command and the Higher Command of each army.
The proposal was smilingly shelved with the remark
that no change was necessary as everything was
working excellently as it was.
When the situation of the First and Second Armies
became acute, the chief of the general staff sent
Lieutenant-Colonel Hentsch as intelligence officer of
the General Higher Command on a tour of inspection
to the Higher Command in each army. As General
von Kuhl once told me, the decision as to the course
the battle was to take was laid in his hands.
At the beginning of his tour, Hentsch appeared
first at Varennes in the Higher Command of the
Fifth Army on the afternoon of September 8. He
gave us a sketch of the entire situation as far as it
was known in Luxembourg. For a cool and impar
tial judge, these details constituted anything but
an unsatisfactory picture, although truly it was
clear that the hitherto rapid and victorious advance
had come to a standstill. On leaving us, Hentsch
proceeded along the whole front to obtain a per
sonal opinion concerning the Fourth, Third, Second
and First Armies. Here began the unfortunate in
fluences at which I have already hinted. Quite pos
sibly, Hentsch really did receive some very bad im
pressions, especially from the Higher Command of
the Second Army; maybe his nerves gave way; at
any rate, instead of encouraging the Higher Com-

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 203
mand of the Second Army to unflinching resistance,
he agreed to their retreating. The description which
he gave of the dissolution of the Second Army and
the use made of his supposed authority to order the
retreat of the armies ultimately induced the First
Army to fall back upon Soissons, though it did so
with great reluctance and only because it had itself
lost direct touch with the Second Army.
In these critical days of Hentsch activity, my
Higher Command attacked without success along
the line Vavincourt — Rembercourt — Beauzee and
St. Andre, and prepared a night attack for Septem
ber 10, whose object was to procure us more free
dom of action, since we were closely confined be
tween Verdun and the trackless Argonne region.
The General Higher Command, which had mani
festly been more and more disquieted by Hentsch' s
reports, at first disapproved of this plan for a night
attack, in which the Thirteenth Army Corps (with
the Twelfth Cavalry Division) and the Sixteenth
Army Corps were to participate; however, after re
peated representations had been made, permission
was finally given.
The attempt was therefore promptly undertaken
and succeeded brilliantly. The army gained the
line Louppy le Petit to the east of the Rembercourt
heights, and the northeast of Courcelles-Souilly;
Sarrail's army giving way to the extent of about 20
kilometres. On this 10th of September, Lieutenant-Colonel

204 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Hentsch returned via Varennes from his tour.
Since he had first visited us, his view of the general
situation had become pronouncedly pessimistic. He
expressed himself hopeless as to the condition of the
right wing, and demanded from me the immediate
withdrawal of the Fifth Army. From his description,
the First and Second Armies were now only fleeing
remnants; the Third Army was maintaining itself
with difficulty; the Fourth was in passable order.
I told Lieutenant-Colonel Hentsch that an im
mediate retreat of the Fifth Army was out of the
question, since neither the general situation nor the
position of the army imperatively called for it;
further, that before the idea could be even enter
tained, the removal of all my wounded from the ter
ritory just gained would have to be assured. As
Hentsch, despite these objections, became importu
nate, I asked him for his written authorization. He
could produce none; and I thereupon informed him
that we were not in a position to comply with his
wishes. With the retreat from the Marne, Schlieffen's
great plan was frustrated. It was based on the
rapid subjection of France. I shall never forget
the terrible impression made upon me on Septem
ber 11 by the sudden appearance in my Varennes
and Argonne Headquarters of General von Moltke,
accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel Tappen. The
general was completely broken down, and was liter-

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 205
ally struggling to repress his tears. According to his
impressions, the entire German army had been de
feated and was being rapidly and unceasingly rolled
back. He explained that he did not yet know where
this retreat could be brought to a standstill. How
he had formed such a senseless conception was for
us, at that time, beyond comprehension.
He was astonished at the calm and confident view
of the situation taken by the Higher Command of
the Fifth Army. But he was not to be converted
to a more optimistic opinion, and he demanded —
as Hentsch had done the day before — the instant
withdrawal of my army. As no imperative reasons
for such a hasty step were even now perceptible, a
Uvely controversy ensued which ended in my de
claring that so long as I was commander-in-chief of
my army, I bore the responsibility for that army
and that I could not agree to an immediate with
drawal on account of the necessary removal and
proper transport of my wounded. With tears in
his eyes, General von Moltke left us. From a hu
man standpoint I felt the deepest sympathy with
the utterly cmshed man, but, as a soldier and leader,
I was unable to understand such a physical break
down. During the afternoon of September 11, Colonel
von Dommes brought me the further instmctions of
the General Higher Command. My army was to
fall back to the district east of St. Menehould.

206 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
The colonel suggested retaining the southern edge
of the Forest of Argonne. The Higher Command
of the Fifth Army decided, however, to go as far
back northward as the line Apremont — Bauluy —
Montfaucon — Gercourt, since it did not appear ad
visable to remain ahead of the army (already re
treating in compliance with the orders of the Gen
eral Higher Command), especially as the liberated
enemy forces were now in a position to advance
from Verdun in any desired direction and thus
threaten, not only the communications of the
Fifth Army, but also those of the entire western
army. Only after the removal of all its wounded did the
Fifth Army withdraw. The retreat was carried out
in perfect order from the 12th to the 15th of Sep
tember and the new positions were taken up with
a strong sense of superiority. There was no moles
tation on the part of the enemy; Sarrail did not
dare to attack us; and if he had, it would have been
a bad thing for him. From the heights just to the
north of Varennes, I watched the rear of the Thir
teenth and Sixteenth Corps leave their trenches, and
I can assert that, save for some cavalry patrols, no
enemy forces followed our troops anywhere.
In the course of the war I had the opportunity of
talking over, with hundreds of officers of all grades,
and with hundreds of the rank and file, the fatal
incidents of the First Battle of the Marne. What I

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 207
heard was always the same: we had completely re
pulsed the French counter-attacks and had success
fully reattacked ourselves, when the incomprehen
sible orders to retreat arrived.
My brother Eitel Fritz commanded at that time
the First Regiment of Guards. Later on, he de
scribed the day to me with honest wrath. "We
were in full assault upon the French position," he
said, "after having repulsed various French counter
attacks. Our men were, it is tme, very fatigued;
but they advanced courageously and determinedly.
Everywhere the French were to be seen in full flight.
We had victory in our hands, when suddenly an
orderly officer appeared with that damned order to
stop the attack at once and start the march back."
He told me that it was the most agonizing experience
of his life to have to go back with his brave men over
the road that they had won with such severe strug
gle, and to see the wounded who were now certain
to fall into captivity. Our famous grenadiers re
fused to believe it all and kept on asking: "Why
must we fall back? We have beaten the French!"
And they were right. The German army was
not defeated at the Mame; it was withdrawn by its
leaders. The battle was lost because the Highest
Command gave it up as lost; in spite of the numerical
superiority of the enemy — in the ratio of two to
one — that Highest Command might have led its
armies to victory, if it had clearly perceived the

208 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
situation and had acted adequately and resolutely.
It is not post factum wisdom, but the expression
of a view borne in upon me at the time, when I say
that, by a vigorous condensation of our right wing
for united action and by strengthening it with easily
possible reinforcements from the left wing, a dis
persal of the threatening danger might have been
achieved without any serious difficulty.
General von Moltke I saw only once afterwards.
It was in the headquarters at Charleville. He had
already been removed from his command; I found
him aged by years; he was poring over the maps in
a little room of the prefecture — a bent and broken
man. The sight was most touching; words seemed
impossible and out of place; a pressure of the hand
said all that I could say.
I was told later, on credible authority, that the
unfortunate man sank into a morbid search after
the reasons for his ill fate, that he tried to dis
cover exonerations and justifications for his failure
and lost himself in all manner of unfruitful mysti
cism. In the end he died at Berlin of a broken heart.
With him passed away a real Prussian officer and a
high-minded nobleman. That he was faced with
a task which exceeded his capacity, that, with a
mistaken sense of duty, he undertook it against his
will and conscious of his own inadequacy, proved
fatal to him and to us.

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 209
End of October, 1920.
In this second half of this month, I have been
over to the mainland again. It was on the 22d,
the anniversary of my mother's birthday. — They
were quiet, sad days in Doom; for it cannot escape
the eye of any one who loves her that my mother's
strength is waning, that sorrow is eating her up.
The wound made in her maternal heart by the death
of my brother Joachim has never healed; he was the
weakest of us boys and claimed a greater share of
her motherly care.
On the birthday itself, she had to keep her bed.
I could only sit beside her, hold her small hand in
mine and talk to her. I told her a number of amus
ing and harmless little anecdotes concerning my
island household; and it was a pleasure to see a
faint smile light up her kind features every now and
then; but it was only a short flicker of sunshine, that
was gone again almost instantly. And when she is
up and walks through the rooms and her tired eyes
wander caressingly over all the old furniture and
mementos of her Berlin and Potsdam days, it is as
though she were bidding them all a silent farewell.
My uncle, Prince Henry, was also at Doom, and
came over to Wieringen for a day on his way back.
Muldner is to make another trip home in Novem
ber to hear and see how things stand. These jour
neys of his make me feel like Father Noah "who
sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters

210 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
were abated from off the face of the ground." When
will he return with the olive branch?
Our old friend, the ever faithful and helpful Jena,
is to take his place while he is gone, and to keep
me and my two dogs and my cat company.
A few weeks ago, I endeavored, in these sheets, to
refute the silly twaddle which connects my name
with our failure at the Battle of the Mame. I
should like now to dissipate a second fable.
1 Among the many untruths disseminated about
I me by spite or stupidity, is the assertion that I am
) answerable for the losses at Verdun and the ultimate
i failure there. The persistence with which this
legend crops up again and again makes an explana
tion of the facts necessary.
The order to attack Verdun naturally did not
proceed from me; it originated in a decision of the
General Higher Command. The intention and the
G. H. C.'s reasons for the enterprise find expression
in a report to the Kaiser by General von Falken-
hayn, as head of the commander-in-chief's General
Staff, at Christmas, 1915. This report contains the
following passage: — "Behind the French section of
the western front, there are, within range, objects
for whose retention the French are compelled to risk
their last man. If they do so, the French forces,
since there is no option, will be bled white, whether
we reach our objective or not. If the French do

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 211
not risk everything, and the objective falls into our
hands, the moral effects upon France will be enor
mous. For this local operation, Germany will not )
be forced to expose seriously her other fronts. She j
can confidently face the divertive attacks to be ex
pected at other points, nay, she may hope to spare
troops enough to meet them with counter-attacks."
Soon afterwards, the General Higher Command j
issued orders for the advance on Verdun. The-jJ
G. H. C. was unquestionably influenced by our nu- !
merical inferiority and the wish to anticipate an
expected attack by the enemy with unenfeebled ;
forces at some spot unsuitable to ourselves. British 1
organization had by this time become effective; the
French had been relieved. In the spring of 1916, i
the enemy troops in the west outnumbered our own i
by more than a million; according to General von
Falkenhayn's own figures, the Germans totalled
2,350,000 against 3,470,000 of the Entente, and we '
were also vastly out-munitioned.
In judging of the plan, the Higher Command of
the Fifth Army took the view that both sides of the
Meuse must be attacked simultaneously and with <
strong forces. Such a proceeding was vetoed by I
the General Higher Command. The attack on the
east bank only was carried out under the direct in
structions of the G. H. C; and it would probably
have succeeded but for the intervention of un
toward circumstances.

212 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
The preparations for the attack had quite escaped
the notice of the French. The concentration of the
artillery had not been interfered with in any way;
the attacking infantry had suffered scarcely any
Josses in the initial assault. Everything had been
brilliantly prepared. Then, on the eve of the day
originally selected for the attack, storms of rain
and snow set in which prevented every possibility
of the artillery seeing their objective. From day
to day the attack had to be postponed, so that it
actually took place 10 days later than originaUy
arranged. The Higher Command of the Fifth
Army passed an agonizing time; for, as things
stood, every hour lost meant a diminution of our
prospects of speedy success. As a matter of fact,
in that period of waiting, our purpose was betrayed
by two miserable rascals of the Landwehr who de-
1 serted to the French.
Nevertheless, it was no longer possible for our
enemies to carry out their counter-measures quickly
enough. The attack began on February 21, 1916;
and the huge successes of the first three days are
well known. The infantry of the Third, Eighteenth,
and Seventh Reserve Corps performed marvels of
i courage. The taking of Fort Douaumont crowned
' everything. Indeed, we should, after all, have suc
ceeded in mshing the entire east front of Verdun,
if the reserves promised us had arrived on time.
Why they failed to do so is not within my knowl
edge.

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 213
I was told by Captain von Brandis, who stormed
Fort Douaumont, that, on the fourth day, he had
observed a complete absence of Frenchmen in the
whole district of Douaumont — Sonville — Tavannes.
But our own troops had exhausted their strength;
the weather was horrible, and rations could not
everywhere be brought up as needed. That it
would have been quite possible to take the entire \
east front of Verdun by at once continuing the
attack is clear from the fact that the local lead
ers of the French had already ordered the evacua
tion. Only later was this order countermanded by
General Joffre. But, from the statements and de
scriptions which I have recently seen in a report by
a French officer who fought at Verdun, it is evident
that, on the third day, the defense of the east front
there was actually broken. Moreover, the great-
danger of the position for the French on February
24 has been described by General Mangin in the ;
Revue des Deux Mondes.
The fatigue of our troops after a huge military
performance and the lack of reserves despoiled us of
the prize of victory. I bring no accusation ; I merely
record the fact.
From that day onward, surprises were no longer
possible; and the early, impetuous advances by
storm gave place to a gigantic wrestle and stmggle
for every foot of ground. Within a few weeks, L
perceived clearly that it would not be feasible to

214 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
break through the stubborn defense, and that our
own losses would ultimately be quite out of propor
tion to the gains. Consequently, I soon did every
thing in my power to stop the attacks; and I re
peatedly gave expression to my views and the de
ductions to be drawn from them. In this matter I
stood somewhat opposed to my then chief of staff,
General Schmidt von Knobelsdorf, and my rep
resentations were at first put aside; the orders ran
A' continue to attack." That, in consideration of the
high moral values attaching to the continuance of
the enterprise, a contrary opinion would have had to
overcome enormous opposition, and that the G. H.
Command was bound to look at the stmggle for
Verdun from a different standpoint than that of the
Higher Command of the Fifth Army, must be un
conditionally conceded. Still, even looked at from
that superior standpoint, I believe my suggestions
to have been correct.
When, later on, the situation became so acute
1 that, in view of the futility of the sacrifices, I felt
unable to sanction the continuation of the attack,
I reported personally to the Kaiser and made written
representations to the G. H. Command; whereupon
the Kaiser adopted my view and granted the de
sired cessation of the attack. After the resigna
tion, on August 29, of General Falkenhayn, the head
of the commander-in-chief's General Staff and of
the Operation Department, the orders to cease at-

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 215
tacking were issued by Field-Marshal General von
Hindenburg on September 2, 1916, together with in
stmctions to convert into a permanent position the
lines that had been reached.
Regrettable as the final result may be, it should
not be forgotten that, although the attack on Ver
dun cost us very heavy losses, the French suffered
even more than we did. About seventy-five French
divisions were battered to pieces in the devil's caul
dron of Verdun. Hence, the force of the French
shock at the Somme was very greatly diminished by
Verdun; and it is impossible to say what the effects
of the Somme advance might have been had not the
Battle of Verdun reduced and weakened the re
sources of France in men and in material.
I feel that I cannot close my remarks concerning
my attitude towards the stmggle for Verdun with
out a reference to the cowardly and slanderous con
tumely cast upon me during the past two years by
those German newspapers which prefer to make
use of a cheap slogan rather than allow tmth to
prevaU. Just during the last few days, I have read it once
more: "The Crown Prince, the laughing murderer
of Verdun."
Gall and wormwood in the little light left me on
this island, which, for three hundred out of the
three hundred and sixty-five days of the year, is
wrapt in fog and storm.

216 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
"The laughing murderer of Verdun!" So that's
what I am, is it? One might almost come to be
lieve it tme, after hearing the calumny so often. It
cuts me to the quick, because it concerns what I
had saved as my last imperishable possession out
of the war and out of the collapse. It touches the
unsoiled reminiscences of my relations to the troops
intrusted to me; it touches the conviction that
those men and I understood and tmsted each other,
that we had a right to believe in one another, be
cause each had given his best and done his best.
What was to be told of Verdun and my part in
the contest for the fortress I have already told. It
remains for me to say something about my relations
to the troops and about my laughter.
It goes rather against the grain to say much
concerning the former point. I will only mention
that, in the untold fights which took place, I had
grown as fond of my brave and sturdy troops as
though they were my own children; and I did every
thing in my power to ensure them recreation, quiet,
rations, care and rewards in so far as these were at
all possible in the hard circumstances of the war.
Whenever feasible — that is, whenever my duties
permitted me to leave the Higher Command of my
group for any length of time — I joined my fighting
troops in the fire-zone to see with my own eyes how
things stood; and, wherever it could be managed, I
personally saw that something was done to relieve
their hardships.

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 217
In the Argonne it was the same as at Verdun or
in the chalk-pits of Champagne; and, among the
many hundreds of thousands who came under my
command in the course of the terrible war, there
can be very few indeed who did not see me in their
sector. Therefore, I can dispense with many words,
and boldly call upon all my brave officers, non
commissioned officers, and men of the old Fifth
Army and my Army Group to testify to my rela
tions with them. The knowledge that they repaid
my love with incomparable soldierly qualities,
with fidelity and with courage, that they were per
sonally attached to me, is for me to-day a source of
happiness that has remained to me out of the past,
and that no thoughtless agitator shall destroy with
his mendacious attacks.
"The Crown Prince, the laughing murderer of
Verdun!" So then, now for my laughter! Yea,
truly, I was wont to laugh in my young years. I
was never a moper or a stay-at-home. I was fond
of laughter; for I found life joyous and bountiful,
and laughter was for me, as it were, an expression
of gratitude to destiny for letting me rejoice in my
strength with freshness, health and faith.
Even in the war, despite all its bitter trials, I
never completely lost my capacity for laughter.
Every one who went through it like a man must
have experienced, in just the most terrible periods,
the desire to be rid of all that unheard-of horror, of

218 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
all that death and destmction, must have felt an
almost greedy impulse towards every sensation and
every assuring expression of this life that hangs
between the present and the undoubtedly better
hereafter. Thus, at that time also, I made no his
trionic mask of my face for the benefit of the re
cording public, but showed myself as I was.
That, even at the time, at home and perhaps be
hind the lines, my laughter aroused censure here
and there I know perfectly well. "The Crown
Prince," people said, "always looks happy; he does
not take things very seriously."
Oh, you dear, kind, captious critics, what did you
know about it? If I had troubled half as much
about you then as you did about me, my laughter
would doubtless have vanished. But I troubled
myself only about one thing — about the men in
trusted to me, the men who were bearing the bmnt
of things. And if those old warriors of mine, who
were then the care of my heart and whom I look
back to stUl in love and comrade-like attachment,
if they had objected to my laughter, then I would
admit you people to be right ! But they understood
and thanked me. For their sakes I really did laugh
and smile, even when I felt in anything but a laugh
ing mood.
Pictures of those bitter days rise before me.
I recall a review of the recmits. Last year's
batch of young fellows have just completed their

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 219
training and are to leave for the front. Six hun
dred dear, bright German lads, scarcely out of their
boyhood, stand there. They are really still much
too young for the difficult task. Their bright
eyes are turned expectantly and feverishly upon me;
what wiU the Crown Prince say to them? I feel a
lump in my throat, and my eyes are inclined to get
dim; for I had seen only too many go and too few
return, and these are scarcely more than children !
Dare I let these lads see what is passing within me ?
No! — I pull myself together and smUe; then I say
to them: "Comrades, think of our homeland; it
must be; it is hard for me to let you go, but you will
accompUsh your task. Show yourselves worthy of
the comrades at the front. God bless you !" And
they cheer and start confidently on their way.
A big battle is in progress. Serious reports are
arriving from the front; the enemy have penetrated
into our lines at a dangerous spot. I am sitting in
the room of my chief of staff with the map before
me and the telephone at my side. We have brought
up the reserves; the artUlery and the fliers are in ac
tion ; and we await reports. The telephone rings, and
I snatch up the receiver. Report from Army Higher
Command: "The breach has widened, but we hope
to halt in lines A to B." The weightiest cares press
upon the chief of staff and the commander-in-chief.
There are no more reserves at our disposal; the last
man and the last machine-gun have been sent in.

220 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Now the soldiers must do it by themselves. Will it
succeed ?
I walk out to step into my car and motor to the
neighborhood of the attack. Hundreds of soldiers
fill the road; their inquiring eyes are bent anxiously
upon me. The difficulties of the situation up at the
front have got about; it looks very much like a dis
position to panic here. I get up and call out to
them: — "Boys, there is heavy fighting going on,
but we shall manage it, we must manage it, and you
must help me!" I smile at them. They doubt
less say to one another: "It's a tough job, and it
may cost us a lot. But he trusts to us, and he
keeps a good heart himself; it'll be all right."
And, in place of the ominous silence that met me
when I came out, loud cheers of encouragement
follow me as I drive off.
Another picture. It is after the severe stmggle on
the Chemin des Dames. I drive to a regiment that
has just returned from the fighting to recuperate for
a few days on the Bove Ridge. The men have quar
tered themselves in shell-holes and in old French
dugouts. I talk with many of them; they are ut
terly fatigued. In one of the shell-holes a party
of corporals are playing the card-game of skat.
I sit down with them and add three marks to the
pool. Their tongues are loosed. They are all
thoroughbred Berliners. Most of them know me.
At first they grumble at the length of the war, but

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 221
they add: "Well, we'll set the kid on its toddlers."
Soon I have to leave for other troops. An old chap
stands up — a man of quite forty-five — and holds
out his homy hand to me, saying: — "You're our
ole Willem, and we shan't forget your comin' to
see us 'ere; when we goes back to the front, we'll
think o' you, and you shan't 'ave no cause to com
plain o' us." A thunder of hurrahs echoed over the
blood-soaked Chemin des Dames.
So much for my laughter then; and I can only
confess: I can laugh still. In spite of all the blows
of fate, in spite of all vexations, reverses and lone
liness, I stiU often feel it welling up in me; and I
thank God that He has left me that ! I felt it only
yesterday while playing with the fisher chUdren over
there in Den Oever; and I felt it the other day while
talking with the smith's man. December, 1920.
Muldner has come back.
How does the passage about Noah run in the
Bible? "But the dove found no rest for the sole
of her foot, and she returned unto him into the
ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole
earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her,
and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
"And he stayed yet another seven days."
So there is nothing for it but to take one's heart
in both hands and to enter the third winter on the
island.

222 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
One great delight I have had: a visit ! My little
sister has been with me for a few days on her way
home from Doom. Any one who could know what
we have been to one another from childhood (the
"big brother" of the little sister and vice versd)
would understand and appreciate how much this
reunion after such a long time meant to us two.
Scarcely was the little Duchess gone, when the
storms burst across the sea — wild and ceaseless by
day and by night. They almost carried away the
roof of the parsonage from over our heads. Winter
has mshed upon us this time in a big attack — with
a sudden fall of the temperature, with snow blizzards
and hard frosts and masses of ice in the Zuyder Zee.
It is worse than even the first bitter winter that we
spent here two years ago.
A biting northeaster and driving ice in the sea
make communication with the mainland almost im
possible. Added to this is a breakdown of the tele
phone, so that we are quite cut off from the world.
And the latest news from the sick-bed of my
mother was so very grave that the worst is to be
feared. When I think of it, there comes to me as
it were a prayer: "Not now — not in days like these."
By three o'clock, or, at the latest, by four, it is
night. Then I seat myself beside the little iron
stove with the paraffin lamp and my books and
papers before me.
When my eyes wander over the book-shelves, I

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 223
think to myself: "What a lot you have read and
ploughed through in the past two years ! More than
in all the thirty-six that preceded them."
During the war, the Higher Command of my
Fifth Army and my Army Group often received
visitors from the homeland and from neutral coun
tries. Of these visits I propose to say something
here. The German federal Princes frequently came to
see their troops, and I was able thoroughly to dis
cuss, with some of them, the whole situation and
the position of affairs at home; often enough their
warnings were directed towards trying to find some
possible opportunity for an arrangement with the
enemy, a view which I heartily shared. It is to be
regretted that the German federal Princes were not
oftener heard by the Imperial Government; many of
them clearly foresaw the catastrophe. The federal
character of the German Realm (so carefully guarded
by Bismarck) was only too often relegated to the
background during the last fifteen years of the em
pire by reason of the excessive centralization at
Berlin. People overlooked the fact that it was just
the more local and tribal pride of the different states
which best helped to cement them together into a
realm. Of the prominent personages who visited me from
allied and from friendly states I should like to men
tion Enver Pasha, Crown Prince Boris of Bulgaria,

224 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Count Tisza, Kaiser Karl and Sven Hedin. Count
Ottokar Czemin was with me twice. We had some
exhaustive political talks; and I received the im
pression that the Count was a high-minded, upright
and clever statesman who surveyed the actual situa
tion clearly and wished to reckon with facts. In
the summer of 1917, he came to see me at Charle-
ville; we discussed thoroughly the highly critical
condition of things, and he was of the opinion that
the Dual Monarchy was on the point of exhaustion,
that it only kept itself going by means of stimulants
and that we, also, had passed the zenith of our mUi
tary power. He foresaw the coming collapse and
wished to prevent it by comprehensive and tangible
concessions to the enemy. A peace by agreement
on the basis of surrender and sacrifices on the part
of the Central Powers was his object; and his re
marks disclose a certain conviction that this aim
might be achieved provided the necessary steps were
taken. We ought to relinquish Alsace-Lorraine and
to find compensation in the east, where an annexa
tion of Poland and Galicia to Germany should be
worked for. Austria, on her part, was prepared,
not merely to relinquish Galicia, but also to cede
the Trentino to Italy. Knowing only too well the
difficulties of our position, I could not turn a deaf
ear to his suggestions; but I pointed out to him that
any such proposals as those he was now putting
forward were bound to meet with strong opposition

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 225
in Germany. People at home saw our victorious
armies standing well advanced into enemy territory;
the majority believed thoroughly in our chances of
success; they would not be amenable to the idea of
giving up old Imperial territory just to get peace,
just to keep the defense unbroken. Notwithstand
ing my recognition of these difficulties and my utter
scepticism concerning the Poland compensation idea,
I carefully weighed the sacrifice required from us by
Czernin's scheme against the incalculable disaster
into which I believed we should glide if the war
were continued; and I told the Count that I would
do all in my power to support his views, especially
with the leaders of the army. The steps thereupon
taken by Count Czernin himself failed. The Im
perial Government seemed to consider the sacrifice
expected from us to be too great. Unless I am mis
taken, Bethmann HoUweg appeared particularly
scared by the problem: "How am I to acquaint the
Reichstag and the people with the truth?" Still
less receptive to the Count's proposals was the Gen.
Upper Command; as General Ludendorff explained,
they regarded it as incomprehensible, with the
armies unbeaten, that we should talk of giving up
ancient German territory which had been so long
under foreign domination and had been regained
with German blood. I give due honor to all the
arguments put forward by General Ludendorff in
defense of his standpoint: they are to be found in

226 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
his memoirs, and proceeded from the optimistic
heart of a fine soldier, not from the mind of a cool
and judicial statesman. On my side, I endeavored
to see the problem in its simplest form, namely:
"Prestige in the French portions of Alsace or the
existence of the realm?" Hence, I advocated an
attempt on the lines suggested by Czernin. But
my sole success was that I was said to have "got
limp" and to have gone over to the political "bears."
Dutch, Swedish, Spanish and, at the outset,
American miUtary missions were frequently our
guests. Among them, there was many an excellent
and sympathetic officer.
Several times, too, German parliamentarians found
their way to me. There came, for instance, von
Heydebrand, Oldenburg- Januschau, Kampf, Schulze-
Bromberg, Trimborn, Fischbeck, David, Hermann
Muller. With the Majority Socialist, David, I had
a long and interesting talk in the summer of 1917.
Although our views, naturally, were anything but
identical, we found many points of agreement. On
my inquiring as to the next demands on his party
programme, he stressed the necessity for an Act to
Aid the Unemployed. In reply to my objection
that it would be very difficult to determine, in every
case, whether the unemployment were really un
deserved, he assured me that a very rigorous check
would be exercised so as to exclude all possibility
of abuse. When I read nowadays of the enormous

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 227
sums expended by the realm and by the munici
palities in assisting the unemployed, my mind occa
sionally reverts to that talk with "Comrade" David:
have David and the other fathers of the Act really
succeeded in carrying into practice their theory of
a check to exclude all abuse ? I could wish it, but
I am inclined to doubt it.
After David had left me, I received an account of
a little incident that happened to him during his
journey through the war zone, an incident which
reveals him as a very admirable man. In a small
place were posted some Landwehr men and some
columns consisting mostly of elder men who had
ceased to care much for the war. They recognized
David and explained to him that they wanted to
go home — wanted to fight no more. Thereupon,
the Social Democrat David made them a vigorous
speech, in which he told them that every one had
to do his duty, that striking in the face of the enemy
was quite out of the question. The speech did not
miss its mark.
In July, 1918, I conversed with Herr von Heyde-
brand about our situation and our war aims; and I
was touched by the optimism with which he regarded
the future even at that time. He was quite dis
mayed when I disclosed to him the naked tmth,
when I told him that, for a long time, we had been
conducting a war of desperation on the west front,
conducting it with fatigued and exhausted troops

228 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
agamst vastly superior forces. ' On my giving him
accurate figures and other evidence in proof of my
assertions and explaining to him our bitterly griev
ous position in regard to reserves, he appeared
scarcely able to grasp the hard actuality unfolded
before his eyes. Afterwards my chief of staff con
firmed for him what I had said and furnished him
with further particulars. — Herr von Heydebrand then
told me that, from what he had now learned he must
recognize that, hitherto, he had cherished a totally
false view of our situation; he and his party had been
utterly misinformed in Berlin.
The over-rosy official view also explains the other
wise inexplicable and frequently exaggerated aims
of the pan-Germans who have been so decried on
account of their mistaken demands. Like many
others, they really knew nothing of the actual situa
tion. They wanted to point the people to some
tangible war aims. France was fighting for Alsace-
Lorraine, England for the domination of the seas
and for her trade monopoly, Russia for Constanti
nople and for ice-free access to the ocean, Italy for
the "unredeemed provinces." What was Germany
fighting for ? To this the pan-German party wished
to give the answer; and the simple tmth "for her
life, for her unscathed existence, for her unob
structed development" did not sound strong enough.
And yet of all war slogans it was the only firm,
strong and worthy one.

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 229
Out of a land of dreams millions of Germans were
suddenly dragged into pitiless and harsh reality
by the unfortunate events of the year 1918. It
affords imperishable testimony to the fatal effects
of artificially cultivating an iU-founded optimism,
effects especially fatal when, in war time, the judg
ment on the general situation is too favorable. Nay,
I maintain that the coUapse of Germany would
never have developed into such a terrible catas
trophe, if the severe reverses at the front, which they
considered utterly impossible, had not torn the peo
ple out of all the illusions anxiously fostered by offi
cial personages. They had universally believed
everything to be highly favorable and prosperous;
and now, all of a sudden, they had to see that they
had been duped by misleading propaganda. So ef
fectually had this thoughtless, vague optimism been
instilled into their minds that, even in times of the
greatest excitement, tired people took refuge in it
and very few had the energy or self-reliant cour
age to picture to themselves the results of a possible
defeat. And, yet, it was just such as these few
who drew from their inner conflicts with final bitter
possibilities a stronger power of resistance, since
they learned thereby that every supremest effort
was essential for stmggle and victory, that defeat
meant destmction.
The lack of uprightness and tmthfulness which
arose from loose thinking and which had become

230 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
second nature to many gentlemen in responsible
positions, has taken a bitter revenge. With the
opiate of eternal reassurances that all is well you
cannot stimulate to the acme of effort either the
individual or the community. A much stronger
effect is obtained by honestly pointing out that
enormous tasks are to be accomplished in a life-and-
death stmggle, that this stmggle is harder than any
that a people has ever passed through, and that,
unless all is to be lost, no nerve must weaken, no soul
become lax, in the ups and downs of this vital con
flict. Clear knowledge as to the results of a possi
ble defeat ought not to have been withheld from the
people at home, and the horror of the strife at the
front ought never to have been disguised for them
by a false mystification when failures occurred.
I am not here advocating any doleful damping of
peoples' spirits; all I say is, that, from the outset,
the German people ought to have been honored by
assuming it to be mature enough to face the whole
hard tmth and to steel its heart by gazing at it.
Hundreds and hundreds of times, I said to my
troops: "Comrades, things are going hard with us.
They are bitterly difficult. It is a case of life and
death for you and for all that we Germans have.
Whether we shall pull through I do not know. But
I have every faith in you that you will not desert one
another or the cause. There is no other way out of

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 231
it; and so, forward, for God and with God, for the
Kaiser and the realm ! for all that you love and re
fuse to see crushed." Such things as these ought
to have been told the people at home according as
the situation called for it.
But the authorities preferred to ration the tmth.
The result was that the nation, starving for news,
snatched greedily for mmors and tittle-tattle as
substitutes for what was kept from them; while dis
trust and disintegrating doubt grew apace. These
false tactics began at the First Battle of the Marne;
and we never got rid of them till the coUapse came.
The German press is not to be blamed for the
mistaken views of its readers; the evil had its roots
in the source from which the information was sup-
pUed to the press. An honest desire for the tmth
was displayed throughout by the newspapers of all
shades of opinion, though naturally party views and
personal interests played their part. During the war,
press representatives of the most diverse political
opinions, and especially war correspondents who
were my guests and whom I met over and over
again with the fighting troops, complained to me
that they were not permitted to write of the things
as they saw them, that they might only give their
readers an inkling of the tmth, but not tell them
the full seriousness of the situation. Very bad news
it was thought preferable to suppress altogether.
Especially when matters were critical at the front,

232 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
the red pencil wallowed in the despatches and re
ports; and what ultimately remained had often as
sumed quite a different air when denuded of its
context. The censor's office, by reason of its effect upon
these reports of immediate eye-witnesses, has sinned
very grievously against the country.
New Year's Eve, 1920.
Half an hour ago, we rose from our modest cele
bration of New Year's Eve — Miildner, Zobeltitz and
myself. Thus quite a little party !
How delighted I was when, as soon as the ice per
mitted, Zobel came over.
But, after all, the evening has been a quiet and
oppressive one. It was as though each of us hung
secretly in the web of his own thoughts, and as
if each, when he spoke, was anxiously choosing his
words lest he might touch some old wound or sore.
It was fortunate that we had good old Zobel with
us in his orange-colored jersey. His melancholy
humor is inexhaustible; and he has the knack of
making the hardest things softer and more bearable
by means of his dry, quiet wise fooling.
What a lot passes through one's mind in such
hours ! Past, present, future — like the medley of a
cinema picture, one's self being only a helpless
spectator.

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 233
And my family — wife, children, parents, brothers
and sister — somewhere each of them on this last
night of the old year has been thinking of me.
Dear comrades of the field — living and dead!
Friends, even though the end was so different from
your wishes, the sacrifices you made for our poor
country, for our longings and for our hopes will not
be lost. Your deeds remain a sacred example and
the best seed for a new period in which the Germans
shall again vigorously beUeve in themselves and their
mission — for a period that will come, that must come.
And all the other faces out of pre-war years!
But all that seems now to me to be much longer
ago; it is as if a thin film of dust were settling upon
it. There is so much that one cannot imagine again
as it used to be. I fancy we have all learned a great
deal by bitter experience. And yet it is only seven
years ago.
How fast life mshes on !
And in another seven years?
God knows, the lot of us Germans is miserable
enough now, and I, personally, cannot exactly com
plain of any preferential treatment. But when I
look forward into the future, I seem to feel that we
must find the way up to the light again at no very
distant date. January, 1921.
It is still winter weather; but it is almost toler
able again; the unbearably depressing isolation

234 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
caused by the floating ice has been broken; the
post has arrived, and we are once again a part of
the world. — Spring-tides and hurricanes are things
which — considering the moods of the climate here —
are best regarded as harmless excesses not to be
noticed overmuch.
Almost as soon as we were "ice-free," Zobel left,
disguised as an Arctic explorer.
I myself was over in Doom again for a few days
to make up for not being there at Christmas.
Now, those quiet hours with my mother and the
long talks with my father belong to the past, and
only the great winter silence lies before me.
Those talks with my father! There is hardly a
problem of our past which did not crop up in the
course of them. And, whenever I am with him and
see how he worries himself to trace the road of our
destiny, when I recognize that, with all our mis
fortune, he sought always to do the best for the
realm and the people intrusted to him, I feel the
bitter injustice done him by a great portion of our
people in not allowing anything that he accom
plished to be of any value, in burying under the
ruins of an unsuccessful peace poUcy all that was
great and good and imperishable in the thirty years
of my father's reign.
I believe myself to be fairly free from blindness
to the mistakes of the throne in Germany during re
cent decades; and possibly these sheets bear testi-

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 235
mony, here and there, to my wish to see clearly and
to speak frankly of what I see. That, in my opin
ion, much that, at the present time, is generally at
tributed to the Kaiser should rather be charged to
the unhappy influence of unsuitable advisers has
been stated already. With all that, however, these
memoirs would give a one-sided idea of my views
concerning the activities of my father, if they did
not expressly record my full recognition of the
great personal share taken by him in the prosperous
development of the empire.
His services to the empire began when he was
still a prince. In the years following the war of
1870-71, the army remained stationary for a long
time. The officers were, in part, too old, but people
did not care to pension off men who had done such
excellent work in the war, and a very cautious at
titude was adopted towards innovations generally.
The well-tried principles on which the war with
France had been won were to be kept, as far as pos
sible, intact. It was, therefore, greatly to his credit
that the young Prince William recognized the
perils inherent in this stagnation. He used the
whole force of his personality to effect an up-to-
date reorganization of our army training, an effort
which cost him many a severe conflict. I remem
ber that my father, much to the astonishment of
the great generals, caused the heavy artillery of the
Fortress of Spandau to take part in the manoeuvres

236 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
of the Potsdam garrison, a thing till then quite un
known. In further production of this idea he sub
sequently, as Kaiser, took a large share in fostering
the growth of our heavy artillery. The develop
ment of our engineer troops is also largely due to
his personal initiative. He also devoted himself
energetically to the cultivation of a patriotic, self-
sacrificing spirit in the army, and, wherever he could,
he advocated the maintenance of traditions and of
esprit de corps of the various troops.
The creation of our navy I regard as solely attribut
able to my father; in this he took the great step
into the world which was essential for Germany if
she were to become a world power and not remain
merely a Continental one. But we owe to him not
only our navy; he likewise took an active share in
the development of our mercantile fleet.
In the sphere of labor legislation he played a
leading part; and there is a touch of the tragic in
the fact that it was the labor party who finally
brought about his fall, although for their sake he
had gone through the first great conflicts of his reign
and caused the SociaUst Act to be quashed.

CHAPTER VI
THE GREAT COLLAPSE
For the great Rheims offensive in the month of
July, 1918, the General Higher Command had
brought together all our disposable forces, reserving
only some fresh divisions and heavy artillery with
the Prince Rupprecht Army Group for the Hagen
attack. When this move upon Rheims failed, I no
longer entertained any doubt that matters at the
front as well as affairs at home were drifting to
wards the final catastrophe — a catastrophe which
was inevitable unless, at this eleventh hour, great
decisions were formed and energetically carried out.
My chief of staff, Count von der Schulenburg,
fully shared my views, and consequently, after the
enemy's great offensive of Villers-Cotterets, we left
no means untried to persuade the General Higher
Command to adopt two measures above all; namely,
the placing of affairs at the front and affairs at home
on a sounder basis.
In consideration of our extremely difficult mili
tary situation, we regarded it as requisite that the
entire front should be immediately withdrawn to
the Antwerp-Meuse position. This would have
brought with it a whole series of advantages. In
237

238 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
the first place we should have moved far enough
from the enemy to give our severely fatigued and
morally depressed troops time to rest and recuper
ate. Moreover, the entire front would have been
considerably shortened; and the naturally strong
formation of the Meuse front in the Ardennes would
have afforded us, even with relatively weak forces,
a strong line of resistance. In this way a saving of
reserves could be effected. The weak spots of the
front naturally remained the right wing in Belgium
and the left at Verdun.
Our views of the situation were laid before the
Higher Command in a report in which we stated
that everything now depended upon withstanding
the attacks of the enemy until the wet weather set
in, which would be about the end of November. If
we had not the forces to hold the long front line,
we ought to make a timely withdrawal to a shorter
one. It was immaterial where we halted; the im
portant point was to keep our army unbeaten and
in fighting condition. Our left wing between Sedan
and the Vosges could not retire and must therefore
be strengthened with reserves.
The Higher Command replied that they could,
at most, decide to withdraw to the starting-point
of the spring advance of 1918. They adopted the
view — in itself perfectly correct — that, first, a further
retirement would be an admission of our weakness,
which would lead to the most undesirable political

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 239
deductions on the part of the enemy; secondly, that
our railways would not enable us to evacuate quickly
the extensive war zone beyond the Antwerp-Meuse
position, so that immense quantities of munitions
and stores would fall into the hands of the enemy;
thirdly, that the Antwerp-Meuse line would form
an unfavorable permanent position, since the rail
ways, having no lateral communications, would
render cumbrous and slow the transport of troops
behind the front and from one wing to another.
We, however, were of opinion that a retirement
was unavoidable and that it would be better to
withdraw while the troops were capable of fighting
than to wait till they were utterly exhausted. Poli
tics, we thought, ought to yield to the military neces
sity of retaining an efficient army. The loss of
material and the unfavorable railway facilities could
not be helped; we should have to fall back; and it
would be better to do so in time.
At home we wanted energetic, inexorable and
thorough leadership — dictatorship, suppression of all
revolutionary attempts, exemplary punishment of
deserters and shirkers, militarization of the muni
tion works, etc., expulsion of doubtful foreigners and
so on.
But our proposals and warnings had no effect; we
knew, therefore, what was coming.
We soon saw ourselves in the midst of the disin
tegration; we had to watch with open eyes the in-

240 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
evitable catastrophe approaching nearer and nearer,
day by day, ever faster and ever more insatiable.
When I look back and compare the past, that
time is the saddest of my life — sadder even than the
critical months at Verdun or the deeply painful
days, weeks and months that followed the catas
trophe. With an anxious heart I entered every morning
the office of the Army Group; I was always prepared
for bad news and received it only too often. The
drives to the front, which had previously been a
pleasure and recreation for me, were now filled with
bitterness. The staff officers' brows were furrowed
with care. Wherever I went, the troops, though
stiU unimpeachable in their demeanor — willing,
friendly and cheerful in their salutes — were worn to
death. My heart turned within me when I beheld
their hollow cheeks, their lean and weary figures,
their tattered and dirty uniforms; one would fain
have said: "Go home, comrade, have a good long
sleep, have a good hearty meal — you've done
enough," when these brave fellows used to pull
themselves together smartly on my addressing them
or shaking hands with them. And the pity of it
all was, I could not help them; these tired and worn-
out men were the last remnants of our strength,
they would have to be worked remorselessly, if we
were to avoid a catastrophe and obtain a peace that
was at all tolerable for Germany.

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 241
So, from day to day, I had to look on while the
old virility of my bravest division dwindled away,
while vigor and confidence were bled whiter and
whiter in the incessant and arduous battles. As
things stood, no rest could be allowed to the war
worn troops, or at most only a day now and then.
Instead of a drastic shortening of the front, we
had still the old extent to cover with our anaemic
and decimated divisions. It soon became quite im
possible to do so at all adequately. Clamors for re
lief and rest were made to me, which I found myself
unable to grant. Reinforcements stopped almost
completely; and the few little groups that dribbled
out to us were only of inferior value. They consisted
mostly of old and worn-out soldiers sent back to the
front again; often they were gleaned from the hos
pitals in a half-convalescent condition; often they
were half-grown lads with no proper training and
no sort of discipline. The majority of them were of
a refractory and unmly disposition — an outcome of
the agitators' work at home and of the feebleness
of the Government who did nothing to counteract
these agitators and their revolutionary intrigues.
That the source of disintegration lay at home and
that thence there flowed to the front an ever-renewed
and poisonous stream of agitatory, mutinous and
rebellious elements no unprejudiced observer could
question. This conviction is not, by any means,
based solely upon the views of military circles at the

242 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
front; during my journeys on furlough and otherwise,
I saw for myself behind the lines and at home what
was going on.
From these personal observations I became con
vinced that this movement had its source in the in
adequate feeding and care given to the people at
home; so that, especially in the last year and a
half of the war, the revolutionary tendencies grew
so rank that they choked every better disposition.
And I put the blame less upon the people, who
hungered and pinched at home for their Fatherland,
than upon those who were called to provide for
something better, to see that things were more
justly distributed and with an energy that showed
no respect of persons. Finally, I blame those men
at the head of affairs who, when they saw the failure
of existing forces, omitted to create a post and ap
point an official who, with unlimited powers and
freed from all the hindrances and encumbrances of
the old officialdom, should enforce the necessary
measures with dictatorial authority.
That, during the menacing years of crisis, we did
nothing to make economic provision for the war, and
that we were therefore quite unprepared in an eco
nomic sense, I have stated above in discussing the
years preceding the catastrophe of 1914. The error
of that period was immensely magnified during the
war by lack of foresight and by clinging to a system
which maintained itself by one makeshift after

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 243
another. The decisions and schemes adopted were
not precautionary; they came merely in reply to
the incessant knocks of necessity. A characteristic
example is the mania for commandeering that took
possession of the State, which appeared just when
there was scarcely anything left to seize and which
was doomed to failure also owing to a wide-spread
corruption not infrequently winked at and encour
aged. All this does not, by any means, exonerate the
radicalism of the left or its filibustering followers,
whose policy was to draw party advantage and to
profiteer by the war, from an inexpiable share of re
sponsibUity for our miserable collapse after four
years' heroic fighting. It only admits that minds
cannot be enmeshed until circumstances have crip
pled their energy and rendered them open to the
specious arguments of the agitator; it only admits
that those who ought to have nourished the people
with spiritual and bodily food, who ought to have
assured its will to victory and its patriotic spirit in
a sound body — that these very men unfortunately
helped to pave the way for its downfall.
Even as early as the beginning of the year 1917,
I received, from conversations with many simple
people in Berlin, the impression that weariness of the
war was already very great. I also saw a great and
a menacing change in the streets of Berlin. Their
characteristic feature had gone: the contented face

244 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
of the middle-class man had vanished; the honest,
hard-working bourgeoisie, the clerk and his wife and
children, slunk through the streets, hollow-eyed,
lantem-jawed, pale-faced and clad in threadbare
clothing that had become much too wide for their
shmnken limbs. Side by side with them jostled
the puffed-up profiteer and all the other rogues of
like kidney.
It goes without saying that these contrasts
aroused dissatisfaction and bitterness in the hearts
of those who suffered, and whose faith in the justice
and fairness of the authorities was severely shaken.
Nevertheless, nothing was done to remove the evil;
in the fullest sense of the saying, whoever wished to
profiteer profiteered — profiteered in state contracts,
in essential victuals, in raw materials, in party gains
for the benefit of the "International."
The effects of all this were severely felt, both be
hind the lines and at the front. Every bitter letter
from home carried the bacillus; every soldier re
turning from furlough who had come into touch
with these things and told his impressions to his
overtaxed comrades, helped to spread the disease;
and it was aggravated by every refractory young
rascal who had grown up without a father's care
and whom the home authorities shunted to the front
because they could not manage him themselves.
The sources from which the losses of the troops
were made good were the deputy-general commands

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 245
at home. Their enormous significance was not
sufficiently recognized, nor their value properly ap
preciated in selecting the individuals who were to re
place the commanding generals and chiefs of staff.
From the outset, old men were appointed — often
worthy and deserving soldiers who enthusiastically
placed their services at the disposal of their country,
but who had no proper estimate of the energies and
capacities left to them. People wished not to be un
grateful, wished to provide a sphere of activity for
these wUling patriots in which they could do no
harm; it also gave an opportunity of liberating
fresher forces for the front. All this may have been
very well, so long as we could reckon with a short
war and with the stability of home affairs as they
stood in 1914; but it ought to have been drastically
ordered to fit in with new ideas, when the duration
of the war could no longer be estimated even ap
proximately, when it became necessary to consider
carefully the possibility of new or recurrent move
ments that might exercise a destmctive influence
upon the unanimity that had originally been so re
assuring. No such thorough adaptation to suit the
altered circumstances ever took place. Whoever
once occupied a deputy's post occupied it perma
nently; or if a post became vacant by death or be
cause the substitute was really too utterly incapable,
it was filled again from the ranks of those who had
failed at the front or who, through illness or wounds,

246 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
were now considered fit only for home service. A
home post! What harm can the man do there?
The man who was no longer a man, whose energies
were used up, who knew nothing of the war, or who,
if he had been to the front, had, with few exceptions,
returned embittered to regard home service as a
buenretiro after labors accomplished, — this type of
man caused us untold injury. Just in the last years
of the war, all the human material that we called up
and combed out ought to have passed through the
strongest and firmest hands before being incor
porated at the front. These men, who were, for the
most part, worm-eaten by revolutionary ideas or
tainted with pacifist notions, ought to have been
trained by vigorous educative work into disciplined
men worthy of their comrades at the front. With a
few nice phrases such as were common at the meet
ings of "warriors' societies" or at memorial festivi
ties, no such educative work could be performed.
And what the homeland failed to do could never be
done afterwards by instruction in patriotism, were it
never so well meant. To my mind, the idea of in
stilling into the men within sound of the guns the
patriotism they lacked was naive in the extreme.
We received as supplementary drafts men who had
started with the determination to hold up their hands
at the very first opportunity. But it was the mis
taken method of filling the responsible positions in
the commandos that avenged itself most terribly.

