The German Question, Part Seventy-Five

Very minor editing, 9/22/15

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part Two/E "The Germans At War"

"The Discontent Of Stalemate"

Kaiser Wilhelm had been born with a withered left hand.* Perhaps this weakness made him showcase a more strutting militaristic persona, but during the war, his overall lack of military prowess made him recede ever further into the more symbolic role of Kaiser as supreme commander, leaving the actual military affairs and even many governmental affairs to the professionals.** Wilhelm made many public appearances and visited military units to help bolster morale, but Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and his aide, General Erich Ludendorff, gained more and more power as Wilhelm deferred to them, and some historians even go so far as to say that these two men, and not Wilhelm, were actually running Germany during the last two years of war.

Perhaps Tsar Nicholas II should have taken a note from his distant cousin, the Kaiser, but unlike Wilhelm, Nicholas had actively served in a regiment in his early adulthood. He loved military life and he loved being around the troops. With the Russian armies finally dug in against the German and Austro-Hungarian armies after terrible losses,*** the Tsar made a fateful decision; he relieved his cousin, also named Nicholas (known to the family as "Nikolasha"), as commander-in-chief of the army, and he took charge of the army personally, although actual conduct of military matters were left to a professional staff. The decision had dire consequences. Before this time, fairly or unfairly, the public could blame "the generals" for the defeats, but with the Tsar now "in charge," full responsibility was his. Further, with the Tsar at the military headquarters hundreds of miles from the capital of St. Petersburg, he left his German-born wife in charge of day-to-day governmental matters. With Russia at war with Germany, the Russian public, stunned by the catastrophic defeat of the Russian armies in East Prussia, looked for reasons why Russia had not already defeated Germany and Austria-Hungary. Over the centuries, many Germans had settled in Russia, now, people with German sounding names became the object of hatred, accused of being spies for their ancestral homeland. This state of mind went right up to the Tsarina Alexandra.**** Rumors circulated that Alexandra was passing important information on to her first cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm (a grandson of Queen Victoria). In addition, her association with Grigori Rasputin brought more disrepute to the monarchy.^ Many in the public believed Rasputin, through the Tsarina, had access to secret information about Russian military plans. It was believed he then passed along this information to German agents, who then paid him handsomely for the secrets. Rasputin's exploits, some real, some imagined, were big stories to the Russian public, and the country's newspapers were more than willing to print Rasputin stories for a public eager for any tidbit about him.

Meanwhile, in far off Zurich (Zürich, in German), Switzerland, a Marxist revolutionary writer, theorist, and leader, Vladimir Lenin, was monitoring the reports of events from his native Russia. Lenin was not his real name, as he was born Vladimir Ulyanov. In Russia prior to Tsar Nicholas II's granting of a "limited" constitution (and even somewhat thereafter), writings critical of the government were cause for arrest. Ulyanov wrote under the pseudonym "Lenin," and he kept that as his "cover name" to avoid the secret police, just as many revolutionary leaders did (for example, Stalin's real family name was "Dzughashvili" or "Jughashvili," depending upon transliteration method.) The revolutionaries took advantage of the Russian military defeats, and of Alexandra's association with Rasputin, to spread as much discontent as possible. With Russia's armies terribly short of ammunition and provisions, and with an inadequate railway net, the whole Russian supply system, especially to the cities, began to go into cardiac arrest, making the job of the revolutionaries that much easier. Strikes and protests mounted. Military units became highly unreliable, some even in open rebellion. Eventually the situation became so serious in St. Petersburg, police and military units joined the protesters, and Nicholas decided to return to the capital to restore order. On his way back, his train was stopped and he was forced to abdicate. Revolution had come! A "provisional government" under Alexander Kerensky came to power. With starvation a distinct possibility for many Russians, especially in the cities, the Kerensky government promised not bread, but war, as the new government reassured their nervous French and British allies that Russia would remain in the war. Lenin was still watching. (You may wonder why I've included so much information about Russia, when this series is about Germany, but the major events in Russia had an impact on the course of the war and Germany, and the next part will clarify why this is so important. The main thing to remember is, the Allies needed Russia to remain in the war to keep the two front war going against Germany and Austria-Hungary.)

* The many photos taken of Wilhelm during his life almost always had his left hand concealed in some way, frequently by a glove.

** Wilhelm's last minute wavering about support of Austria-Hungary against Serbia and his attempts to avoid war made some German military and governmental leaders skeptical (some might say "contemptuous") of him.

***Remember, even though German rail could adeptly transfer troops back and forth between the Western and Eastern Fronts, once the Germans failed to knock France out of the war, Germany could not send enough troops against Russia to defeat her, bloodied though Russia had been early on in the war. Austria-Hungary also had its hands full, not only against Russia, but against Serbia, and then Italy. With forces divided against so many nations, the outlook for a Central Powers' victory was relatively dim, although the Allies also seemed in much the same spot; thus there was military stalemate, with only the number of casualties and victims of the war escalating.

****Born as a princess in the German state of Hessen, her given name was "Alix," the German rendering of her mother's name, Alice. Alice was the daughter of Queen Victoria of Britain and Alice died while Alix was still a young child. "Grandmother" Queen Victoria took charge of Alix's education and much of her upbringing, and the girl shared her time between Hessen (in the city of Darmstadt) and England. So, while Alix was "German-born," she was actually something of an Englishwoman, and indeed, she and Nicholas conversed in English, not Russian. The English part of her heritage was a matter not really known to the average Russian. Upon her conversion to Russian Orthodoxy, which was required for her to marry Nicholas, she was given the name "Alexandra."

