Between a Hard Place and a Rock: A Carlist Spain in the 20th Century

[Kurt_Steiner]

Jaime III, king of Spain​

Introduction.

The celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the coronation of Carlos V (1) in 1914 were clouded by the ghost of the incomming Great European War. In spite of that, the conmemoration of the arrival of the first king of the Carlist branch to the Spanish throne were held amidst a explosion of official pomp, as if the days of the empire had never come to an end.

On May 15th, 1914, Madrid witnessed a grand procession of quasi-imperial glamour, as soldiers marched on the main avenues of the city. Then the parade of the Spanish nobility that the new dinasty had reated entered in the Cathedral of the Almudena. Leaded by the crown prince, Alfonso, a long line made up by twenty-six dukes and duchesses and one hundred and thirty five earls entered the cathedral while guns fired and bells tolled. Jaime III (2), Rex Catholicissimus (3), king of Spain, of Castille, of Leon, of Aragon, of the Two Sicilies, of Jerusalem, of Navarre, of Granada, of Toledo, of Valencia, of Galicia, of Majorca, of Seville, of Sardinia, of Córdoba, of Corsica, of Murcia, of Menorca, of Jaen, of the Algarves, of Algeciras, of Gibraltar, of the Canary Islands, of the East Indies and West Indies and of the Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea, Archduke of Austria Duke of Burgundy, of Brabant, of Milan, of Athens, of Neopatras and of Limburg, Count of Habsburg, of Flanders, of Tyrol, of Roussillon and of Barcelona, Lord of Biscay and of Molina (4) arrived to the Almudena to be greeted by a cheering multitude.

Hardly a month later the world was to be shocked by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo. Then, it was to be seen if the diplomatic detachment that Spain had followed since 1898 was to preserve the country. However, with Jaime III on the throne, everything was deemed to be possible in those days, to the discomfort of many.



(1) Carlos María Isidro de Borbón, Infante of Spain and the younger brother of Fernando VII of Spain.
(2) Jaime de Borbón y Borbón-Parma, son of Carlos VII (OTL Carlos María de Borbón y Austria-Este) and great grandson of Carlos V
(3) Most Catholic King and Most Catholic Majesty, a title awarded by Pope Alexander VI in the papal bull Inter caetera (1493) to Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castille.
(4) Most of those titles are historical ones which are only nominal and ceremonial.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

1. The paper tiger.

"Calderote", by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau​

War had ruled the fate of Spain for the last 75 years: the civil war of 1836-1838 (1), when Carlos V defeated his niece Isabel, the daughter of his brother Fernado VII and thus won the crown for himself; and the Spanish-American War of 1898, when the last remnants of the Spanish Empire fer lost for good. The cumulative impact of these shocks transformed the life of Spain.

Spain had undergone a change in that time. From the neo-absolutist kingdom of Carlos V the country had moved to the administratively decentralized but politically centralized Spain of Carlos VII (2), as some small degree of autonomous government was given to the Basque Country and Navarre in 1891 in an experiment that was later on reproduced also in Catalonia. This process of decentralization had many enemies at the time and many more since then. For the Catalan and Basque nationalists, the "autonomous government" thing was a trap that denied them their full national independence. Thus, this issue was to plague the Spanish political life from time to time, and since 1905 it was increasingly dominated by the struggle for national rights.

Under Jaime III a change of guard took place. The new prime minister, Juan Vázquez de Mella y Fanjul, earl of Monterroso, inagurated a new phase in Spanish external relations, but this ‘new course’ was dominated by irresolution and drift, as de Mella was a germanophile and the king an anglophile. Thus the Foreign minister, Matías Barrio y Mier, tried to fill this kind of vacuum by reinforcing the Spanish ties with France and by trying to reach agreements with London, even if he did not favour a full alliance with Britain, as he tried to preserve, as much as possible, the independence and the political freedom of Spain. It was crucial, then, that Spain did not become dependent on any foreign power.

To achieve this goal, Barrio decided to expand the defensive capacity of the country. The military bill of 1910 brought the strength of the army to 350,000 and the military expenditure in that year reached double the 1900 figure as the Plan Ferrándiz tried frantically to modernize and reconstruct the Spanish fleet, which had been decimated in 1898. However, these increases were only aimed to achieve deterrence. How could affect this quest or military self-reliance the diplomatic chances of Spain. Should Spain remain focused in seeking a deal with Britain and France or the solution lied in improving relations with Germany? With the different views of the king and the first minister dominating the political scene, both options were followed. The only results of these measures was the Spanish-German Trade Treaty of 1911 and the Spanish-French Treaty of 1912 that turned the Spanish sphere of influence on Northern Morocco into a protectorate.

However, after the crisis of 1911 and 1912 and the growing threat presented by the Wilhelmite Germany, London began to increase its interest on Spain, as it offered a chance to attack Italy, the disgruntled member of the Triple Alliance.

(1) OTL 1st Carlist War
(2) OTL Carlos María de Borbón y Austria-Este (1848-1909), great grandson of TTL Carlos V

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

2. Naval race

The Spanish Battleship
Jaime III​

When Edward VII visited Spain in 1907, this event marked the apex of the British efforts to bring Spain to her side and the high water mark of the Spanish efforts to win the British help to reconstruct the battered Spanish fleet. Thus, Spain began to construct three Dreadnoughts in 1909, the España-class (1), of which only two were finished by the time tthat the war began. The first one, named España, was ready in 1913, and the second one, Carlos V, in 1914, while the third one was cancelled as the whole class was deemed to be too small and weak compared with the current dreadnoughts in service. Thus, by the time the Great War erupted, the efforts of the Spanish naval designers had moved, with British support, to construct a smaller version of the Queen Elizabeth-class, whose lead ship was to join the Royal Navy in late 1914.

Finally, the first two ships of the so-called Emperador class, the Carlos VI and the Jaime III, were laid down in 1915 and were not ready until December 1917; the works on the two last ships, the Fernando VII and the Felipe II, began in 1917 and were finished in 1919 and 1920. With a standard displacement of 20,000 tons, and overall lenght of 150 metres, a beam of 26.45 metres, a draught of 7,7 metres at deep load and a speed of 20 knots, the Emperador class ships were called mockingly the "Queenie class". To make it worse, they were only armed with 305 mm guns, twelve of them in four triple turrets, as Spain depended on Britain providing the main armament of the Spanish battleships and by 1917 there was a lack of materials from Britain as a result of the British own needs and the German submarine campaign.

In any case, this help was not for free, as King Jaime III of Spain promised to join France and the United Kingdom in case that a war with Germany were to break up, going as far as planning how to use the Spanish ports and merchant fleet to help to move the French troops deployed in North Africa to France in case of a war and to prepare a 50,000 strong expedition against Italy if Rome were to join hands with Germany and Austria. However, even if Italy did not declare war to the Entente Powers, these plans were to cause the first troubles between the King and his First Minister. (2)

(1) Just like the OTL España battleships.
(2) Edward VII's visit, the British help to build the failed España battleships, the plan to use Spanish ports to move French troops from North Africa to France and to use Spanish troops to invade Italy if it went to war against the Entente are real OTL events, by the way.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

3. Political interests, national obligations.

Juan Vázquez de Mella​

When the Spanish Prime Minister, Juan Vázquez de Mella, was later on asked how began his feud with his king, Jaime III, the Spanish politician simply answered: "he wanted to be the all-mighty ruler of Spain" In that, he was just stating part of the truth. It was true, indeed, that Jaime III was more interested in politics than his father, Carlos VII, but it was just part of the whole issue,

Since the end of the Civil War, Carlos V and his successors relied in a body of noblemen that who were in a state of economic decline and were unable and unready to lead a modern industrial state; and a bourgeoisie that had become irresponsible after being spoilt by the crown but, since the defeat of 1898, lacked the strength and the nerve to help to rule the country.

