The Guilt of William Hohenzollern
THE GUILT OF WILLIAM
HOHENZOLLERN
BY
KARL KAUTSKY
LONDON: SKEFFINGTON & SON, LTD.
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, ST. PAUL'S, E.C.
CONTENTS
| chap. | page | |
| Preface | 7 | |
| I. | Who are the Guilty? | 15 |
| II. | The Isolation of Germany | 18 |
| III. | German Provocations | 27 |
| IV. | Austria | 31 |
| V. | The Balkan Crises | 37 |
| VI. | The Situation before the War | 43 |
| VII. | Materials relating to the Origin of the War | 48 |
| VIII. | Serajevo | 52 |
| IX. | William's Monarchial Conscience | 60 |
| X. | The Conspiracy of Potsdam | 65 |
| XI. | The Conspirators at Work | |
| William's Insistence | 74 | |
| Austria's Hesitation | 82 | |
| A False Calculation | 95 | |
| The Hoodwinking of Europe | 100 | |
| XII. | The Ultimatum to Serbia | |
| The Deliver of the Note | 109 | |
| The Localization of the War | 116 | |
| The Sabotage of the Peace Efforts | 120 | |
| The Beginning of Uncertainty in Germany | 135 | |
| XIII. | Italy | 146 |
| XIV. | England | |
| Up to July 29th | 158 | |
| July 29th | 167 | |
| XV. | Last Efforts to preserve Peace | 179 |
| XVI. | The Mobilizations | 190 |
| XVII. | The Declaration of War on Russia | |
| The Preparation for the Declaration of War | 202 | |
| The Reason for the Declaration of War | 206 | |
| The Opening of the War by Russia | 212 | |
| XVIII. | The Declaration of War on France | |
| The Neutralization of France | 219 | |
| The Mysterious Airmen | 224 | |
| XIX. | The Declaration of War on Belgium | |
| The Breach of Faith a Political Blunder | 233 | |
| The Justification of the Breach of Faith | 239 | |
| XX. | The World Revolution | 249 |
| XXI. | The World-War and the German People | 257 |
| Appendix | 270 |
The personality and position of Karl Kautsky puts his unique book in the front rank of authoritative records, and settles, once for all, the question of the personal responsibility of William Hohenzollern for the outbreak of the Great War. Appointed by the German Republican Government to examine the secret archives of the German Foreign Office, Kautsky was able to study the documents which passed between the German authorities and the other parties to the great conspiracy, documents which passed through the hands of the ex-Kaiser and bear his notes and comments IN HIS OWN HAND! Those notes and comments show William Hohenzollern as the driving force behind the war-party in Germany, as a man determined not to let slip what seemed so favourable an opportunity of settling accounts with Russia — and, if necessary, the world.
While everything else that has hitherto appeared is personal opinion, myth, or conjecture, this—THE REPORT OF THE GERMAN REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT'S OWN REPRESENTATIVE—is an official document which is published for the edification and benefit of humanity. It is a remarkable and significant fact that for a long time the German Government sought to shelve the publication of this book — so unfavourable was Karl Kautsky's report on the responsibility of the ex-Kaiser.
SKEFFINGTON & SON LTD.
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.
| Original: |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929. The longest-living author of this work died in 1938, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 85 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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| Translation: |
This work was published in 1919 and is anonymous or pseudonymous due to unknown authorship. It is in the public domain in the United States as well as countries and areas where the copyright terms of anonymous or pseudonymous works are 104 years or less since publication.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse |
