[FONT="]Chapter 1: The Point of Divergence[/FONT]
“Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.”
-Ernest Hemingway
By the year 1915, the warring Powers of Europe were becoming to the realization that the conflict they were in would not be ended quickly or neatly. Tightening their belts they set about fighting the Great War with grim seriousness, knowing that the winner would eventually become the global hegemon. To this end, the Great Powers fought for dominance on Land, Sea.... and for the first time on the skies. All across Europe and their colonies armies clashed as newly invented air planes zoomed above them, heralding a new form of warfare that would shatter forever the image that war was a glorious enterprise that would bring out the best in a nation and its people.
Europe at the beginning of the year 1915. The Entente Powers compromised of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Third French Republic, Russia and Serbia were matched off against the Central Powers compromised of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
Whilst the year 1914 had mostly favoured the Central Powers, with the Imperial German army lead by Helmuth von Moltke the Younger having almost reached Paris before being stopped by the Entente armies in the Miracle of Marne, 1915 showed everyone the horrors of trench warfare… gas attacks, attrition warfare and fearsome artillery barrages that would be enough to break through solid rock. However it was the western front which would also see the innovation of tanks and many other things that enabled the human race to keep killing each other ever more effectively.
Realizing that the war would not end quickly, the British Grand Fleet was stationed on the North Sea to oppose the German High Seas Fleet with the explicit purpose of cutting off the Germans from overseas trade and income. This strategy, whilst not glamorous, soon began to take its toll on the German Empire and her allies, and the increasingly desperate Kaiserliche Marine led by Admiral von Tirpitz began to consider their options. With the High Seas fleet penned up on Heligoland, only the experimental U-Boat fleet was free to ravage the British on the Channel.
Admirals von Pohl and Holtzendorff, the primary advocates of the unrestricted submarine warfare.
A number of highly respected members of the German Military led by Hugo von Pohl began to advocate unrestricted submarine warfare campaign to counter the blockade held by the British. The campaign called for the U-boats to return the blockade in kind, destroying any ships attempting to reach Britain without warning or mercy. Henning von Holtzendorff went as far as to swear to Kaiser Wilhelm II that the British would be starved out within five months and that not a single American would land on the continent if he should approve of the campaign.
However, Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, the Chancellor of Germany felt that this was unwise. An Anglophile like Kaiser Wilhelm II himself, he had gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure British neutrality in the Great War, only to be ruined by the invasion through Belgium done by Karl von Bülow and Alexander von Kluck at the orders of Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. With his failure to secure a suitable peace from Serbia and seeming failure to keep the British out of the war, the Chancellor was not in favour with the Kaiser, but felt that he had to make his voice heard and requested a private meeting which Kaiser Wilhelm II graciously granted.
Meeting with Wilhelm II in the Kaiser’s office, Theobald argued that the U-boat campaign would only serve to give the Central Powers a worse reputation than they suffered now. Whilst the short term gains in sunken vessels would increase dramatically, it would ruin Germany’s global reputation and might turn the only neutral power… the US against them.
Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg and Kaiser Wilhelm II von Hohenzollern.
Whilst these arguments clearly made an effect on the Kaiser, it seemed that Pohl’s arguments would win out, before Theobald was struck by a flash of genius. Pointing out to the Kaiser that he had been drawn into the war against his own will and that von Moltke (whom was also a prominent unrestricted submarine campaign supporter) had gone against his orders in invading France through Belgium, bringing the Empire into conflict against the British. Playing to the Kaiser’s fears of being ousted by the increasingly powerful military commanders like Hindenburg and Ludendorff, Theobald managed to convince the Kaiser to take a stand and retake his government from within.
Making shadowy alliances with members of the Reichstag such as Constantin Fehrenbach, Wojciech Korfanty and Friedrich von Payer, the Chancellor and Kaiser whom despite having slowly become more and more of a figure head, but still maintained absolute authority in matters of political and military appointments; demanded von Moltke’s resignation due to his failures to obey the Schlieffen Plan and to capture Paris.
Whilst Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff countered the Kaiser’s attempts at reclaiming control with threats of resigning, Wilhelm II was backed by the Chancellor and his shadowy allies within the Reichstag, giving him the courage to stand firm with his orders. Eventually von Moltke was indeed forced to resign his post, and von Hindenburg and Ludendorff backed down, acknowledging the Kaisers authority.
Once again in control of his own government, Kaiser Wilhelm II denied the Kaiserliche Marine their request to begin unrestricted submarine warfare. Together with his Chancellor and new allies he hoped that the political goodwill gained from the act would enable them to eventually negotiate an amicable treaty with the British and the Entente in general.
On an unrelated note, it would not be long before the somewhat more “fictionalized” recounting of these events would reach the United States where the popular sentiment towards the Entente, especially the British began to turn sour. The image of a mighty alliance doing everything in their power to strangle German resistance even at the cost of civilians lives, whilst the Germans maintained a decree of decency and honour even during a war as brutal as this, was a potent weapon that Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg would later on congratulate himself for using.