In May 1909, a number of officers in the Spanish Army felt tempted to follow the example set by Young Turk movement to reorganize the Spanish government and the armed forcez. Thus, they created the short-lived Military League, that was dissolved after they tried to defy the government and to cause its fall in August that year. The civil faction of the League joined the Conservative Party, becoming hard-core supporters of Vázquez de Mella. After he won the elections of December 1910, he started to reorganize the economic, political, and national affairs of the country, following some of the ideas of the League. In that, he was supported by Jaime III, who called Vázquez de Mella to be "his own Bismarck".

In that he was following the line set by his grandfather and his father, but they had chancellors who were senior civil servants and not seasoned politician-statesmen like Vázquez de Mella. Thus, while the interests and goals of both the King and the Prime Minister followed the same path, everything seemed to be just fine, just as the so-called "Reform period" of 1910-1913. However, when the time came to set a foreign policy, Jaime's anglophilia derailed all the attempts of Vázquez de Mella to get close to Berlin and both men parted ways.

Then Vázquez de Mella tried to assert his supremacy in political matter by building a parliamentary bloc defined by loyalty to him, but he never managed to achieve his goal. Thus, both the king and his prime minister had their eyes set in the next General Elections, to be held on May 1915.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

4. Landings and upheavals.

The Gallipoli landings​

After Salandra annouced that Italy would not commit its troops, maintaining that the Triple Alliance had only a defensive stance and Austria-Hungary had been the aggressor, the AngloFrench interest in Spain waned a bit. Vázquez de Mella, then, began to try to find a way to enter the war on the side of the Central powers using the awe caused by the German advance to Paris. However, much to his own changrin, even if the national mood was close to join the German side, the atittude of the king and of intellectuals like Ortega y Gasset and Valle Inclán made the situation unclear.

Jaime III had family ties with both the German and British Royals (his wife was a granddaughter of queen Victoria -1-). Even if the Spanish monarch did rebuff the Allied efforts to bring Spain into the war on their side, Jaime had then offended Austria and Germany by blocking popular efforts by his Prime Minister to bring the country into the war on the side of the Central Powers. Jaime's insistence on neutrality, however, was based more on his judgement that it was the best policy for Spain, as he felt that the popular opinion was divided on the sisue. So, in spite of his own ideas or his British dynastic connections, Jaime III was fully determined to keep Spain out of the war.

The German failure on the Marne and then the stalemate brought by the Race to the Sea seemed to calm down the spirits of the Spanish public opinion and for a while the issue was put to rest. However, an unilateral action of Jaime III without consulting his Prime Minister heated again the relations between the two men. British, Australian and New Zealand ships and troops were allowed to use Spanish harbours during their attack on Gallipoli in 1915 and, later on, during the failed campaign, Spanish workers and porters were recruited by the Allied to serve in Gallipoli, much to the displeasure of Vázquez de Mella, who submitted his resignation on 21 May 1915.

General elections were called then. In a magnificient display of power, influence and organization, Vázquez de Mella managed to overcome the split of his party, as a great number of Conservative politicians led by Eduardo Dato, abandoned its ranks to create a new one, the Partido Nacional Conservador (National Conservative Party), while some others followed Antonio Maura. Vázquez de Mella was even able to put down a "rebellion" led by Enrique de Aguilera who, eventually, left the Conservative party to form the Comunión Tradicional Carlista (Traditional Carlist Communion), but soon became imbroilled in power struggles with Bartolomé Feliú Pérez. Also, Vázquez de Mella had also to deal with an attempt to form a purely Catalan branch of the party led by Miquel Junyet i Rovira, that in the end came to nothing.

Then, on September 1915, the General Elections were held.


(1) In OTL, in spite of the pressure of his followers, Jaime de Borbón refused to marry.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

5. The Spanish crisis of 1915

The War reaches Kamerun​

Vázquez de Mella and his Conservative Party achieved a landslide victory, with almost a 50% of the votes and but going from the 215 seats in Parliament of the previous elections to 208 in this one. However, despite the victory. Vázquez de Mella's feud with Kig Jaime III was still going on. In the following months, the king insisted on his position and did not hesitate to confront his prime minister. By then, both London and Paris had their attention fixed in the volatile political situation in Madrid. Just as Italy came closer and closer to join the Entente, the actions of Vázquez de Mella puzzled and worried both the British and French government. Then the war took part on the issue.

In January 1915, in an attempt to convince the Spaniards to side with them, Britain offered Spain post-war concessions in Kamerun, but Vázquez de Mella seemed uninterested by the proposal but Jaime III attempted to force a bill throught the Spanish the Greek parliament to join the Allies, thus, he began to meet some influential members of the Conservative Party to ensure the support of the bill. Then, the king called for the Crown Council to meet and there he proposed to join the Allies. Of course, Vázquez de Mella opposed the very idea, but the Liberal leader, Alvaro de Figueroa, earl of Romanones, and Eduardo Dato, the bitter rival of Vázquez de Mella, supported the king. Thus, when the Crown Council was dissolved on June 3, after two futile days of negotiation, the events in Kamerun determined the fate of the Spanish government.

In the spring of 1915, the German forces were having troubles to repulse assaults by Allied forces (1). A German force under the command of Captain von Crailsheim was utterly crushed during a failed raid into Nigeria at the Battle of Gurin, just inside the Nigerian border, when the attackers where caught by surprise by a much larger British force. After this, General Frederick Hugh Cunliffe launched another attempt at taking the German fortresses at Garua, which fell in June. This success freed Allied units in northern Kamerun to push further into the interior of the colony and by the end of the month, Jaunde was under siege. By October 1915, the forces of Cunliffe and Dobell were in contact and ready to conduct an assault of Jaunde. Then, the German commander, Carl Zimmermann came to the conclusion that the campaign was lost. With Allied forces pressing in on Jaunde from all sides and German resistance faltering, he ordered all remaining German units and civilians to escape to the neutral Spanish colony of Rio Muni (2).

British troops entered Rio Muni chasing the German stragglers, and that caused an uproar in part of the Spanish governmeng. Vázquez de Mella strongly protested the British actions, but he was disown by the King himself. This and the staunch criticism by not only the King but also Army generals and their supporters reached a high point, and shortly after Jaime III invoked the Spanish constitution that gave him the right to dismiss a government. In November 1915 Vázquez de Mella was forced to resign and dissolved the parliament. New elections were ir order again.


(1) In fact, the German forces managed to hold out until 1916.
(2) The actual Equatorial Guinea.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

6. Ousting Vázquez de Mella

​

​

The elections of December 1915 achieved little, if anything at all. Vázquez de Mella was unable to form a government. He had won in votes and in seats in the Cortes, but for such a narrow margin that he needed the support of others parties to govern, and nobody was willing to do so, as both liberals and conservatives knew too well that Jaime III was dead set against any government that was leaded by the former prime minister.​

So, the earl of Romanones formed a coalition government which included liberal and conservative ministers, that only lasted until April 1916, when the king, incensed by the failure of Romanones to bring order to the country, which remained deeply divided, not only between the Alliadophile and the Germanophile but also by the breach opened between the pro-Vázquez de Mella (the so-called Mellistas) and the royalists. Thus, on April 1916 Eduardo Dato, the leader of the biggest faction of the now divided Conservative party, replaced Romanones, just to fall in June of that year.