^ For more on Rasputin, I did a nine part series on him (Parts 1-8 + Conclusion). You can access "Part One" here:
http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2008/04/rasputins-importance-to-history.html
 

 WORD HISTORY:
Gather-This word goes back to Indo European "ghedh," which had the notion of "unify, unite, join, keep together." This spawned the Old Germanic offshoot "gaduronan," which continued the meaning "bring together, unite; thus also, 'gather.' " This gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "gadrian/gaedrian," with much the same basic meaning. Later it was spelled "gaderen," but gradually the "d" sound came to be pronounced as "th," and this brought about the modern spelling. The other West Germanic languages have (or had) words related to "gather;" German has "Gatte" ("husband"), "Gattin" ("wife"), both terms being a bit "socially high," and the idea of "uniting" lies behind them. German also has "begatten," which means "to mate," for animals, and ahh...ahh... "to mate" for humans. In "old times," it meant "to get married, or paired;" thus the related terms "Gatte" and "Gattin," above. While strikingly similar to English "beget/begat," and with similar meaning, if you get my drift, they are not related. Interestingly too, just as with English, most sources show the root word itself was once spelled with a "d" in German, but also just like in English, the sound changed, in the case of German to "t," as they do not have the "th" sound of English. Dutch has "vergaderen," with the meaning "to gather, to assemble in one place." Frisian once had "gadia," meaning "to unite," but apparently it has died out, with no descendants, so I assume the Frisians did not read up on German "begatten" or English "beget." English once had "gaed," another derivative of the Old Germanic form, and it meant "companion, fellowship," but it too has died out, which brings us back to "begatten" and...oh never mind!

The German Question, Part Seventy-Four

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part Two/D "The Germans At War"
"Italy Jumps"

In April of 1915, Italy, which had been in alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary since the 1880s, but which had declared neutrality upon the outbreak of the war,* signed a secret agreement with the Allies in London. The agreement promised Italy substantial territorial gains if/when the Allies won the war. Other provisions of the agreement laid out plans for much of the Balkans. In exchange, Italy would declare war against its former allies, which it did in May 1915. The agreement is important because the territorial gains for Italy would include areas with substantial German populations, especially the South Tirol.

* Italy saw their alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary as purely defensive, and they noted that Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, which was not a defensive measure. Others, including historians later on, saw the Italians as indecisive, even waiting to see to which side would be the likely winner. Fair or unfair, it is a view that has persisted to this day.

WORD HISTORY:
Same-This goes back to the Indo European root "sem," which had the notion of "one, together, united." This gave Indo European "samos/somos"), which meant "same." Sanskrit, an ancient Indo European language (still in use on a limited basis, primarily in India) had "sama(h)," which meant "identical," and also "level, even," all obviously with the basic meaning of "same." The Indo European form gave its Old Germanic offspring "samaz," with the "same" basic meaning. This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "same" (I "believe" with a short "a" sound back then, and the final "e" would have been pronounced as short), which mainly seems to have been used in "swa same," an expression that meant "the same as" ("swa" having a long "a"). Old Norse, a North Germanic language, brought "samr" to England (simply the North Germanic form of the word), which seems to have reinforced the original English word, so much so, that "same" overtook the common English word for "same," which then was "ilca," whose descendant is modern English "ilk," most commonly used in the comparative expression "of that ilk," meaning "the same as." Various forms of the word are quite common in the Germanic languages. German uses the base word in different forms and anyone learning German will have to learn these various forms, as they are EXTREMELY common: "samt" = "together with, all together;" "zusammen"="together, jointly," which is very common in verb compounds, for example, "zusammenarbeiten," which literally means "to work together;" that is "cooperate, collaborate," and also in noun compounds, "Zusammenarbeit," the noun form of the previous verb; thus, "cooperation." Bavarian dialect, and in some areas which speak Thuringian dialect or Upper Saxon dialect have "zam." Further, German has "sammeln," a verb meaning "to gather, to collect," and "versammeln," "to assemble;" that is, "to collect together," these from one of the original meanings, "together, one." Low German has "zamelen," Dutch has "inzamelen," Frisian has "sammelje," all meaning "to collect." Danish and Norwegian have "samme," Swedish has "samma," Icelandic has "sama," all meaning "same."

English had other words related to "same," but with its further meaning of "gather, collect, bring together as one." All of these words still go back to their Indo European ancestor's basic notion of "one, together." Old English had, for example, "samnian," "gesamnian," and "tosamnian;" all with the "general" meaning of "gather, collect."* Over time, these words, which often had very slight variations in meaning, died out in English, with words of similar meanings overtaking them in common usage, like the old form of modern "gather," which was already an English word, and it took on all of the nuanced meanings of the above words. Further, English eventually borrowed "collect," which is a Latin-based word.

* As noted in the history above, other West Germanic languages closely related to English still have similar words: German has "sammeln," Dutch has "inzamelen," and Frisian has "sammelje," all still meaning "gather, collect."

The German Question, Part Seventy-Three

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part Two/C "The Germans At War"
"The Strategy Fails & The Hun Reputation Grows"

Reports of German atrocities against civilians, especially in Belgium, were widely circulated in the newspapers in Allied countries and in the United States. It did much to further inflame public opinion against Germany. It is difficult to sort out fact from fiction, but several sources (including British) mention that after the war, many of the German atrocity stories were discredited, and some of the stories were so outlandish, I doubt their truth (unlike in World War Two).* That doesn't mean ALL stories were untrue. Kaiser Wilhelm's remark from many years before, saying that he wanted the Germans to be "feared like the Huns," opened the door to all sorts of atrocity stories, undoubtedly both real and imaginary. All of the horror stories only served to reinforce the image of German troops as savage. Several sources also mention that the shooting of prisoners of war was not uncommon by ALL sides, although such acts were not condoned by the high military authorities of any country. These actions, or so I have read, seem to have been individual acts against prisoners as they were being escorted to rear areas.

