1913
“The causes which might lead to a general war have not been removed and often remind us of their presence. There has not been the slightest abatement of naval and military preparation. On the contrary, we are witenessing this year increase of expenditure by continental powers on armaments beyond all previous expenditure. The world is arming as it was never armed before. Every suggestion for arrest or limitation has so far been ineffectual.” -- Chuchill to House of Commons on the Naval Estimates, March 17, 1914
January HMS Valiant laid down
Liman von Sanders is sent to Ottoman Empire to oversee to the reorganization of its army. The General is given completely control. Russia protests the move to Germany but is ignored.
Febuary HMS Barham laid down
Admiral von Tirpitz in a speech before the Reichstage Budget Committee states that hence forth Germany will build towards a goal of 60% of the Royal Navy in terms of Battleships. With Germany to build three Battleships a year through 1917 it is expected that the United Kingdom will counter with five battleships, establishing a ratio of 3 to 5 between Germany and the United Kingdom in terms of new construction. Tirpitz says that he does not see any reason for Germany to increase its current building program. The anoucement is hailed in the United Kindgom as going a long ways towards reducing tension between Germany and the UK. As up untill this annoucment the German Government had maintained that their Navy was built soley for the needs of Germany, without reguard to any other power in particular.
March – Winston Churchill suggests a world wide halt to the construction of capital ships, while the announcement is applauded in some quarters in most it is might with polite disinterest.
In Canada Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada, is trying to pass a bill where Canada will donate over seven million pounds to the UK for the purchase of two battleships to serve in the Royal Navy; perhaps as part of an ‘imperial squadron.’ Wilfrid Laurier’s Liberials are very much against the idea of the ships; some Liberials want to disband the navy all together. While a majority in the lower house of parliament pass the bill for the funds restrictions are placed on the donation. This restriction is that Canada will have a say in Imperial Defense. So many are in favor of helping the mother country but wish to do so on Canada’s terms. Besides having a say in Imperial Defense many would like the battleships built in Canada itself and for the ships to meet Canada’s needs in particular in Pacific.
The debate on the funds is not helped when Winston Churchill in effect blasts several of the ideas in particular the one for building the ships in Canada. The First Lord suggested that it would cost more than double the price of the battleships to setup a plant to build them. While there is more than a minor element of truth to the statement it was still very poorly received in Canada. In particular many point out that no yard in the UK builds all the elements of a warship and many parts are purchased from other sources. Also Churchill’s idea of the Imperial Squadron is looked on with out right derision as having it stationed at Gibraltar only assures that it will be too far away to be of immediate help to any place of use, in particular the Pacific for Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Robert Borden shelves the idea for the moment not willing to break his government on this one idea and will return to the idea later. Australia which was asked to consider paying for another large warship informs London that they will wait for a final resolution from Canada before they make any commitment.
April – SMS Hohenzollern and SMS Franken laid down (Anhalt class with ten 350mm guns in five turrets).
The 1912 Army has expanded the German Peace time army by nearly 200,000 men and added 3 Corps to the order of battle. This expansion is proving difficult but not impossible for the Germans to deal with. The largest difficulty is finding enough officers of the correct social background as despite Goltz and Moltke requests the Kaiser is refusing to relaxe restrictins on officers social backgrounds, IE nobility.
In France the German expansion has not gone unnoticed and the Army has pressed hard for a return to three years of service for conscripts. The election of Poincaré to the Presidency has cleared the way and is made law. A twenty second corp will be added to the army and a large increase in the peace time army will occur allowing for greatly increased readiness on the part of the Army. The cost for the expansion puts an end to any hope in the short term for updating the siege artillery park of the army. Some progress for heavy artillery is made as Col of Artillery Émile Rimailho working with Schneider et Cie has finished his work on a new 155mm weapon, the Canon de 155 modèle 1913 Schneider. The new howitzer is based heavily on the 105mm Model 1911 / L 11 S and will enter low level production at once.
Plan XVII is unveiled to the Conseil supérieur de la Guerre and becomes the official war plan for France; a general offensie into Germany across the Common Border. From conversations with Britian make it clear that the diplomatic costs of an invasion of Belgium are too high.
