MILITARISM IN GERMANY AND THE ZABERN AFFAIR
In 1913-1914 occurred a series of events known as the "Zabern
Affair," which to my mind decided the "system"--the military
autocracy--for a speedy war. In this affair the German people
appeared at last to be opening their eyes, to recover in some
degree from the panic fear of their neighbours which had made them
submit to the arrogance and exactions of the military caste and to
be almost ready to demilitarise themselves, a thing abhorrent to
the upholders of caste, the system, the army and the Hohenzollerns.
This writing on the wall--these letters forming the word
"Zabern"--the actions of the Social Democrats and their growing
boldness, all were warnings to the autocracy of its waning power,
and impelled that autocracy towards war as a bloodletting cure
for popular discontent.
Prussia, which has imposed its will, as well as its methods of
thought and life on all the rest of Germany, is undoubtedly a
military nation.
More than one hundred and twenty-five years ago Mirabeau, the great
French orator at the commencement of the Revolution, said, "War is
the national industry of Prussia." Later, Napoleon remarked that
Prussia "was hatched from a cannon ball," and shortly before the
Franco-Prussian war of 1870 the French military _attaché_, in
reporting to his government, wrote that "other countries possessed
an army, but in Prussia the army possessed the country."
In practice the class of nobles in Prussia owns the army. Officers
may enter the army in two ways, either by enlisting in the regiment,
first as private and then being rapidly promoted to the position
of non-commissioned officer, and then probationary ensign, or
_avantageur_; or the young aspirant may come directly from
a two years' course in one of the cadet schools and enter the
regiment as probationary ensign. In both cases the young officer
is observed by the officers during a period of probation and
can become an officer of that regiment only by the consent of
the regimental officers. In other words, each regiment is like
a club, the officers having the right of black-ball.
This system has practically confined the professional officers to
a class of nobles. It is not at all unusual to find in a regiment
officers whose ancestors were officers of the same regiment two
hundred years or more ago.
In addition to these officers who make the army their career,
a certain number of Germans, after undergoing an enlistment in
the army of one year and two periods of training thereafter,
are made reserve officers. These reserve officers are called to
the colours for manoeuvres and also, of course, when the whole
nation is arrayed in war. These reserve officers seldom attain
a rank higher than that of captain. They may, however, while
exercising civil functions, be promoted, and in this manner the
Chancellor, while occupying civil positions, has gradually been
promoted to the rank of General and von Jagow, during the war, to
the rank of Major. As a rule reserve officers are the one-yearers,
or _Einjähriger_, who, because they have attained a certain
standard of education, serve only one year with the army instead
of the two required from others. The Bavarian army is in a sense
independent of Prussia, but is modelled on the same system.
For years officers of the army, both in the discharge of their
duties and outside, have behaved in a very arrogant way toward
the civil population. Time and again, while I was in Germany
waiting in line at some ticket office, an officer has shoved
himself ahead of all others without even a protest from those
waiting. On one occasion, I went to the races in Berlin with my
brother-in-law and bought a box. While we were out looking at
the horses between the races, a Prussian officer and his wife
seated themselves in our box. I called the attention of one of
the ushers to this, but the usher said that he did not dare ask
a Prussian officer to leave, and it was only after sending for
the head usher and showing him my Jockey Club badge and my pass
as Ambassador, that I was able to secure possession of my own
box.
There have been many instances in Germany where officers having
a slight dispute with civilians have instantly cut the civilian
down. Instances of this kind and the harsh treatment of the Germans
by officers and under-officers, while serving in the army,
undoubtedly created in Germany a spirit of antagonism not only
to the army itself but to the whole military system of Prussia.
Affairs were brought to a head by the so-called Zabern Affair. In
this affair the internal antagonism between the civil population
and professional soldiers, which had assumed great proportions
in a period of long peace, seemed to reach its climax. Of course
this antagonism had increased with the increase in 1913-14 of
the effective strength of the standing army, bringing a material
increase in the numbers of officers and non-commissioned officers
who represent military professionalism.
The Imperial Provinces or Reichsland, as Alsace and Lorraine are
called, had been in a peculiar position within the body politic
of Germany since their annexation in 1870. The Reichsland, as
indicated by its name, was to be considered as common property
of the German Empire and was not annexed to any one German State.
Its government is by an Imperial Viceroy, with a kind of cabinet
consisting of one Secretary of State, Civil and Under Secretaries
and Department heads, assisted by a legislative body of two chambers,
one elected by popular vote and the other consisting of members
partly elected by municipal bodies, universities, churches and so
forth, and partly appointed by the Imperial Government. The Viceroy
and his cabinet are appointed by the Emperor in his capacity of
the sovereign of the Reichsland. Until the thirty-first of May,
1911, the Reichsland had no constitution of its own, the form
of its government being regulated by the Reichstag and Federal
Council (Bundesrat) in about the same way as the territories
of the United States are ruled by Congress and the President.