By then, the crisis had given rise to a failing economy that caused a deep resentment among the Spanish population. Since the end of September 1916, Spain was suffering from a lack of coal for its economy caused by the German submarine blockade. In addition to this, the autonomous governmetns of the Basque Country and Catalonia pressed for a bigger devolution of power to them by the nation al government, something that was flately refused by Romanones. This problem was to explode under Dato, when Ramón de la Sota, the president of the Basque autonomous government, demanded new free elections on July 1916, something that was refused by Dato and Jaime III. De la Sota replied by forming an assembly made up by Basque politicians and some Navarrese ones to demand not only new elections but also more power for the autonomous governments. When two days later, Francesc Cambó, the president of the Catalan autonomous government, joined de la Sota's demands and formed his own assembly with Catalan politicians, Dato claimed that both assemblies were "rebelling against the state", hevily censored the press and ordered the occupation by army forces of Barcelona and Vitoria.

That was to lead to a General Strike in Catalonia and the Basque country than soon spreaded to Madrid, Valencia, Zaragoza and La Coruña. The General Strike lasted for almost a week, and led to clashes between the army and the strikers that left 30 dead people and 300 injured. The king replaced Dato by Garcia Prieto, a liberal politician, that was to headed a coalition government while it was decided when to call for General Elections. Meanwhile, as the economy collapsed into severe hardship and even starvation, news arriving from Russia changed the course of events.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

7. The Russian Revolution

​

The political changes that swept Russia between March 7 [O.S. 22 February] and August 11 [O.S. 3 August] 1917 were not only to bring revolution to Russia and to end the Romanov dinasty, but also to change the turn of events in world's history.

On March 7 workers at Putilov, Petrograd's largest industrial plant, announced a strike that, by March 9 had managed to shut down every industrial enterprise in Petrograd. Soon students and white-collar workers joined the strikers in the streets. To quell the riots, the Tsar turned to the army, but, to his surprise, the troops began to mutiny and governmental authority in the capital collapsed. By the evening of March 11, Petrograd was firmly in the hands of the rebellious soldiers and workers. The Duma attempted to established a Temporary Committee to restore law and order; meanwhile, the rebels created the Petrograd Soviet.

By March 12 the revolution had seized several main cities, such as Moscow and Kiev, where the short-lived People's State of Ukraine was proclaimed on the next day. Grundingly, Nicholas II had to accept that if revolution had to be prevented and that state order upheld at all costs, a change was needed, so a new government was chaired by a liberal aristocract, Prince Georgy Yevgenievich Lvov, a member of the Consitutional Democratic Party. Lvov wanted to avoid the revolution and hoped that he would be able to implement a reform plan. Also, he tried to save the monarchy, even if he began by, apparently, doing the contrary. So, he demanded the abdication of the Tzar on March 14, but Nicholas II played for time and delayed his decision, until the two men were defeated by the rapidly deteriorating situation.

Two days later, on March 16, the abdication of Nicholas II was announced to the world, even if the Tzar had not signed up any document. Lvov had also resigned, on March 15, and was replaced by Alexander Kerensky, the Minister of Justice. Boarding a British ship, the Russian Imperial Family departed Russia to their new destination, Sweden, that very day. Thus, at the same time, Russia was ruled by the Provisional Government and the Petrograd soviet of Workers and Soldiers. It was the so-called "Dual Power" (dvoevlastie). Both governments did not trust each other and the Soviet was determined to replace Kerensky, who contacted on that very day with the chief of the Stavka, General Vasily Iosifovich Gurko to ask for the support of the army against the Soviets.

The arrival of Lenin to Petrograd in April 1917 only helped in rushing events. As it had been decided by the Soviet, a "First General Convention of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils" was called to convene on April 20. To avoid this, Kerensky and Gurko moved five divisions to Petrograd. Lenin demanded the peaceful disarmament of the homecoming military units by the workers of Petrograd and to have the soldiers to be "re-educated". However, on the way, most of the soldiers began to abandon their units and to return to their homes, so just a few regiments arrived to the city, and, from those, most of the soldiers refused to follow any orders. The arrival of the radical Kronstadt sailors – who had executed many if their officers – further fueled the growing revolutionary atmosphere. The sailors and soldiers, along with Petrograd workers, took to the streets in violent protest, calling for "all power to the Soviets." The revolt, however, was disowned by Lenin and dissipated within a few days.

However, things didn't go as Lenin hoped as the Convention of Councils, where, unxpectedly, the Bolsheviks had a very small influence, refused the creation of a council system as a basis for a new constitution and supported the government's decision to call for elections for a constituent national assembly as soon as possible. Meawnhile, the Stavka began to raise loyal volunteer corps against the Bolshevik menace. Then the Kerensky Offensive began on July 1st, 1917. When it ended in a military catastrophe two weeks later, the fate of the Provisional Government was settled. The power dispute between the Bolsheviks and Kerensky ended up in battle. When, on August 2nd, the government tried to disband some of the Bolshevik units quartered in the Fortress of Peter and Paul, a fight ensued.

On August 9th 1917, the Bolsheviks created a revolutionary military committee within the Petrograd soviet, led by the soviet's president, Trotsky. It had the support of a small part of the capital's garrison. The committee methodically planned to occupy strategic locations through the city. Then, on August 11th, the Bolsheviks attempted to take power. The first shoots were fired in the failed assault of the Winter Palace, seat of the Provisional Government.

It was the beginning of the Russian Civil War (1917-1921).

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

8. The Western Front in 1918

The sudden collapse of Russia had brought a new life to the Western Front. The Brest-Litovsk treaty (signed on January 6, 1918) marked not only the doom of the Bolshevik, it also led to the assassination of Lenin in February 1918 by an angered ex-Tsarist officer and the eventual defeat of the Red Army in the civil war, as well as the rise of a weakened, unstable and revanchist Russian Republic that would plunge into a second civil war in 1933. Furthermore, it also made possible the Spring Offensives of the German Empire in the Western Front.​

The German last hurrah! was only succesful in depleting and weakening the Imperial army by the time thath the Allies launched their July Offensive. However, the slow pace of advance and the stiff German resistance made Lloyd George to waver and to wait for the mass arrival of the Americans in 1918 before attempting to attack on the Western Front, while concentrating on finishing the Ottoman Empire. However, the unexpected turn out of the US elections, when Theodore Roosevelt had made a surprising comeback and defeated Woodrow Wilson in the elections of 1916, made that strategy a bit difficult. Roosevelt’s enthusiasm to involve the US Army on the Western Front as soon as possible had an inmediate effect the in country's war effort. The recently promoted General Leonard Wood was sent to work closely with Field Marshal Haig to plan the cooperation of US Army units with their British counterparts. Nevertheless, Lloyd George was worried about a premature deployment of the untested American forces that may end in a blood bath.

However, Haig continued to plan the offensive with his customary diligence. The questionable utility of the French Army, at least in his own views, convinced him that the British had to persist in pressing the Germans. Also, as he doubted that the Ottoman Empire could be defeated in a single blow and that this effort may draw away troops from the Western Front, he opted to expand the scale of operations to demonstrate the indispensability of combating the German Army. Thus, the Ypres salient was selected as the scene of the main thrust. Elsewhere, Haig stipulated that the operations were to involve cooperation with the Belgians, the French and the Americans, the wider use of tanks and an amphibious landing on the Flanders coast. As it was usual in him, Haig was quite optimistic.

Then reality proved, again, that great advances were almost impossible in spite of the early sucess in the first days of the offensive thanks to the combined arms strategy, but Haig kept hoping that persistence was to drain German reserves and lead to a decisive victory. Thus, he kept thinking in grand terms and objectives for the campaign while his commanders on the field were certain that only a gradualist approach would succeed and were vindicated by the course of events. Like the British in Flanders, the French attacked carefully, aiming to capture limited objectives, hoping to draw German troops away from the main thrust rather than affect a breakthrough. However, each time, in spite of the Allied pressure, the Germans were able to bring some order to their shattered front line and successfully inflicted numerous losses on the attacks. However the capture of thousands of German prisoners and guns proved to the Allies that the German Army was no longer the terrible enemy that had defied them during the whole war.