While Belgian resistance surprised and delayed the Germans in western Europe, Russian mobilization surprised them in eastern Europe. The Russian army moved into northeastern Germany much more quickly than the Germans had thought possible. At first it looked as if the vastly outnumbered Germans would be rolled over by the Russians,** as two Russian armies advanced into German territory (East Prussia) and scored an early victory. This prompted a change in the German command in East Prussia, with Paul von Hindenburg, who was in his mid sixties (a considerable age in those times), brought in to take charge. The Germans completely reversed their perilous fortunes in East Prussia by inflicting a devastating defeat on the Russians near the town of Allenstein. The continuing operations essentially destroyed both Russian field armies.*** In spite of the victory, the war went on, as the French and British held in western Europe, and the Russians, while stunned, eventually were able to stabilize their front somewhat. Now the nightmare of the German military became reality....a major two front war.

* Unfortunately, World War Two atrocity stories proved to be much more accurate, with some exceptions, no matter how gruesome (I'll be getting to this shortly). During World War One, it is certainly possible that individual German soldiers committed terrible acts, and while absolutely heinous, the incidents were presented as commonplace, rather than as isolated. Remember, armies are collections of people of ALL types, including those with twisted minds. While the originator of the quote is in dispute, "supposedly" one American senator once said, "The first casualty of war is truth." The thing is, if a nasty story appears in the paper about an enemy country, who would have the courage to challenge it? Or even want to challenge it? In an "ideal world" it would be better to know the truth during wartime, but this is not an ideal world, and like it or not, we most often check into stories after a war is over. In fairness here too, I have to say that it is not always possible to check into stories when the bombs are falling and bullets are flying.

** Remember, the overwhelming mass of the German army was operating in western Europe in an attempt to knock France out of the war quickly.

*** This area is now part of Poland. While the actual battle was fought near Allenstein, the Germans chose to call their victory "The Battle of Tannenberg" in an attempt to erase the defeat of the Teutonic Knights at Tannenberg in the early 1400s. The victory in 1914 showed German resourcefulness in the use of Germany's superb rail system, as Hindenburg was able to move his limited forces around quickly to where they were most needed. The Russian defeat in the initial operations was so complete, the Russian commander, General Samsonov, committed suicide.

WORD HISTORY:
Street/Strasse (also written as "Straße")-"Strasse/Straße" is the German for "street," and it is pretty well known in English. These words go back to Indo European "strehto," which meant "to extend, to stretch." This gave Latin the verb "sternere," which in conjunction with the meanings "to extend, to stretch," came the meaning "to spread out." The past participle form, "strata," with a long interior "a" sound, meant "paved." (Get it? "Extend, stretch, spread out.....paved.") So in Roman times, a "via strata" meant a "paved road," and it seems in every day speech it was shortened to just "strata." In those times, "paved road" meant "paved with stones." The Germanic tribes, especially the West Germanic tribes, had lots of contact with the Romans, and "strata" was borrowed into West Germanic, giving Anglo-Saxon both "straet" and "stret," depending upon dialect, which then became "strete," before acquiring the modern form. In "Merry Olde England," it was used in reference only to "paved roads," many of which dated back to Roman times. While there are exceptions, American English (and I'm sure in all English speaking countries) preserves the original meaning, too, as we tend to refer to city or urban area roads (which tended to be paved in some way) as "streets," and country or rural roads as...ah...roads, even though in modern times those roads are now usually paved. Why? Remember, as America developed, areas outside of cities and towns were usually countryside with unpaved roads; thus the roads around or leading into cities acquired that terminology, as in "Old Mill Road." Later, parts of "Old Mill Road" may have been included in the city limits, or become part of a suburb, and paved, but the name continued. Anyway, besides German "Strasse," some Low German dialects have "straat," while other dialects have "Strot;" Dutch has "straat," West Frisian has “strjitte.” The North Germanic languages use a different, unrelated word.

The German Question, Part Seventy-Two

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part Two/B "The Germans At War"

"An Early Peace Becomes Virtually Impossible"

Just weeks after the war began, the Allies* announced they had signed a pact in London in which each agreed NOT to sign any separate peace agreements. Within a week, this brought a "war goals plan" from the Germans in response, a plan that was never made official, but once made public, it became "reality," official or not. With early German military successes in both western Europe and eastern Europe, the German leadership displayed both over confidence and stupidity...ah, I mean poor judgment. The "plan" announced Germany's intention to annex Luxembourg to Germany,** to annex  parts of Belgium to Germany, to station German troops and naval forces in both Belgium and the Netherlands (thus putting both nations under German influence and replacing any ideas of "neutrality"), to extract large reparation payments from France to pay for the costs of the war, to make France more economically dependent on Germany by forbidding French trade with Britain and by possibly even taking certain French industrial territory, to require France to dismantle fortifications near or along the German border, to take the Russian part of Poland and make it into a German dominated state, to expand Germany's colonies in Africa by taking French and Belgian colonies.

If this didn't scare the absolute hell out of the Allies, it certainly left them little or no wiggle room, except to fight on. The Allies certainly didn't need much of a propaganda machine with the above "goals," as the "plan" spoke for itself. In fairness, many German leaders opposed this whole thing, and again, it was never made official, but the damage was done. Further, by the Allies announcing that they would stick together, with no separate peace agreements possible (in theory), they also share a part of the blame for the mentality that overtook the war, as a fight to the death (again, in theory). (A Word History is below the notes)

* France, Britain & Russia. Italy and the United States did not enter the war on the Allied side until later.

** So here is Luxembourg in the "German Question" again. Remember, it had been a German state, but had gained independence, although keeping its association with Germany as a member of the German Customs Union ("Zollverein," in German). There's no question much of the population was German, although with French influences, naturally more heavily near the French border, but without much info on public sentiment, I don't really know how Luxemburgers felt overall. The problem France, especially, had with this, was not over whether most Luxemburgers were Germans or not, but rather how annexation of Luxembourg would have augmented Germany's power; something France already feared, and it would have lengthened the German border with northern France.