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 247
In the summer and early autumn of 1918, the
spreading demoralization became more and more
noticeable in the occupied territory. The order that
originally existed behind the lines was visibly de
teriorating. In the larger camps on the lines of com
munications, thousands of straggling shirkers and
men on leave roamed about; some of them regarded
every day that they could keep away from their
units as a boon from heaven; some of them were
totally unable to join their regiments on account of
the overburdening of the railways. I remember at
the time a journey to the front which took me through
Hirson Junction. It was just dinner-time for men
going on leave and stragglers, who stood around by
the hundred. I mingled with the crowd and talked
to many of the men. What I heard was saddening
indeed. Most of them were sick and tired of the war
and scarcely made an effort to hide their disinclina
tion to rejoin their units. Nor were they all rascals;
there was many a face there which showed that the
nerves had given way, that the energy was gone,
that the primitive and unchecked impulse of self-
preservation had got the mastery over all recogni
tion of the necessity for holding out or resisting.
Of course among the stragglers in Hirson there were
also a number of fine fellows who maintained their
courage and bearing. To meet this disintegration
of forces which might have been concentrated into
a valuable help for our daily increasing needs noth-

248 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
ing, or next to nothing, was attempted. New com
prehensive and thorough measures were imperative
here, and they should have been intrusted to the
Higher Command to enforce. Within the sphere of
our Army Group, we naturally did everything that
lay in our power to introduce some sort of order into
the chaos, but we received very slight support in our
efforts. The discipline behind the lines slackened omi
nously. This I could perceive in Charleville, the
headquarters of the Army Group. Men had con
stantly to be taken to task on account of their slack
bearing and their failure to salute. Men returned
from leave, who had previously performed their
duties in an exemplary manner, were inclined to
insubordination and mutiny. The younger replace
ments were, at best, utterly wanting in enthusiasm
and generally showed an absolutely frivolous con
ception of patriotism, duty and fidelity — things
which, for a soldier, should be sacred matters. Un
fortunately, the highest authorities resolved upon
no energetic or exemplary measures in regard to
these dangerous phenomena. The behavior of the
French population was, it is tme, correct; but they
did not disguise their delight at our manifest de
cline. * * * * *
By the end of September, events came fast and
furious. It was like a vast conflagration that had

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 249
long smouldered in secret and that, suddenly getting
air, now burst into flame at numberless spots.
Fire everywhere: here in the west and in the south
east and at home. The collapse of Bulgaria was
the first visible sign. Bad tidings had arrived from
the Balkan front on September 26. They reached
us while our own Army Group was itself engaged in
a severe defensive battle against big attacks to the
west of the Aisne and on both sides of the Argonne
from eastward of Rheims up to the Meuse, a battle
which, despite all our heroic resistance, ended in
our having to yield ground to the vastly superior
masses of the enemy with their armored tanks.
The Bulgarians, under the heavy pressure of the
united forces of the Entente on the Macedonian
front, had retired on a wide line. They had lost
a great number of prisoners and a large quantity
of material; and, as we gathered from the brief
telegrams and telephone messages, Malmoff, the
Bulgarian Prime Minister, believed that he could
only meet these reverses by entering upon peace ne
gotiations with the commander-in-chief of the En
tente armies. The situation thus created spelled
serious peril for us; the elimination of Bulgaria
might mean the beginning of the end for the Central
Powers; the Danube lay open to the Entente forces;
the invasion of Roumania and Hungary had been
brought within the bounds of more immediate possi
bility. The news caused the Kaiser and the General

250 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Higher Command at Avesnes the greatest consterna
tion. For the time bemg, the gap was stopped; the
influence of the King and of the Crown Prince Boris
succeeded in stemming the rout; and the General
Higher Command arranged for the immediate trans
port to the Balkans of some Austrian divisions and
of several divisions from the east to succor the
severely damaged front.
Meantime the most vehement attacks upon the
entire west front from Flanders to the east of the
Argonne were continued by the Entente armies with
a savage determination such as had never been dis
played before. We received the impression of being
at the climax of the concentric hostile offensive and
— though the gigantic attack might compel us to
yield ground — we felt that, by devoting all our
strength to the endeavor, we might, after aU, main
tain our position; only that behind this desperate
effort stiU lurked the agonizing question: "How long
yet?" On September 28, I visited my brother Fritz,
who, with his division, First Guards division, was
engaged in severe combat with the Americans at
the eastern extremity of the Argonne. I know my
brother to be a very brave, intrepid and cool-headed
man and one whose care for his troops was exem
plary. He was accustomed to affliction and distress;
the First Guards had stood all along where things
had been about as hot as they could be, at Ypres, in

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 251
Champagne, at the Somme, the Chemin des Dames,
Gorlice, the Argonne. This time I found him changed;
he was filled with unutterable bitterness; he saw the
end approaching and, together with his men, fought
desperately. He gave me a description of the situa
tion which filled me with dismay. His entire di
vision consisted of 500 rifles in the fighting zone;
the staff with their despatch-carriers were fighting in
the front line, rifle in hand. The artillerymen were
extremely fatigued, the guns were worn out, fresh
ones were scarcely to be got from the works, the
rations were insufficient and bad. What was to
come of it all ? The American attacks were in them
selves badly planned; they showed ignorance of war
fare; the men advanced in columns and were mowed
down by our remaining machine-guns. No great
danger lay there. But their tanks pierced our
thin lines — one man every twenty metres — and
fired on us from behind. Not till then, did the
American infantry advance. Withal the Ameri
cans had at their disposal an incredible quantity of
heavy and very heavy artillery. Their preUminary
firing greatly exceeded in intensity and heaviness
anything we had known at Verdun or on the Somme.
In a report I made to His Majesty at Spa, I de
scribed to him in detail the desperate condition of
these First Guards; the Kaiser talked about it to
Ludendorff; but no decision to relieve them was
arrived at; I may admit that perhaps it could not

252 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
be done, for we now needed every available man for
the last stmggle.
At this time, all my attention and energy were
devoted to the stormy events at the front and to
the troops intmsted to me. Almost daily, I was
in the fighting zone; and, till far into October, I
was so occupied with my duties as leader of the Army
Group that I was unable to follow attentively the
highly important political events which were taking
place, although I recognized them to be of the most
serious import. Hence, while, in another place,
I can report from personal experience and from my
own judgment concerning the gigantic battle in
which we were engaged, I can only briefly refer
to those political happenings which may be con
sidered more or less matters of common knowledge.
On September 30, I received from His Excellency
von Berg an unexpected telephone call to Spa,
where, in the General Headquarters, important de
cisions of a military character touching the question
of peace and the situation at home had been made
or were about to be made. Since I had hitherto
been carefully confined to the scope of my military
duties, this order suggested that something unusual
was in the air. There was no reason to hope for
anything good; and the information that met me at
Spa was tmly startling and dismaying even to one
who, like myself, had come prepared to hear bad
news. I will sketch in a few lines what I learned.

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 253
Field-Marshal General von Hindenburg and Gen
eral Ludendorff had conferred with the minister for
foreign affairs and had been informed that, in pur
suance of the negotiations of August 14, efforts had
been made to approach the enemy states through
the mediation of neutral powers, but that these
had failed to develop into peace negotiations, nor
was there any hope of success in that direction.
In reply to the Foreign Office's declaration of
bankmptcy, the representatives of the General
Higher Command had stated that, in consideration
of their own breakdown in the field and at home and
considering the enormous superiority of the enemy
forces and the gigantic efforts they were making,
they saw themselves faced with the impossibility of
gaining a military victory. Even though this effort
on the part of the enemy appeared to be the last
possible spurt before the finish, success for us could
no longer give us "victory," but, as had been ad
mitted in August, could only lie in our surviving the
enemy's will to continue the war, — in a stmggle as
to whether one could hold out to the last quarter of
an hour. Considering the utter failure of the home
departments and the question of reserves, it had to
be acknowledged that the only thing possible was
to choose a better defensive position in which to
winter. During that period, an armistice and peace
negotiations should and must be begun. The Meuse
position, which my chief of staff and I had advocated

254 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
immediately after the unsuccessful Rheims offensive
in July and while we could have with comparative
ease disengaged ourselves from the enemy, was now
to be occupied for the winter defensive.
Still more threatening was what the secretary of
state had to report concerning the situation at
home, where the people had glided faster and faster
under the control and the influence of the majority
parties. According to his statements, revolution,
stmggling for control of the State, stood, as it were,
knocking at the door. Induced by the conditions
arising out of the unfavorable military situation, and
quite regardless of the strength or weakness of the
State, the majority parties — who desired the offensive
for their own ends — had made a violent attack in
the principal committee of the Reichstag, upon the
Imperial Chancellor, Count von Hertling.
The main accusations brought against him were:
— the supremacy of the deputy commanding gen
erals at home, the Suffrage Act, and the influence
without responsibiUty exercised upon home politics
by the Higher Command. The demands put for
ward were aimed frankly at parliamentary control
of the Government and the shelving of the military
regime. The two ways of overcoming the crisis
would have been, on the one hand, for the Govern
ment to assert its authority in unequivocal fashion
by acting, in the one case, with all the powers of a
dictator, in the other to submit and grant the de
mands of the majority parties.

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 255
The secretary of state believed it possible to dis
arm the revolutionary movement by granting par
liamentary government on a broad national basis;
hence he advocated this policy notwithstandmg the
fact that circumstances in the country and our re
lations with the enemy were highly unpropitious
for such a reorganization of the constitution. Thus,
the revolution threatening from below was to be
suffocated with the mantle of a revolution from
above; and a fresh welding together of the decaying
forces of the people was to be effected under the
slogan of a "Government of National Defense." I
will gladly assume it to be indisputable that these
responsible statesmen who advocated this policy
believed in the possibility of getting workable con
ditions by their method and that they hoped for
a certain yield from the new government firm, at
any rate in foreign affairs, /. e., with a view to the
peace negotiations. But I must confess that I
could not resist the impression that it was all a
matter of fine words, that the whole thing was only
the form (evil in itself and embellished by auto
suggestion) under which its advocates abandoned
the power in the State to their opponents of the
majority parties.
His Majesty agreed to the proposals of these
gentlemen. The manifold difficulties now crowding
forward had already reached the steps of the throne,
and the Kaiser, under pressure of these problems,

256 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
seemed to be suffering from a lack of psychical
stamina; he appeared unable to assume a strong,
self-reliant position. Consequently, in the various
proposals of his military and political counsellors,
he saw succor and support, at which he eagerly
grasped in order, for the moment at least, to feel
that the dangers were surmounted.
The position of the Imperial Chancellor, Count
von Hertling, whose age and infirmities rendered
him physically unfit for his office, appeared so se
verely shaken that the Kaiser, since the Count de
clined to participate in the change of constitution,
declared himself willing to accept the resignation
that had been tendered. As successors were men
tioned, first of all, Prince Max of Baden and the
secretary to the imperial exchequer, Count Rodern;
the selection of the latter appearing the more
probable. On account of the menacing and uncertain general
situation at the front and at home, the gentlemen
from Berlin, as well as those of His Majesty's suite
and of the General Headquarters, were in a very
serious mood. In regard to the military difficulties,
it was hoped, however, that the great battle on the
west front might be fought out without any severe
defeat. Moreover, a hope of keeping the allies who
had become unreliable was also cherished. People
likewise believed themselves able, by carrying out
the intended constitutional change, to effect such

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 257
an alteration of the mental trend at home that, on
the whole, a firm front could be shown at home and
abroad. Personally, I could not share the optimism dis
played in this view of matters at home. Both by
nature and by conviction gained from history and
experience, I always possessed a leaning towards the
British constitutional system, and I have thought
much about its adaptability to our form of state.
As I have pointed out before, I was not spared a
good many rebuffs and criticisms whenever, in pre
war years, I expounded and defended my opinions
on this subject. What was now to take place, ap
peared to fall into line with my notions. Appeared
to do so, though in reality it had nothing in common
with them.
Only what is given with a willing hand meets
with appreciation; what is ultimately snatched with
the claim of a right, after it has been withheld time
and again, has no value as a gift. To divest one
self of a thing voluntarily and at the right moment
and with discernment is manly and regal, if the
word may be used; but it is just as manly and regal
to refuse what is to be extorted as the prize of a
trial of strength in the hour of a country's bitterest
need when it is straggling for existence. A liberal,
voluntary and timely reconstruction of our consti
tution would have revealed the strength of the
crown; it would have disarmed the opposition and

258 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
brought it back to a sense of duty. But for the crown
to yield to violent claims, backed by threats of
revolution, was to display signs of helplessness and
feebleness which could only increase the cupidity
of the covetous within the country and without.
At the moment when the flood was at hand, a dyke
was razed, because it was believed possible to as
suage and calm the approaching billows by re
moving the obstruction. Madness! One merely
gave up everything that lay behind the dyke; the
Spa decisions unconditionally abandoned the powers
of the State to the parties of the extreme left who
were going "the whole hog," aiming at revolution.
In the teeth of the storm, one should have been
strong and shown one's strength. But the rigid
home programme of August 14, the programme of
thoroughness, order, strictness, energy, the pro
gramme of no longer closing one's eyes, the pro
gramme which, in the days of the first sinister
omens, had been demanded by Ludendorff as a
conditio sine qua non and which had been promised
by the chancellor, — that programme had never
been carried out. Nothing had been done since
then. Now, when the storm was howling, it was
too late to strengthen the rotten bulwarks, to repair
the neglected dykes. No dyke captain or dictator,
were he ever so talented, were he the immortal
dyke captain von Schonhausen himself, could undo
or retrieve in a few hours the sins and the negligences

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 259
of many years. That we no longer knew a firm
hand in the country, that the Government had for
years not led, but suffered things to go as they
pleased, brought about consequences that decided
the question of supremacy. And on that day, men,
whose final wisdom it was to lay upon other shoulders
the responsibility for the results of their own inca
pacity, abandoned monarchy bowing to the demo
cratic demands of our enemies and to threatening
internationalism of every shade. As I have al
ready said, His Excellency von Hintze, the secre
tary of state for foreign affairs, undertook to report
upon the situation in the interior as well and to
recommend as the best solution the "revolution from
above," which, as things stood, was nothing but
"surrender at discretion." Strange that this man,
whose praiseworthy past entitled him to be held
worthy and to be tmsted, and who, as Kuhlmann's
successor, might have accomplished so much, —
strange that this man should have chosen this
course. In tmth and honor, it must be said that what I
have just written is, in part, the outcome of pos
thumous consideration and discernment. Into the
short hours of that conference, there was forced and
pressed so much exciting news and I was so anxious
to get back to the troops and the battle from which
I had been called that I only grasped the general
outline of affairs. Nor, indeed, was I asked for my

260 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
opinion on all those seething problems or on aU that,
in the main, was already, unalterably fixed by de
terminations arising out of the agony of the mo
ment. It was almost a wonder that people had
remembered that the commander-in-chief of the
army group was also the Crown Prince of Germany
and of Prussia. Irresponsible, without rights, but
nevertheless. . . . And so I was summoned, and
while a thousand voices called me away to the
post of my soldier's duties, I had to look on at events
which were irresistibly concentrating themselves to
produce the great crash.
Immediately upon the conclusion of the confer
ence, the Kaiser left for home; and the field-marshal
general followed him on October 1, as he himself
said, to be near His Majesty in those days of
gravest decision, to give information to the Gov
ernment now forming and to strengthen its confi
dence. On October 2, indications accumulated that, in
spite of the original doubts, Prince Max of Baden
would be selected as Imperial Chancellor, his origin
and personality affording a guarantee, as it was then
thought, that the interests of the crown would be
safeguarded in the reorganization of home poUtics
which appeared to have become necessary. In the
preUminary negotiations, the Prince seemed to have
adopted unreservedly the official programme of the
majority parties.

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 261
February, 1921.
My Army Group was still straggling in the sever
est defensive battle, when I learned of the actual
appointment of Prince Max of Baden on October 1.
A new Government had been created, containing
several social-democratic members. This innova
tion signified, in the eyes of the world, a reversal
of the home policy of the empire, a change of sys
tem in the direction of democracy and parliamen
tary government. Whether that which, to some
extent, had been produced under the pressure of a
very serious foreign situation would really prove
capable of welding the nation together remained to
be seen.
On October 4, my Army Group was again en
gaged in the severest defensive fighting, the enemy
having commenced a general attack along the en
tire western front. The battle raged bitterly on
the ridge and the slopes of the Chemin des Dames
between the Ailette and the Aisne, in Champagne,
on both sides of the road leading northward from
Somme-Py, between the Argonne and the Meuse,
to the east of the Aisne and on both sides of the
Montfaucon-Bautheville road. Since September 26,
we had located no fewer than thirty-seven attack
ing divisions. And they had artUlery, tanks and
fliers in apparently inexhaustible quantity. On the
whole, our older troops behaved magnificently
and fought with undiminished tenacity. And yet

262 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
we now suffered losses in men and material such
as we had formerly never known. Oftener and
oftener did individual divisions now faU us — partly
through exhaustion, but also (and that was the
most serious point) on account of the international
and pacifistic contamination of the troops. Cour
ageously advancing troops were howled at as "war-
protractors" and "blacklegs." Distmst of their
comrades caused demoralization in the resisting
powers of the whole body; failure on the part of cer
tain contaminated troops led to our flank being turned
and to the capture of groups that were honestly fight
ing; frequently, therefore, such unreliable troops
had to be eliminated and the gaps filled with trust
worthy but overfatigued divisions. And so I had to
use up my best capital, although I realized fully
what it meant. And yet, even now, I could weep
when I think of the unbroken spirit of self-sacrifice
shown by the trusty, brave and well-tried troops who
faithfully performed to the last their severe duty.
They upheld, through all that misery, our best tra
ditions. On that 4th of October, I drove over to Avesnes
for a conference with Lieutenant-General von Boehn
and his general staff; from there I went on to Mons
and discussed the military situation at length with
the Crown Prince of Bavaria and his chief of gen
eral staff, His Excellency von Kuhl. We were unani
mously of opinion that, in the present conditions, we

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 263
could not continue to maintain contested positions
on our war-worn front in the face of continuous at
tacks by an enemy in superior force. We lacked
the troops requisite for counter-attacking and for
providing our soldiers with the necessary repose.
Consequently, it appeared to us essential to relin
quish further territory and, while covering our with
drawal, to take up more retired positions and thus,
by shortening our front, to obtain the reserves essen
tial for a continuation of the battle, whose duration
it was not possible to determine.
WhUe my brave divisions, ragged and tattered
as they were, were retiring step by step and defend
ing themselves as they went, — Berlin despatched,
to the President of the North American RepubUc,
via Switzerland, the offer which suggested a "just
peace," based in essence upon the principles put
forward by Wilson, — an offer which was coupled
with a disastrous request for the granting of an
armistice. The straggle continued, and there was no end to
the battle visible. Our troops were now opposed
to enormously superior odds, both in men and
material. They withstood them; they intercepted
attacks, and evacuated ground; they closed up to
form a new front and offered fresh resistance. Al
most daily I was at the front and saw and spoke to
the men. They behaved heroically in the unequal
combat, and faithfully fulfilled their duty to the

264 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
death. He lies who asserts that the fighting spirit
of the front was broken. It was stronger than the
shattered and exhausted bodies of the men. The
men grumbled whenever they had a moment's
time to grumble, just as every genuine German
grumbles; but, when it came to the point, they
were ever ready again.
And these incessant battles had a curious result.
They effected a kind of self-purification of the
troops. Whatever was foul and corrupt filtered
through into captivity with the enemy; what re
mained to us was the healthy kernel. AU that
these emaciated and miserably cared for, these
overfatigued and death-hunted German warriors
could possibly give, that they gave. Gratefully
my thoughts fly back to them — to those whose
bodies lie where we left them, and to those living
ones now scattered in German cities and German
villages, who follow the plough, who stand at the
anvil, who sit at their desks, to all who are peace
fully laboring again in the homeland.
StUl the enemy rushed on; every day brought a
big attack; the air trembled in fire; the dull thuds,
the roar, the rattling peals never paused again.
On the night of the 5th, the left wing of the I
Army had retired behind Suippes; in order to get
into touch again with the retreating VII, it had
to leave the salient of the Rheims front and to with
draw its right whig as far as Cond6. On October

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 265
10, the XVIII Army, which at that time had also
been ranged under the Army Group, retired, fight
ing hard, to the scarcely marked out Hermann line.
While all my thoughts were concentrated upon the
battle and upon the German soldiers intmsted to
me, there reached my ears from home news that
sounded distant and strange: the wording of our
Peace Note to President Wilson; the bmsque
refusal voiced by the Paris press; the reply which
evaded replying and demanded our agreement to
evacuate all occupied territory as a condition of
an armistice. There was talk of consultations
among the leading statesmen, of the formation by
the Higher Command of an armistice commission
under the expert, General von Guendell. War
Minister von Stein, resigned his office and was re
placed by General Schenck.
We fought. The rage of the battle began to
subside slowly at the end of the second week. There
was utter exhaustion on both sides. We had
yielded ground under the enormous pressure, but
we stood; and nowhere had the enemy broken
through. On the 10th, the III Army stood in the
new Brunhilde position from St. Germainmont on
the north bank of the Aisne passing through Bethel
to the east of Vouziers and west of Grandpre. Gall-
witz was fighting the Americans in the area between
Sivry and the Forest of Haumont. By the 12th,
the I Army had occupied, according to plan, the

266 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Gudran-Brunhilde position and the VII Army had
retired to the Hunding position behind the Oise-
Serre sector. A review of the military situation
showed that the threatened collapse of the west
front had been prevented by the transfer of the
lines of resistance to stronger and shorter sectors.
Despite all the seriousness of the situation, we stood
for the moment fairly firm; and, while the enemy
might be preparing for fresh concentration and
offensive, we could ourselves be recuperating and
getting ready for defense — and such a breathing-
space was more than necessary to the overfatigued
and overtaxed troops.
There remained, in my opinion, the faint hope
that the peace efforts now being undertaken might
lead, before the winter began, to a conclusion of
the war honorable for Germany by reason of its
bemg a righteous peace of reconciliation. Failing
this, we could — again, according to my personal
views — reckon with a possibility of holdmg out till
the spring of 1919 at the uttermost.
On October 12, in reply to the inquiry of Presi
dent Wilson, Berlin gave a binding acceptance of
the conditions drawn up by him and also signified
that we were prepared to evacuate the occupied
areas on certain conditions.
All the news from the other side seemed to me to
reveal vaguely two opinions straggling for suprem-

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 267
acy. There was Wilson, who wanted to establish his
fourteen points; there was Foch, who knew only one
aim— our destraction. Which would win? The
couple were unequally matched — the sprinter Wilson
and the stayer Foch. If things were quickly settled,
Wilson's chances were good; if the negotiations were
protracted, time was in Foch's favor. Every day's
delay was a gain to him; it allowed the dry-rot in
the homeland to spread; it enfeebled and wasted
the front, which was mainly buttressed upon aux
iliary and defensive positions.
The 13th brought me news that caused me great
uneasiness on my father's account. Developments
in home politics had led to the resignation of His
Excellency von Berg, the excellent and well-tried
chef du cabinet militaire. His departure removed
from the permanent inner circle of the Kaiser a man
who, by reason of his old youthful friendship and
disregard of courtly conventions, was able, in loyal
candor and simplicity, to show the Kaiser things as
they really were.
On the 15th the vigorous attacks began again
against the Army Group of Crown Prince Rup-
precht, against me and against Gallwitz. The en
emy had pushed forward to our new front and
made a fresh onslaught. Loss of ground here and
there. The troops were nearly played out. Next
day, LUle fell. With the Crown Prince of Bavaria
things were worst. Losses were sustained wherever

268 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
the enemy attacked. Now that they had heard
something of a possible armistice and approaching
negotiations, it was as though our people could no
longer find their full inner strength to fight. Also
as though, here and there, they no longer wanted
to. But where lay the dividing line between could
and would with these men, who had a thousand
times bravely risked their lives for their country,
and whose heads were fuddled by hunger, pain,
and privation? Does that final and single faUure
make a coward of the man who has a hundred times
shown himself a hero? No! Only it deprives him
of the prize for which he risked his life a hundred
times. Once more — whUe the new Government is making
a quick change toward democracy and turning the
Imperial constitution topsyturvy — a note from
President WUson. It is in a new tone — arrogant
and implacable, it imposes conditions which consti
tute an interference in Germany's internal affairs.
It voices clearly the spirit of Foch which threatens
to overpower Wilson — the spirit of Foch, which
brags of the military results of the last few days,
who wishes for postponement and delay in order
that the disaster which has swooped upon the Ger
man people and the German army may rage more
madly than ever. I cannot refrain from reproduc
ing here a page from my diary which records the
situation as I saw it then:

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 269
"There is at the moment a marked contrast be
tween Wilson and Foch. Wilson desires a peace
by justice, reconciliation and understanding. Foch
wants the complete humiliation of Germany and the
gratification of French vanity.
"Every manifestation of firmness on the German
front and in the German diplomatic attitude strength
ens Wilson's position; every sign of military or po
litical weakness strengthens Foch.
"Wilson demands surrender on two points only:
1. U-boat warfare; no more passenger ships to be
sunk.
2. Democratization of Germany. (No deposition
of the Kaiser; only constitutional mon
archy; position of the crown as in England.)
"A military humiliation of Germany is not aimed
at by Wilson. Foch, on the other hand, wishes,
with every means possible, to effect a complete mili
tary capitulation and humiliation (gratification of
French revenge). Which of the two will get the
upper hand depends solely and simply upon Ger
many. If the front holds out and we preserve a dig
nified diplomatic attitude, Wilson will win. Yield
ing to Foch means the destraction of Germany and
the miscarriage of every prospect of an endurable
peace. "England's position is an intermediate one. The
main difficulty in the peace movement is France.

