God is my witness that we have tried everything possible to avoid a new
offensive. The Entente would not have it. A short time before the
beginning of the offensive in the west M. Clemenceau inquired of me
whether and upon what basis I was prepared to negotiate. I immediately
replied, in agreement with Berlin, that I was ready to negotiate, and
that as regards France I saw no other obstacle for peace than France's
desire for Alsace-Lorraine.
The reply from Paris was that France was willing to negotiate only on
that basis. There was then no choice left.
The gigantic struggle in the west has already begun. Austro-Hungarian
and German troops are fighting shoulder to shoulder as they did in
Russia, Serbia, Rumania, and Italy. We are fighting united for the
defense of Austria-Hungary and Germany. Our armies will show the Entente
that French and Italian aspirations to portions of our territory are
Utopias which will be terribly avenged.
The explanation of this attitude of the Entente Powers, which verges on
lunacy, is to a great extent to be sought in certain domestic events
here, to which I shall return later. Whatever may happen, we shall not
sacrifice German interests any more than Germany will desert us. Loyalty
on the Danube is not less than German loyalty. We are not fighting for
imperialist or annexationist ends, either for ourselves or for Germany,
but we shall act together to the end for our defense, for our political
existence and for our future.
The first breach in the determination of our enemies to war has been
driven by the peace negotiations with Russia. That was a break-through
by the idea of peace.
It is a symptom of childish dilettantism to overlook the close
relationship of the various peace signatures with each other. The
constellation of enemy powers in the east was like a net. When one mesh
was cut through the remaining meshes loosened of their own accord.
We first gave international recognition to the separation of Ukraine
from Russia, which had to be accomplished as an internal affair of
Russia. Profiting from resultant circumstances which were favorable to
our aims, we concluded with the Ukraine the peace sought by that
country.
This gave the lead to peace with Petrograd, whereby Rumania was left
standing alone, so that she also had to conclude peace. So one peace
brought another, and the desired success, namely, the end of the war in
the east, was achieved.
The peace concluded with Rumania, it is calculated, will be the starting
point of friendly relations. The slight frontier rectifications which we
receive are not annexations. Wholly uninhabited regions, they serve
solely for military protection. To those who insist that these
rectifications fall under the category of annexations and accuse me of
inconsistency, I reply that I have publicly protested against holding
out a license to our enemies which would assure them against the dangers
of further adventures.