WORD HISTORY:
Helmet/Helm-"Helm" goes back to the Indo European root "kel/khel," which meant "cover." This then gave Old Germanic "(k)helmaz," meaning "a sturdy cover for the head, protective head cover." This gave Anglo-Saxon "helm," with the same meaning. Meanwhile, Frankish, a Germanic language or dialect related to English, passed along "helm" to Old French, a Latin-based language, but with a fair number of Germanic words (especially still in those days) bequeathed to it, mainly from its namesake, "Frankish." It was spelled "helme" in Old French, but then became "helmet," a bit later, with the ending making it smaller (called a diminutive); so "small protective head covering," was the more literal meaning. This form was borrowed into English in the latter part of the 1400s, and overtook the native "helm" form of the word. Very common in its various forms in the Germanic languages: Standard German, Low German, West Frisian and Dutch all have "helm" (technically German uses a capital "H," as all nouns are capitalized), East Frisian has "hälm," Danish and Norwegian have "hjelm," Swedish has "hjälm," Icelandic has "hjálmur."

The German Question, Part Seventy-One

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part Two/A "The Germans At War"

"A Reputation Takes Hold"

The "Great War," or what later came to be called "World War One," was not about German "identity," as such, although "South Slav" ethnic identity in the Balkans certainly played a major role in the war's beginning. Of course, the French desire for Alsace-Lorraine was a contentious issue since that region's annexation to Germany upon German unification,* and German (and French) identity did play a part there. The war may not have been much about German identity, but its aftermath most definitely WAS about German identity. The war will only be covered in a general way here, and the various battles and campaigns will not be covered, but for those interested in the military history of the war, there are just a multitude of books and articles on the subject by authors of all nations, and written from various points of view.

As the various nations declared war, there were large public demonstrations in those countries celebrating the outbreak of hostilities, and patriotism flourished in most countries. Not all nations were jubilant, however. The Germans had a strategic plan to defeat France, called "The Schlieffen Plan," named after its creator, Graf (Count) Alfred von Schlieffen, who developed the plan in 1905/06. The plan was modified over time. It called for a quick strong German attack on France from Belgium before full French mobilization, slicing into northern France and trapping the bulk of the French army in an area from Paris to the German border. Much smaller German forces were to be retained along the Franco-German border to keep French forces in check. With the French defeat would come the transfer of large German forces to face the Russians, who, it was assumed, would still not be fully mobilized. There was one "little" problem with the plan (the old "fly in the buttermilk"); Belgium was a neutral country, and Britain had guaranteed its neutrality way back in 1839. Luxembourg was also a neutral country (and a former German state), although it continued in its relationship with Germany through the German Customs Union ("Zollverein" in German) until AFTER World War One. The Germans sought permission from Belgium to permit the passage of German troops through its territory to France. Belgium refused, as any self-respecting "neutral" country would have done, but it mobilized its army. It was this action which brought about the actual British declaration of war on Germany; although I have to believe the British would have entered the war at some point, but the timing would have been crucial in terms of troop deployments to the continent (remember, the German strategy to defeat France and Russia was based upon precise timing). The British wanted Germany to guarantee Belgian neutrality, something the Germans would not do. The German army entered Luxembourg, without incident, militarily occupying that nation, but leaving much of its day to day affairs in the hands of the Luxembourg government.** I've not found much info on the subject, but I suppose there were both substantial pro-German and anti-German sentiments in Luxembourg during the war. The Germans entered Belgium a day or two later, but in this case, the Belgians fought back heroically. In fact, Belgian resistance to the German invasion helped save France from a possible defeat. The German offensive was eventually halted near Paris, and the war in western Europe became one of bloody battles in northern France and southern Belgium, fought from a series of trenches, with hundreds of thousands of casualties on all sides, sometimes thousands died for the gain of a mere couple of hundred yards of territory; often with that meager gain relinquished in a day or two when the other side launched its own attack. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the Black Hand, Serbia, Herzegovina, all reasons for the war's beginning, were all but completely forgotten by the armies involved.

Germany and Austria-Hungary were called the "Central Powers," for their location in central Europe. Italy was also part of the alliance, but the Italians stayed out of the war until later, and then joined the Allies, not the Central Powers. In southern Europe and the Middle East, the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire was allied to the Central Powers. Switzerland, another neutral nation, was divided in public sentiment along ethnic/linguistic lines, with the German majority population holding sympathy for Germany and Austria-Hungary, but with the French and Italian portions obviously favoring France and Italy, respectively.

The German invasion of Belgium coupled with Kaiser Wilhelm's long previous remarks about his wanting Germans to be feared like the Huns had been, provided the Allies with a devastating campaign against Germany. The German leaders were seen as willing to do anything to win, including invading neutral countries. The problem for the Germans was, it was true! (That's not to say the Allies always had noble ideas either, however.) This was the real beginning of the growth of a German reputation that put non Germans in fear of German national criminality. It would only get worse, especially in the next war. This all eventually had an effect on "German identity." (A Word History is below the notes)

* If you have been following this series, recall that Alsace and Lorraine had been a trouble spot for centuries. The French did not want the area to rule over "Germans," but rather for the natural resources of the area. The Germans too wanted the natural resources, and also had the further tie to the German majority population of the regions. Remember, when Germany annexed Alsace, it took the vast percentage of the province, and that province had an overwhelming German population (although in many cases with French influences), leaving the smaller French majority parts to France. In Lorraine, Germany left much of that province to France, taking the primarily German majority area, which was about a quarter of the entire province. After annexation, Germany combined the two provinces into one, as "Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen," or "Imperial Territory Alsace-Lorraine." If interested, a little more info is available here:

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/12/german-question-part-sixty-one.html

** The German military wanted Luxembourg occupied mainly for supply and strategic reasons.

WORD HISTORY:
Ice-This word in its various forms is common in the Germanic languages, with connections to other Indo European languages. It "seems" to go back to Indo European "eyhso," meaning, "frost, solidified water from cold." Indo-Iranian had "isu," which meant "frosty, icy." Indo-Iranian is a part of the Indo European languages, and is therefore related to English, but much further down the family tree. Anyway, this gave Old Germanic "isa(n)," which gave Old English "is" (with a long "i" sound), which then became "ice" during the 1400s. German has "Eis," which means both "ice" AND (yummy, yummy) "ice cream," Low German Saxon has "ies," West Frisian has "is," Dutch has "ijs, Letzeburgesch/Luxembourgish has "Äis," Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic all have "is."