270 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
"Attainment of a peace by understanding is ren
dered much more difficult for Wilson by the fact that
our democratization and the peace steps have come
at the same moment. This is regarded as a sign of
weakness, and it strengthens Foch's position. If
we want a peace of justice, we must put the brake
on everywhere — especially in our hankering for
peace and armistice. Moreover, we must do every
thing possible to hold the front and to direct the
further democratization along calmer or, shall we
say, more reasonably convincing lines."
What was written above about Wilson was, at the
moment for which it was intended, perhaps quite
correct; but it was soon no longer so. Still I could
believe even now that this self-complaisant theorist
wanted, at first, to settle matters justly and con
scientiously — till a stronger and more cunning man
caught him and, with ironic superiority, harnessed
him to his own chariot.
On October 17, Ostend, Bruges and Tournay were
given up by the Army Group of my brave cousin,
Rupprecht; on the 19th, the enemy settled down on
both sides of Vouziers on the east bank of the Aisne
and began preparations for further attacks.
From home there arrives news of feverish excite
ment among the people. Some are depressed and
despairing; others were filled with the hope of a
reasonable settlement. And then rumors of an ap
proaching abdication of the Kaiser, of an election of

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 271
the House of Wittelsbach in place of the Hohen-
zollerns, of a regency of Prince Max of Baden.
Fighting continues; we hold out fairly well. Any
one who can keep on his legs is put in the ranks; for
it is a question of the possibility of an armistice, of
peace. The General Higher Command emphati
cally warns the leaders that, considering the dip
lomatic negotiations in progress, a further retreat
might have the most serious influence upon events.
Hence, we must hold tight to the Hermann and
the Gudran positions! Good God! What have
these positions to offer? They are incomplete and,
in many places, only marked j)ut !
And yet, the men who for four years have given
their best, prove themselves now, in these hardest
days, to be the finest, the trustiest soldiers in the
world ! They hold the front !
On the 21st, we learn the terms of the Govern
ment's reply to Wilson. Everythmg has been done
to meet his wishes. Surely, on this basis, he can
find ways and means to conclude an armistice and
to start peace negotiations. Will he indeed do so?
WUl he do so still ? More days pass, during which
thousands of Germans and men of all nations are
mowed down, during which the gentlemen at the
green-baize table take their time, during which our
position at the front does not improve. The voice
of WUson's note of the 24th, that arrogant and
haughty voice, was the voice of Marshal Foch — or

272 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
the voice of a Wilson who had sunk to be the puppet
of the French wire-puller and now equalled his mas
ter in hawking and spitting.
Once more, in those gmesome, sombre days, in
which I saw my poor, battered divisions sacrificing
all that was left, my heart was to be cheered by
my brave fellows. It was on October 25. I mo
tored to the front to convince myself of the condi
tion of some of my divisions in the severe fighting.
After visiting the divisional staffs of the 50th In
fantry and the 4th Guards, I proceeded to a height
from which I hoped to get a sight of the fighting
lines. In a green valley in front of the village of Serain-
court, I met the sectional reserves that were about
to march into the fight. They consisted of the regi
ments of the I Infantry Division and included my
Crown Prince Regiment. When the troops caught
sight of my car, I was at once surrounded by a throng
of waving and cheering men. All of them betrayed
only too clearly the effects of the heavy fighting of
the last few months. Their uniforms were tattered,
their stripes and badges were scarcely visible; their
faces were often shockingly haggard; and yet their
eyes flashed and their bearing was proud and con
fident. They knew that I trusted them and that
they had never disappointed me. Pride in the deeds
of their division inspired them. I spoke with a
good many, pressed their hands; men who had dis-

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 273
tinguished themselves in the recent battles I deco
rated with the cross. Then I distributed among
them my small store of chocolate and cigarettes.
And so, in all the bitterness of those days, a delight
ful and never-to-be-forgotten hour was spent in
the circle of my well-tried front troops.
Meantime, the French had got the village that
lay before us under heavy fire and their artillery
now began to sweep the meadows. I ordered the
battalions to open out; and, as I drove away, loud
hurrahs were hurled after me from the throats of
my beloved "field-grays"; on all sides there was
waving of caps and a hoisting of rifles. Without
shame, I confess that the cheers, the shouts, the
waving brought tears into my eyes; for I knew
how hard and how desperate was the entire situa
tion. My Grenadiers at Seraincourt! They were the
last troop whom, with flashing eyes and hurrahing
voices, I saw march to battle. Dear, dear, trusty
lads, each of whom my memory salutes gratefully
from this island of mine. A few hours later on ar
riving at the Army Group quarters, I stood again
in that other world of anguish and anxiety; fresh
tidings of a severe and doubtful character awaited
me from home.
Next day, October 26, I received by telephone
news of Ludendorff's resignation. In connection
with the well-known incident of the Higher Com-

274 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
mand's telegram to the troops on October 24, he
had faUen a victim to Prince Max of Baden's Cabi
net question. I knew at once that this meant the
end of things. I was informed that the intention was
to appoint General Groner as his successor. I rang
up the field-marshal general. With a clear knowl
edge of what it signified, I urgently adjured him to
reconsider his purpose and implored him not to
select this man in whom there was no trace of the
spirit which alone could save us now. The field-
marshal general, who doubtless felt constrained to
comply with the views of the Imperial Government,
was of a different opinion, and next day General
Groner was appointed first quartermaster-general.
On October 28, my adjutant, Miiller, returned
from an official journey to the homeland. He
brought the first evU news of mutiny in the navy.
From his report, it appeared evident that the revolu
tion was already menacingly at hand in Germany;
but that apparently nothing was being done at
present to suppress the rising movement. With a
clear appreciation of the position, Muller proposed
the posting of some reliable divisions behind the
Army Group as soon as possible, so that one might
have these troops ready at hand if necessity arose
for their employment. This suggestion was un
fortunately not considered further; our attention
was aU too deeply engaged at the front and riveted,
as in duty bound, on the troops under our care.

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 275
From November 4 onward, my four armies, along
their entire front, retreated towards the Antwerp-
Meuse position, fighting hard as they retired and
performing everything in perfect order and abso
lutely according to plan.
At this time, General Groner, the new first
quartermaster-general, paid us a visit. The chiefs
of my four armies reported upon the situation of
their various fronts. All of them laid stress on the
strained condition of their troops and the entire lack
of fresh reserves. But they were quite confident
that the retreat to the Antwerp-Meuse position
would be accomplished successfully and that the
position would be held.
Afterwards my own chief of staff made a final re
port, two points of which I recall. They were definite
demands. The one was that the discussion of the
Kaiser's position at home and in the press, must
cease, since the troops were quite incapable of bear
ing this burden in addition to aU the rest. The
other demand was that the General Higher Com
mand must not issue instmctions which they them
selves did not believe could be carried out; if, for
instance, the retention of a position was ordered,
the troops must be put in condition to hold it;
confidence in the leadership was shaken by com
mands which the front was unable to obey because,
in the given circumstances, it was impossible to
carry them into effect.
On November 5, the Higher Command of the

276 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Army Group shifted its quarters from Charleville
to Waulsort, about 50 kilometres farther north.
This small place lies half-way between Givet and
Dinant in a ragged, rock-girt valley, which, at the
time of our arrival, was filled with a thick, clammy
fog — sombre and depressing. I lodged with a Bel
gian, named Count de Jonghe, a nobleman of agree
able tactfulness. In a long talk during the evening,
he summarized his views on the causes of our break
down, which was now patent to the inhabitants.
Germany, he said, had committed two grievous mis
takes: she ought to have made peace in the autumn
of 1914; if she had then failed to obtain it, she ought
to have appointed a civil dictator with unlimited
powers and possessed of the energy necessary to
secure order in the interior.
On the same evening, Major von Bock, the first
general staff officer of the Army Group, told me that
he had been insulted in the open streets by a Land-
sturm soldier from the lines of communication. Two
days later I made my first personal acquaintance
with the revolution. I was driving with my orderly
officer, Zobeltitz, along the Meuse road from Waul
sort to Givet to visit once more the troops who were
to hold the Meuse line. A few kilometres from
Waulsort, just as we reached a spot where the rail
way runs close beside the highroad, we saw a leave-
train of men which had halted and was flying the red
flag. Immediately afterwards, from the open and

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 277
the broken windows my ears were greeted with the
stupid cries of "Lights out! Knives out!" which
formed a sort of watchword and slogan for all the
hooligans and malcontents of that period.
I stopped my car and, accompanied by Zobeltitz,
walked up to the train. I ordered the men to alight,
which they at once did. There may have been five
or six hundred of them — a rather villainous-looking
crowd, mostly Bavarians from Flanders. In front
of me stood a very lamp-post of a Bavarian ser
geant. With his hands thrust deep into his trou
sers' pockets and displaying altogether a most pro
vocative air, he was the very picture of insubordina
tion. I rated him and told him to assume at once
a more becoming deportment, such as was proper to
a German soldier. The effect was instantaneous.
The men began to press towards us, and I addressed
them in urgent tones, endeavoring to touch their
sense of honor.
Even while I was speaking, I could see that I
had won the contest. In the end, a mere lad of,
perhaps, seventeen years, a Saxon with a frank
boyish face and decorated with the iron cross,
stepped forward and said: "Herr Kronprinz, don't
take it ill; they are only silly phrases; we mean
nothing by them; we all like you and we know that
you always look after your soldiers well. You see,
we have been travelling now for three days and have
received no food or attention the whole time. No

278 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
one troubles about us, and there are no officers
whatever with us. Don't be angry with us." A
general murmur of applause followed. I gave the
lad my hand and then followed a comic close to the
affair. The lad said: "We know you always have
cigarettes for good soldiers; we've nothing left to
smoke." I gave the men what cigarettes I had; al
though these "good soldiers" really did not deserve
them; I did it simply because I appreciated their con
dition, which certainly was in part responsible for
their nonsense; I felt clearly that, if everything be
hind the lines and at home were not out of joint,
these men would have followed the right path.
I narrate this episode of November 7 merely to
show on what a weak footing the movement largely
stood; it was fanned into flame by violent agitation;
and, as the above incident proves, a calm and reso
lute attitude did not miss its object with the men,
who were, on the whole, not fundamentally bad.
Unfortunately, there was a complete lack of deter
mined action on the part of the home authorities,
both civil and military. By the orders against shoot
ing, the road was paved for the revolution.
Concerning the behavior of the troops in those
days, it should be said that, despite the months of
stmggle that they had gone through, they carried on
their retreat in perfect order and, in the main, with
out any important interference from the enemy, who
followed hesitatingly. The prospect of the new

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 279
Meuse position, with its natural strength artificially
increased, seemed to give the troops great encourage
ment as to the future.
One episode remains to be recorded. On the
sixth, the negotiators despatched by the German
Government crossed the road between La Capelle
and Guise within the area of the XVIII Army.

CHAPTER VII
SCENES AT SPA
End of April, 1921.
It is almost two months since I wrote the last of
the above lines. As often as I have prepared my
self to record those last and bitterest experiences,
which have occupied my thoughts a thousand times,
there has come over me a revulsion from the torture
of recalling the still fresh sorrows. Moreover, other
cares and other griefs have kept me away from these
pages. At the end of February I was at Doom; on the
twenty-seventh my parents celebrated the forti
eth anniversary of their wedding-day. Celebrated?
No, it was not a celebration. Everything in the
beautiful and well-kept house was sad and depressed.
My mother was confined to her couch, and her
weakness permitted her only occasional hours of
waking. She was so feeble that she could scarcely
speak; and yet the slightest attention was received
with "Thank you, my dear boy"; and then she
gently stroked my hand. It made one grind one's
teeth together. The foreboding that, on that day,
I held her in my arms for the last time has never
since left me.
AU subsequent reports damped every hope of re-
280

SCENES AT SPA 281
covery. One could only pray: "Lord, let it not last
long ! " In six weeks' time the last sad news reached
me on the island.
We went to Doom; and during all the long hours
of the journey, I was unable to grasp the idea that
she would no more speak to me, that her kind eyes
would no more be turned upon me. She was the
magnet which attracted us chUdren, wherever we
might be, towards the parental home. She knew all
our wishes, our hopes, our cares. Now she had been
taken from us forever.
Changed, empty, strange appeared to me park
and house and everything.
My poor father ! Whatever his outward demeanor,
I knew that his inmost heart was shaken. His old
pride, his determination not to allow others to see
his emotion, his resolve to comport himself like a
king, supported him so long as we and other people
were present. But the solitude ! 
That night I was alone with my beloved mother
for the last time. Through the hours of darkness I
kept a long vigil beside her coffin. In that solemn,
quiet chamber, with its heavy odors of wreaths and
flowers and soft shine of the burning tapers, there
floated before my memory an endless procession of
pictures out of the past.
Her joy when I reported to her as a ten-year-old
lieutenant, and the parade went off all right not
withstanding the shortness of my legs and the diffi-

282 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
culty I had of keepmg step with the long-Umbed
grenadiers. Her beaming face when she held my bride in her
arms for the first time and said: "My dear boy, you
have made a good choice"; from that day onward
till the end, a great love knitted together the two
women. I saw her sitting at the bedside of my brothers
Fritz and Joachim during a severe illness — night
after night untiringly — a devoted nurse, a mother
who would have immolated her own self.
I saw her at court festivities, in all the splendor of
the crown — a tall and noble figure with a wealth of
prematurely gray hair above the fresh, kind face;
while every word showed a simple, generous nature
with the gift of attracting and understanding others.
Then, ever and again, in her writing-room at the
New Palace. — It is in the interval between my
morning and afternoon duties. I have ridden over
to the palace, and now, while she listens and replies,
I walk up and down before her. She is my confessor
who always finds the right advice and the best solu
tion of all my little difficulties; and in the heart of
that seemingly unpolitical woman, there was vast
room for the serious problems and for the greatness
of the entire Fatherland. Her clear recognition of
many an error caused her to suffer — in a quiet, hid
den way— far more anxiety than the outside world
ever imagined.

THE CROWN PRINCE AND CROWN PRINCESS AT WIERINGEN

SCENES AT SPA 283
Then the war-time — care upon care, care upon
care. And then all that followed.
I see her there in the garden of Doom House.
She is seated in a little pony-carriage; and I hold
her hand and walk beside her. "My boy," she
says, "yes, it is beautiful here, but oh ! it is not my
Potsdam, the New Palace, my little rose-garden,
our home. If you only knew how homesickness
often gnaws at me. Oh, I shall never see my home
again." Now she rests in the homeland earth to which
her last longings went forth.
Just a bit of the way (as far as Maarn Station)
I accompanied her on her homeward journey;
then I turned back to my island here.
Days of sadness succeeded; not an hour passed in
which my thoughts were not with her; but what
was told me in a thousand letters of how unfor-
gotten she was in the homeland, of the love that
had sprung up from the seed which she had sown,
that, at least, was a great comfort to me. Then,
too, my brother-in-law, the Duke of Brunswick,
was with me for a few days. Sissy is to remain
for the present at Doom, so as to lighten my father's
sorrow in the first great loneliness and to bring a
woman's voice into that beautiful and yet so friend
less house.
But I must now proceed to chronicle what I

284 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
have to say concerning that last and bitterest ex
perience of the breakdown. God knows it is more
difficult for me than all that I have recorded hith
erto. On the evening of the 8th of November, 1918,
I received at Waulsort an unexpected command
from His Majesty to report myself to him next
morning at Spa. Not a word as to what it con
cerned or what he wanted of me. — I had only the
knowledge that this summons could not portend
anything good and a foreboding of fresh agonizing
conflicts. In cold, gloomy weather, I motored through a
heavy fog that seemed to choke the whole country
side. Everything apathetic, comfortless, dreary and
devastated; the half-demolished houses, their plaster
crumbling from their damaged walls; the intermi
nable roads, ground by the violent jerkings of a
hundred thousand wheels and pounded by the iron-
shod hoofs of a hundred thousand horses. And
those wan, haggard faces, so full of bitterness and
sorrow and misery, as though their owners would
never again be able to win through to fresh faith
in life.
The car jolted through fields of mud, flinging the
brown mire about it in huge fountains; it mshed
heedlessly past columns of weary soldiers and
troops and groups of men who once had been soldiers
and who, now disbanded, trudged their way laden

SCENES AT SPA 285
with indistinguishable chattels; it left behind it
curses and cries and fists raised in the gray mist.
On and on.
Soon after midday we arrived at Spa, stiff and
frozen to the marrow.
The Kaiser was lodged in Villa Fraineuse just
outside the town.
General von Gontard, the court marshal, re
ceived me in the hall. His face wore a serious and
very anxious look. In reply to my questions, all
he did was helplessly to raise his hands; but the
action said more than any words could have done.
My chief of staff, Count Schulenburg, was there.
He had been in Spa since the early morning, and, un
til my arrival, had been advocating our views with
the Kaiser. Pale and manifestly much moved,
this strong man, with a keen sense of responsibility
and fine fidelity to his sovereign, proceeded, rapidly
and in brief soldierly words, to give me an out
line of the incidents into whose development we
were now being dragged and urgently to beg me to
do everything to deter His Majesty from overhasty
and irretrievable decisions.
According to Schulenburg's report, the course of
events so far had been as follows:
In the early morning, my father had thoroughly
discussed the situation with Major Niemann, the
officer of his General Staff, and had resolved boldly
to face the threatening revolution. With this firm

286 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
resolve, the Kaiser had participated in a discussion
at which the field-marshal general, with General
Groner, Plessen, His Excellency Marshal von
Hintze, Herr von Griinau and Major Niemann were
present. The field-marshal general had opened the
deliberations with a few words which clearly re
vealed that he was on the point of giving up every
thing: he must first ask His Majesty to permit him
to resign, since what he had to say could, he felt,
not be said by a Prussian officer to his King and lord.
Only the Kaiser's head twitched. First let us
hear what it is.
Then General Groner had spoken. As Schulen
burg sketched things, I could see and hear Groner—
Groner the new man who had been only a fortnight
in the place vacated by Ludendorff, and was ham
pered by no such considerations as those which
choked the words in the throat of the old field-
marshal general. A new tone, which bmsquely and
aggressively broke away from all tradition, which
endeavored, by despising the past, to gain inward
strength for the coming death-blow.
General Groner's words as reported to me by
Schulenburg, had they been the ultimate tmth,
would indeed have signified the end: the miUtary
position of the armies desperate; the troops waver
ing and unreliable, with rations for a few days only
and with hunger, dissolution and pillage threatening
to follow after; the homeland blazing up in inextin-

SCENES AT SPA 287
guishable revolution; the reserves available, refrac
tory, disintegrating and mshing to the red flag; the
whole hinterland, railways, telegraphs, Rhine bridges,
depots and junctions in the hands of the revolution
aries; Berlin at the highest pitch of tension which,
at any moment, might snap and bathe the city in
blood; to turn the army upon the civil war at home
with the enemy in the rear would be quite impossi
ble. These views of his and the field-marshal gen
eral's had been indorsed by the divisional chiefs
and by most of the representatives of the General
Higher Command. Although not expressly, this
report contained implicitly a demand for my father's
abdication. Speechless and deeply moved, my father had
listened to these deplorably gloomy statements. A
benumbing silence followed. Then, seeing from a
movement on the part of my chief of staff that he
wished to be heard, the Kaiser sprang up and said:
—"Speak, Count! — Your opinion?"
My chief of staff had replied as follows: —
That he could not regard the remarks of the
quartermaster-general as a tme description of the
state of affairs. For example, the Army Group of
the Crown Prince, despite great difficulties and hard
ships, had fought brilliantly through the long autumn
campaign and was still firm and unbroken in the
hands of its leaders. After its enormous efforts, it
was now exhausted, overtaxed and filled with the

288 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
desire for repose. If a definite armistice should
come about, if the troops were granted a few days'
rest, the refreshment of sleep and tolerable rations,
if the leaders were given a chance to come once
more into closer touch with the men and to exer
cise influence over them, then the general frame of
mind would improve. It would, indeed, be quite
impossible to wheel round the troops of the whole
west front to face civil war in Germany; but this
was not within the limits of necessity. What was
needed was resolute and manly resistance to ac
tivities which had unfortunately been allowed free
play much too long, the immediate and energetic
suppression of the insurgents at the centres of the
movement, the rigorous re-establishment of order
and authority ! — The question of rationing had been
depicted by General Groner in much too sombre
tints; the effects of energetic proceedings against
the Bolshevists in the rear of the army would be a
fresh rally of the loyal elements in the country and
the smothering of the revolutionary movement.
Hence there should be no yielding to the threats of
criminal violence, no abdication, but no civil war
either — only the armed restitution of order at the
spots indicated. For this purpose the mass of the
troops would, without question, stand loyally by
their Kaiser.
The Kaiser had accepted this view. Consequently,
opposition had arisen between my chief of staff and

SCENES AT SPA 289
General Groner, who, in the course of this discussion,
had persisted in his assertions that events had gone
too far for the measures proposed by Schulenburg
to stand any chance of success. According to his
rendering, the ramifications of the insurgents cov
ered the entire homeland, the revolutionaries would
indubitably cut off all supplies intended for any
army operating against them, and, moreover, the
army was no longer reUable, nor did it any longer
support the Kaiser.
The views put forward by General Groner found
a certain confirmation in manifold telephonic mes
sages which arrived from the Imperial Chancery
during the discussion; these reported sanguinary
street fighting and the defection of the home troops
to the ranks of the revolutionaries, and repeatedly
demanded abdication. They evidently proceeded
from a state of panic; and, on account of their ur
gent character, made a deep impression; but to
what extent they were founded upon fact could
not be tested.
In spite of all this, the Kaiser had stood resolutely
by his original decision. But, in face of the irrec-
ontilable opposition between the two views of the
situation and the logical conclusions involved, he had
ultimately turned to General Groner and declared
with great firmness that, in this exceedingly grave
matter, he could not acquiesce in the opinion expressed
by the general but must insist upon a written state-

290 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
ment signed by the field-marshal general, von Hinden
burg, and by General Groner — a statement based
upon the judgments to be obtained from all the army
leaders of the west front. The notion of waging a
civil war lay outside the scope of his consideration;
but he held firmly to his desire to lead the army back
home in good order after the conclusion of the armi
stice. General Groner had then adopted an attitude
which seemed to indicate that he regarded all further
discussion as a vain loss of time in face of a definitely
fixed programme; he had bmsquely and slightingly
confined himself to remarking: "The army will
march back home in good order under its leaders
and commanding generals, but not under the leader
ship of Your Majesty."
In reply to the agitated question of my father:
"How do you come to make such a report? Count
Schulenburg reports the reserve!" Groner said: "I
have different information."*

* It must be recorded here that General Groner made this report to
my father long before the vote had been placed before the commanders at
the front. What "other information," then, did the first quartermaster-
general possess, and from which leader of the west front did it proceed?
These questions still remain unanswered. From none of the four armies
placed in my charge did I ever receive any report which could justify
General Groner's conclusion in regard to the front or even concerning the
rear of my armies. The information referred to by General Groner he
must have received on the 7th or 8th of November, for at Charleville he
was still in good spirits, on the 5th he had ardently taken the part of the
Kaiser, and on the 6th the Gen. Higher Command wrote to the armies on
the west front that, for the armies, there was no Kaiser question and that,
true to their oath, they stood immutably loyal to their Chief War Lord.

SCENES AT SPA 291
In response to a further protest by my chief of
staff, the field-marshal general had finally relin
quished his attitude of reserve. With every respect
for the spirit of soldierly loyalty displayed in Schu-
lenburg's views, he had come to the practical conclu
sion of General Groner, namely, that, on the basis of
the information received by the Higher Command
from home and from the armies, it must be assumed
that the revolution could no longer be suppressed.
Like Groner, he too, was unable to take upon himself
responsibility for the trustworthiness of the troops.
Finally, the Kaiser had closed the discussion with
a repetition of his desire that the commanders-in-
chief be asked for their views. "If you report to
me," he said, "that the army is no longer loyal to
me, I shall be prepared to go — but not till then !"
From these discussions and decisions it was clear
that the Kaiser was willing to sacrifice his person
to the interests of the German people and to the
maintenance of internal and external possibilities of
peace. At the conclusion of the parley, Count Schulenburg
had called particular attention to the fact that, in any
decisions of the Kaiser's, questions concerning the
Imperial Crown must be carefully distinguished from
those of the Prussian royal throne. At the very
most, only an abdication of the Kaiser could be con
sidered; there was no need even at the worst of any
talk of a renunciation of the throne of Prussia. For

292 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
this standpoint he had propounded important rea
sons; and he had also expressed the opinion that the
alarming telephonic messages from Berlin needed
careful investigation before they could be made the
basis of any resolve.
My father had assured him that, in any circum
stances, he would remain King of Pmssia and that,
as such, he would not desert the army. Further
more, he had at once ordered that an immediate tele
phonic inquiry be made to the Governor of Berlin
concerning the situation there; he had then walked
into the garden accompanied by some of the gentle
men of his suite; whUe the field-marshal general,
General Groner and Count von Schulenburg had
remained behind in the council room. In the en
suing discussion on the last statements of Schulen
burg, the field-marshal general confessed to the
opinion that the Kaiser must, in all circumstances,
maintain himself as King of Prussia, whereas Gen
eral Groner remained sceptical of this and averse to
such a claim. He stated that a free decision to this
effect if taken by the Kaiser some weeks earlier
might perhaps have effected a change in the situa
tion; but that, in his opinion, it now came too late
to be of any value in combating the revolt now blaz
ing in Germany and spreading rapidly every moment.
What had followed next had seemingly been cal
culated to justify this view of General Groner's—
if it could be accepted as the actual truth concern-

SCENES AT SPA 293
ing the situation and the frame of mind in the
homeland: The answer of the chief of the general staff with
the Berlin Government, Colonel von Berge, had
arrived and had brought a confirmation (albeit a
qualified one) of the representations furnished by
the Imperial Chancery— bloody street-fighting, de
sertion of the troops to the revolutionaries, no sort
of means in the hands of the Government for com
bating the movement; furthermore, an appeal by
Prince Max of Baden stating that civil war was
inevitable unless His Majesty announced his ab
dication within the next few minutes.
With these messages, the field-marshal general,
General Groner and His Excellency von Hintze had
hurried into the garden and were now reporting the
matter to the Kaiser, while Count von der Schulen
burg was explaining the situation to me.
I now went with my chief of staff to join the
Kaiser. He stood in the garden surrounded by a group of
gentlemen. Never shaU I forget the picture of that half-score
of men in their gray uniforms, thrown into relief
by the withered and faded flower-beds of ending
autumn, and framed by the surrounding mist-man
tled lulls with their glorious foliage of vanishing
green and every shade of brown, of yellow and of
red.

294 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
The Kaiser stood there as though he had suddenly
halted in his agitated pacing up and down. Pas
sionately excited, he addressed himself to those near
him with violently expressive gestures. His eyes
were upon General Groner and His Excellency von
Hintze; but a glance was cast now and then at the
field-marshal general, who, with his gaze fixed on
the distance, nodded silently; and an occasional
look was also turned towards the white-haired Gen
eral von Plessen. Somewhat aloof from the group,
stood General von Marschall, the Legation Coun
cillor von Griinau and Major von Hirschfeld.
With their bowed attitudes, most of the men
seemed oppressed by the thought that there was no
egress from their entanglement — seemed, whUe the
Kaiser alone spoke, to have been paralyzed into
muteness. Catching sight of me, my father beckoned me to
approach and, himself, came forward a few paces.
And now, as I stood opposite him, I saw clearly
how distraught were his features — how his emaciated
and sallowed face twitched and winced.
He left me scarcely time to greet the field-marshal
general and the rest; hastily he addressed himself to
me, and, whUe the others retired a little and General
Groner returned to the house, he burst upon me
with aU he had to say.
He poured out to me the facts without the slight
est reserve, reiterated much of what Schulenburg had

SCENES AT SPA 295
reported just before, supplemented the particulars,
and gave me a deeper insight into the character of
the catastrophe threatening to spring from the insta
bility and the disintegration of will and energy.
Only just arrived from my Army Group and the
seclusion of the front, and whUe I was still endeavor
ing to grasp and master all that Schulenburg had
told me, I now learned that, the previous evening, be
fore he called me to Spa, a thorough consultation
had taken place concerning the situation, in which
General Groner had urgently dissuaded the Kaiser
from returning home — from attempting "to pene
trate into the interior." Insurrectionary masses
were on their way to Venders and Spa, and there
were no longer any trustworthy troops whatever!
Nor, said he, durst my father proceed to the front
with any such intention as to die fighting; in view
of the approaching armistice, such a step might give
rise to false deductions on the part of the Entente,
and thus cause even greater mischief and still fur
ther bloodshed. My father also informed me that,
according to the statements of these gentlemen, the
cities of Cologne, Hanover, Brunswick and Munich
were in the hands of the Workmen's and Soldiers'
Councils, while in Kiel and Wilhelmshafen the revo
lution had broken out, and that, in view of the ap
parent necessity for his abdication as Kaiser, he was
going to transfer to the field-marshal general the
chief command of the German army.