In 1911, Alsace-Lorraine received a constitution which gave it
representation in the Federal Council, representation in the
Reichstag having already been granted as early as 1871. The sympathy
of Alsace-Lorraine for France had been increased by the policy of
several of the German viceroys,--von Manteuffel, Prince Hohenlohe,
Prince Münster and Count Wedel, who had, in their administrations,
alternated severe measures with great leniency and had not improved
conditions, so that the population, essentially South German,
was undoubtedly irritated by the tone and manner of the North
German officials.
Great industries had been developed by the Imperial Government,
especially textile and coal mining, and the industrial population
centering in Mülhausen was hotly and thoroughly Social Democratic.
The upper or well-to-do classes were tied to France by family
connections and by religion. The bourgeois remained mildly
anti-German, more properly speaking, anti-government, for similar
reasons, and the working men were opposed to the government on
social and economic grounds. The farming population, not troubling
much about the politics, but being affected by the campaign of
the nationalistic press, were in sympathy with France; so the
atmosphere was well prepared for the coming storm.
Zabern, or in French, Saverne, is a little town of between eight
and nine thousand inhabitants, beautifully situated at the foot
of the Vosges Mountains on the banks of the Rhine-Marne Canal.
Its garrison comprised the staff and two battalions of Infantry
Regiment, Number Ninety-nine, commanded by von Reuter, and among
its officers was a Lieutenant von Forstner, a young man only
twenty years old, whose boyish appearance had excited the school
children and boys working in nearby iron factories to ridicule
him. It became known that this young officer, while instructing
his men, had insulted the French flag and had called the Alsatian
recruits _Wackes_, a nick-name meaning "square-head," and
frequently used by the people of Alsace-Lorraine in a jocular
way, but hotly resented by them if used towards them by others.
It was further reported that he had promised his men a reward
of ten marks if one of them, in case of trouble, should bring
down a Social Democrat. Forstner had told his men to beware,
and warned them against listening to French foreign agents, whom
the Germans claimed were inducing French soldiers to desert in
order to join the French legion. It is probable that Forstner,
in talking to his men of the French Foreign Legion, used language
offensive to French ears. He admitted that he had used the word
_Wackes_ in defiance of an order of the commanding general,
and for this he had been punished with several days' confinement
in a military prison. Lieutenant von Forstner, who was ordered
to instruct his squad about the regulations in case of trouble
with the civil population, claimed that he had only added to the
usual instructions a statement that every true soldier should
do his best to suppress any disturbances and that he, Forstner,
would give a special reward to any of his men who would arrest
one of "those damned Social Democrats."
Reports of the acts of Forstner and other officers were rapidly
spread among the population. The two newspapers of Zabern published
articles. The excitement grew, and there were demonstrations
against the officials and especially against Forstner. Finally,
conditions became so bad that Colonel von Reuter requested the
head of the local civil administration, Director Mahler, to restore
order, stating that he would take the matter into his own hands
if order was not restored. The director, a native of a small
village near Zabern, replied coolly that he saw no necessity
for interfering with peace loving and law abiding people. On
November twenty-ninth, 1913, a large crowd assembled in front
of the barracks. Colonel von Reuter ordered Lieutenant Schad,
commanding the Guard as officer of the day, to disperse the crowd.
Accordingly Lieutenant Schad called the Guard to arms and three
times summoned the crowd to disperse and go home. The soldiers
charged and drove the multitude across the Square and into a
side street and arrested about fifteen persons, among them the
President, two Judges and the State Attorney of the Zabern Supreme
Court, who had just come out from the court building and who were
caught in the crowd. They were subsequently released. The rest
of the persons arrested were kept in the cellar of the barracks
over night.
The report of these occurrences caused immense excitement throughout
Germany. A great outcry went up against militarism, even in quarters
where no socialistic tendencies existed. This feeling was not
helped by the fact that the General commanding the fifteenth
army to which the Zabern regiment belonged was an exponent of
extreme militaristic ideas; a man, who several years before, as
Colonel of the Colonial troops, representing the war ministry
before the Reichstag and debating there the question of the number
of troops to be kept in German South West Africa, had most clearly
shown his contempt for the Reichstag.