The German Question, Part Seventy

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part One/E "Europe Moves Toward War"

"The Match Touches The Powder Keg" (Part Two-"The War Begins")

There were many meetings, attempts at mediation and diplomatic communications between the various nations during the time after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the beginning of the war. The whole process was very complex, and most of these matters go beyond the scope of these articles. It will be difficult enough to keep this highly complicated situation as simple as possible here. Since this series is about Germany, the point of view of the German leaders, both civilian and military, is the concern here, and the German military strategy had much to do with the outbreak of what came to be called "The Great War." That basic strategy bears repeating: mobilize quickly, keep minimal forces along the border with Russia to hold off any Russian attacks, first deploy the vast bulk of the German army against France, attack and defeat France and then turn forces against slow to mobilize Russia. So the German strategy, with its reliance on such precise timing (often seen as "characteristically German"), became a major player in the road to war. This didn't make the Germans "wrong," as it was their perception of what they needed to do to survive a war against major enemies on their eastern and western borders. Once Bismarck's policy of keeping the Russians and French (and somewhat, the British) apart was lost, German military strategists could do no more than draw up plans on how to survive a two-front war.*

Some historians have argued that the German upper classes, fearful of the rising workers' movement and its electoral successes for seats in the Reichstag (the German parliament), desired war to unite the country, and slow down the advances made by workers. I'm not really sold on this point of view, but there may be some limited truth to it. It was certainly more true in Russia, where Tsar Nicholas II and the three hundred year old Romanov dynasty faced numerous problems, including pressures about workers' rights. While initially apprehensive about war with Germany, as a major Russian military overhaul was incomplete,** Russian military leaders came to believe the Russian army could, especially with French forces (and deploying British forces) attacking Germany's western frontier, roll over the German army and bring any war to a quick, decisive conclusion. This miscalculation of Russian strength by Russian military leaders also made war more possible. And, as noted in the first part of this segment, Austro-Hungarian leaders wanted to destroy the Black Hand and other Serbian nationalist organizations and seriously limit Serbia's expansionist dreams, thus thwarting any immediate threat of South Slav unity and the threat such unity posed for Austria-Hungary. Emboldened by the open-ended backing of Germany, this hardly restrained Austria-Hungary on wanting to go to war with Serbia.

Austria-Hungary presented an ultimatum with a 48 hour deadline to Serbia, with serious implications for Serbia's respect from others, and thus its own self respect, and it was essentially a guarantee of war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia.*** Germany told Austria-Hungary it backed the ultimatum. Behind the scenes, however, German leaders had decided to act as if they knew nothing of the details of the ultimatum, and the entire German government, including Kaiser Wilhelm, went on vacation as a sort of cover. The idea was, once Serbia rejected the ultimatum and Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia, Germany would plead no knowledge of the matter and would negotiate with the other major powers about the whole thing being between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and this then would keep the war localized and small, with Serbia undoubtedly defeated and Germany's main ally, Austria-Hungary, bolstered in international eyes as being decisive.

At that moment in time, Serbia could not get backing from its foremost ally, Russia, and the Russians advised Serbia's leaders to accept the ultimatum, even the provisions that would have violated Serbian sovereignty. Not long afterward, however, Russian leaders, discouraged by Austria-Hungary's refusal to grant Russia's request for an extension of the deadline for Serbia, decided to take a stronger stance, with the hopes of getting Austria-Hungary to at least begin to back down from the overt threat to Serbia. When this didn't happen, in an effort to put teeth into the Russian stance, Nicholas ordered a partial mobilization of his military "specifically" against Austria-Hungary to begin in a few days. Serbia accepted the ultimatum, except for the part cited in "Note 3," below. European diplomats encouraged Germany to tell Austria-Hungary to agree to the Serbian acceptance, but no such encouragement was given by Kaiser Wilhelm. Serbia, now expecting an attack by Austria-Hungary, mobilized. Austria-Hungary mobilized forces along the border with Serbia in preparation for its (already planned) attack on that country. The system of alliances was now very much in play. "If" Russia declared war on, or attacked, Austria-Hungary, Germany was obligated to declare war on Russia. (Remember, with the German strategy, German leaders felt they had to attack and defeat France BEFORE Russian mobilization had gathered full steam and posed a major threat to Germany's eastern frontier. Thus any Russian announcement of mobilization would force Germany's hand.) With France and Britain allied in ways to one another and to Russia, this would bring them into the war, and indeed, France cancelled all leaves for its military personnel.

Now, just before Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia, Kaiser Wilhelm began to think matters over. He saw the Serbian acceptance of most of the ultimatum as positive, stating that negotiations could work out the parts of the ultimatum not accepted by Serbia. He saw Serbia as humiliated and he proposed making the humiliation even worse by having Austro-Hungarian troops stationed in the Serb capital of Belgrade until all matters were resolved. Wilhelm decided to influence Austria-Hungary against attacking Serbia. The German leaders, including the military, were furious with Wilhelm; so furious, that in communications with their ambassador in Vienna, they deliberately left out any reference to the Kaiser's desire for Austria-Hungary to rescind military plans against Serbia. On July 28th Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

To keep this brief, all of the major powers' system of alliances made the dominoes fall, and Germany's military strategy prompted her response. On July 29, in support of Serbia, the Tsar ordered Russian general mobilization. Germany demanded that the Tsar rescind the order, but Russian mobilization continued, prompting German mobilization. Germany declared war on Russia on August 1. The French ordered mobilization. With France obviously prepared to honor their alliance with Russia, Germany declared war on France on August 3. Britain declared war on Germany on August 4. Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia on August 6. The "Great War" had started. (Italy, Belgium and the Ottoman Empire will be covered in the next segment.)