296 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Notwithstanding my great perturbation, I at once
tried to intervene and to check, wherever, in my
opinion, it appeared possible, despite the hitherto
precipitate course of events, to caU a halt, and wher
ever a halt was essential, unless everything were to
be lost. Even if the abdication of the Kaiser as
such were really no longer to be avoided, his king
ship of Prussia must, at any rate, remain un
shaken. "Of course !" The words were uttered in such a
matter-of-fact way and his eyes were so firmly fixed
on mine that much appeared to me to have been
gained already.
I also emphasized the necessity for his remaining
with the army in all circumstances, and I sug
gested his coming with me and marching back at
the head of my troops.
General Groner now joined the other group again,
accompanied by Colonel Heye, who, as I learned,
had come from a conference of front officers con
voked as a sort of council by the Higher Command
without consulting the chief commanders of the
army or the army groups, the vote of this council
being taken by Groner to be decisive.
In reply to the Kaiser's command, Colonel Heye
reported to the following effect: The question had
been put to the commanders whether, in the event
of a civil war in the homeland, the troops could be
reUed upon; the answer was in the negative; the

SCENES AT SPA 297
trustworthiness of the troops had not been uncondi
tionally guaranteed by certain of these gentlemen.
Count von der Schulenburg intervened. He ad
duced what we, who were familiar with our men,
knew from personal experience; above all, this one
thing, that the great majority of the army, if faced
with the question whether they would break their
oaths and desert their sovereign and Chief War Lord
in the time of need, would certainly prove tme to
their Kaiser.
At this, General Groner merely shrugged his
shoulders and sneered superciliously, "MUitary
oaths? War Lords? Those are, after aU, only
words; those are, when all is said, mere ideas."
Here were two systems which no bridge could
join, two conceptions which no mutual comprehen
sion could reconcile. The one was the Prussian offi
cer, loyal in his duty and devotion to Kaiser and to
King, ready to live and die in the fulfilment of the
oath which he had taken as a young man; the other,
the man who doubtless never had taken things so ear
nestly or with such a sense of sacred obligation, who
had regarded them rather as symbol and "idea,"
who was always desirous of being "modem" and
whose more supple mentaUty now freed itself with
out any difficulty from engagements which threat
ened to become awkward.
Once more Schulenburg replied, telling the general
that such statements as his only showed that he did

298 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
not know the heart and mind of the men at the front,
that the army was tme to its oath and that, at the
end of those four years of war, it would not abandon
its Kaiser.
He was still speaking, when he was interrupted by
His Excellency von Hintze, who had meantime re
ceived further reports from Berlin and wished to lay
the evil tidings before the Kaiser. The Imperial
Chancellor, Prince Max, he said, tendered his resig
nation and reported that the situation had become
so extremely menacing in Berlin that the monarchy
could no longer be saved unless the Kaiser resolved
upon immediate abdication.
The Kaiser received the news with grave silence.
His firmly compressed lips were colorless; his face
was livid and had aged by years. Only those who
knew him as I did could penetrate that mask of
calmness and self-control maintained with such an
effort in spite of the impatiently urgent demand of
the chancellor.
When Hintze had finished, he gave a brief nod;
and his eyes sought those of the field-marshal gen
eral as though searching them for strength and suc
cor in- his anguish. But he found nothing. Motion
less, deeply touched, silenced by despair, the great
old man stood paralyzed, while his King and lord,
whom he had served so long and so faithfully as a
soldier, moved on to the fulfilment of his destiny.
The Kaiser was alone. Not one of aU the men of

SCENES AT SPA 299
the General Higher Command, not one of the men
whom Ludendorff had once welded mto a firm en
tity, hastened to his assistance. Here, as at home,
disraption and decay. Here, where an iron will
should have been busy enforcing itself in all the posi
tions of authority and gathering all the reliable forces
at the front to make itself effective, there was only
one vast void. The spirit of General Groner was
now dominant, and that spirit left the Kaiser to his
fate. Hoarse, strange and unreal was my father's voice
as he instructed Hintze, who was still waiting, to
telephone the Imperial Chancellor that he was pre
pared to renounce the Imperial Crown, if thereby
alone general civil war in Germany were to be
avoided, but that he remained King of Pmssia and
would not leave his army.
The gentlemen were silent. The state secretary
was about to depart, when Schulenburg pointed out
that it was, in any case, essential first to make a
written record of this highly significant decision of
His Majesty. Not until such a document had been
ratified and signed could it be communicated to the
Imperial Chancellor.
The Kaiser expressed his thanks. Yes, he said,
that was true; and he instructed Lieutenant-General
von Plessen, General von Marschall, His Excellency
von Hintze and Count von der Schulenburg to draw
up the declaration and submit it to him for signature.

300 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
We therefore went indoors again.
While the gentlemen were still at work on the
document, there came another telephone call from
Berlin. The chef of the Imperial Chancery, His Ex
cellency von Wahnschaffe, asked urgently for the
declaration of abdication; he was informed by Count
von der Schulenburg that the decision already come
to by His Majesty was being formulated and would
be forthwith despatched to the Imperial Govern
ment. The document did not contain the abdication of the
Kaiser, but expressed his willingness to abdicate if
thereby alone further bloodshed and, above all, civil
war would be avoided. It also stressed the fact
that he remained King of Pmssia and would lead
the troops back home in perfect order.
On the basis of this decision, there lay upon the
chancellor the onus of reporting afresh concerning
the development of the situation at home. Then,
and not before, the final imperial decision would
have followed.
His ExceUency von Hintze undertook to telephone
the wording of the document to the Imperial Chan
cery. It was now one o'clock, and we proceeded to lunch.
That silent meal, in a bright, white room whose
table was decked with flowers but surrounded only
by bitter anguish and despairing grief, is among
the most horrible of my recollections. Not one of

SCENES AT SPA 301
us but masked his face, not one who did not convul
sively endeavor, for that half-hour, to hide his un
easiness and not to talk of the phantom which lurked
behind him and could not for a single moment be
forgotten. Every mouthful seemed to swell and
threaten to choke us. The whole meal resembled
some dismal funeral repast.
After this painful lunch, His Majesty remained in
conversation with me and Schulenburg. A few min
utes after two o'clock, he was called away by Gen
eral von Plessen, as State Secretary von Hintze,
while telephoning to Berlin, had been surprised by a
fresh communication.
We others remained behind in anxious suspense,
fearing that some totally unforeseen incident had oc
curred which would still further complicate the al
ready bewildered and confused situation. Those
few minutes seemed like an age to me.
Presently Schulenburg and I were ordered to the
Kaiser. Notwithstanding his outward and forcibly as
sumed self-control and dignity, he was excessively
agitated. As though stiU in doubt whether what
he had just passed through could be reality and
truth, he told us that he had just received informa
tion from the Imperial Chancery to the effect that
a message announcing his abdication as Kaiser (and
as King of Pmssia) and, simultaneously, declaring
my renunciation in a similar sense had been issued

302 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
by Prince Max of Baden and disseminated by
Wolff's Bureau without awaiting the declaration of
the Kaiser or consulting me in the matter; further,
that the Prince had resigned his post of Imperial
Chancellor and had been appointed Imperial Re
gent, while the social-democratic Reichstag deputy,
Ebert, was now Imperial Chancellor.
We were all so dazed and paralyzed by this start
ling news that for the moment we could hardly speak.
Then we immediately endeavored to ascertain and
establish the sequence of these unexampled proceed
ings: His Excellency von Hintze had just begun to
telephone the declaration drawn up by His Majesty,
when he was interrupted. This declaration, he was
told, was quite futile; it must be the complete abdi
cation, as Kaiser and as King of Prussia also, and
Herr von Hintze must listen to what was about to
be 'phoned him ! The state secretary had protested
against this interruption and had declared that the
decision of His Majesty must now be heard before
anything else. This he proceeded to read ; but he had
no sooner finished than Berlin informed him that a
declaration had already been published by Wolff's
Bureau and immediately afterwards communicated
to the various troops by wireless telegrams; this decla
ration stated: "The Kaiser and King has resolved to
abdicate the throne. The Imperial Chancellor re
mains in office till the questions connected with the

SCENES AT SPA 303
abdication of the Kaiser, the renunciation of the
throne by the Crown Prince of the German Empire
and of Pmssia and the appointment to the regency
are settled. ..." The state secretary, von Hintze,
had forthwith entered a categorical protest against
this proclamation, which had been issued without
the Kaiser's authorization and did not represent in
the least His Majesty's decisions. Von Hintze had
repeatedly demanded the presence of the Imperial
Chancellor himself at the telephone; and Prince Max
of Baden had then, in reply to Hintze's inquiry, per
sonally acknowledged his authorship of the pub
lished proclamation and declared himself prepared
to accept the responsibility for doing so.
Thus, he did not, for one moment, deny that he
was the originator of this incomprehensible act,
namely, publishing, without His Majesty's authoriza
tion, decisions ostensibly his which he had never
agreed to, in such a form, and in a way that, to say
the least, was casual, forestalling my own decisions
in a matter that had not yet been broached even by
a single word.
In the excited and credulous mood of the people
at home and of the troops, it was clear to us that, by
the extraordinary behavior of the Prince, the appear
ance of an accomplished fact had been created which
was to cut the ground we stood upon from under
our feet.
With a clearer judgment as to what had hap-

304 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
pened to His Majesty and to me, and clearer views
concemmg what was now necessary, we passed
over into the room where the other gentlemen were
assembled. Great consternation at the monstrous proceedings
seized them also. Cries of indignation mingled with
suggestions as to how this crafty coup was to be
met. Schulenburg and I importuned His Majesty never,
under any circumstances, to submit to this coup
d'etat, but to oppose the machinations of the Prince
with every possible means and to abide unalterably
by his previously formed resolution. The Count
also emphasized the fact that this incident rendered
it aU the more essential for the Kaiser, as Chief War
Lord, to remain with the army.
In this advice we found some support from General
von Marschall, and especiaUy also from the old
Colonel-General von Plessen, whose faithful and
chivalrous nature and strong soldierly instinct burst
through the otherwise courtier-like formalities usually
carefully observed by him and revolted indignantly
against the disgraceful blow aimed at his Kaiser and
the entire dynasty. It was of great importance
that, by personal inquiry, he demonstrated the un-
tenability of Groner's assertion that the troops of
the headquarters had become unreliable and no
longer afforded the Kaiser sufficient protection.
Count von der Schulenburg and I offered to

SCENES AT SPA 305
undertake the subjection of the revolutionary, ele
ments at home, proposing first to restore order in
Cologne. But this suggestion the Kaiser declined
to entertain, as he would have no war of Germans
against Germans.
Finally, he declared repeatedly and with great
emphasis that he abode by his decision to abdicate
if necessary as Kaiser but that he remained King of
Prussia and, as such, would not leave the troops.
He instructed General von Plessen, General von
Marschall and His Excellency von Hintze to report
at once to the field-marshal general concerning
what had happened in Berlin and his own attitude.
Somewhat encouraged by this firm mood of my
father's, who now seemed to see his way clearly
through all the entanglements and difficulties, I
took leave of him, my duties as commander-in-chief
requiring my presence in the headquarters of the
Army Group at Vielsalm.
As I held his hand in mine, I never imagined that
I should not see him again for a year and that it
would then be in Holland.
Count von der Schulenburg remained in Spa.
It was from him, and not from personal experi
ence, that I gathered my information concerning
the further events of that fatal 9th of November
in Spa.
Schulenburg, who, together with me, had taken
leave of the Kaiser, had been called back by him

306 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
once more. My father had repeated: "I remain
King of Pmssia and, as such, I do not abdicate;
and I also remain with the troops ! " Then, as it was
impossible to recognize the revolutionary Govern
ment in BerUn, the question of the armistice was
discussed. Who was to conclude it? His Majesty
decided that Field-Marshal von Hindenburg should
take over the supreme command and be responsible
for conducting the negotiations. At the close of the
conversation, the Kaiser held out his hand to Count
Schulenburg and repeated: "I remain with the
army. Tell the troops so !"
On leaving His Majesty, Schulenburg proceeded
to the quarters of the field-marshal general, where,
together with General Groner, General von Mar
schall, State Secretary von Hintze and the legation
councillor, von Griinau, a conference was com
menced at half past three concerning the situation
created by Berlin. General Groner declared that
there were no military means of counteracting the
abdication proclaimed in Berlin. At the suggestion
of His Excellency von Hintze it was decided to draw
up a written protest agamst the declaration of abdi
cation which had been proclaimed without the con
sent or approval of the Kaiser, and to have this docu
ment signed by the Kaiser and deposited in a secure
place. In discussing the personal safety of the
Kaiser, for which General Groner declined aU re
sponsibiUty, the question was raised as to what

SCENES AT SPA 307
domicUe the Kaiser could select if any development
of affairs should force him to go abroad, and Hol
land was mentioned. Count Schulenburg stood
alone in his opinion that it would be a grave mistake
if His Majesty left the army. He urged that His
Majesty should join the Army Group, the way
being open.
Fully confident in the Kaiser's firm resolve, Count
von Schulenburg, accompanied by the other mem
bers of the Army Group Staff, had then driven back
to Vielsalm, where his presence was urgently re
quired on account of the tense situation at the
front. As I stated in recounting events at Spa on Novem
ber 9, the views obtained from a conference of officers
from the front by Colonel Heye's submitting to them
certain questions were adduced as evidence in sup
port of the chief quartermaster-general's opinion
on the prevailing mood of the troops at the front.
At my instance an officer of the Army Group Gen
eral Staff, who had accompanied Count Schulen
burg to Spa, made a record of the character and the
procedure of this council convoked directly by the
General Higher Command. I append this docu
ment here as a key to the temper and the mental
condition prevalent at Spa and because it is necessary
to a right understanding of what took place. On
account of the relations of the officer to the service,
his name is suppressed.

308 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
 ,14, XI, '19.
My Experiences at General Headquarters on 9, XI,
1918. (Written from memory.*)
In the night of the 8th-9th, November, General
Count von der Schulenburg received a telephone
call from Major von Stiilpnagel ordering him to
come to Spa on November 9. Major von Bock
took the message. No information was given as
to why Count Schulenburg should come or who
wished to see him. — Count Schulenburg was rather
astonished when Bock brought him the message,
but he at once gave orders for his departure on the
9th. He appointed Captain X of the General Staff,
Orderly Officer Lieutenant Y and myself to accom
pany him. The same morning, instmctions had
been given to transfer the quarters of the Upper
Command of the Army Group from Waulsort to
Vielsalm. At 8.30 a. m. on November 9, we reached the Hotel
Britannique in Spa. On our arrival, we were struck
by the fact that, in the hall of the hotel there was
assembled a large body of officers not belonging to
the Higher Command and that others were continu
ally arriving. They were exclusively officers from
the front; no commander-in-chief, commanding gen
erals, chiefs of staff or other General Staff officers
were present.
* Use has also been made of certain notes written by Captain X and
myself on December 2, 1918, and now in the possession of Count Schu
lenburg.

SCENES AT SPA 309
Count Schulenburg at once proceeded to the
Operations Department on the first floor in order
to inquire the reasons for his bemg summoned. On
the way up-stairs he met Colonel Heye. This officer
was manifestly surprised to see Count Schulen
burg. After a short conversation, which I could not
hear, Schulenburg returned to me, saying: — "We
are evidently not wanted here at all. We have
rushed into an affair which does not concern us, but
we wUl see what is really going on !"
From the numerous officers standing around, we
learned that they had all been ordered to attend a
meeting at 9 a. m. Apparently, from each of the
divisions of the army groups Rupprecht, Kron-
prinz and Gallwitz, a selected officer, divisional
commander and infantry brigade or infantry regi
ment commander had been summoned and had been
rapidly brought along by motor-car. No informa
tion concerning these orders had reached the Upper
Command of the Army Group. The reason for the
conference could only be guessed. The first idea
was that it concerned the expected armistice. But
rumors were circulating about measures to oppose
the spread of the revolutionary movement in Ger
many; there was unverifiable news of civil war in
the homeland, of the westward advance of mutinous
sailors through Aix-la-Chapelle, Bonn and Coblenz,
of the blockading of the railways along the Rhine
and the consequent entire stoppage of the com-

310 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
missariat. From the few members of the General
Higher Command whom I managed to see, no
further information was to be obtained in the hurry
of the moment. Those whom I saw appeared de
jected and rather desponding. It must be added here
that, for nearly a fortnight, the Upper Command of
the Army Group had received through the post
neither newspapers nor letters and that we were,
therefore, inadequately informed as to the situation
at home, while the front had been living for weeks
on nothing but mmors. Hence I observed that the
officers arriving from the front accepted without any
criticism, even very unfavorable reports circulating
in the conference. A suitable soil for pessimism
was, moreover, prepared in them by the fact that
almost all had been fetched, just as they were, from
the retreating battles in which they had been fight
ing for weeks and which were excessively exhaust
ing and in every way depressing; most of them,
too, had travelled, in many cases hundreds of kilo
metres, in open cars and clad in thin coats; and they
were cold, unwashed and unfed.
Soon after the conversation with Colonel Heye,
Count Schulenburg, together with Captain X and
myself, went to the hotel dining-room, where the
officers from the front were assembling. In talk
ing to various acquaintances, my impression was
deepened that, for the reasons already adduced,
these officers were in a very depressed mood. Mean-

SCENES AT SPA 311
time, Colonel-General von Plessen and General von
Marschall had entered the room. Their dejected
spirits were noticeable. When they caught sight of
Count Schulenburg, who stood near me, they at once
came up and commenced talking to him. I could
only hear fragments of the conversation and guess
its general tenor. But, almost at the outset, Count
Schulenburg said to the two of them very sharply:
—"Have you all gone mad here?" Later he said,
among other things, "The army stands firmly by the
Kaiser." I noticed that Colonel-General von Ples
sen and General Marschall drew fresh confidence
from the conversation with Count Schulenburg;
and I heard the words "Schulenburg must go with
us at once to the Kaiser." The meeting had not
yet been opened, and Colonel-General von Plessen
and General v. Marschall very soon took Count
Schulenburg out of the room and drove with him
to His Majesty. — Captain X, Lieutenant Y and I
stayed behind. Captain X and I decided to remain
at the meeting, although we both felt that we were
anything but welcome there.
About nine o'clock, Field-Marshal General von
Hindenburg, accompanied by Colonel Heye and a
few other members of the Higher Command, en
tered the room. The field-marshal, having wel
comed the officers assembled by his orders, thanked
them warmly for all that they had hitherto done;
he then characterized the situation as serious but

312 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
not desperate, and proceeded to explain the object
of the meeting. In Germany, he said, revolution
had broken out and, in some places, blood had al
ready flowed. The resignation of the Kaiser was
being demanded. The Higher Command hoped to
be able to oppose this demand, if the requisite assur
ances were given them by the army at the front.
On these questions which Colonel Heye would pres
ently lay before them, the gentlemen were to ex
press their views. In further delineation of the
position of affairs, the field-marshal stated roughly
that it was a question for His Majesty whether he
could march to Berlin at the head of the entire army
in order to recover there the Imperial and Royal
Crown. For this purpose, however — no armistice
having as yet been concluded and the railways not
being available — the whole army, with the enemy
of course following rapidly in its rear, would have
to wheel round and march for two or three weeks
fighting all the way in the endeavor to reach Berlin.
Special emphasis was laid by the field-marshal upon
the difficulties of getting supplies of all kinds, since
everything was in the hands of the insurgents, and
he laid stress on the fatigues and privations to which
the troops would be unceasingly subjected.
After this description of the situation — all of
whose points were given by the field-marshal, not
by Colonel Heye — the former left the meeting. I
remember that my first impression, as I uttered

SCENES AT SPA 313
it to Captain X, was something like this: — It is
regrettable that the generally revered field-mar
shal, whom many of those present had certainly
just seen for the first time, should have been obliged
to address them on such a sad matter and that he
had given them a sketch of the miUtary situation
which many critical minds could only regard with
considerable scepticism. For me there could be no
doubt that, after such a representation of affairs,
only negative answers could be expected.
MeanwhUe, the attendance at the meeting was
continually being increased by new arrivals, though
many did not get in till after midday, when the an
swer to the questions had been long since reported
to His Majesty. These questions — two or three in
number — were put to the meeting by Colonel Heye.
Their wording has escaped my memory; but roughly
it was asked whether, under the watchword "For the
Kaiser," the Higher Command could, with any pros
pect of success, call upon the troops at the front
to march to Berlin and thus unloose a civil war, or
whether the army could no longer be had for this
purpose. Colonel Heye requested the gentlemen
to consider this important matter each for himself
and uninfluenced by one another. After the lapse
of a certain time, he would invite the gentlemen to
come to him and state their views, as far as possible,
general command by general command, beginning
with the right wing.

314 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
What replies Colonel Heye received is unknown
to me; but, as already indicated, I do not doubt,
from what had passed, that the vast majority of them
were in the negative. As I learned afterwards, all
the officers from the front who took part in the con
ference were pledged to secrecy by Colonel Heye
and gave their hand on it. No such request was
put to Captain X or myself.
My judgment upon the conference and the inter
rogation of the front-line commanders may be for
mulated as follows: —
Considering the importance of the verdict to be
given by each individual officer ordered to Spa, it
was bad management to interrogate these men who,
in many cases, were physically and psychicaUy re
duced without giving them an opportunity of re
cuperation or giving them time mentally to digest
the news placed before them in reference to the state
of affairs at home. It was noticeable in the after
noon how changed these same officers were in appear
ance after they had rested a bit, had washed and
dressed, had lunched and lighted a cigar.
It was an incomprehensible omission to leave un-
summoned the commanders-in-chief, the command
ing generals and the chiefs of staff, to hear, as it
were, the officers from the front behind their backs.
Did the General Higher Command fear their judg
ment? For that there was no occasion. From the

SCENES AT SPA 315
Higher Command of the Crown Prince Army Group,
at any rate, they had all along, and especially during
the last few weeks and months, heard nothing but
the most candid pronouncements as to the fighting
capacity of the troops. Unfortunately, their state
ments had not always met with the proper considera
tion. The picture of the situation from which the com
manders were to form their judgment was so sombre
that an answer in favor of His Majesty was scarcely
to be expected. On such an hypothesis, the army
was not to be won over for the Kaiser. Moreover,
a large proportion of the front officers doubtless
lacked the analytic capacity and tactical judgment
requisite for getting to the very heart of this mo
mentous situation.
If, as it would now appear, the significance of the
interrogation was whether the Kaiser could remain
with his army or not, it was a culpable omission not
to have pointed out more explicitly the consequences
which might ensue from their replies and therefore
no detailed representation was given of what the
position would be if His Majesty failed to remain
Chief War Lord. So far as I am aware, the question
whether His Majesty would be safe with the troops
was never put.
Not until 4.30 p. m. did Count Schulenburg re
turn to the hotel. Captain X, Lieutenant Y and

316 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
I had spent most of the time waiting in the hotel,
without being able to ascertain anything of any
significance from any one. Count Schulenburg was
greatly agitated. Briefly and with intense indigna
tion he described what had happened. As the most
essential points of what he told us, I recall es
pecially the following: — We have no longer any
Kaiser. A consultation has just been held at the
field-marshal's villa as to whether His Majesty shall
be sent off to-night to Holland. Groner says he can
no longer guarantee his safety for another night.
Bolshevists are, he asserts, marching on Spa from
Venders. The verdict of the front officers brought
by Heye has turned out to be in the negative. My
objections that the army is loyal and abides by its
oath were shelved by Groner with the words: "Loy
alty to King and military oaths are, after all, mere
ideas!" I could not carry my demand that the
commanders-in-chief and the commanding generals
should have a hearing. On my departure His
Majesty promised me he would remain King of
Pmssia and stay with the army. Concerning every
thing else that occurred in His Majesty's villa and
the field-marshal's and what Count Schulenburg
told us further, exact information is to be found in
the record of the events at Spa on November 9, as
since published in the press. I would emphasize
the fact that the particulars contained therein co
incide perfectly with what Count Schulenburg told

SCENES AT SPA 317
us at the Hotel Britannique and during the return
journey to Vielsalm, i. e., while still under the first
impressions of what he had just experienced.
Signed, 
pro tern, in the General Staff of the
Higher Command of the Crown Prince Army Group.
On the top of all the exciting events of that day
the night brought me a letter from my father which
was irreconcilable with the last impressions which I
and the chef of my General Staff had carried away
with us from Spa, and destroyed all the hope and con
fidence we had cherished concerning a restoration of
the old order of things. The letter confronted me
with unalterable facts which could not but change
the course of my destiny and turn me aside from the
path which I had hitherto regarded as the only
proper one and which, relying upon my rights and
obligations, I had intended unswervingly to follow.
My father's letter ran: —
"My dear boy,
"As the Field-marshal cannot guarantee my safety
here and will not pledge himself for the reliability of
the troops, I have decided, after a severe inward
struggle, to leave the disorganized army. Berlm is
totally lost; it is in the hands of the Socialists, and
two governments have been formed there — one
with Ebert as Chancellor and one by the Indepen-

318 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
dents. Till the troops start their march home, I
recommend your holdmg out at your post and keep
ing the troops together! God willing, I trast we
shall meet again. General von Marschall will give
you further information. "Your deeply-bowed father,
(signed) "WILHELM."
I had no particulars concerning the circumstances
which had been cogent enough to force the Kaiser,
in a few hours, to give up everything and to desist
from his determination to stand by his kingship.
For the present, we could only assume that the
Kaiser had been rendered pliable by the influence of
those men whose views Count Schulenburg and I
had combated with all our might and who had thus
been paralyzed so long as we were in Spa.
Details of what took place on that fatal afternoon
only came to my knowledge very much later. I
gathered them from conversations with His Majesty
and the gentlemen of his suite and from the written
records of various participators.
From these it appeared that, after the departure
of Count Schulenburg, a report was made to His
Majesty, the field-marshal, Generals Groner and
von Marschall, His ExceUency von Hintze and Herr
von Griinau. Later on Admiral Scheer also joined
the party. The Kaiser was most urgently pressed
to issue his abdication and to start for Holland.