May – Chuchill and Borden have exchanged a number of letters on the issue of funds for a pair of battleships. Despite an unofficial agreement with Germany on Dreadnought numbers a large number will need to be built as Germany has refused all attempts to get them to agree to reduce the size of their program. So the Royal Navy will be building five battleships a year through 1917 which will require another three this year and another twenty down the road. Such a massive building program was very unpopular with the Liberal Government. As London was unwilling to discuss imperial defense that left the issue of construction and location. It would be years for a yard to be setup to build one let alone two ship the size of a dreadnought battleship so a compromise was worked out.
The long talked about yard to produce small cruisers and other warships would be used and a large dry dock will be built in Halifax naval yard able to repair a battleship. Candian Vikers which was established in Montreal after being invited in 1911 would be upgraded, a large floating dry dock arrived in November of 1912, and would start work on a town class light cruiser. The battleships would be ordered in 1914 from UK yards and would serve as part of the Royal Canadian Navy; names to be HMCS Quebec and HMCS Ontario. The entire project is estimated to cost ten million pounds and would be put to referendum. The cruisers would in peace time serve in the Pacific and Battleships the Atlantic. War time the RCN would default to the Command of the Royal Navy.
June SMS Ersatz Herta (replacement for the armored cruiser SMS Herta)
July – The Committee on War Time Supplies meets and receives the latest report from Walther Rathenau the head of the Raw Materials Section. Last years report noted in most cases a four month supply of resources. The Section also spent some time looking into local production of resources and sources to better analyze Germany’s vulnerability with respect to raw materials. In most recent years Copper for example required 225,000 long tons annually with 100,000 tons being re-exported as finished products leaving 125,000 long tons of internal consumption. The electrical market was the single largest domestic consumer. German production amounted to 50,000 tons. Leaving an annual short fall projected at atleast 75,000 tons. Manganese needs for Germany amounted to over 650,000 tons annually with no local production. This was most serious as Manganese was needed for the production of steel, at the same time German steel industry had a large supply of it and was working to increase its supplies further. It is expected that a year plus supply would soon be available. Demand for Nickel, Chormium, Aluminium and Tin were not very high compared to the first metals but at the same time there was either no current production of the metals or very little. Of the two only Chromium and Aluminum were available in outside sources friendly to Germany, bauxite from the Hapsburg Monarchy and Chromium from the Ottoman Empire. Imports of Petrolium amounted to 750,000 tons, mostly from the United States.
One of the most critical raw material supply issues was of course Saltpeter, other Nitrates and Phosphates. Saltpeter was used for munitions production and Germany, along with most of the worlds supply came from Chili. Nitrates such as nitric acid were also used in explosive manufacture and agriculture along with Phospahtes. 800,000 tons of saltpeter where importated from Chili annually, along with 400,000 tons of phosphoric acid from the United States along with another 600,000 tons of phosphoric acid from North Africa. Of these items Germany has some local production from its coal coking plants for fertilizer but Germany would be totally cut off from nitrates suitable for high grade explosives.
German Chemist Fritz Haber had demonstrated in 1909 a process to produce ammonia, a compound of Hydrogen and Nitrogen that could be turned into various nitrate compounds such as Nitric Acid, from Nitrogen and Hydrogen gas. This procces was attempting to be scaled up to industrial production by BASF, Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik, in a factory in Oppau. Rathenau had consulted with chemists Emil Fischer and Fritz Haber on the issue. Another process that used electricity could produce a weak form of nitric acid and was being used at a plant in Norway but it was very costly in terms of electrical power. It was estimated that it would cost 50 million marks to build single plant in Germany which wouldn’t meet all of Germany’s needs. The cost was staggering; a Bayern Class battleship was projected to cost the same. Industry was unwilling to build such a plant on mere speculation, especially with cheap imports of Chilian Saltpeter available. There were signs that a much cheaper solution based on the Haber process would be able to produce large mounts, if the problems could be worked out. With the Reichstag unlikely to fund a large electrical process the Chemical industry would continue to work on the Haber process. In the mean time a small supply of saltpeter would be built up, enough to meet a 6 month supply for the muntions factories. (Once war breaks out this will turn out to be more like a two or even one month supply)
For other raw materials industry will continue its planning and tracking efforts and looking into replacement materials.
August France agree’s to provide large scale loans to Russia to meet the military needs for railway construction as defined by the French and Russian General Staffs. The annual meeting of Conseil supérieur de la Guerre and STAVKA confirms the plan for a joint invasion of Germany. Russia will put its primary offensive strength vs. Germany for an invasion of the east while France attacks from the west.