* Each nation had its own perception of self interest and I'm not making moral judgments here about right or wrong. France needed Russia as an ally in any war to tie down German forces on Germany's eastern border; thus helping to keep France from facing the full brunt of German military power. France needed Britain to help bolster the forces opposing Germany in western Europe. Britain's role in these alliances was perhaps less important as an individual country, as without France, if for some reason Britain went to war with Germany, where would their armies fight? Naval actions were possible and colonial military operations, but in Europe itself, there was no common area. The only major European country that benefited from an alliance with Britain against Germany was France, where British troops could cross the Channel into France and then move to the German border. The strong ties between the British and German monarchies (and other nobility) could have benefited Germany by keeping Britain neutral, but Kaiser Wilhelm's policies did anything but encourage British-German cooperation. Austria-Hungary's desire to crush Serbian nationalist groups and Serbia's expansionist notions was in its interest. More examples could be cited, but I'm sure you get the idea.

** On the other hand, German military leaders were more inclined to war with Russia, simply because the Russian military build up was incomplete in 1914; thus they saw a weaker Russia at that moment. Another strike at any peaceful solution.

*** One of the provisions required Serbia to permit Austro-Hungarian authorities to operate inside Serbia to investigate Serbian nationalist groups and connections of Serbian nationals and officials with the assassination of the Archduke. Just imagine what would happen if another country, even an ally of the United States, demanded (by ultimatum) permission of the US government to have their own officials operate within American borders to seek out anyone associated with some similar incident. That's one thing that would undoubtedly unite many people along the American political spectrum.

WORD HISTORY:
Chancellor-This word's German form, "Kanzler," is used in Germany and Austria as the title for the leading minister of government, and it is equivalent to what some countries, most notably Britain, call the "Prime Minister" (also called the "Premier" in some countries). In Switzerland, "Kanzler" is also used in government (among the majority German-speaking population, and the similar French and Italian words are used among those respective parts of the population), but the position there is not for the leading minister of government, but rather for the head of a federal council. In the United States, it is more common to find the term used in reference to the head of some universities. The word, then as "canceler," came into use in England prior to the Norman Invasion (which occurred in late 1066 A.D.) as a term for the king's secretary (ah, not the kind with a typewriter or computer), who attended to legal matters. Later, probably under the influence of the Norman-French dialect brought to England, it was spelled "chaunceler." Most sources show no history for the word further back than Latin, although one source notes "kar" as the Indo-European source (I'm not sold on this theory). It does go back to Late Latin "cancellarius," which meant "a type of secretary or official who sat behind a latticework barrier in Roman government." The key here is "lattice" or "latticework," as this was the original meaning in Latin. By the way, it is closely related to "cancel," which originally meant "to put lines (like latticework) through some written matter to 'cancel' it out." See how words and their meanings come about. Who would think that a word meaning "lattice" would have anything to do with a position in government AND a word to remove another word or phrase from a text?

Just a note: The English position of "canceler," as mentioned above, having to do with legal matters, and dating to around 1000 A.D., is still around! It eventually became "Chancellor" and then "Lord Chancellor," and the position is still involved in legal affairs, essentially being the head of the courts.

The German Question, Part Sixty-Nine

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part One/D "Europe Moves Toward War"

"The Match Touches The Powder Keg" (Part One)

On our long march through German history during this series, we have seen numerous wars. Most of those wars (and in other parts of the world, too) were not fought so much about the ethnicity (real or perceived) of the people of one region or another, but rather about religion, or more especially about nobles or rulers squabbling over territory and lands with certain natural resources of some kind, or about which particular noble would take the throne of some particular entity. Especially by the 1800s, things began to change, as various groups of people considered their ethnic identity as more important. These groups, including many Germans, often wanted to be ruled by people like themselves; that is, people of the same ethnic background. This created many a "flash point" throughout Europe, as the national maps up to that point had seldom been drawn with ethnic identities in mind. Even when the "new" German Empire was formed, while overwhelmingly German in ethnicity, it was NOT exclusively German, as I pointed out a few articles ago, but rather contained some fairly large minority groups, especially Poles. Now we have entered into the Twentieth Century and the tensions have escalated, as aging empires with many different ethnic groups as subjects felt the strain of nationalism among those ethnic subjects. Serbia, not an overly large country back then, sought to join other Serbians, then under Austro-Hungarian rule, to their nation, as well as to establish a sort of new empire, containing mainly people of close ethnic relation to the Serbs, but who saw themselves as distinct, for any number of reasons, including religion. Serbian desire for a "Greater Serbia" made many an official in the Austro-Hungarian Empire feel that the existing Serb state would have to be reduced or completely smashed. So that's where we are. Like them, not like them; love them, hate them; nationalism and ethnic identity were and are facts.

In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, along with his wife, Sophie, visited the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia-Herzegovina and its capital at Sarajevo. The planned visit was full of tension, as the province had many Serbians or other separatists. The Archduke had previously made it clear that, when he ascended the throne, the various minority groups of the Austro-Hungarian Empire would be given more local independence. As the Archduke's plan might quell Serbian and South Slav nationalism, separatists felt he had to be eliminated. During a motorcade through the city, a bomb was thrown at the Archduke's car, but it ended up rolling under the car next in the motorcade where it exploded, injuring several people, including a couple of officials, who were taken to the hospital. The Archduke, his wife, and the other officials continued the motorcade which ended at City Hall, where a ceremony took place. After the ceremony, the Archduke changed plans and decided to go to the hospital to see those injured by the bomb. Another assassin stood waiting for the return of the motorcade along the originally planned route. The driver of the Archduke's car made a wrong turn onto the street where this man, Gavrilo Princip, was standing. One of the officials shouted for the driver to stop and back up to take the street to the hospital. Princip saw his chance and fired shots at the Archduke and his wife; both died.