SCENES AT SPA 319
Emphasis was laid on the fact that fifty officers from
aU parts of the army had expressed the opinion that
the troops at the front were no longer to be tmsted.
It was declared that, in these circumstances, the
Kaiser must leave the collapsing army and go to
Holland. Groner emphasized the fact that the
General Staff was of the same conviction. For His
Majesty, the attitude adopted by the field-marshal
general was decisive. No final decision seems to
have been formed. His Majesty only agreed to
preparatory steps being taken for his journey to
Holland. After the conference had been closed, the Kaiser
said to Count Dohna, who reported himself from
furlough: "I have answered Groner categorically
that I have now done with him; despite all sugges
tions, I remain in Spa." To his two aides-de-camp
he remarked: "I am staying the night in the vUla;
proyide yourselves with arms and ammunition. The
field-marshal tells me that we may have to reckon
with Bolshevist attacks."
It was not until after a further discussion with
Colonel-General von Plessen and Herr von Griinau,
that the Kaiser decided not to pass the night in
Villa Fraineuse but in the tram at Spa, for which he
gave the necessary orders. Further representations
—made at the instance of the field-marshal general
after supper and based, at his wish, upon the great
danger of Bolshevist attacks from Aix-la-ChapeUe

320 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
and Verviers — were needed to induce the Kaiser to
leave. Major Niemann, the General Staff officer
of the Higher Command attached to the Kaiser, has
furnished a description of what occurred. Accord
ing to this account, the resolve of His Majesty in the
course of the afternoon and evening of November 9,
developed as follows:
"Between 4 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Field-
Marshal von Hindenburg and State Secretary von
Hintze reported to His Majesty that the situation
was continually growing worse and requested him to
consider crossing the frontier into neutral territory
as the last resort. The field-marshal made use of
the words: 'I cannot assume the responsibility for
the Kaiser's bemg dragged to Berlin by muti
nous troops and there handed over as a prisoner to
the Revolutionary Government.' His Majesty de
clared his assent to preparatory steps being taken
by His Excellency von Hintze for the possible recep
tion of His Majesty in Holland. After this conver
sation His Majesty again gave personal instmctions
for measures of security to be adopted during his
stay in Spa.
"Towards 7 p. m., His Excellency von Hintze
and Colonel-General von Plessen again came to
request His Majesty, in their own name and in the
name of the field-marshal, to leave for Holland
that night. The situation at home and in the army,
said the state secretary, made a speedy decision

SCENES AT SPA 321
by His Majesty essential. The possibility of His
Majesty's being seized by his own troops, as already
stated by the field-marshal, was getting nearer
and nearer.— At first, His Majesty yielded to this
pressure. Subsequently, however, on calm reflec
tion, His Majesty came to the decision not to leave
but to remain with the army and to fight to the
last. On the way to the royal train, in which the
greater part of the suite lived and in which all meals
were taken, His Majesty, about 7.45 p. m., com
municated this decision to his aides-de-camp, von
Hirschfeld and von Ilsemann. On reaching the
royal train, he proceeded to General von Gontard
and told him expressly that he would not follow the
advice given him by the Higher Command to leave
the army and the country; on the contrary, he would
stay with his army to the end and risk his Ufe.
The demand that he should leave the army was, he
said, preposterous.
"His Majesty expressed himself in the same sense
to Colonel-General von Plessen and to General
Baron Marshal.
"By supper-time (8.30 p. m.) the idea of departure
appeared to be finaUy given up.
"After supper, i. e., about 10 o'clock, Baron von
Griinau appeared under instructions from His Ex
cellency von Hintze, and reported to His Majesty
that both Field-marshal von Hindenburg and State
Secretary von Hintze had come to the conclusion

322 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
that His Majesty must start for Holland without
delay. The situation had become untenable, as
the insurrectionary movement threatened to travel
from Aix-la-ChapeUe and Eupen to Spa, and insur
gent troops were already marching on the town;
while the route to the front was blocked by mutinous
troops on the lines of communication.
"His Majesty, yielding to these renewed urgent
demands of the leading responsible military and
competent political advisers, gave orders for the
journey to the Dutch frontier to start at 5 a. m.
on November 10." —
All these facts seem to me to prove that His
Majesty did not resolve, of his own accord, to go
to Holland. On the contrary, he protested against
the idea to the very last. But all his advisers, with
the Higher Command at the head, employed the
most forcible means to wrest this decision from him.
The leading persons of his suite seem also to have
gone over to the other side in the course of the
afternoon and to have exerted themselves to ob
tain an early departure of His Majesty.
Only in this way can it be explained that, in Viel
salm, a bare hour by motor-car from Spa, we did not
get news of this decision in time for us to intervene
and to induce the Kaiser to join our Army Group. —
Tme, the situation at the front was very critical,
and our presence in the Vielsalm headquarters
extremely necessary. Nevertheless, it was a mis-

SCENES AT SPA 323
take for Schulenburg and me not to have remained
in Spa or to have taken the Kaiser along with us
when we left. We relied upon the promise of the
Kaiser and upon those around him, who knew our
views and attitude, to give us a caU immediately
any change occurred in the Kaiser's resolve.
Considering in retrospect the abdication of the
Kaiser, it seems to me that there was only one
suitable moment for such an act. That moment
was at the end of September, when Kaiser and peo
ple were startled by the miUtary coUapse and by
the demand of the Higher Command for an im
mediate armistice proposal. The revelation of the
bald truth was so crushing that the people would
have understood the Kaiser's taking upon himself
the responsibiUty and sacrificing himself. Such an
abdication would have been voluntary and would
not have weakened the monarchy. In October,
one privilege after another was wrested from the
crown. Even the Higher Command, in the middle
of October, agreed to the supreme command in
wartime bemg torn from the Kaiser — from the Chief
War Lord. Ultimately came the demand for abdi
cation, and it grew louder and louder as the hostUe
propagandists acted more and more in concert.
If it had been accorded in response to this pressure,
the crown would have been surrendered to the ab
solute control of ParUament and of the mob, and the
end would have been just the same.

324 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Or does any one still believe that the dynasties
would not have been overturned, if the Kaiser had
abdicated in the days of November or in the fore
noon of November 9? The revolution was not di
rected against the person of the Kaiser but against
monarchy. For months the ground had been undermined,
and the favorable moment was being awaited.
This moment had arrived when the people's confi
dence in Hindenburg and Ludendorff received such
a severe blow by the recognition that the war was
lost. The people were worn out; the masses were
worn out and ready for the revolution; the middle-
classes were worn out and apathetically let things
slide. The will to war and to resistance was para
lyzed; and people yielded to the delusion that they
would obtain a better peace by removing the Kaiser.
The revolution had an astoundingly easy game to
play. A few hours sufficed to sweep away the heredi
tary Princes and their governments. Without fight
ing and without bloodshed, the revolution was
accomplished— a proof of how thoroughly it was
prepared, partly by the moving and swaying forces
of our unfortunate destiny and partly by the sys
tematic work and influence of the revolutionaries.
The Kaiser recognized that the abdication de
manded from him would be the commencement of
chaos. He recognized that, for the difficult times
ahead of us, one thing especially was essential: the

SCENES AT SPA 325
one thing needful was the maintenance of authority
and of the fighting capacity of the army so that it
might resist any attempt to dictate peace. Was he
not right? The German people had received the
most extensive democratic rights. The old authority
could not be dispensed with in the hour of greatest
peril. The Higher Command were forced to sign the
ignominious armistice, not because we were defense
less, but because the field army could not continue
the campaign with the revolution in its rear.
The entire blame for their misfortune our people
have heaped upon their old Kaiser. As his son,
but also as one who was never his blind admirer, I
must demand justice in any verdict pronounced
upon my father. For three years he has been over
whelmed with abuse by the parties of the present
Government who still impute every failure to the
old regime and especially to the Kaiser, and by the
heroes of the extreme left as well as those of the
right. Like everybody else, my father was, after
all, only human, and he too was worn out. Did
not stronger men also experience their hours of
weakness in the war?
To what trials was not this sensitive and most
pacific of princes exposed in the war? The last
year of the war brought disappointment after disap
pointment. In its evil closing months, adverse in
telligence was followed by evil tidings and evil
tidings by bad news; and, in the closing days and

326 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
hours everything collapsed. He had resolved to
tread the path of duty, and in that path to fall
fighting. He relied upon the Higher Command,
who, till the 6th of November, took his part with
the whole weight of their authority.
In the decisive hour, when the nation, the home
army and the navy deserted him, that man also
faUed him who for him and for the nation was the
greatest authority and to whom he had subordinated
himself. Is it any wonder that my father tmsted this man,
this responsible adviser, more than he did me or
my chef? Is it any wonder that, in the enormous
excitement and tension which had seized him, he,
after prolonged opposition, eventually yielded be
cause his great field-marshal strove for it with all
the means at his disposal? Is it not natural that
he should have shunned a bloody straggle against
two fronts, a straggle withal which, in the judg
ment of the field-marshal general, the German
army was no longer morally capable of conducting?
What enormous difficulties lay in the fact that the
enemy Alliance was prepared to negotiate only with
a so-called popular Government ! Without a doubt,
our enemies, in the event of a conflict, would have
made the surrender of the Kaiser a preliminary
condition for the continuance of the armistice and
peace negotiations. Was my father to place army
and country in such a terrible dilemma ? And so he

SCENES AT SPA 327
acquiesced in his fate, rather than involve his brave
and severely suffering people and army in civil war
on his account. It was but logical that he should
go abroad after he had given up the stmggle with
the revolution.
I demand for the Kaiser humaneness in delibera
tion and righteousness in judgment; and yet I fear
I shall not convince his adversaries — those adver
saries who cast stones at him because he went to
HoUand and who would have stoned him just the
same, if, after abdicating, he had marched back
home. But I hope to meet with understanding for
my father among those nationally disposed Ger
mans who have the honest courage to look back
and to beat their own breasts: "He that is without
sin!"

CHAPTER VIII
EXILED TO HOLLAND May, 1921.
In the early morning of November 10, I delib
erated with my chief of staff, Count Schulenburg,
about the situation created by the departure of the
Kaiser and the possibilities left open to me. My
own inclination was stiU towards resistance.
Combat the revolution then? But only Hinden
burg, the man into whose hands the Kaiser com
mitted the supreme command over the troops at
the front and the troops at home and to whom I,
myself, am subordinate as soldier and as leader of
my Army Group, only this one man has the right
to summon us to such a combat.
And while we are still talking of him and of the
decisions which he may perhaps be making, there
comes the report from Spa that he has placed him
self at the disposal of the new Government !
Therewith, every thought of fighting is blasted
in its roots — any enterprise against the new mlers
is doomed to futility. With Hindenburg and the
watchword of order and peace, much might have
been saved; in opposing him there was only more
to be lost, namely, German blood, and the prospect
of an armistice and of peace. 328

EXILED TO HOLLAND 329
Hence, my every temptation to regain my heredi
tary power by force of arms must be repudiated;
and all that can persist is my desire in any case to
do my duty as a soldier who has sworn fealty to his
Kaiser and owes obedience to the representative
appointed by that Kaiser. Accordingly, I will re
tain the command in my hands and will safely lead
back home, in order and discipline, the troops in
tmsted to me. Count von der Schulenburg indorses
this resolve with his advice; and like views are ex
pressed by my army leaders von Einem, von Hutier,
von Eberhardt, and von Boehn, some of whom pre
sent themselves among the staff of the Army Group
in the course of the morning while the others are
communicated with by telephone. Not one of them
but is deeply affected by these unhappy decrees;
not one of them who does not regard the events of
Berlin and Spa with bewilderment. The same
question again and again: "And Hindenburg?"
And again and again the one answer: "General
Groner  "
After a long discussion of the pros and cons, I
left Vielsalm in the afternoon. Schulenburg advises
me urgently to proceed nearer to the troops at the
front during the negotiations with Berlin, and to
await the decisions of the Government in a spot
more remote from the demoralization that was
likely to find more ready expression behind the lines.
On the other hand, it is necessary to select a place

330 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
accessible by telephone. Therefore, in the end, it
is agreed that I shall, for the present, proceed to
the headquarters of the Third Army.
That drive I shall never forget. My orderly of
ficer, Zobeltitz and the courier officer of the Army
Group, Captain Anker, accompany me; while my
two adjutants, Muldner and Muller, remain behind
to conduct the further negotiations with the Gov
ernment. In one place we passed through, my car was sur
rounded by hundreds of young soldiers, who greeted
me with shouts and questions. It is a depot of re
cruits of the guards; none of the lads will believe
in the reports of the revolution, and they beg me
to march home with them. They are prepared to
batter everything to pieces ! When they hear that
Hindenburg also has placed himself at the disposal
of the new Government, they become quite silent.
That seems beyond their comprehension. I press
many hands; I hear behind me the shouts of the
young voices: "Auf Wiedersehen !" — Dear, tmsty
German lads — now doubtless German men !
We toil along incredible country roads and forest
tracks; and, about nine o'clock, we reach our goal.
But no staff is to be seen anywhere ! Accidentally,
a veterinary surgeon turns up in the dark and in
forms us that no staff has ever been located here.
The name of the headquarters of the Third Army
occurring twice, they have been incorrectly indi-

EXILED TO HOLLAND 331
cated on my map. But he will show us the way
to the next place, where von Schmettow's staff was
located yesterday.
Our route traverses a vast and pitch-dark forest.
In an hour's time we arrive at a house where every
one has already retired to rest. After much shout
ing and sounding of our motor-homs an officer at
length appears and explains that this is a school for
ensigns; von Schmettow's group has already left.
The young man is exceedingly kind, as though he
must apologize for Schmettow's having gone. He
begs me to stay the night; he does not know where
the Third Army Staff is located, but presumes
Einem to have taken up his quarters in the neigh
borhood of the little town of Laroche.
We proceed, therefore, on our night journey.
Eventually we find Laroche. It is a railway junc
tion. It is a terrible chaos through which we drive:
bawling, undisciplined men going on leave, shouts
and screams; and storming of the trains. At the
commandant's, we learn that the Third Army Staff
is lodged in a house quite close by.
Off we start again ! On a deeply ratted road we
have to pass under a narrow railway arch. Here an
Austrian howitzer battery has jammed itself into
some German munition vans in a hopeless entangle
ment. It is pitch dark to boot. The small lights
flicker; the men shout and curse. Our car sinks
deeper and deeper into the mud; and a fine, cold

332 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
drizzle pours down. And thus we sit there and wait
in that chaos for two whole hours. The yelling and
bawling at the railway station reverberates over our
heads; groups of muddy shirkers and soldiers from
the lines of communication drift mistrustfully past,
casting greedy, sidelong looks at us as they go by.
Two such hours, after that flood of terrible events
and with one's heart full of pain and bitterness. It
is like a picture of the ghastly end of our four and a
half years of heroic straggle: confusion, insanity,
crime. I would not wish my worst enemy the burning
torture of those hours.
It was past midnight when we eventually reached
the army headquarters, where we were welcomed
with cordial friendship by His Excellency von Einem
and his chief of staff, Lieutenant-Colonel von
Klewitz. They had been expecting us since late
in the afternoon, and had begun to fear some mis
fortune might have overtaken us and they would
not see us again.
We soon retire to bed; but again I find it scarcely
possible to sleep.
The eleventh is a cold, sombre day. At the
Third Army Headquarters not a trace of the revo
lution is observable. From the chief of staff down
to the lowest orderly, everything is irreproachable;
and it is a pleasure to see the smartness and alacrity
of the men. Were it not that all the unspeakably

EXILED TO HOLLAND 333
bitter experiences of the last few days are burned
indelibly into my brain, I could, at the sight of this
perfect order, imagine myself awaking from a hor
rible dream. Klewitz told me, by the way, that a
soldiers' council had been formed among his tele
phone staff; but he had soon put an end to it, and
the men came to him afterwards to apologize.
In the course of the forenoon, the leader of the
First Guards, General Eduard von Jena and his gen
eral staff officer, Captain von Steuben, reported to
me. They are both fine, well-tried men. We were
much affected; and when they took leave of me,
tears were in their eyes.
In the afternoon I telephone to my adjutants at
Vielsalm. They report that, in regard to the nego
tiations with the Government, they are again com
municating with Berlin, but no decisions have been
come to yet. One thing I request, namely, that no
sort of conclusive settlement shall be made, that the
final decision be left to me.
Hence, wait on ! Wait? Wait for what miracle?
Is not, in all that I already know, all that is barely
concealed under the form of discussions and negotia
tions, the "No" of the gentlemen in Berlin clearly
audible? And, indeed, if they are to retain the
power they have usurped, can they act otherwise?
And if I wish our poor and oft-tried country to have
peace, can I repudiate their "No"?
One unforgetable impression of that day I must

334 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
record here: It is evening. Sunk in agonizing
thought, I am walking alone in the park of the cha
teau. I have taken refuge in this solitude and seclu
sion in order to look in the face the finalities which
are about to be consummated.
And I reason thus. When that "No," which is
surely coming, has robbed you of your place beside
your comrades, and has reft from you your re
sponsibilities and duties as an active soldier — what
then? Are you then to take one of the trains at
Liege or Herbesthal and travel to Berlin in order not
to become the nucleus of disturbances by remaining
with the troops ? Will you live there as an idle gen
tleman passively watching them — in the wild frenzy
and raving delirium of their jaded, goaded and mis
guided brains — violate all that tradition had made
so sacred to you and to them? Or would you like
to be there as the person on whom all their quarrels
turned? "No!" But a way opens out at the moment
when you are forced by their "No" to give up your
desire to return home with the troops, at the moment
when you are deposed by the new mlers and dis
charged from the service. That way is the way
across the frontier.
Over there, away from all fermenting conflicts,
you might wait a few weeks till the worst of the
storm is over and reason and discernment have helped
to restore order. Then, at the latest, on the con-

EXILED TO HOLLAND 335
elusion of peace, you could return to your wife and
children and to the fresh labors which await you
and every other German.
I think of my father, whom, in this way, I should
see again 
And the whole bitterness of this separation and
this exile comes over me.
Early dusk veUs the autumn trees; sleet is falling,
and a penetrating chill arises from the wet, moulder
ing leaves and the soddened earth.
Suddenly, along the road outside, a company
marches by. The men are singing our fine old
soldiers' song, "Nach der Heimat mdcht' ich wie-
der  "
Singing! Marching! "Good God," I think to
myself. I stmggle with my feelings as best I can;
but they are too strong for me, I cannot resist them.
StUl they sing — softer now and more distant 
I kept up until then. But that — in the darkness
and soUtude in which no one could see — that over
came me.
Late in the evening arrived the declaration of the
Government that, having heard the advice of War
Minister General Scheuch, they must refuse to
allow me to remain any longer in the Higher Com
mand of the Army Group. The new commander-
in-chief had no further use for me. And so nothing
was left but to write my farewell letter. It ran as
follows;

336 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Headquarters of the Crown Prince Army Group
"German Crown Prince," November 11, 1918.
Dear Field-Marshal General,
In these days— the most grievous of my father's
life and of mine — I must beg to take leave of Your
Excellency in this way. With deep emotion, I have
been forced to the decision to avaU myself of the
sanction accorded by Your Excellency to my relin
quishing my post of commander-in-chief, and shall,
for the present, take up residence abroad. It is
only after a severe inward straggle that I have been
able to reconcile myself to this step; for it tears
every fibre of my heart not to be able to lead back
home my Army Group and my brave troops to whom
the Fatherland owes such an infinite debt.
I consider it important, however, once again to
give Your Excellency, at this hour, a brief sketch of
my attitude; and I beg Your Excellency to make
whatever use of my words may seem at all fitting to
you. Contrary to many unjust opinions which have en
deavored to represent me as having always been a
war-inciter and reactionary, I have, from the outset,
advocated the view that this war was, for us, a war
of defense; and, in the years 1916, 1917 and 1918, I
often emphasized, both by word of mouth and in
writing, the opinion that Germany ought to seek to
end the war and that she should be glad if she could
maintain her status quo against the entire world.

EXILED TO HOLLAND 337
So far as home politics are concerned, I have been
the last to oppose a liberal development of our con
stitution. This conception I communicated in writ
ing to the Imperial Chancellor, Prince Max of Baden,
only a few days ago. Nevertheless, when the vio
lence of events swept my father from the throne, I
was not merely not heard, but, as Crown Prince and
heir-apparent, simply ignored.
I therefore request Your Excellency to take notice
that I enter a formal protest against this violation
of my person, my rights and my claims.
In spite of these facts, I held to my view that,
considering the severe shocks which the army was
bound to sustain through the loss of its Kaiser and
Chief War Lord as well as through the ignominious
terms of the armistice, I ought to remain at my post
in order to spare it the fresh disappointment of see
ing the Crown Prince also discharged from his posi
tion as mUitary commander-in-chief. In this, too,
I was led by the idea that, even though my own
person might be exposed to the most painful conse
quences and conflicts, the holding together of my
Army Group would avert further disaster, from our
Fatherland, whom we all serve. These consequences
to myself I should have endured in the conviction
that I was doing my country a service. But the
attitude of the present Government had also neces
sarily to be taken into account in deciding whether
I was to continue in my military command. From

338 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
that Government I have received notice that no
further military activity on my part is looked for,
although I should have been prepared to accept
any employment. I believe, therefore, that I have
remained at my post as long as my honor as officer
and soldier required of me.
Your Excellency will, at the same time, take
notice that copies of this letter have been despatched
to the Minister of the Royal Household, the Prussian
State Ministry, the Vice-president of the House of
Deputies, the President of the House of Lords, the
Chef du Cabinet militaire, the Chef du Cabinet civil
and a few of the miUtary leaders with whom I am
more intimately acquainted.
I bid Your Excellency farewell with the ardent
wish that our beloved Fatherland may find the way
out of these severe storms to internal recovery and
to a new and better future. In conclusion, I am,"
Yours, (Signed) WILHELM,
Crown Prince of the German
Empire and of Pmssia.
To His Excellency, Field-Marshal General
von Hindenburg, Chief of the General Staff
of the Field Army. General Headquarters.
Soon after these incidents, I felt the desire to have
a short account prepared of all that had taken place,
including more especially the progress of the nego-

EXILED TO HOLLAND 339
tiations between my Army Group in Vielsalm and
the Government in Berlin during my stay at Third
Army Headquarters. As a supplement to the de
scription given by me, I insert here the account
drawn up and signed by my chief of staff, Major-
General Count von der Schulenburg and my two
acting adjutants Miiller and Muldner: —
Account of the Events of the 10th and 11th of
November, 1918.
On November 10, 1918, the chief of the General
Staff of the Army Group under the German Crown
Prince, Major-General Count Schulenburg urgently
advised His Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince,
to remain at the head of the Army Group. The
Commanders-in-Chief v. Einem, von Boehn, v.
Eberhardt and von Hutier, some of whom appeared
personally in the headquarters of the Army Group,
indorsed this view, each expressing his opinion in
dependently to the Crown Prince. On November
10 the Crown Prince betook himself to the front,
viz., to Third Army Headquarters, in order not to
come prematurely into contact with various signs of
demoralization. In Vielsalm, the headquarters of the Army Group,
a conference was held, on November 11, with His
Excellency von Hintze, in which Count Schulenburg
and the two personal adjutants, Major von Miiller

340 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
and Major von Muldner, took part. Count Schu
lenburg advocated the Crown Prince's remaining
at the head of his Army Group. He pointed out
that the field-marshal and Groner were also of this
opinion. In general, the two personal adjutants
agreed with this view, but they called attention to
the fact that, before his departure for Holland, the
Kaiser had declared that, under no circumstances,
must civil war be inflamed in Germany. Willingly
or unwillingly, however, now that the Kaiser had
crossed into Dutch territory, the Crown Prince, as
things stood, would, in all probability, become the
cause of such civil war.
Even if this factor were excluded, it might be
assumed with certainty that the new Government
would bring about, with all convenient speed, the
termination of so commanding a military part as
that held by the Crown Prince. At the latest, this
would have to take place at the Rhine; and then
there would no longer be left to the Crown Prince
any decision as to his further actions. He would
presumably be forced to accept any conditions im
posed upon him and would not even have any choice
as to his future domicile. If he chose it in Germany
he would always remain the nucleus of movements
that might lead to incalculable consequences. His
Excellency von. Hintze declared that the question
of whether the Prince was to remain or depart was
one to be decided by the responsible military au
thorities. It was agreed to inquire of the Govern-

EXILED TO HOLLAND 341
ment, and His Excellency von Hintze offered to
transmit the question. He requested the Imperial
Chancellor to come to the telephone. The chan
cellor was at a sitting and could not be spoken to.
His place was taken by Herr von Prittwitz and
Herr Baacke. While His Excellency von Hintze
was talking with these gentlemen, Count Schulen
burg dictated to Major von Muldner the inquiry
put to the Government by the Crown Prince: —
"The Crown Prince has a fervent desire to remain
at the head of his Army Group and, in these serious
times, to do his duty like every other soldier. He
will lead his troops back home in strict order and
discipline, and he engages to undertake nothing
against the Government in these times. What is
the attitude of the Government in this matter?"
His Excellency von Hintze telephoned this inquiry
to Herr Baacke, who wrote it down and verified it.
During these negotiations, the Crown Prince called
for Count Schulenburg and His Excellency von
Hintze and demanded that no final arrangements
should be made and that, in any case, he reserved
to himself the decision.
Late in the evening, Major von Muldner received
a telephone message to the effect that, after having
consulted the war minister, Scheuch, the Govern
ment must answer the inquiry of the Crown Prince
in the negative, and that they had no intention of
leaving the Crown Prince in command.
Thereupon, and with the consent of Field-Marshal

342 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
von Huidenburg, the Crown Prince laid down the
command and, after a severe internal straggle, re
solved in favor of the journey to Holland, saying to
himself that, after the decision already formed, his
remaming would not bring about any change in the
situation but would only aggravate and confuse it,
so that he was convinced he ought to make this
sacrifice for the Fatherland.
The departure took place in the forenoon of No
vember 12.
Berlin, April 4, 1919.
(Signed) VON MULLER, Major.
MULDNER VON MULNHEIM,
Major.
COUNT VON DER SCHULENBURG,
Major-General.
The next night is sleepless, restless. It is like one
long horror to a tortured heart which must now
tear itself away by the roots from its affections, hor
ror against the brain which vainly racks itself for a
better solution of the problems.
In the end, only one thing stands clear, namely,
that not through me or on my account must be shed
further blood at home, that I dare not be a hindrance
to any possible restoration of internal tranquillity or
to the finding of a peace which the Fatherland can
bear.