By the time the British achieved the decisive breach of the Hindenburg Line (September 1918), the Allied advance had not been substantial, but the disproportionately number of prisoners were a clear sign that the morale of the German Army was dropping significantly. Douai and Cambrain fell soon after, and, after a number of limited attacks in the two following weeks, the French Army reached the River Aisne. Allied success continued into October as Haig demanded his commanders to press the Germans even harder as the momentum of the British offensive faltered due to logistical difficulties and determined German resistance. Finally, on early October, with Mons was just five miles away from the front line, the Allied armies were forced to stop in order to reinforce, replenish supplies and to dig-in.

In Berlin, Ludendorff bolted when the Hindenburg Line was breached by the British and pressed the German government to start peace negotiations immediately. To compound matters, there was a fresh wave of protest at the scarcity of food caused by the blockade and wage depreciation. Demands for political reform grew louder and the the calls for peace were renewed. Wilhelm II then sacked Chancellor von Hertling, who was replaced by the elderly Bernhard von Bülow to redress the situation in Germany and to find a negotiated solution to the war.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

9. Peace offers

Count Gyula Andrássy de Csíkszentkirály és Krasznahorkai​

Bulow was not the only change brought to the German government. The Kaiser appointed the Anglophile former Ambassador to London, Prince Lichnowsky as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, a man neither Bülow nor Ludendorff wished to work alongside. Wilhelm II hopted that this changewould demonstrate the good intentions of the German government whilst presenting to Britain a familiar, friendly face to offer whatever terms that Bülow was to offer. When Ludendorff discovered that Bülow was drafting a peace offer, he threatened resignation, declaring that an overture to the Allies was premature, insisting that the Allied offensive was faltering and the German army would be ready to stop them any time soon. Even worse, the Allies would be encouraged by any show of German weakness. Bulow invoked the authority of the Kaiser to pursue the negotiations and faced the general down. On 13th October, the German government communicated its terms for the settlement of peace to the Allies, making the simple offer to withdraw from Belgium and France, thus hoping that by his promise of withdrawing from Western territories, Allied public opinion would not tolerate a continuation of the war for the sake of Eastern Europe, which he was bidding to retain in the future.

Then a bolt came out of the blue.
​

When Emperor Karl ascended the throne of Austria-Hungary in November 1916, he wasted no time in attempting to end the war. For this, he appointed Count Czernin as Foreign Minister, a man well disposed to a peaceful settlement with the Allies. The first approach was made in March 1917 through Karl’s brother-in-law, Prince Sixte de Bourbon-Parma, a Belgian Army officer. Sixte secretly brought the Allies news of the Austrian desire for a general peace. However, the approach went to nowhere and thus another attempt was made through Geneva, where the former Ambassador to London, Count Mensdorff met with Jan Smuts. The offer included the survival of the empire along with an unrealistic aspiration for a conciliatory, general peace in Europe, and it failed, too.

Only after severe internal upheavals did Karl change his tactics. Thomas Masaryk had made the case in Paris for Czech independence. Then, in early August 1917, there was an uprising of Czech nationalists in Bohemia due to the food shortages: 150,000 hungry workers took to the sweltering streets of the city to protest at further rationing. As the discontent promptly spread to Pilsen and the vast Skoda works of the city, bring the arsesonal of the empire to a halt. The Czech nationalist leaders Karel Kramář and Edvard Beneš channeled the anger of the malcontents of Prague and Pilsen by offering the dream of independence. Then the army deployed its guns on the streets and brought an end to the uprising. Kramář and Beneš were arrested.

Karl, shocked at the uprising and fearing that the empire was close to follow the steps of Russia, ordered that the Czechs be treated leniently to avoid encouraging the nationalist fervour by martyring the leaders of the uprising, and pressed for his liberal reform agenda to be pursued energetically and to renew efforts to reach a peace settlement. As Czernin reafirmed his idea that Austria-Hungary should only seek terms for a general peace, Karl sacked him. His replacement was Gyula Andrassy, a Hungarian liberal reformer know for his long held desire for peace, who was instructed to seek a separate peace with the Allies while assuring the Kaiser about Vienna’s continued steadfast support.

Thus Andrassy tried to contact Washington D.C thought quite unofficial channels and, eventually, a dialogue was opened with the State Department. When Secretary Charles Hughes knew that Vienna was prepared to contemplate a separate peace with the Allies, Washington was intrigued at this opening. Andrassy played cautiously, too worried to put the empire at a disadvantageous position in the negotiations. However, events in the front unfolded fast, as the Ottomans collapsed and the German army was defeated in Flanders. With wages shrinking, prices climbing and hunger widespread, the potential for revolution in the Empire was now apparent. Even worse for Vienna the success of the Allied forces from the Salonika bridghead against Bulgaria seemed to threaten the borders of the Empire.

Andrassy was hopeful that he could secure guarantees from the Allies that Austria-Hungary would not be dismembered after the war, hoping that Roosevelt regarded a balance of power to be the key to securing the future peace of Europe. Thus, Andrassy approached the United States, Britain and France in late-September with a peace overture, making clear his desire for an immediate, separate peace with the Allies in return for guarantees that Austria-Hungary would not be demolished. Roosevelt regarded the offer as an opportunity, so he suggested to London and Paris that a secret conference had to be convened with Austria-Hungary to discuss armistice terms. Lloyd George was happy to agree, but Clemenceau needed a bit of persuation.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

10. Eastern peace, Western alarm

In the end Andrassy's gamble failed. Hoping that an imminent peace settlement with Vienna would draw the United States, Britain and France away from Italy, Serbia and Rumania, which possessed territorial demands on Austria-Hungary, Andrassy demanded that a key requisite for the conference to happen was that it excluded those three nations, as the presence Italian, Serbian and Rumanian delegates would frustrate the conference with their territorial demands. While Roosevelt saw clearly that Italy, Serbia and Rumania would prefer to see Austria-Hungary dissolved or reduced to impotence and that neither of these outcomes accorded with his vision of post-war Europe and Lloyd George agreed with this assessment, Clemenceau was unwilling to abandon their allies and vetoed Vienna's demand.

Thus, the conference was over even before it was agreed when and where to hold it. Austria-Hungary and Germany were doomed to remain allied.

Meanwhile, Germany, as the Bulow peace offer passed aparently unnoticed by the Allied chancilleries, asserted herself in Eastern Europe as it fell into chaos. The German Army was ordered to advance and occupy Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic states and it seemed to be poised to march on Petrograd. Lenin, who favoured an immediate peace, thought with dismay that, in spite of the turn of events in the frontline, the prospect of imminent revolution in Germany was slim and that the revolution in Russia had to be defended, even at the cost of accepting a hard peace. Furthermore, the Russian Army was unable to offer any kind of resistance to the Germans and the civil war was there, too. Thus, Lenin and his comrades recognised clearly that the revolution was in peril and that peace had to be secured at any price. Under these circumstances, the Bolshevik Central Committee ordered Trotsky to accept the terms placed before them by the German government.

Thus, on December 1917, with the Brest-Litovsk treay, the war in the east came to an end. Under its terms, Poland, Belarus, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia wererecognised by Russia as independent nations, loosing thus a third of her population and half of her heavy industry. For the Bolsheviks, it was a necessary evil to save the revolution. For the Germans, it was the tool that helped them to set a large part of their Eastern forces to be deployed elsewhere.