Even after all of these years, there is uncertainty about all those involved in some way in this assassination. Basically, the Black Hand had agents, supported in spirit, if not directly (bombs, guns, ammunition, and money) by officials in the Serbian government, who went over the border into Bosnia-Herzegovina and participated in some way in the attack, with some later making their way back into Serbia. Whatever the truth, perception is reality, and Austria-Hungary saw the assassinations as a chance to seriously damage Serbia and to smash the Black Hand.* Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany offered his support to Kaiser Franz Josef and his government to decimate the Black Hand and to go after Serbia, if it was felt to be necessary. Although undoubtedly not seen as such at the time, this open-ended support now put Germany's fate into the hands of Austria-Hungary. With Germany now publicly supporting Austria-Hungary, within weeks the Austro-Hungarian government demanded that the plotters be turned over to them by Serbia, something Serbia refused to do, citing its own sovereignty. This brought an ultimatum from the Austro-Hungarian government; an ultimatum worded so as to be almost impossible for Serbia to comply with and not be humiliated as an independent, sovereign nation. Up to this point, it was thought that any war would be very limited. The problem was, there were so many moving parts in other areas of Europe.** (A Word History is below the notes)

* It certainly didn't help that the Serbian government, early on, denied being in on the plot, and Serbian officials stated that they had warned the Austro-Hungarian government of the attack, only then to turn completely around and state that they had no foreknowledge of the attack. You can't have it both ways.

** Just briefly: Russian government and (seemingly) public opinion wanted Russia to stand up for Serbia in its role as protector of Orthodoxy and Slavic people. France still wanted Alsace-Lorraine. The German military, well aware of the Russian alliances with France and Britain, and therefore the possibility of a two-front war for Germany, had developed plans over time to deal a quick blow against France, and then turn against Russia, if such a war ever came about. This is a VERY important detail, as the Germans, once the Russians, French and British began to show that they would honor their alliances, were faced with enacting their overall strategic plan, or being battered in both the west and the east. Further, their plan rested upon fast action against France. Russia was a huge country with a large military age male population, but it was also an antiquated country, with far removed provinces, where mobilization of its large forces would take several weeks. Germany, with its reservists and excellent rail system, could mobilize substantial forces quickly, deploy a major portion of them against France, and defeat France before the Russians could get sufficient forces mobilized and into the field against Germany, or at least that was the German theory. So, time was of the essence for the Germans, something that worked against peace. The Germans also advocated a quick and decisive surprise attack by Austria-Hungary against Serbia, before too much involvement by other European nations could take place. Instead, the situation festered.

WORD HISTORY:
Gift-This common word is simply a form of the verb "give," but it has taken an interesting turn in meaning in most of the other Germanic languages. It goes back to Indo European "ghebh-ti," which meant "something received or given," a suffixed form, the main Indo European root of which, "ghabh/ghebh," is the source of "give." This then gave Old Germanic "giftiz," which related to a "dowry" for marriage. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "gift," with much the same meaning, "dowry, a family's marriage contribution or portion" (Old High German had "gift," and modern German has the compound "Mitgift," with the same meaning, "dowry"). There are some who believe "gift," meaning "dowry," died out in English, as that word "gift" was "seemingly" replaced by "dowry," a word borrowed from French. They believe English then reacquired the word "gift" in the 1300s from Norse "gipt" (North Germanic), and it has kept that word's most common meaning, "present, something given or received." Others believe this general history to be true, but that the original English word did NOT die out, and that it was simply influenced in meaning by the Norse form "gipt." The interesting turn in this word is, in some of the other Germanic languages, it came to mean "poison, venom." "Possibly" we don't use "gift" with that meaning, as English had borrowed the word "poison" from French, which had replaced our own English word "ator" (which had several forms); thus, no need for another word with that meaning. Anyway, the idea of "marriage portion" (remember, it still meant this in other Germanic languages) came to be applied to a "portion" of other things, including a "portion" or dose of medication, and then later to a dose of "poison," or an injection of venom by insect or snake. So the base word means "poison" in the other continental Germanic languages and they use other words to convey the sense "a present, something given." So, forms of "gift" in the other Germanic languages German and Low German have "Gift," Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish all have "gift," West Frisian has "fergif," Dutch has both "gif" and "gift" (Dutch "gift" has the duel meaning "poison" and "present/gift," which could pose some interesting statements. Hmm....). Only (non-continental) Icelandic varies, and it has "gjöf" for "gift," and "eitur" for "poison" (notice the Icelandic word and the former English word for poison, "ator," plus modern German "Eiter" and Dutch "etter" both mean "pus," and all forms come from the same original Germanic source). The verb form of "gift" came along in the late 1500s meaning "to give a gift to someone," also, "to give as a gift to someone," but the verb isn't very commonly used; at least, not in the U.S. 

The German Question, Part Sixty-Eight

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part One/C "Europe Moves Toward War"

"The Match Moves Closer To The Powder Keg"

The main question in this entire series is, "Who is a German?" By process of elimination for a variety of reasons, we have found that a number of Germanic-based groups, some originally referred to as "Germans," came to be viewed otherwise over time. We found that in 1871, Austria, the leading German state for centuries, was not included in a newly unified German nation.* Even though the German part of Austria remained outside the borders of Germany, the ties between the two countries remained strong, and the overall issue of the "German-ness" of Austria still was not totally solved, although it may have seemed to have been. The alliance between the two nations (and alliances between other European nations) would now help to ignite a war like none ever witnessed up to that time.