EXILED TO HOLLAND 343
We intend to travel in the early morning — to
travel across the frontier into Holland. Two cars
with only the most absolutely indispensable luggage.
We have talked about it for days; and I have
thought of scarcely anything else at night; yet now
that it faces me in all its reality, I can hardly realize
it. Quite quietly and with but few words, I should
like to leave the Third Army Headquarters. What
can be said has been said. And every military duty
has been fulfiUed up to the last moment. The com
mand of the Army Group hitherto intmsted to me
passed to Lieutenant-General von Einem with the
advent of the armistice. Departure — stem com
pulsion ordains it. Why make the heart stUl
heavier? But, when I enter the hall, the whole Head
quarters Staff is there in full regimentals and with
their helmets on — all of them, even the clerks and
orderlies. In front of them, leaning upon his sword,
stands the fine old colonel-general, von Einem; next
to him is his chief of staff, my good Klewitz — that
admirable soldier, never daunted though things were
often so black ! Only that, in his sturdy features,
there is something I have never seen there before.
Einem speaks — encouraging, deeply felt words, be
lief in a new future! Three cheers for the com
mander-in-chief of the Army Group fill the hall
and re-echo above my head.

344 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Commander-in-chief of the Army Group? Am
I that still? Perhaps at this moment the field-
marshal general holds my letter of resignation in
his hands.
I cannot speak, cannot answer. I press the hands
of the old and weU-tried officers; and I see tears on
the cheeks of the men.
We must be off.
On the way, we have to halt with the staff of the
First Army, which has its quarters in the picturesque
Rochefort Chateau in the Ardennes, not far from
Namur. There, at General von Eberhardt's — the
general was for a long time a tmsty leader in my
Army Group — I have to meet my chief of staff.
Thus, I have another bitter farewell to take from
him also, from the man who, during the severest
period of the war, stood nearest to me as my military
assistant and adviser, and to whom, for all that he
gave me as a soldier and a man, I am so deeply
indebted. We are all deeply moved as I now sign the last
army order to my troops.
"To my Armies !
"His Majesty the Kaiser having laid down the
supreme command and the armistice being con
cluded, I am compelled by circumstances to retire
from the leadership of my Army Group. As ever
heretofore, so also to-day I can only thank my brave

EXILED TO HOLLAND 345
armies and each man in them from the bottom of
my heart for the heroic courage, self-sacrifice and
resignation with which, in prosperity and in adver
sity, they have faced every danger and endured
every privation for the Fatherland.
The Army Group has not been defeated by force
of arms ! Hunger and bitter distress have conquered
us! Proudly and with heads erect, my Army
Group can leave the soil of France which the best
German blood had won. Their escutcheon is un
blemished, their honor untainted. Let every one
see to it that they remain so, both now and later
in the homeland.
Four long years I was permitted to be with my
armies in victory and in distress; four long years
my whole heart was given up to my troops. Deeply
moved, I part from them to-day, and I bow my
head before the splendor of their mighty deeds
which history will some day write in words of flame
for later generations.
Be tme to your leaders as you have been heretofore,
tUl the command comes which shall set you free
for wife and child, for hearth and for home. God
be with you and with our German Fatherland !
"WILHELM,
"The Commander-in-Chief,
"Crown Prince of the German Empire
and of Pmssia."

346 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
And now the moment of separation has come here
too. I can scarcely tear myself away.
But it must be — my people urge me. Muldner
has been holding a cap ready for me for some time
— a gray infantry cap; he thinks, I suppose, that I
shall not notice what it is in this torment and dis
traction; he wishes to disguise me with it, in his
affectionate care imagining that I shall be safer and
less easUy recognized in that unaccustomed color.
"No, I want my Hussar cap for this last journey,
too ! No one will do me any harm !"
And now they pretend to be unable to find it.
But I wait; and, at last, the black one with the
death's-head turns up and I don it once again.
I look into their faithful eyes; we can only nod;
words stick in the throat. Schulenburg jerks out:
"If you see my lord and Kaiser over there in Hol
land  " then he falters, too.
The motor whirs; and we start.
We drive through the back areas of two disin
tegrating armies, districts which are disengaging
themselves in mad haste from the firmly established
order of a four years' campaign.
Our cars are gray; they carry my three tmsty
companions and myself to the bitter end. In the
front car are Miiller and Muldner, I following them
in the other car with the sick Zobeltitz.
There are soldiers everywhere, saluting and shout
ing. No, I was right; no one will interfere with me.

EXILED TO HOLLAND 347
I return their salutes; and I can't help thinking,
again and again: "If you lads only knew how I
feel just now."
Our route goes via Andenne to Tongem. Belgian
soil; everywhere the Belgian flags are flying in the
towns, and the population is celebrating.
Moreover, the look of our own people changes as
we get farther and farther from the front. Crowds
of men who once were soldiers now drift along with
out discipline. Shouts that are no longer friendly
greet our ears. There is the incessant repetition of
the sUly catchwords of those days; swaggering and
bragging, each boaster tries to outdo the other in
his display of rebelliousness, shouting : " Knives out ! "
"Gofor'im!" "Blood up!"
But we are stopped nowhere.
At one spot we pass a cattle transport driven by
"Landsturm" men. One old chap, passing close to
the car and waving a red flag above his oxen, curses
me roundly; the officers, he says, are to blame for it
all; they've kept hey-day — he is half famished! —
That is really too much for me, and I give the miser
able man such a dressing-down that, trembling and
white as a sheet, he makes salute after salute.
Wretched rabble that have never faced the enemy
and are now playing at revolution !
Just before Vroenhoven we see the last German
troops; "Landsturm," they are making off toward
home.

348 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Near Vroenhoven we halt in. the Dutch barbed
wire. My heart thumps loudly as I jump out of the car.
I am thoroughly conscious that the few paces before
me are decisive. As though all crowded together in
one moment, the pitiless and tormenting scenes of
the last few days stand once again before me: Spa;
the Kaiser; the field-marshal; Groner's face; my
Schulenburg, adjuring and undauntedly opposing the
others; my father's letter; and the decision from
Berlin which gives me my discharge and cuts the
ground from under my feet.
No, it must be; it must be; there is no other way.
Suddenly there come into my mind the words
that General von Falkenhayn used to call out to
me when, as a boy, I had to take some difficult ob
stacle with my horse: "Fling your heart across first;
the rest will follow."
Then I take the few steps in front of me.
Veiled, blurred and uncertain is my impression of
what followed next. People surround me, comrades
(Muller deadly earnest; and Muldner, self-possessed,
soldierly, practical and clear as ever) and stran
gers. There is a young, perfectly correct Dutch officer,
who at first is so surprised that he cannot grasp the
situation and does not know what to do with us.
But he sees that we cannot remain here; conse
quently, we are taken past a presenting guard into a

EXILED TO HOLLAND 349
small inn, where amiable and silent attendants serve
us with hot coffee.
Meantime Maastricht is rang up. The young offi
cer returns. He is, himself, oppressed by the duty
incumbent upon him: he must request the surrender
of our weapons. Then follows a moment of intense
bitterness, which is rendered endurable only by the
tact of the petitioner.
Baron von Hunefeld and Baron Grote come over
from Maastricht. Soon Colonel Schroder of the
military police arrives with his adjutant. Our fur
ther destiny lies in his hands. He acts energeti
cally. Telephones ring and telegrams are des
patched. Reports, inquiries, regulations to be ob
served. Thus our destiny begins to shape itself.
In any case, we are first to proceed to the prefec
ture in Maastricht and to await the Government's
decision at the residence of the governor of the
Province of Limburg.
Again we drive off. Everything is warlike here
also. The streets of the town are blocked with
guards, wires and chevaux-de-frise. The news of
our arrival, too, has spread with incredible celerity;
and the people regard us with sinister looks. "The
Boches are here ! The Crown Prince ! "
It is nearly one o'clock when we enter the prefec
ture. On the square below is a raging, yelling crowd,
consisting mostly of Belgians.

350 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
Baron van Hoevel tot Westerflier receives us with
a thoroughly humane and magnanimous comprehen
sion of our position, and endeavors in every way to
alleviate our melancholy situation. He, too, de
clares that our arrival has come as a complete sur
prise to the Dutch Government and that further de
cisions must be awaited. He then leaves us alone in
the cold splendor of the large hall of the prefecture.
However tactfully it may be done, however skU-
fully the veil may be drawn over the reality, one feels
oneself to be, after all, a prisoner, to be no longer a
free man, master of one's own decisions, to be a
person who may be compelled to stay or forced to
go. To all the other torments is now added the
feeling that one wears invisible shackles.
We sit doing nothing round the table on highly
ceremonious chairs; or we range restlessly round the
room, or stare silently out of the tall window.
What is going to happen now?
The hands of the timepiece seem scarcely to move;
sometimes I think they have stopped altogether.
And, to make things worse, good Zobeltitz, poor
fellow, lies doubled up with pain on the plush-cov
ered bench.
Occasionally one of us talks — rather to himself
than to the rest. It is always the same thing, one
of those thoughts that go buzzing through our heads
and which we cannot properly grasp; and no one
makes any answer.

EXILED TO HOLLAND 351
Now and then there is a knock at the door.
Every one is filled with expectation. But it is noth
ing; only the governor sending to inquire after our
wishes or the commandant of police mforming us
that he is still waiting for instmctions.
And again we are alone, our thoughts busy with
the past from which we are physically separated, or
turned towards the future into which we cannot see.
Broodingly we ask ourselves: "What is happening
behind us while we wait here like caged animals?
What in the field, among the men who have been
our comrades for four and a half years? What in
the homeland? What at home among our wives
and children?
Zobel has got up with difficulty and is creeping
about the room. Now and again his honest, dark
eyes catch mine. In spite of all the tortures of his
stomach, which ought to have been under the sur
geon's knife long ago, he looks at me as though he
would fain do something for me. Then he stops
in a comer before the white bust of William of
Orange, who gazes down comfortably and in dignity
from his pedestal. Zobeltitz nods to him and says
philosophically: "Aye, aye, my dear Van Houten,
you never dreamed it would come to this, did you ? "
How much bitterness may not be mitigated by
such a sudden sally of humor in the midst of de
spair! The martyrdom of waiting is almost ren
dered easier.

352 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
The Baron has dinner served for us. Notwith
standing all our protestations, a real dinner. It is
all so well meant; but, in the mood which now holds
us in its clutches, we can scarcely swallow a mouthful.
At last, by midnight, things are settled. We are,
for the present, to find shelter in Hillenraadt Castle
belonging to Count Mettemich.
Again we are in open cars, with the police officer
beside us. The streets through which we pass are
cordoned off by patrols of marees chaussees, in ac
cordance with the wise and proper orders of Colonel
Schroder. A bitterly cold fog lies over the landscape and
makes the night still more impenetrable. Only the
searchlights bore white funnels in the dark mto
which we hasten. It is as though, at one moment,
they threaten to swallow us up, and the next have
hurried phantom-like away.
Two hours pass thus.
Then we stop before the Count's castle near Roer-
mond. We remove our coats in the great hall which is
faintly lighted by candles. Stiff with cold we are,
wretched at heart and rootless on foreign soil.
Suddenly, the lady of the house descends the
stairs — young, blonde, dressed all in black, a chain
of pearls round her slender neck. All feeling of
strangerhood vanishes before those warm and sym
pathetic eyes.

EXILED TO HOLLAND 353
From that moment onward throughout the un
speakably difficult ten days which we spend in Hil-
lenraadt Castle, this kind woman looks after us
with the most delicate tact, and becomes to me a
good friend with whom I can talk over many a tor
turing question. The Countess is a believing Cath
olic and suffers severely under the misfortune which
has come upon our country; moreover, she is deeply
anxious about her husband, who, during these days
of revolution, is in Berlin.
Thus pass ten days, during which, while bad news
follows bad news from the field and from home,
negotiations are carried on with the Dutch Govern
ment concerning our future. In the course of these
proceedings, it appears that outward circumstances
compel Holland to couple the question of my intern
ment with my arrival and my wish to sojourn tem
porarily on neutral soil. Only under guarantees to
the outside world is it possible for the neutral State
to afford him hospitality or to endeavor to oppose
the demands already being made for my "extradi
tion." Thus, I have suddenly found myself in a
position of constraint. In view of the conclusion
of the armistice on November 11, the possibility of
such a situation arising never occurred to any one
in considering the pros and cons of my journey —
neither to me, nor my chief of staff, nor the gentle
men about me, nor the state secretary of the For
eign Office, nor His Excellency von Hintze, nor the

354 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
General Higher Command. We all cherished the
assured conviction that I could claim exactly the
same rights as all the gentlemen of the Imperial
suite, none of whom had been interned or were to
be interned, and whose movements were left to their
own discretion. Despite the difficulties and tor
ments involved, these discussions and negotiations
are conducted by the representatives of the Dutch
Government in a spirit of genuine humaneness. In
full accord with the character of the Dutch people,
every one of the men with whom we came into con
tact over the matter proved to be just, impartial
and ready to stand up for his own personal convic
tion. At length, we receive some sort of indication as
to my future. Colonel Schroder brings me news
that the Dutch Government have appointed the
Isle of Wieringen for my residence.
Wierigen ? The Isle of Wieringen ?
No one in the house knows where the island may
be. Wieringen ?
I hear the name for the first time in my life; I
can form no notion of it, attach no idea to it.
And now, as I write these reminiscences, I have
been living for nearly three years on this small spot
of sea-girt earth.
Even this last phase of the journey into exile is
full of little hindrances, vexations and annoyances.

EXILED TO HOLLAND 355
Early in the morning we bid farewell to our kind
Countess as the train leaves Roermond Station at
seven o'clock. A Dutch captain is appointed as
our companion.
Towards one o'clock, we are in Amsterdam-
many inquisitive people throng the station, and
there is a cordon of soldiers — and by three o'clock
we reach Enkhuizen, an out-of-the-way place on the
shores of the Zuyder Zee. As we had learned on
the way, a steam-yacht of the Administration of
Hydraulic Engineering is to meet us here and take
us across to the Isle of Wieringen.
But, in the fog, the yacht has run herself on a
sand-bank off Enkhuizen and begs to be excused.
During my consequent enforced stay at Enkhuizen,
the population gives utterance to its feelings in cries,
yells, hoots, and curses. By an unmistakab1e ges
ture towards the neck followed by an upward move
ment of the hand, the crowd, with a remarkable
expenditure of mimicry, makes it clear to me how
thoroughly the caricature of my person produced
and disseminated by Entente propaganda has fixed
itself in their minds. In any case, all this does not
exactly tend to enliven one's feelings.
After a long palaver, it is eventually decided to
go on board a little steam-tug and to search for our
yacht. So off we go. The fog on the Zuyder Zee is so
thick that we can scarcely see twenty yards ahead,

356 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
and an icy wind is blowing from the open sea. We
stand on the deck of the little pitching and rolling
steamer and stare into the fog for hours together.
It is a cheerless business.
At last we find the yacht. But there is not much
comfort to be gained from her. Her screw is broken.
First, we have to tug her off. Then she is lashed
alongside the tug; and we are then, it would seem,
in a position to steer for Wieringen.
Aye, if we only knew where Wieringen lay. In
the fog and the deepening darkness and the heavy
storm and the turbulent sea, our magnificent navi
gators spend hours in searching for the island. But
the island cannot be found; it has vanished, as though
devoured by the sea and the fog. In the end, some
where about ten o'clock at night, they give up the
search and decide to drop anchor till the morning.
But this again proves to be fool's wisdom, for the
sea is so rough that the two ships are continually
bumped against one another. A number of rivets
have already been loosened, and, if things go on
like this, there is every prospect of our being
drowned — man and mouse. And so up comes the
anchor again !
Next we try to reach the harbor of Medemblik
on the mainland, and — bold seafarers bemg often
blessed rather with good luck than with brains— we
at last manage to get there towards midnight.
Wieringen ? Just a foretaste which prevented our

EXILED TO HOLLAND 357
expectations from running too high; that was all
that this day brought us.
But next day the effort succeeded. The sea hav
ing quieted down, we go aboard in the morning and
make the island about noon in calm, clear winter
weather. Indelible is the impression of that moment in
which I first set foot upon the firm ground of this
little comer of earth.
The harbor is again crowded with people. There
are the quiet and distrustful natives of the place
staring at this curious billeting; and there are re
porters from all parts of the world and deft-handed
photographers. It makes you feel like some rare animal that has
at last been successfully caught. I should like to
say to each of these busybodies: "Ask nothing,
and get out of the way with your quizzing camera.
I want quiet; I want to collect my thoughts and to
rearrange my ideas after all this disaster — and
nothing more!"
In a primeval vehicle — assuredly the best the
island boasts — we proceed to the village of Ooster-
land. The venerable jolting-car smells of oil and
mief and ancient leather. Even still, if I close my
eyes and recall that hour, I can smell that ineradi
cable odor.
We are set down at the Uttle parsonage, which
is very much out of repair. Everything is bare and
desolate.

358 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
A few rickety old pieces of furniture — absolute
cripples ! Chilliness and solitude ensconced like phan
toms between them.
The decrepit chariot outside turns groaning and
moanmg on its axles and jogs off homeward through
the fog.
Home !— The thought of it almost chokes me.
Days and weeks ensue that are so cheerless and
leaden as to be almost unbearable.
Like a prisoner, like an outlaw, I move among
this small group of people, who turn away their
lowering, shy visages as they pass or, at most, look
askance at me with inquisitive half-closed eyes. I
am the bloodthirsty baby-killer; people are embit
tered against the Government for having imposed
such a burden upon this honest island and for letting
me roam about it untrammelled.
The burgomaster, Peereboom, has his work cut
out for him; it is a difficult task to calm these agi
tated souls.
And absolutely heart-rending news dribbles in
from home concerning the course of events! We
have no German newspapers. Only from Dutch
journals — which are out-of-date by the time they
reach us — can we spell out the tenor of the London,
Paris and Amsterdam telegrams; and their tenor is
"blood and tumult," the palace shelled and pil
laged, domination by the sailors, Spartacist battles,
a threat of invasion by the Entente.

EXILED TO HOLLAND 359
One would like to cry out for a little hope, for a
little light to be granted to the land to which every
fibre of one's heart is attached and for whose peace
and security one would willingly make every sacri
fice! Sacrifice? Yes, they ask one from me, of which I
will speak here.
On December 1, von Pannwitz, secretary to the
German Legation at The Hague, arrives with a
fresh demand sent by the new German Government.
The secretary is an old member of my corps in my
student days at Bonn. God knows, the task can
scarcely have been an easy one for him, and he
doubtless undertook it only because what he had to
tell me was less painful to listen to from the lips of
a friend than from those of a stranger.
He is to obtain from me a formal renunciation of
my personal claims.
A renunciation! — Why? — What for? — The gen
tlemen in Berlin, who hold the power in their hands
and who, according to their own assertions, represent
the will of the majority of the German people, have
not hitherto been so pedantic and punctilious in
their dealings with the rights of the Hohenzollerns.
Did they not, on November 9, announce the abdica
tion of His Majesty and my own renunciation, with
out waiting for the Kaiser's decision or even advising
me? And did not the same lips which, a few weeks
before, had swom fealty to His Majesty, without a

360 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
scrapie proclaim the German repubUc? What can
my renunciation signify to those gentlemen? It
has not been their custom heretofore to trouble
about such small matters !
But other considerations press for attention.
What is the tme foundation of the rights exercised
by a ruler who regards himself as the chief servant of
the State, or by the prospective heir to a throne who,
according to traditional law, is some day to take
over that service ? Is it merely his ancestry and his
inherited and guaranteed claims? Or is it not
rather only by gaming the confidence of the nation
which intrusts itself voluntarily to the leadership of
one who is carrying on the tradition that he earns
afresh the real substance of those actual rights?
Is not the one without the other void and empty?
And, can I, without further consideration, believe
that I have the confidence and attachment of the
majority of Germans, after our collapse, in this hour
of deepest distress and humiliation, when so many
hundreds of thousands see before them a portrait
of me which is nothing but a disfigurement, a viU-
fication, a distortion of my tme self? — No, that is
impossible !
Shall I present to my German Fatherland the
spectacle of one who persists in demanding his rights
when they deny him the best elements in these
rights— love and confidence? Shall I, by a rigid
insistence upon "my bond," provide a war-cry for

EXILED TO HOLLAND 361
all those who stand for monarchy in the State, and
that at a time when, according to my deepest con
victions, the Fatherland — whether as republic or
as monarchy — demands from all of us internal sol
idarity against the rapacious desires of the "victors"
around us and work, work, work ? — Once more, No !
And if, under the stress of circumstances and for
the benefit of the whole, the individual renounces a
prescriptive right, does he thereby relinquish any
particle of that sublimer free right of obeying a pos
sible summons issued to him by the will of the
majority? My renunciation, proceeding from my
love of the Fatherland, cannot be regarded as blame
worthy. It is evidence of one thing only, that in
the fateful hours, with the enemy at our gates and
divided counsels at home, when the great need of
the moment was to save the country from further
dissensions, I obeyed the demands which were cal
culated to serve her interests.
And so, I yielded to the somewhat belated wishes
of the new Government; but I repeat that it was
not for their sakes and not because I recognized
any of the traditional rights of my position as
in any way affected by the violent doings of the
revolution; no, it was because, so far as in me lies,
I desire, as much as any one of my compatriots,
honestly to help in preventing conflagration and in
healing and strengthening by devotion and self-
abnegation our so severely tried Fatherland, till the

362 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
hour shall come in which I, too, may take active
part with my fellows in productive labor in my
home country. September, 1921.
I have pemsed again the pages describing my
journey to Holland and the almost unbearable first
weeks of my sojourn on the island here. Vividly
present is the recollection of that painful past. And
yet it is so distant — almost three years ! Those who
then regarded me with deep-rooted distmst, with
reserve and even with repulsion have long since be
come friends who admit me to their joys and sor
rows, small as well as great, — friends whose simple
and straightforward fairness lightens my solitude by
many a token of genuine good-will.
It is tme, too, that the tranquillity and seclusion
of the island have doubtless tended to deepen and
enrich my powers of discernment; and yet, all this
and all that the Dutch people have given me in
their hospitality could not make me forget my Ger
man homeland. My old love for her and my long
ing for the people who are my kindred are as strong
in me as ever.
The hour of fulfilment has, alas, not yet stmck,
and I cannot yet actively co-operate in the work of
restoration; all I can do is to await that hour in
self-control and patience, enduring meanwhile the
hardships of exile and solitude without complaint.

EXILED TO HOLLAND 363
I have sketched in these pages the most important
matters of my life up till now, and I have not wit
tingly suppressed any essentials.
I have finished.
But I would not say good-by to those Germans
who have followed my course in this narrative with
out expressing to them the wishes that fill my heart
for them, for us all, for our sacred Fatherland which
gave us birth and which, whether it flourish or
whether it fade is the source from which our life's
blood issues.
What, in our great depression and misery we
most of all need, in order to regain our old position,
is internal unity founded upon self-sacrificing love
of the Fatherland, coupled with national conscious
ness and national dignity.
Away with the acrimonious cries which tend to
perpetuate internal strife and prevent the return of
peace! It cannot be our aim continually to re
proach one another with having broken the pitcher.
In some way we were all of us sinners; and what we
need is a new vessel instead of the shards of the
old one.
Let every one who may be called to share in de
termining the destiny of the German people to-day
feel the full weight of the responsibilities intmsted
to him ! May that much-abused and often miscon
strued saying "Room for the competent !" at length
be turned to deeds ! Let us have only the best men

364 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE
at the helm ! Let the most tested experts, the most
capable, the stoutest come to the front ! It is not
a question of whether they come from the right or
from the left, whether they have or have not a past,
whether they are republicans or monarchists, em
ployers or workmen, Christians or Jews; all that
should be asked is whether they are honest men in
spired with German feelings and prepared to work
for the reconstruction of their country with all
their might and all their combined vigor — united
at home and strong towards the world without.
Fettered by the chains which the impossible and
criminal Treaty of Versailles has forced upon our
powerlessness, Germany has lain prostrate and help
less for three years. She is helpless because she
squanders her strength in internal feuds, because a
large proportion of her people continue to listen to the
"Pied-Piper" melodies of those rogues or madmen
who sing them the alluring lay of universal brother
hood in the paradise of internationalism. How long
is it to last, how long? Open your eyes and look
around you; and you will see that this world by which
you are encompassed is one homogeneous proof that
nowhere is a hand held out to help you and that
only he who helps himself finds recognition. Above
all, be Germans, and take your stand firmly on the
ground of practical politics in this so eminently prac
tical world, reserving your romanticism for better
days in which it will be less fatal to the whole fabric.