On the Western Front, flushed with success in Flanders, Haig, Lyautey and Wood met at the headquarters of the French Army in Romilly-sur-Seine on November 11, 1917 to discuss their next step on the western front. The armistice on the eastern front made obvious the arrival of German reinforcements to face the French, British and American armies and that a major offensive could be expected. Despite the victory in Flanders, the German Army would thus outnumber the Allies in the west. So, the three Generals recommended a defensive strategy in the west and major offensives against Austria-Hungary in Italy, Slovenia and the Balkans, even if Haig was seething with this vision and argued for a general offensive to be carried out by all Allied forces as soon as possible. The German Army, he insisted, was evidently waning, and the victory in Flanders had to be exploited. His counterparts were less certain, agreeing that pressuring the Germans would be preferable but they also expressed their doubts about the ability of their forces to sustain protracted offensive operations. Lyautey seemed to suggest that the French Army was still fragile after the spring 1917 mutinies, and Wood doubted that his army could quickly be deployed as a united force.

Thus, it was obvious that the BEF would have to play the leading role in pressuring the Germans. Haig protested bitterly this. Even worse, Lloyd George believed that the offensive in Flanders had thoroughly exhausted the English armies and agreed with President Roosevelt that a general offensive should be launched only when the US Army was ready to fight. Clemenceau, on his part, accepted Lyautey’s diagnosis that the French Army was not ready to undertake a large offensive. The debate was, thus, unresolved as Haig pressed for a compromise in which the British would lead a downsized offensive supported by French and American units.

Then, the Italian front erupted into action.​

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

11. Caporetto and Madrid

Just as the Italian front erupted into action as the Austro-German forces broke the Italian lines and routed the enemy forces opposing them, Madrid was the scene for an opera bufa when Vázquez de Mella jumped into action. Since the General Strike of September 1916, the country had lived a tense calm on the surface. Garcia Prieto had managed to bring to an end the chaos. In that he had been quite lucky, as the entry of the United States into the war had given new life to the arrival of supplies to Spain that flooed the country for a short while before the Uboat counter-offensive and the primacy of the Western Front and other theatres of war had reduced that flood to a small stream.

Vázquez de Mella, on his part, was only capable of seeing how Germany had defeated Russia and helped Vienna to bring Italy to the verge of collapse. For him, the German defeat in Flanders was nothing but a temporary faux pas. So, he began to conspire to return to power and to bring Spain to the German side of the war. Then, he thought he had a chance.

The German submarine UB-23 had been badly damaged during a war patrol and she put it at La Coruña, Spain, on July 29, 1917, and there she was interned. On Octoer 14, Oblt.z.S. Hans Ewald Niemer and his crew tired to escape and to return to Germany with the help of some pro-German civil servants and navy officers and some small bribes. However, the submarine didn't go too far as she had troubles with her engine wand was thus forved to return to La Coruña. The whole affaire produced a deplorable impression and some of the Spaniards that took part in the event were removed from their posts and send elsewhere.

Vázquez de Mella, on his part, thought that this affair proved him right and began to contact the armed forces and the right winged parties to "put an end to the disaster that threatens the survival of the country". Thus, on October 29th, just five days after the Austro-German forces broke the Italian lines at Caporetto, Vázquez de Mella announced publicly during a meeting in Madrid his total disagreement with the Crown's policies. Nowadays no one is sure whether he thought that the whole country was to rise in arms against the Crown or, at least, a part of the armed forces or he was mentally delluded, but the truth is that he did manage to arouse the country, but not in the direction he wanted.

At the beginning, no one paid too much attention to the speech of the former prime minister. To his changrin, the police ignored him and he was nto arrested, as he feared/hoped. In fact, nothing happened. Bussines went as usual. Then, on November 1st, another strike broke out, this time in Santander. It was a quite small affaire that, by the end of that very day, was over. However, on the following day there was a mutiny among the garrison of the city. Some of the NCOs and soldiers of the garrison had read Vázquez de Mella's speech of October 29th and were apalled by the warlike lexicon used by the former prime minister as he demanded the armed forces to use "their guns and the buts of their rifles" to smash any threat that "dared to rose against the State". So, as Vázquez de Mella thought in removing the anglophile Jaime III, the soldiers feared that they were going to be used against the strikers.

Thus, on November 1st, 1917, part of the garrison of Santander rose against the officers when they were told to prepare to march into the city to patrol its streets and to keep the order after the short-lived strike.​

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

12. Shadow of a Revolution

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Madrid reacted fast. Melquiades Álvarez departed to the Northern city to try to calm down the mutinieers. To his surprise, Melquiades Álvarez found a peaceful city, an anguished officer corps and a quite calmed rank and file. Provided that there were no actions against the strikers, the soldiers would follow their officers, who were completely shocked as they feared that this was the preamble of a widespread revolution. However, days went on, the strike ended by November 3, and the feared revolution was nowhere to be seen.

On November 10 the Italian Front returned to the front pages. After the defeat of Caporetto, Berlin pressed for a decisive offensive to put Italy out of the war. However, something extraordinary took place there. The exhausted soldiers of the two sides refused to go over the top. On the Austrian side, the whole 21st Division rejected their orders to go to the front and, even if the ringleaders were arrested and executed, most of the Division was still unwilling to obey their orders. Then, some more regiments also mutinied during the following days and, in a whole week, 10,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers deserted their ranks. Some of them even advanced on Vienna after the mutineers put machine-guns in trucks and then departed. By December, half of the forces of the Dual monarchy suffered from the so-called "collective indiscipline". A similar process took place on the other side of the line. There, the Italian soldiers simply threw their guns and discarded their uniforms before going back to their homes. With the Caporetto disaster still fresh in their mind, the Italian government panicked. When some similar incidents took place among the British and French forces present there, panic ensued in Paris and London for a short period of time until the incidents turned out to be "just a few".

Then Vienna asked for peace again. Fearing the worst, Andrassy panicked and Vienna formally submitted a request for an armistice to the Supreme War Council in Versailles on 11th December. To the surprise of the Italian, Serbian and Rumanian governments and the American, British and French representatives accepted as one single body the Austrian offer. The British submitted lenient terms that mirrored some of the best hopes of Andrassy. Even if there were protests from the Italian, Serbian and Rumanian representatives, they were lost in the general enthusiasm and, when they could not be ignor4d, they were met with threates. If they kept blocking the negotiations, Roosevelt fired in anger, he had no qualms whatsoever to make a separate peace with Austria-Hungary. Thus, Italy and Serbia were informed that they must satiate their lust for new lands with the restoration of their pre-1914 border with Austria-Hungary in return for an armistice. Any further discussion of future borders would have to wait until after the war.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

13. The beginning of the beginning of the end.

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In the aftermath of the Austro-Hungarian armistice with the Allies, chaos ensued in Central Europe. The German forces on Austro-Hungarian territory (mainly the 14. Armee under General von Below) were offered two options by Vienna: to evacuate or to surrender. Of course, the Germans resisted with force. Soon they found themselves surrounded and under attack. However, the Dual Empire had problems of its own. As the war was over, many soldiers thought, there was no sense of remaning in the army, and desertions skyrocketed. Furthermore, in protest at the imperial government’s change of sides, the Minister President of Austria, Ernst Seidler, resigned and the Reichsrat, dominated by the Christian Social Party and the German National Movement, called for Austrian independence. When the new Minister President, Maximilian Hussarek, attempted to persuade the German Austrians to fight their compatriots, he was unceremouniously sacked and replaced by the Reichsrat president, Dr. Franz Dinghofer, who lambasted Andrássy and the Emperor for their apostasy. Nationalist groups took the streets of Vienna to demonstrate against the government and asking for German intervention. Civil servants refused to work, Austrian officers resigned their commands and numerous Austrian units in the army mutinied.