Colonel von Reuter and Lieutenant Schad, when court-martialled
for their acts in ordering the troops to move against the civil
population, claimed the benefit of a Prussian law of 1820, which
provided that in any city, town or village, the highest military
officer in command must assume the authority, usually vested
in the civil government, whenever for any reason the civil
administration neglects to keep order. The Colonel and Lieutenant
were subsequently acquitted on the ground that they had acted
under the provisions of this law.
The excitement throughout Germany was further increased by other
circumstances. The Emperor remained during these critical days at
Donaueschingen, the princely estate of his friend and favourite,
Prince Fürstenberg, enjoying himself with fox-hunting, torch-light
processions and cabaret performances. Of course, all this had been
arranged long before anyone dreamed of any trouble in Zabern, and
the Emperor could scarcely be expected to realise the gravity of
the situation which suddenly arose. But this very fact created a
bad impression. It was even rumoured that the Empress, alarmed by
the situation, had ordered a train to be made ready in order to
go to him and try to convince him of the necessity of returning
to Berlin.
[Illustration: THE GLORY WHICH IS POTSDAM. SUMMER RESIDENCE OF
THE KAISER IN THE PARK OF SANS SOUCI.]
[Illustration: DEMONSTRATION OF SYMPATHY FOR THE AMERICANS, AT
THE TOWN HALL, AUGUST, 1914.]
The newly appointed minister of war, Falkenhayn, went to
Donaueschingen, where he was joined by von Deimling. This action
aggravated the situation, because the public concluded that the
Emperor would hear the advice and report of military officers
only. The sudden death, by heart failure, of the Emperor's closest
friend, von Hulsen, chief of the Emperor's Military Cabinet,
during a banquet at Donaueschingen, gave the rapidly developing
events a tragic and mysterious colouring, and these conferences
in Donaueschingen resulted in the tendering of their resignations
by the Viceroy, von Wedel, and Secretary of State Zorn von Bulach,
Viceroy and Secretary of State of Alsace-Lorraine, who felt that
the military party had gained an upper hand in the conflict with the
civil authorities. The Chancellor then hurried to Donaueschingen,
arriving a few hours before the departure of the Emperor; and a
subsequent order of the Emperor to General von Deimling to see
to it that the military officers did not overstep their authority
and directing him to investigate the occurrences and take measures
to punish all guilty parties, somewhat quieted the nation and
caused the two highest civil officials of Alsace-Lorraine to
withdraw their resignations.
Zabern, where a brigadier-general had been sent by von Deimling
to restore civil government, had begun to quiet down. But the
Chancellor had hardly returned to Berlin when another incident
stirred Germany. While practising field service in the neighbourhood
of Zabern and marching through a village, Lieutenant von Forstner
had an altercation with a lame shoemaker and cut him down. This
brutal act of militarism caused a new outburst throughout Germany.
Forstner was tried by a court-martial for hitting and wounding
an unarmed civilian, and sentenced by the lower court to one
year's imprisonment, but acquitted by the higher court as having
acted in "supposed self-defence."
No less than three parties, the Centrum, the Progressives and
the Social Democrats, addressed interpellations to the Chancellor
about this occurrence at Zabern. I was present at the debate in
the Reichstag, which took place on the fourth, fifth and sixth
of December, 1913. Three South Germans, a member of the Centrum,
Hauss, a Progressive named Roser, and the Socialist deputy from
Mülhausen in Alsace, Peirotes, commenced by moving and seconding
the interpellation and related in vehement language the occurrences
at Zabern. The Chancellor replied in defence of the government.
Unfortunately he had that morning received family news of a most
unpleasant character, which added to his nervousness. He spoke
with a low voice and looked like a downhearted and sick man. It
was whispered afterwards in the lobbies that he had forgotten
the most important part of his speech. The unfavourable impression
which he made was increased by von Falkenhayn, appearing for the
first time before the Reichstag. If the Reichstag members had
been disappointed by the Chancellor, they were stirred to the
highest pitch of bitterness by the speech of the War Minister. In
a sharp, commanding voice he told them that the military officers
had only done their duty, that they would not be swerved from their
path by press agents or hysterical individuals, that Forstner
was a very young officer who had been severely punished, but
that this kind of courageous young officer was the kind that
the country needed, etc. Immediately after this speech the
Progressive party moved that the attitude of the Chancellor did
not meet the approval of the representatives of the people, and
it became evident that, for the first time in the history of the
German Empire, a vote of censure directed against the government
would be debated. The debate was continued all the next day, the
Chancellor making another speech and saying what he probably had
intended to say the day before. He related what he had achieved
at Donaueschingen; that the Emperor had issued a cabinet order
saying that the military authorities should be kept within legal
bounds, that all the guilty persons would be punished, that the
Regiment, Number Ninety-nine, had been removed from Zabern, that
the absolute law of 1820 had been abolished for Alsace-Lorraine,
and that no Chancellor should for one moment tolerate disregard
of law by any government officials, civil or military, and remain
in his position.