EXILED TO HOLLAND 365
Believe me, a German people which buries its
party quarrels, which liberates itself from the miser
able materialism of these recent years and which,
united in its love for our impoverished and yet so
gloriously beautiful Fatherland, straggles for freedom
with an indomitable will, — such a German people
can shake off its shackles and burst its manacles.
But you must display sternness, and you must
wrestle with that fervor which knows only the one
ardent longing and cries: "I will not let thee go,
except thou bless me."
I do not summon to revenge or to arms or to vio
lence. I call upon the spirit of Germany; let that
be strengthened; for the mind makes the deed and
the destiny — and senseless is the tool without the
master. — Possibly this saying is the key to that
destiny through which we have been passing for a
generation, and also to that which lies ahead and
into which we may enter as victors over all our
opponents if we do but bind together all the best
of our energies into a potent whole.

INDEX

Abdul Hamid, Sultan, 47 ff.; enter
tains German Princes, 48 ff. ; his
learning, 50; entertained by
Crown Prince, 50 ff.
Agadir, 113, 115
Ailette, 261
Aisne, 168, 261, 265, 270
Alexandra, Empress of Russia, char
acter of, 66, 68
Alexis Nicholaievitch, Tsarovitch,
70
Alsace-Lorraine question, uncer
tain German attitude, no; policy
in, 132 ff.; plan to relinquish, 224
Americans, combat with, 250 ff.
Amerongen, 127, 152
Anastasia Michailovna, Dowager
Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg,
mother of Crown Princess, 61
Anker, Captain, 330
Anschtitz, 46
Antwerp-Meuse line, 237, 239, 275
Apremont, 206
Ardennes, 238; Rochefort Chateau,
344
Argentinians, friendly to Germany,
81
Argonne, 203, 204, 206, 217, 249
ff., 261
Armament, German, 95 ff.
Armies, peace strength of, 138
Armistice, rumored, 268; events
prior to, 285 ff.
Artillery, German and French
methods compared, 65
Augusta Victoria, Kaiserin, moth
erly kindness and sympathy, 4
ff., 58, 282 ff.; confidence of
Crown Prince in, 4 ff., 282 ff.;

visited in exile by Crown Prince,
42; agitation over Wortley inci
dent, 99; illness, 107, 127, 184,
209, 280; death, 281; life as pic
tured by Crown Prince, 281 ff.
Austria-Hungary, German allies,
85 ; asked by Germany to arm, 95 ;
ultimatum, 141; weakness of,
224. See also Vienna
Auxiliary Service Act, 182
Avesnes, 250, 262
Baacke, Herr, 341
Balance of power, naval, 76
Balkan defeats, 249 ff.
Ballin, 161 ff.
Bapaume, 37
Bassenheim, Count, helps Crown
Prince, 26
Bauluy, 206
Beauzee, 203
Beck, Major, visits exiled Crown
Prince, 107
Behr, Adjutant and lord, 54
Belgium, German position in, 238
Bentinck, Count, 152
Berg, von, His Excellency, 10, 151,
252, 267
Berge, von, Colonel, 293
Berlin, childhood home, 3; Schloss-
kapelle, 35; Crown Princess re
ceived in, 61; collapse of Kaiser
in, 113; populace changed in 191 7
in, 243 ff.; despatches to Presi
dent Wilson, 263, 266; uprisings
in. See Revolution
Bethel, 265
Bethmann Hollweg, Theobald von,
hopes for neutrality of England,

367

368

INDEX

78, 86; naval plans, 79; handi
capped by Kaiser, 87; retired, 89;
against armament, 96; govern
ment under, 109 ff. ; character and
limitations, in ff., 116, 161, 180;
lectures Crown Prince, 114; last
peace conflict with Crown Prince,
141 ff.; opinions of English atti
tude, 144 ff. ; war attitude, 180 ff. ;
afraid of Reichstag, 225
Betzold, 46
Bismarck, Prince, kindness to the
young Crown Prince, 7; birthday
visit of Crown Prince and Kaiser
to, 29 ff.; attitude towards Eng
land, 83 ff.; retirement, 85; might
of, 87 ff.; Buchholz's speech on,
142; guarded German realm, 223
Bock, von, Major, 276
Boehn, von, Lieutenant-General,
262
Boer War, 84, 85
Bolshevists, 319
Bonn University, 44 ff., 54, 151
Boris, Crown Prince of Bulgaria,
223, 250, 262
Borussia (Prussian) Corps, 45
Bove Ridge, 220
Boyhood of Crown Prince. See
Education of Crown Prince
Brandenburg, Prussian state, 64
Brandis, von, Captain, 213
Bruges, surrender of, 270
Brunhilde position, 265
Brunswick, Duke of, 283
Brussilov, 166
Bulgaria, possible alliance with, 145;
collapse of, 249 ff.
Biilow, von, Prince, pardoned by
Kaiser, 22 ; attitude towards Eng
land, 83, 84, 86; handicapped by
Kaiser, 87 ff.; talents of, 87 ff.;
reappointment as chancellor, 89;
Wortley conflict of November,
1908, 96 ff.
Cadet School at Plon, attended by
Princes, 31 ff.

Canna?, Battle of, 195
Carol, King of Roumania, 116
Cecilie, Duchess of Mecklenburg,
Crown Princess of Germany, be
trothal in 1904, 61; marriage in
1905, 61 ; character of, 62; as wife
and mother, 62 ff., 107 ff., 126
Censorship, 232
Ceremonies. See Court, German
Chamberlain, Joseph, attempts al
liance between Germany, Eng
land, and the United States, 84
Champagne, 168, 217, 251, 261
Charleville, headquarters of Moltke,
208, 248; Czernin visits Crown
Prince at, 224
Charlottenburg, University of Tech
nology in, 71
Chef de Cabinet, power as Kaiser's
intermediary, 8 ff.
Chemin des Dames, 220 ff., 251, 261
Clemen, 46
Clemenceau, 182
CondS, front, 264
Constantinople, visited by Crown
Prince, 48
Courcelles-Souilly, 203
Court, German, ceremonies and
festivities, 54 ff.
Czernin, Count Ottokar, 224 ff.
Daily Telegraph, Wortley incident,
97. "3
Danzig, life of Crown Prince in, 129,
134
Dardanelles question, 85
David, Majority Socialist, 226 ff.
Death's Head Hussars, 129 ff.
Defeat, German, Chapter VI;
causes of, 237 ff., 241 ff.; not
caused by force of arms, 345
Defense Bill of 1913, 96
Deimling, von, General, 133
de Jonghe, Count, 276
Demoralization of Germany. See
Defeat
Den Oever, 25, 221
"Deutschland in Waffen," 131

INDEX

369

Dinant, 276
Divorce, rumor of Crown Prince's,
62
Dohna, Count, 319
Dolina, Count, adjutant, 129
Dommes, von, Colonel, 205
Douaumont, Fort, 212 ff.
Eberhardt, von, General, 344
Ebert, Imperial Chancellor, 302, 317
Education of Crown Prince, in
trusted to tutors, 7; intermedi
aries, 8, II ff.; typical training of
Prussian Princes, 27 ff., 35;
amended by Crown Prince, 28 ff. ;
military governors, 28 ff., 31 ff.;
physical training, 29; scientific
education, 31; at Plon, 31 ff.;
military appointments, 35 ff., 129;
lieutenancy, 37; at Bonn Univer
sity, 44 ff. ; travel, 47; commands,
51 ff., 129; moral teachings, 59;
at University of Technology, 71;
political and economic studies,
71 ff. See also Military Record
Edward VII, King of England, in
structs Crown Prince in British
politics, 73 ff.; opinion on Ger
man-English economic rivalry,
82 ff., 94; falsely accused of hating
Germany, 89 ff.; character and
interests of, 90 ff.
Einem, von, 331 ff., 343
Eitel Frederick, Prince, as a youth,
6, 7, 3T, 47, 48; visits Crown
Prince in exile, 184; command in
war, 207; combat against Ameri
cans, 250
England, politics of, studied by
Crown Prince, 73 ff. ; von Tirpitz's
opinion of naval rivalry of, 75 ff . ;
motives in Great War, 77 ff., 117;
threatened by German merchant
influence, 81 ff.; blockade against
Germany, no; administrative
talent of, 120; army of, 137; at
war, 165 ff., passim
Enmity towards Germany, 81 ff.

Enver Pasha, 223
Erzberger, 167
Estrogul Dragoons, 48
Eulenburg, Prince Philip, 14 ff.
Exiled life of Crown Prince, 25 ff.;
peasants' distrust, 25; discom
forts, 25, 154 ff., 222 ff.; friendli
ness of neighbors, 26, 362; birth
day, 41; visit to Kaiserin, 42; as
a smith, 60; value of secluded
life, 101 ff.; loneliness, 102, 126;
news of peace treaty, 102; visitors
in 1919, 107 ff. ; news of Kaiserin's
illness, 107, 127, 184; wife's and
children's visit, 107 ff., 126; news
of Kaiser, 127; work and friends,
149 ff. ; Christmas, 151 ff.; extra
dition, 153; visits to Doom, 184,
209, 234, 281; visit to Overveen,
197; sister visits Crown Prince,
222; New Year's Eve party, 1920,
232 ; visits parents, January, 1921,
234; April, 280 ff.; death and
funeral of Kaiserin, 281; arrival
in exile, 354 ff.; renunciation, 359
Falkenhayn, von, General, 28, 187,
210 ff., 215, 348
Far East, travels of Crown Prince in,
119 ff.
Fashoda affront, 86, 93
Federal Princes, 223
Finckenstein, Count, friend of
Crown Prince, 37
Fischbeck, 226
Fisher, Admiral, Lord, quoted, 77,
157 ff-
Flanders, Planitz dies in, 65
Foch, war aims and methods, 267 ff. ;
demands of, 271 ff.
Foreign policy of Germany, 80 ff.,
172
Forstner, von, Lieutenant, 133
France, 37; artillery methods of,
65; enters entente cordiale, 93;
army maintained by, 95, 137 ff.
See also War
Francis Ferdinand, Archduke, 95;

370

INDEX

opinions of Serbian propaganda,
123; influence of, 124; assassi
nated, 140
Franco-Russian Alliance, 85
Frederick Charles, Prince of Prussia,
135
Frederick the Great, 108, 174 ff.
Frederick William I, 51
Fredericks, Baron, 67
Friedrichsruh, 29
Frobenius, D. H., The German Em
pire's Hour of Destiny, 141 ff.
Galicia, 224
Gallwitz, 265, 267
Garter, Order of the, given to Crown
Prince, 91
Gelbensande, 61
George V, King of England, corona
tion, 122
Gercourt, 206
Giesl, Austrian minister, 125
Givet, 276
Go-betweens, Kaiser's system of,
8ff.
Goethe, 80
Gontard, von, General, 285, 321
Gorlice, 162, 251
Goschen, Sir Edward, 116, 146
Gothein, 46
"Government of National De
fense," 255
Grandprg, 265
Grenadier Guards (British), 43
Grey, Sir Edward, 117, 123, 143
Groner, General, 99, 275, 329; ac
tivities during Spa conference and
abdication plans, 286 ff., passim
Grote, Baron, 349
Griinau, von, 286, 294, 306
Gudrun-Brunhilde position, 266,
271
Guendell, von, General, 265
Guise, 279
Hagen attack, 237
Halberstadt Cuirassiers, com
manded by Bismarck, 30

Haldane, Lord, British Minister of
War, 117, 118
Hardinge, Lord, 119
Haumont, Forest of, 265
Havitt, Sir John, 119
Hedin, Sven, 224
Heine, Heinrich, quoted, 102
Henry, Prince, 143 ff., 209
Hentsch, Lieutenant-Colonel, 202
ff., passim
Hermann position, 271
Hertling, von, Count, Imperial
Chancellor, 254, 256
Heydebrand, von, 226 ff.
Heye, Colonel, 296, 307, 309 ff.
Hillenraadt Castle, 352
Hindenburg, von, Field-Marshal,
greatness, 185 ff. ; character, 187;
burden of war, 187 ff.; withdraws
Verdun attack, 215; efforts at
mediation through neutral pow
ers, 253; supreme commander,
306, 311, 328; at disposal of new
Government, 330; Crown Prince's
farewell letter to, 336 ff.
Hintze, von, His Excellency Mar
shal, 259 ff., 286, 293 ff., 298 ff.,
passim, 340 ff.
Hippolytushoef, 25, 127
Hirschfeld, von, Major, 294, 321
Hirson Junction, 247
Holland, Kaiser plans to retire to,
318 ff. See also Exiled Life of
Crown Prince
Home policy of Germany, narrow
ness of, 108 ff.
Hopfgarten, Major the Count,
mentor to Crown Prince, 65
Hubertsburg, Peace of, 175
Huenefeld, Baron, helps the Crown
Prince, 26
Hulsen, von, His Excellency, 64
Hunding position, 266
Hiinefeld, von, Baron, 349
Ilsemann, von, 107, 321
India, Crown Prince in, 119
" International," 244

INDEX

371

Italy, arms against Austria, 95; en
trance into war, 162; plan to cede
Trentino to, 224
Jagow, Secretary of State, 114, 116
Jellicoe, Admiral, quoted, 79 ff.
Jena, defeat at, 195
Jena, Edward von, General, 210,
333
Joachim, Prince, death of, 184, 209
Joffre, General, 213
Jutland, Battle of, 75
Kampf, 226
Kan, Secretary-General, 151
Kapp putsch, 154, 156 ff.
Karl, Kaiser, 224
Kiderlen-Wachter, 112, 114; praised
by Bethmann, 115; character and
limitations of, 115 ff.
Kiel, Kaiser arrives at, 143
Klewitz, von, Lieutenant-Colonel,
332
Knobelsdorf, Schmidt von, Lieu-
tenant-General, 136, 214
Koenigsmarck, Graf, 14
Kolff, Burgomaster, 198
Konig, Captain, 151
Konigsplatz, military academy at,
192
Kreuzzeitung, 73
Kriiger telegram, 85
Kuhl, von, His Excellency, 262
Kuhlmann, 259
Kummer, 60 ff.
Kurt, Major, 151
La Capelle, 279
Langfuhr, 129, 134
Laroche, 331
Leo XIII, Pope, 47 ff.
Lichnowsky, Prince, 118
Lille, fall of, 267
Litzmann, 46
Lloyd George, David, 113, 182
Lodz, victory at, 190
London, influence of Kaiser in, 21;
death of the Queen brings Hohen-

zollerns to, 43 ff.; coronation in,
126
Longwy, Battle of, 201
Louis of Battenberg, Prince, 44
Louppy le Petit, 203
Ludendorff, General, accused, 158
ff.; character, 159, 187, 189 ff.,
192 ff. ; complaints in memoirs,
181; greatness, 185; retirement,
188; genius of, 189, 193 ff.; suffer
ing of, 192; objects to possible
concession of territories, 225; dis
cusses American advance with
Kaiser, 251 ff. ; resignation, 273
Luijt, 60
Luxembourg, Headquarters in, 201
Lyncker, von, General, 31 ff., 128
Lyncker, Frau von, 32
Maastricht, 349
Macedonian front, 249
Maharajah of Dschaipur, 119
Majority parties, power of, 255
Malmoff, Bulgarian Prime Minister,
249
Maltzahn, 184 ff.
Mangin, General, 213
Maria Feodorovna, Dowager Em
press of Russia, character and in
fluence of, 66 ff . ; opponent of Ger
many, 70
Marne, Battle of the, 160, 198, 199,
206; not a German defeat, 207,
210; false tactics begun at, 231
Marschall, von, General, 115, 294,
304 ff., 311
Mary, Queen of England, corona
tion, 122
Masurian Lakes, victory at, 190
Max, Prince of Baden, 256, 260;
274; appointed chancellor, 261;
rumor of regency of, 271; urges
Kaiser's abdication, 293; author
of abdication proclamation, 303
Mecklenburg. See Cecilie and Ana
stasia Michailovna of
Menzel, Adolf, at court festivities,
55 ff-

372

INDEX

Metternich, 115, 352
Meuse, 211, 238, 249, 254, 261, 276,
279
Michaelis, Herr Dr., 166 ff.
Military Record of Crown Prince,
lieutenancy, 37; First Foot
Guards, 51 ff.; Gardes du Corps,
64; artillery, 65; First Body Hus
sars, 129; General Staff, 136 ff.;
leader of Fifth Army, 148, 199
Military resources of Germany.
See Armament
Mitzlaff, von, 37 ff.
Mobilization for war, 143
Moltke, von, Lieutenant-General,
tragic figure, 200 ff., 204 ff., 208
Mons, 262
Mont, 115
Montfaucon, 206
Montfaucon-Bauthville road, 261
Morocco affair, 112
Muldner, Crown Prince's compan
ion in exile, 108, 150, 152, 209,
221, 232, 330, 339 ff., 346
Miiller, Adjutant, 143, 151, 274,
330, 339 ff-, 346
Miiller, von, 78
Miiller, Hermann, 226
Namur, 344
Naumann, Dr. Victor, 168 ff.
Navy, German, 74, 78 ff. See also
Tirpitz; factor in defeat, 80
Nicholai Nicholaievitch, Grand
Duke, 67; opponent of Germany,
70, 125, 162
Nicholas, Tsar of Russia, report of
murder of, 66; Crown Prince's
visit to, 66 ff.; character of, 66 ff.,
70; bodyguard of, 68 ff.; secret
sympathy for Germany, 69, 125;
alienated from Germany by Ed
ward VII, 93
Niemann, Major, 285 ff.
Nisam of Hyderabad, 119
Oldenburg, von, defends Kaiser in
Wortley conflict, 98

Oldenburg- Januschau, 226
Oosterland, 25
Osborne Castle, 91
Ostend, surrender of, 270
Overveen, 197
Pannwitz, von, 359
Paris press, refusal of peace offer,
265
Peace Treaty. See Treaty of Ver
sailles
Peereboom, Burgomaster, 26, 127,
197. 358
Persia, 93
"Philosopher of Hohensinow," in
Planitz, von der, Captain, personal
adjutant to Crown Prince, 65
Plessen, von, n, 286, 294, 299,
304 ff., 310 ff.
Plettenberg, von, Colonel, first
commander of the Crown Prince,
36
Pl6n, cadet school attended by
Princes, 31 ff.
Pluskow, von, Major, 36
Pohl, Admiral, 79
Poland, question of, uncertain Ger
man attitude, no; Kingdom of,
166, 224
Political and economic interests of
the Crown Prince, 71
Potsdam, childhood home, 3; rides
in, 29; civil appointments of
Crown Prince in, 71; Kaiser's ill
ness at, 98; Crown Prince's
Cicilienhof in, 126; events in,
prior to war, 143 ff.
Prell, editor of the Niederliindische
Wochenschrift, 150
Press, Crown Prince's interest in
the, 72 ff.
Prittwitz, von, 341
Programmes of war outlined by
Crown Prince, 168 ff., 176 ff.
Rantzau, Count, 36
Regency of Crown Prince, tempo
rary, 100, 103 ff.

INDEX

373

Reichslanden. See Alsace-Lorraine
Reichstag, stormy sittings of, 22;
rage over Wortley incident, 97;
Crown Prince outspoken in 191 1
in, 112 ff.; for armament, 139;
Erzberger action in, 167; attack
upon Hertling in, 254
Rembercourt, 203
Reuter, von, General, 133
Revolution in Germany, 295 ff.,
309, 317. 322, 324
Revue des Deux Mondes, 213
Rheims, 36, 38; offensive, 237, 254;
yields, 249, 264
Rodern, Count, 256
Roos-Keppel, Sir, 119
Rostock, 150
Roumania, 115 ff.; foreign influ
ences in, 116
Rouvier Cabinet, 85 ff.
Rupprecht, Prince, 237, 267, 270
Russia, 37; Crown Prince's visits
to, 66 ff., 125; possible alliance
with, 77, 85, 86; arms for war, 95;
army of, 137; movements of
troops, 139 ff.; at war, 162 ff.;
German peace with, 175
Russo-German treaty of commerce,
67
St. Andre, 203
St. Germainmont, 265
St. Menehould, 205
St. Petersburg, influence of Kaiser
in, 21; visit of Crown Prince to,
66 ff.
Salisbury, Lord, British Prime
Minister, 83
Sarrail, 206
Schaefer, dentist, 197
Scheer, Admiral, 318
Schenck, General, 265
Scheuch, Minister General, 335, 341
Schiller, William TeU, quoted, 134
Schlieffen, plans checked at the
Marne, 160; feared by subordi
nates, 201
Schmettow, von, 331

Schonhausen, von, dyke captain,
258
Schroder, 349, 352
Schulenburg, von der, Count, 237,
328; activities during Spa con
ference and abdication plans, 285
ff., passim, 339 ff.
Schulze-Bromberg, 226
Schumacher, 46
Sedan, 238
Seraincourt, 272 ff.
Serbia, 123 ff., 147
Sivry, 265
Socialist Act, 236
Socialists, 317
Somme, river, 215, 251
Somme-Py, 261
Son ville, 213
Spa, 99, 113; General Headquarters,
188; plans at, before defeat, 251
ff., 258; scenes at, before sur
render, 285 ff.
Spandau, Fortress of, 235
Spaniards, friendly to Germany, 81
Spender, Harold, English journal
ist, 96 ff.
Stein, von, War Minister, 265
Stenay, Crown Princess visits at,
63
Steuben, 333
Stuart, Sir Harold, 119
Stuermer, 163, 166
Stiilpnagel, adjutant and lord, 54
Suffrage Act, 254
Suippes, 264
Swedes, friendly to Germany, 81
Switzerland, intermediary to United
States, 263
Talleyrand, 19
Tannenberg, victory at, 190
Tappen, Lieutenant-Colonel, 201
ff., 204
Tarnopol, 166
Tavannes, 213
Tirpitz, von, Grand-Admiral, char
acter and activities of, 74 ff., 79;
opinions on struggle with Eng-

374

INDEX

land, 75 ff., 117; denied free naval
power in Great War, 78; under
stands economic difficulty, no
Tisza, Count, 224
Tongern, 347
Tournay, surrender of, 270
Travels of the Crown Prince, 118
ff., 121
Treaty of Versailles, signed, 102;
humiliation of Germany by, 103,
364
Trentino, plan to relinquish, 224
Trimborn, 226
Triple Alliance, 94
Triple Entente, 94; war prepara
tions of, 95
Tripoli, 95
Turkey, friendly to Germany, 81;
possible alliance with, 145
Valentini, von, His Excellency,
166, 183
Varennes, 202, 204
Vavincourt, 203
Verdun, 203, 206, 238, 240; Crown
Prince not answerable for losses
at, 210 ff., 213 ff.
Versailles Treaty. See Treaty of
Versailles
Victoria, Queen, visited by the
Kaiser and his family at her ju
bilee, 34; death and funeral of,
43 «.
Vielsalm, headquarters at, 305, 322,
329. 333, 339
Vienna, 123; Near East policy de
pendent upon Ballplatz, 123; de
mands upon Serbia, 124 ff.
Villers-Cotterets, Forest of, 191, 237
Vortrage, 9
Vorwarts, 73
Vosges, 238
Vouziers, 265, 270
Vroenhoven, 347 ff.
Wagenheim, 115
Wahnschaffe, von, His Excellency,
300

War, Great, England's motives in,
77 ff . ; a German naval blunder in,
78 ff. ; gathering storm of, 120 ff. ;
mobilization, 143; events prior to,
144 ff.; details of, 156 ff., to end;
Crown Prince's programmes of,
168 ff., 176 ff.
Wartenburg, York von, Count,
Weltgeschichte in Umrissen, 195
Waulsort, headquarters shifted to,
276
Wedel, von, 37, 56 ff.
Wergin, Sergeant-Major, 52
Widemann, Oberstabsarzt, 51
Wieringen, Isle of, appointed place
of Crown Prince's exile, 354 ff.
Wight, Isle of, Victoria dies in, 43;
Wortley in, 96
Wilhelm II, Kaiser, relations with
children, 5 ff., 16; restraints im
posed on children, 6, n; go-
betweens, 8 ff., 14, 105 ff.; private
interviews with Crown Prince,
12 ff., 113; compared with son,
16 ff. ; respected by Crown Prince,
18; nobility of character, 19;
characteristics, 19 ff. ; weakness of,
20 ff., 104 ff.; conception of loy
alty, 22 ff.; relaxing hold on af
fairs, 23; desire for peace, 24, 125;
birthday visit to Bismarck, 29 ff.;
ceremonies at court of, 55 ff.,
104 ff.; press cuttings and reports
presented to, 73 ff., 106; attitude
towards England, 87 ff., 97; re
appoints Biilow, 89; prejudice
against Edward VII, 89 ff.;
Wortley conflict of November,
1908, 96 ff.; breakdown, 100;
grants cessation of Verdun at
tack, 214; early service to the
empire, 235 ff. ; agrees to majority-
party proposals, 255 ff.; urging
and rumors of abdication, 270,
291, 295; at Spa conference, be
fore surrender, 286 ff.; agrees to
abdicate, 298 ff., 359; unjustly
blamed, 325 ff.

INDEX

375

Wilson, Woodrow, Berlin despatch
to, 263, 265; conditions of, ac
cepted by Germany, 266, 271 ;
fourteen points, 267 ff.; notes,
268 ff.
Witte, Sergei Julivitch, 67
Wittlesbach, House of, 271
Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils,
295
Wortley, General Stuart, 96 ff.
Wrangel, Baron, 42
X, Captain, 308, 310 ff., 315

Y, Lieutenant, 308, 311, 315
Ypres, 250
Zabern incident, 132
Zarskoe Selo, 68
Zitelmann, 46
Zobeltitz, friend of Crown Prince,
232, 276 ff., 330, 346, 350 ff.
Zoppot, Crown Prince at, 140
Zorn, lecturer on constitutional law,
46
Zorndorf, 64