In Budapest, the Hungarian government also resigned. Dr. Sandór Wekerle, the Prime Minister, resigned, not willing to have deals with the Serbs and Rumanians. The conservative Count Tisza, who possessed the largest number of followers in the Hungarian parliament, refused to consider the idea of assuming office, and the Emperor Karl appointed János Hadik, a colleague of Andrássy, as the new Prime Minister. However, Hadik lacked the confidence of Tisza nor Count Karólyi, the leading Hungarian liberal, and his task was unenviable. Tisza then advocated Hungarian independence and an alliance with Germany to prevent any kind of reforms that would only work in favour of the Slavs and Rumanians. Karólyi, on his part, also wanted an independent Hungary, but one in the Allied side, as he, a Hungarian nationalist himself, feared that if Hungary remained within the Habsburg Empire, it would be enslaved by Austria.

Then, hardly one week later(December 21th, 1917) after the Austro-Hungarian armistice, Wilhelm II ordered his generals to invade the former ally. On the very next day the Reichsrat proclaimed itself to be a "Provisional National Assembly for German-Austria" representing the ethnic Germans in all Cisleithanian lands. The Czechs, who had risen in rebellion in Bohemia, now rallied to support the government in resistance to the German invaders. Poles, Ruthenians, Croats, Slovaks and Slovenes also rushed to fend the German fiend. However, representatives from Bohemia, Moravia and the Austrian Silesia joined the Provisional Assembly of the German-Austria that, on December 23th, called on all German inhabited Lands to form their own provisional assemblies.

Karl, who since that very moment had been source of jeer and hatred, suddenly became a man of peace that was bravely resisting German imperialism. But this ws not to be enough to stoped the German Army, which had occupied most of Bohemia by the first week of January 1918 and was advancing through Austria towards Vienna. Austro-Hungarian units were transferred north in haste to confront the new threat, followed closely by Italian forces but, as they moved through Austrian territory, to their surprise they found themselves to be in enemy lands. Thus, despite the fact that the Austro-Hungarians outnumbered the German invaders, they were forced to retreat to the south of the Elbe River and to the west of the Moldau as Italian forces were deployed to defend Austria to the south of the Inn River. The bulk of the Austro-Hungarian forces gathered north of the Danube to face the German advance on Prague, Linz and Vienna while the Imperial Chief of the General Staff, General der Infanterie Blasius von Schemua, contacted General Franchet d’Esperey placing the hopes of the Habsburg Empire in the fast arrival of the French, British, Serbian, Rumanian and Greek foces.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

14. The Second Revolution

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The seeds of the German Revolution were planted as soon as the first German troops entered into Bohemia. As the military commitments of the Reich escalated towards the invasion of Austria-Hungary and the feeling that Germany was, ideed, alone, pushed many to the brink of desesperation. Thus, when the Fourth Marine Division began to board the trains that were to take them south, a mutiny ensued.

It was January 5, 1918. The Fourth Marine Division (1) had been bleed white in Flanders during the Allied offensive. After loosing two thirds of its men, the Division had been withdraw of the front and sent to the North of Germany to recover and to be reinforced with new recruits. When the news of the Austrian betrayal prompted the invasion of the former ally, the Division was one of the many units rushed to Berlin as a reserve to be used in Bohemia. Thus, when on January 5 the Fourth Marine Division was told to be ready to board the trains that were to take them south, a mutiny ensued.

A few hundred men refused to board the trucks that were to transport them to the train station. However, when some companies of the same division were mustered to act against the mutineers, theyt gave up and were led away without any resistance. Nonetheless, the Fourth Marine Division remained in their barracks as its commander, doubted about theloyalty of the soldiers. However, when pressed on the very next day by the OKL, the CO of the Division was relieved when a whole batallion of the the 4th Naval Brigade boarded the trains without a word and departed to the south. Thinking that he had regained control of his men, he had 20 of the soldiers that he saw as the ringleaders imprisoned, and they were taken to the Arrestanstalt (military prison) in Spandau.

Then, part of the men reacted mutinied then to achieve the release of their comrades; they send delegations to their officers requesting the mutineers' release and to the unions, the SPD and the USPD. By January 12, the marine soldiers met in a mass meeting that was heeded by several thousand people including worker's representatives. When some infantry forces were sent to put an end to the meeting, violence ensued when some shoots were fired by the soldiers against the demostrators, who replied in kind; 7 people were killed and 29 severely injured. Then, the mass protest turned into a general revolt.

On the following day most of the industries of Berlin were closed and their workers on strike, together with many commercial and service enterprises. Furthermore, part of the Berlin garrison joined the mutineers and the rebellion began to spread all over Germany. By January 10 the mutiny had turned into revolution and seized Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Nuremberg, Hanover, Brunswick, Frankfurt on Main, and Munich. Members of the government and of the military suggested to Wilhem II that he had to abdicate. Of course, he refused the request, but to no avail. The events were out of control and, as this was happening, the SPD deputy chairman Phillip Scheidemann proclaimed the German Republic while Karl Liebknecht proclaimed the Soviet Republic in the Berlin Lustgarten almost at the same time. Kurt Eisner proclaimed the Volkstaat of Bavaria on the following morning.

On January 12 a powerless von Bülow was replaced by a Provisional Government led by Friederich Ebert, the leader of the SPD, who wanted to prevent the revolution and to keep the state order. However, the Rat der Volksbeauftragten (The Council of the People's Deputies) challenged Ebert's authority and claimed to represent the will of workers and soldiers. Then, Eisner arrived to Berlin on February 20th.

Meanwhile, there was a war going on.

(1) IOTL, ony three Marine Divisions were organized by the Germany Army.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

15. Organized chaos

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Startled with their success to create the split between Austria-Hungary and Germany, the Allied strategy change drastically. Now a large front had opened south of the German border, so it was less possible that the bulk of the reinforcements arriving from the East could be deployed in the west. Furthermore, Austria-Hungary also presented a threat to Germany because its proximity. Then, chaos erupted in Berlin with the Revolution. There was not time to waste.

In London, the War Cabinet held an urgent meeting to discuss strategy. Suddenly, the situation had changed and now secondary fronts were dropped and replaced by a demand to attack the German line with all resources available on the western front. Curzon and Bonar Law supported the strategy and, when the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Sir Henry Wilson, presented intelligence which suggested that German troop levels in the west would decrease because the defection of Austria-Hungary, Lloyd George was won to their side and gave his approval to a limited offensive, to the changrin of Haig. Of course, Clemenceau and the French generals agreed that the seismic events in Central Europe changed everything and were adamant that now was the time to strike.

They all met at Romilly-sur-Seine in January 1918 to agree upon a new course of action. Haig’s appeal for an offensive was now irresistible and Lyuatey and Wood, who wanted to hold the line while gathering the resources and manpower for a summer campaign, discarded their previous caution and supported an offensive “the earlier, the better”. General Wood, encouraged by Washington D.C., assented to the use of American forces to participate in Allied operations and informed his colleagues that he intended to begin grouping the six army corps serving with British armies into three American army commands under his control. In addition tot his, he offered to his troops to immediately take over a portion of the Allied line with two army corps. Within a week, the American Expeditionary Force began to replace General Maude’s Fifth Army along the Allied line between St. Quentin and La Fère.

Meanwhile, in Germany, there was no way to know what was going on. A series of political crises erupted between population and government and between the Provisional Government and the Räte (the workers and soldiers' councils that, by then, had developed into a nationwide movement with a national leadership) and between the moderate Left and the revolutionary group led by Luxemburg and Liebknecht, which also undermined the authority of the Provisional Government. Just a few members of the USPD agreed to join the new cabinet. However, Ebert was determined to save the order and, for the moment, he saw no way of getting out of the war without causing further trouble and social chaos. Then, Eisner arrived to Berlin and soon he gathered around himself all those who opposed Ebert's policies.