September October – HMS Malaya laid down, paid for by Malaya confederation for the Royal Navy
October – Referendum narrowly passes in Canada. Canadian Manufactures pour large amounts of money into supporting the referendum. With the passing of the bill in Canada Australia agrees to fund a battleship, HMAS Dominion.
November – HMS Ramillies and HMS Resolution laid down
King Albert of Belgium invited to Berlin the Kaiser and several generals tell Albert that war with France is very likely. Kaiser assures the King that Germany will stand by Belgium in the event of a French invasion.
Zabern Affair erupts in the town of Zabern in Alsace Lorraine. Lieutenant Günter Freiherr von Forstner spoke disparagingly about the inhabitants of Zabern on October 28 during a troop induction. He said to his soldiers, "If you are attacked, then make use of your weapon; if you stab such a Wackes in the process, then you'll get ten marks from me." (Note: Wackes is a derogatory term for a native Alsatian.) When this leaked to the press in November protests broke out. Lieutenant Forstner is lightly disciplined, which does nothing to appease the protesters, and the Regimental commander demands that the civilian authorities restrain the protesters. The army is told that there is nothing to do as protesters aren’t in violation of any laws. Franz Ferdinand also protests the army’s actions and bluntly tells them to stay out of civilian matters within the Grand Duchy.
On November 28th the situation degenerates further when a large crowd outside the garrison barracks assembles to protest. The head of the sentries, Lieutenant Schadt, is ordered by the regiment’s commanders to disperse the crowd. The result is Lt. Schadt arrests many people from the crowd and a number of members of the Zabern Court that were trapped when they tried to exit the court house. The prisnors were held in a coal bunker over night and more troops were used to put the town under martial law with machine guns and armed troops on the streets.
The result of the latest incident was to enrage the population of Elsaß-Lothringen, many within the rest of the Empire and in particular Franz Ferdinand. The Duke demands the release of everyone held and the arrest of Lt. Schadt and his commander Colonel Adolf von Reuter. The Kaiser Wilhelm and the armies view point is that nothing wrong was done. Matters degenerate when on December 2nd Lt. Forstner is mocked by a crowd and he attacks the first to laught at him with his saber badly injuring the person.
Franz Ferdinand had been back in Elsaß-Lothringen for some time now and is extremely angry at the latest incident. Before the Ducal Diet Franz Ferdinand declares that Elsaß-Lothringen is not some occupied territory subject to military tyranny. The Diet cheers the Duke and votes to support any action he will take to in response to the incidents. The Reichstage gives a vote of no confidence in the Chancellor and demands he step down over his handling of the matter. To which Bethmann Hollweg replies that per the constitutionhe only needs the Emperors support.
A few days later the Emperor Wilhelm and Duke Franz Ferdinand have a long private meeting over the issue. The result of this meeting is that the long held up plans for military organization of Elsaß-Lothringen will move forward. While many of the regiments stationed in Elsaß-Lothringen have troops raised localy such as the Lothringisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr.130 the officer corps comes from the rest of Germany. This was especially true for the Oberrheinisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr.99 stationed in Zabern where many of the officers where Prussian; inparticular Forstner and Schadt. While the various regiments and their administration will continue as before through the Prussian War Ministry in Berlin Franz Ferdinand as Grand Duke will now receive all the reports and have the right to make suggestions for officer appointments to the regiment’s garrisoined in Elsaß-Lothringen. In the mean time some transfers will be made to bring in more south German Officers. The 99th Regiment is to be moved out Zabern as soon as possible and a new Regiment, the 183rd, will be formed to take its place.
The Reichstag passed a law that made it illegal for troops to intervien without prior civilian approval. Eventual a courts martial held in January 1914 aquited the officers involved in the incident. This was met by derision in Elsaß-Lothringen but no additional protest as the regiment was by then leaving the duchy. Also the first of Franz Ferdinand’s officer appoints had made to local regiments, most of the newly made Fähnrich (Officer Cadet’s) were of middle class background. So while the resolution of the incident was’t perfect in the eye’s of Elsaß-Lothringen civilians it gave them some sense of empowerment and helped forge a connection between them and their Grand Duke.
December – SMS Bayern and HMS Reveng Laid down