This second speech of the Chancellor made a better impression
and somewhat affected the more extreme members of the Reichstag,
but it came too late to prevent the passage of the vote of censure
by the remarkable majority of two hundred and ninety-three to
fifty-four. Only the Conservatives voted against it. A few days
later, when the Social Democrats demanded that the Chancellor
take the consequence of the vote of distrust and resign, the
attitude of the members of all the other parties, who had been
favourably impressed by the second speech of the Chancellor,
showed that they were not yet prepared to go the length of holding
that a vote of distrust in the Reichstag must necessarily mean
the resignation of the Chancellor.
Public excitement gradually calmed down, and a complete change of
the officials at Zabern helped to bring about a normal condition
of affairs. The Viceroy, Count Wedel, and Secretary of State
Zorn von Bulach, resigned and were replaced by von Dallwitz and
Count Rödern.
However, the everlasting question came up again a little later
during the regular budget debate of the Reichstag. The Chancellor
made his speech, giving a review of the political international
situation. He was followed by Herr Scheidemann, leader of the
Social Democrats, who mercilessly attacked the Chancellor and
stated that if the Chancellor still thought that he was the right
man at the helm, he, Scheidemann, would show that the contrary was
the case. He then enumerated what he called the many political
failures of the Chancellor, the failure of the bill to amend
the Prussian franchise law, and stated that the few bills which
had been passed, such as the bill giving Alsace-Lorraine a real
constitution, had been carried only with the help of the Social
Democratic party. The speaker then once more rehashed the incidents
of the Zabern matter, referred to the attitude of the Emperor,
who, he said, had evidently been too busy with hunting and
festivities to devote time to such trivial matters as the Zabern
Affair, and also said that, if the Chancellor had refused to
withdraw, the only possible conclusion from the vote of the two
hundred and ninety-three Reichstag members, who were certainly
not influenced by personal feelings against the Chancellor, was
that the Chancellor must be sticking to his post only because
of the mistaken idea of the Emperor's authority and because he
must believe in the fetish of personal government. Scheidemann
begged that the same majority which had passed the vote of censure
should now follow it up by voting down the Chancellor's salary
and thus force him out of office.
The Chancellor immediately replied, saying that he needed no
advice from Herr Scheidemann, and that when the government had
consented to change the rules of the Reichstag he had expressly
reserved the authority either to regard or disregard any resolution
passed after an interpellation, and that formerly, after discussing
an interpellation and the answer of the government, no vote could
be taken to approve or reject a resolution expressing its opinion
of such course of action. Such resolutions might be considered as
valuable material, but it had been agreed that they could have
no binding effect either upon the government or any member of it,
and that nobody had ever dreamed that by a mere change of business
rules the whole constitution of the Empire was being changed and
authority given to the Reichstag to dismiss ministers at will;
that in France and Great Britain conditions were different, but
that parliamentary government did not exist in Germany; that it
was the constitutional privilege of the Emperor to appoint the
Chancellor without any assistance or advice from the Reichstag;
that he, the Chancellor, would resist with all his might every
attempt to change this system; and that he, therefore, refused
to resign because the resolution had no other effect than to
make it evident that a difference of opinion existed between the
Reichstag and the government.
This debate took place on December ninth, 1913, and, with the
exception of the Social Democrats and the Polish deputies, the
leaders of all parties supported the view of the Chancellor.
The motion to strike out the Chancellor's salary was voted down,
only the Social Democrats and Poles voting in favour of it.
It is unquestioned, however, that this Zabern Affair and the
consequent attitude of the whole nation, as well as the extraordinary
vote in the Reichstag, greatly alarmed the military party.
It was perhaps the final factor which decided the advocates of
the old military system of Germany in favour of a European war.
Usually in past years when the Reichstag in adjournments had risen
and cheered the name of the Emperor, the Social Democrats absented
themselves from the Chamber, but when the Reichstag adjourned on
May twentieth, 1914, these members remained in the Chamber and
refused either to rise or to cheer the Emperor. The President
of the Reichstag immediately called attention to this breach
of respect to the Emperor, upon which the Socialists shouted,
"That is our affair," and tried to drown the cheers with hoots
and hisses at which the other parties applauded tumultuously.
This occurrence I know greatly incensed the Emperor and did much,
I believe, to win his consent to the war.