Even worse, in spite of his best efforts, Ebert failed to have the "Executive Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils" equally filled with SPD and USPD members. Instead of that, the SPD was smashed by the flood of USPD members in the Council, led by Richard Müller and Brutus Molkenbuhr. Thus, Ebert, after talking with General Groerner, who had replaced Ludendorff as Erster Generalquartiermeister, and securing the support of the army, prepared himself to crush the dangerous revolutionaries and to keep the war going on. Ebert was confident that the German Army would be able to inflict a major defeat on the Austro-Hungarians and induce the Germanic and pro-German elements of the empire to secede. If Austria and Hungary could rally behind Germany and if Germany could hold its gains in the west, it would prove to Allied public opinion the futility of continuing the war, paving the way for a negotiated settlement in favour of Germany.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

16. For bread and salaries!

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On 9th February, the German Army attacked along the Elbe, which was crossed on the following day as a great number of enemy soldiers, mainly Austrian, surrendered to the advancing Germans. Reinforcements were rushed to defend the breach as the bulk of the Austro-Hungarian Army fell back to a new defensive line of defensives centered around Kuttenberg (1). General Schemua grouped the Austro-Hungarian forces in Bohemia under the command of Field Marshal Conrad, the former Chief of Staff, and kept making urgent appeals to General Franchet d’Esperey to rapidly deploy French and British reinforcements to Bohemia. With the German flood making way fast in Bohemia, Moravia and Galicia, Karl and Andrássy had too many reasons to fear that further German success would prompt Austria and Hungary to unilaterally declare independence and to align themselves with Germany, so they sent a passionate and terrified plea to George V, Roosevelt and Poincaré for help.

Help, indeed, was on the way, as the Allies were only days from beginning their own offensive in the west. Haig had won approval for his strategy and, along with Lyautey and Wood, he concluded a plan that would involve the gradual application of pressure, as the French were loathe to repeat the mistakes of the Nivelle Offensive and Wood was aware that the AEF would be going into battle with the minimum training necessary. Thus a number of large set-piece engagements were to be launched after a series of small scale attacks to test the defensive capacity and fighting resolve of the German Army.

The German OKL were somehow happy that the defeat in Flanders has shortened their lines and made the western front easier to defend in the short term. Thus, if they were able to defeat Austria-Hungary fast, they woulc be also able to macht the enemy concentration in the west, as, according to their intelligence, after the gruelling operations in Flanders, the Allies would only be in a position to resume the offensive in France on a large scale in April or May.

In Spain, meanwhile, the feared revolutionary wave seemed to have vanished. Jaime III, happy after getting rid of Vázquez de Mella and seeing that the new cabinet had managed to bring peace and order to the country began to have dreams of becoming some kind of peace dealer and delluded himself in his dreams of bring the warrying parties of the Great War by giving them a new enemy: the Bolshevik ghost that was rearing his ugly head on Russia. Thankfully for him, the Spanish revolutionaries disagreed among themselves about what to do next after their failure at showing their muscle and were divided about what to do next.

Thus, by late November 1917, the Spanish main trade unions, the anarchist CNT and the socialist UGT, began to plan another General Strike. Even if they had learnt the lessons of their failure in August, they were still too divided on many issues and the strike did not materialize in the end. Even then, the rumours aobut it were enough to scare the government, the king and the PSOE itself. As the health problems of Pablo Iglesias forced him to reduce his political activity, a fight for the succesion ensued at once between the radical Socialist Francisco Largo Caballero and the moderate Julián Besteiro and filled the pages of the newspaper during most of December.

Then, on January 16th, 1918, the dock workers of Bilbao called for three-day strike after the government said it would delay plans to reform the sector and to study a raise in their wages.

(1) Present day Kutná Hora

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

17. A country without a king.

Santiago Alba in 1912.​

In the end, the strike developed into a kind of non-declared revolution that was, again, calmed down by no one else than Melquiades Álvarez, that, after his success in Santander, managed to appease the strikers, but not that the example was repeated all over the country, initially int he northern provinces and then spreading itself through Castille and Aragon. Jaime III reacted in the usual way. He fired his prime minister, Romanones, and replaced him with Santiago Alba, who found himself helpless when, five days later, on February 2, 1918, the first signs of revolution began to be appear in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia and Sevilla.

Just as the first strikes began to take place, Alba rushed to the royal palace, where he received the shock of his life. The king had fled and was nowhere to be seen. In fact, the whole Royal Family had fled the country that very morning. The news of the king's flight spread fast and soon there were people on the streets asking for a Republic. Alba raced back to his desk and began a mad rush of phone calls and urgent letters to try to fill the void of power that the king had caused. It was in this explosion of activity that a forged "copy" of Jaime's abdication arrived to Alba's hands.

A meeting with the leaers of the other main political parties (Manuel Garcia Prieto for the Liberal Party, Eduardo Dato for the Conservative one, Francesc Cambó for the Catalan Nationalist Lliga Regionalista and Ignacio de Rotaeche for the Basque Nationalist PNV) agreed at once that the country was in a dire situation and that a deep reformation of its social and political structures was needed inmediately. Of course, they disagreed on the reforms and upon the way to implement those. Then, on February 4th, part of the fleet based in Cartagena mutinied, lead by his commander, Admiral Juan Cervera. Cervera was soon supported by Garcia Prieto, who travelled to Cartagena on the very next day, just as the news of the mutiny of the garrisons of Cadiz and the Canary islands arrived to Madrid. The mutinieers demanded that prince Alfonso, grand grandson of Fernando VII was crowned as the new king of Spain.

Soon the troops of Barcelona joined the mutiny, followed by the garrison of Sevilla, where a strange and uneasy calm ensued between the forces of the revolution and the "mutinieers". Then, when Alba discovered that in spite of all the promises and sewar of loyalty, not a single general was willing to follow his orders, he resigned on February 6th as the news of the advance of a powerful force uner the command of Admiral Cervera had left Cartagena and marched over Madrid.

By February 8th a new government had been formed in Madrid. It included, of course, Garcia Prieto, Dato and Cambó, but also Admiral Cervera. That very day, Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the PSOE, proclaimed the Spanish Socialist Republic, forcing the rushed annoucement made by Garcia Prieto of the creation of the Provisional Government of the Spanish Republic and the promise of a new Magna Carta for the country. Soon Iglesias came under fire for being too moderate and the PSOE suffered a split that led to the creation of the Communist League led by the young Dolores Ibarruri and Angel Sopeña.

Then, as Garcia Prieto and Dato began to give shape to the new Republican government, Cambó and Cervera began to conspire to bring it down and to have the return of the Borbones to the Spanish throne. On her part, Ibarruri began to gather forces around her first to replace Iglesias as the main leader of the Spanish Left and, then, to depose the government.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

18. The breaking up of the Hindenburg Line

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When the Allies attacked on the Western Front, they caught the Germans by surprise, as it has been suggested before. On 14th February the British and the AEF assaulted the German lines. At St. Quentin, General Maude’s Fifth Army and General Bullard’s First US Army attacked the town not only to take it but also to establish a bridgehead on the eastern side of the River Oise. Progress was slow, in part because of the limited nature of the attacks imposed by Haig but also because of the dodged German resistance. Thus, when St. Quentin fell on 17th February, the Americans were still unable to cross the Oise. However, something had changed. Even if the advances were quite small, the attackers captured a large yield of prisoners. As the numbers of German soldiers surrendering was out of proportion with the scope of the attacks, the Allied Generals felt that this was a clear indication that the morale of the German Army was severely mauled.

On 19th February, the French began their part of the offensive when General Duchêne’s Ninth Army and General Debeney’s Seventh Army attacked south of the River Aisne, That day General Byng’s Sixth Army advanced against the Hindenburg Line when the British divisions attacked Craincourt and Anneux, southwest of Cambrai, as both villages had to be taken if any advance on Cambrai itself was to be carried out. Also, attacking Anneux was intended to serve as a diversion from the much larger offensive about to start to the north, as Haig planed to attack the Hindenburg Line at Drocourt and then Douai, which lay behind it. For this task, 450 tanks and numerous batteries of heavy artillery had been amassed.

The Hindenburg Line, composed of six defensive lines surrounded by belts of barbed wire and dotted with concrete pillboxes, was a formidable obstacle. No surprise could be achieved here, so sheer fire power had to do the trick: a sixty hour bombardment along ten thousand yards of the front would precede the infantry. By this stage of the war British artillerymen had turned the preparatory bombardment into a form of science and their heavy guns could now fire astounding quantities of shells with increasing accuracy, providing the infatrymen with greater margins of safety during the attacks.

Thus, when the Third Army attacked Drocourt on February 21 with hundreds of tanks in the vanguard and the Royal Air Force dominant in the skies, the battered defences were overrun. In less than a day, the most potent defensive obstacle in the west was breached by the British Army. Further south, Byng’s Sixth Army overwhelmed the defenders of Anneux in similar style, capturing Cantaing and Fontaine with the support of Lieutenant-General Kavanagh’s Cavalry Corps. Broken, the battered German forces sought to hastily arrange defensive measures while thousands of Germans were captured. It goes without saying that this reverse caused a significant political turmoil in Germany, which encourage the Allies to apply more pressure to exploit the apparent weakness of the enemy.

Troubles didn't end here for Berlin. Douai fell on February 22, the same day that Bing's forces captured Cambrai, forcing the Germans to withdraw from Bullecourt, Queant and Bourlon Wood. Then, on Flanders, on February 24 General Horne’s First Army and General Rawlinson’s Fourth Army opened up their offensive against the German lines with an attack on Turcoing and Roubaix, northeast of Lille. After a number of limited attacks during a fortnight of operations in which Neufchâtel was captured, the French Army reached the River Aisne on 27th February, an objective which had been outlined by Joffre prior to the offensives in Spring 1915, with Byng advanced towards Le Cateau before capturing the town on February 28.

The news of the defeat had an deep impact on Germany. The rumours about the lack of confidence and misgivings with the Provisional Government reached a crescendo which was worsened by the growing shortages of food, supplies, and other materials. Several strikes took place in Berlin and the Ruhr and many factories came under control of the workers in what amounted to a social revolution. On March 1st, 10,000 workers of Berlin demonstrated under banners reading "Down with the war!" and "all power to the Räte!". Thus, Ebert turned more and more reliant on the support of the army. To prevent the collapse of the industry, Union leaders under Karl Legien met wit representatives of the of the big industry represented by Karl Friederich von Siemmens. The meeting put a temporary end to the strikes, reduced the influence of the councils, prevented a nationalisation of means of production and introduced the eight-hour day that the workers had demanded since a long time ago.

Thus, with a part of the problem solved, Ebert could turn his attention to the frontline. Then, on March 5, shoots were heard on the streets of Berlin.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

19. The Skirmish of the Brandenburger Tor

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Since the early days of the revolution, many German Generals mistrusted Ebert and hoped for a more unified form of government. Many of the German officers feared that the spectre of a revolution which followed the Russian example. Also, the worrying situation of the Western Front and the Austrian betrayal made them even more willing to act before it could be too late. They demanded the abolition of the various soldiers' committees that had sprung up in since the beginning of the revolution and also wanted to put an end to any signs of revolution in Germany, particularly in regard to the Bolsheviks. Thus, in adittion to the Imperial Army, numerous units of volunteers, the so-called Freikorps, were formed as a stop gang mesure to keep the order in the cities and ready to be used against the revolutionary threat.

The Freikorps were made by veteran soldiers that were recovering from injuries, by recruits and by Naval personnel, as the members of the II.Marine Brigade, formed by around 6,000 men under the command of Korvettenkapitän Hermann Ehrhardt. This unit, along with the Garde-Kavallerie-Schützendivision, leded by Generalleutnant Heinrich von Hofmann, were quartered in Berlin itself and together were to spearheaded what became known as the Lequis Putsch, when, General der Infanterie Arnold Lequis, in command of all the regular troops in and around Berlin, ordered on March 4 his units to "restore peace in Berlin" with the support of several Freikorps, the two already mentioned plus the Marinebrigade Loewenfeld. However, when Lequis issue4d his orders, most of the soldiers refused to follow orders and only the Freikorps, along with some regular battalions, marched on their own. To face them was the Volksmarinedivision, made up by revolutionary naval troops from Kiel, and some Red Guard militias.

The II.Marine Brigade reached fast the Brandenburger Tor and then moved into the deserted Reichskanzlei, as Ebert and his government had fleed to Dresden when they heard about the putsch. Supported by a battalion of the regular army, the putschists occupied the government quarter, just to find themselves surrounded by the sailors and the Red Guards. Shortly before 8 am of the following day, the sound of gunfire was heard as a cannonade signalled the attack of the Volksmarinedivision. According to reports, some putschists soldiers sides and joined the revolutionary forces, which were also reinforced by armed and unarmed civilians. Around noon, the skirmish ended as the II.Marine Brigade withdrew and the Volksmarinedivision held the field.

Lequis had to resign his post as commander of the city's forces and Ebert replaced him by Otto Wels. The putsch had not only failed to put an end to the revolution, but also fueled the Bolsheviks' popularity in the Räte, both in and out of Berlin, and weakened the stance of Ebert and his cabinet. On the following day, March 6, the Spartacists severed their remaining links with the USPD and set themselves up as the new Kommunistische Partei (KPD). Eisner, then, began to plan how to get rid of Ebert and to assume power in Germany.

Meanwhile, King Albert’s Army Group, consisting of the British Second Army (General Maxse) and the Belgian Army, attacked the River Lys on March 5. After a two day engagement, the Belgians entered Ghent before pushing along the north bank of the Scheldt while Maxse crossed the Lys after a surprise bombardment. Facing the enemy pressure, the Germans retreated, settling on the River Escaut on March 8. However, the British commanders were to attack the Germans again before their positions on the Escaut could be strengthened, so they tried to cross the Escaut on March 10, facing and even tougher opposition from the Germans than on the Lys. However, two days later, the German were again withdrawing. Further south, General Lomax’s Third Army resumed its advance, after nearly a fortnight of well deserved rest. His target was the symbolic town of Mons, that was captured after a brief but vicious fight along the Mons-Condé Canal to the west of the city.

The deteriorating position of Germany, both in the field against the enemy and at home, forced Ebert and the OKL to agree upon a strategy of democratising and to end the war. Even if they had stumbled from setback after setback, the German army had not sustained a decisive, catastrophic defeat at the hands of the Allies. The British had sustained 75,000 casualties since March 5. Lloyd George and Roosevelt were delighted at the continuing success of the Allied Armoes, but the British premier still believed that Germany was still determined to fight unless the German Army was utterly routed in battle. Thus, on March 11, the Allies commenced a general advance along the length of the front in France and Belgium.

As news that the Rhineland was aflame with revolutionary spirit arrived to Berlin on March 13, Ebert instructed Matthias Erzberger to obtain a ceasefire at any price and sent him westwards to inform the Allies of Germany’s willigness to negotiate a settlement. Erzberger crossed the front line and was escorted to the forest of Compiègne on March 16.