The Ottoman Turks had ruled a sizable portion of the Balkans for centuries, including an area known as "Bosnia-Herzegovina," where a large element of the Slavic-based population had converted to Islam. Eventually, restlessness by the population, out and out rebellion, and continued decline of the Ottoman Empire, brought about a deal where Austria-Hungary would occupy and administer the region (1878), and in the same agreement, Serbia, another (South) Slav region,** and Eastern Orthodox in religion, which had earlier gained independence from Ottoman rule, was recognized as an independent nation (as a "kingdom"). Serbia lay on the eastern border of Bosnia-Herzegovina. A few years later, Germany and Russia agreed that Bosnia-Herzegovina could eventually be formally annexed to Austria-Hungary. However, with the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and with Austria-Hungary's restless South Slav minorities, the Serbs more and more wanted to form an independent "South Slav" nation, a nation where they would be the dominant entity. By the late 1890s, the Serbian Eastern Orthodox religion and Slavic identity brought them many supporters in the Russian Empire, where Tsar Nicholas II pulled back from the earlier Russian consent for Austria-Hungary's annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.*** Ethnic and religious unrest, along with various rebellions and military actions, over time, had kept the Balkans region extremely unstable; always with the possibility of bringing clashes between some of the major powers. This question about Bosnia-Herzegovina simply continued this "distinction." In 1908, with turmoil and revolt within the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary took the opportunity to annex Bosnia-Herzegovina, with Russian consent.**** The international reaction was very negative, but in the end, the annexation stood, and Bosnia-Herzegovina became a formal province of Austria-Hungary.

Serbia's dream of leading a unified nation of South Slavs was dealt a major setback, and the Serbian leaders, without support from Russia, had no choice but to accept the annexation, at least in public. With the more extremist Serbian nationalist elements inflamed by the annexation, matters became more clandestine, with anti Austro-Hungarian literature distributed within South Slav areas of the aging empire, in an effort to stir the local populations to revolution. The most famous of the pro-Serbian nationalist groups was the Black Hand, which, in the public mind, has tended to be associated with any of the Serbian groups. The actual Black Hand seems to have led several, although connected, lives. The organization was so secretive, details on all of its activities and editions, including its founding date, are still subject to question to this day.

The Austro-Hungarian Emperor, Franz Josef, lost his only son and heir, Rudolf, to suicide in 1889, making his nephew, Franz Ferdinand, the new heir to the throne. He was the son of one of Franz Joseph's brothers, Archduke Karl Ludwig, who renounced his right to succession, thus making his son the presumptive heir. The new heir was far more liberal in his thinking than his more staid and conservative uncle. He had sympathies for the non German and non Hungarian groups in the multi-ethnic empire, and he made it clear that if he became emperor, he favored regional self governance for these groups within the empire. Conservative Kaiser Franz Josef was not impressed, and the two men were never close.

Next...."The Match Touches The Powder Keg" (A Word History is below the notes)

*Just the constant reminder that the Austrian Empire by that time was called "Austria-Hungary," or the "Austro-Hungarian Empire," as the former empire had been divided between an Austrian (German) part, and a Hungarian part, both with large numbers of people who were neither German nor Hungarian, but with a common Habsburg ruler and a common foreign policy.

** The term "South Slavs" was used to distinguish between the Slavic people in the Balkans (like Serbs, Croats, Slovenians, etc) and those in other parts of Europe (like Czechs, Slovaks, Russians, etc).

*** The Russian Empire was the largest Slavic entity in the world, although it contained large numbers of non-Slavic people, and indeed, non-Russian Slavs (like Ukrainians, for example). Likewise, while many religions were part of the Russian Empire, Russian (Eastern) Orthodox was the dominant and official state  religion.

**** In exchange for Russian consent, Austria-Hungary agreed to provide support for Russian naval access into the eastern Mediterranean Sea; something desired by Russia for quite some time, but opposed by others, including Great Britain. The uproar over the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the possibility of outright war, however, caused the Russians to shelve the idea of their naval entry into the Mediterranean, thus forcing the Russians to accept the annexation, without any benefit for themselves. Remember, all of the major European powers were seeking to maintain some sort of "balance of power" in Europe, although this did not exclude the individual powers from attempting to gain certain advantages for themselves. The threat of a war, which could potentially draw in all of the European powers, brought the parties involved in these maneuvers to step back and take a deep breath; at least up to this point.

WORD HISTORY:
Strudel-Now this is my kind of word! Unfortunately, there is not much information about how German either acquired the word from another language, or developed it from some form of Old Germanic. English borrowed the word from German in the late 1800s, and it goes back to Middle High German "Strudel," which meant "whirlpool, eddy," which it still means in modern German, alongside the name for the pastry. This seems to have gone back to Old High German "stredan," a verb form which meant "to swirl, whirl, boil" (modern German still has the little used verb "strudeln," with the same meaning). I could find no word in Old English that would have been an English form of this word. The pastry name was applied in Vienna, and is thus south German, and it seems to come from the "swirling layers of thin dough" looking like a "whirlpool" when the dough is rolled up. Regardless of the word's lack of better history, I'm sure glad we have it! While it originated in Vienna, it is common throughout Germany, although more so in the south, in Bavaria, where in Bavarian dialect it is pronounced more like "shhdroo-ool." Give me some, regardless of how it is pronounced!

Clarification About "Russia" Word History

Below, in bold, is the text of the "Word History" I posted previously for "Russia." I did not make clear that all sources I researched agreed that "Russia" comes from the word "Rus," and that this was the name of a North Germanic group of people which settled in and around Kiev. The "uncertain" part is, how this group got that particular name and the word's further history. On the "naming" question, there were many theories in the various sources. The "Rus" were part of a larger North Germanic group called the "Varangians" (called the "Waergenga" in Old English), this group came out of what is now modern Sweden.

Further, when I mentioned "the transliterated form," I did not explain what that actually means. Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian (all of which are Indo European languages, and therefore related to English further down the "family tree") and several other languages (some Indo European and some from other language families) use a different alphabet system called "Cyrillic." It was a writing system developed back in about the 900s (A.D.) and is named in honor of the Eastern Orthodox saint, Cyril. So when someone "transliterates a word," they put it into the closest rendering of another alphabet system; in this case, Russian "Россия" equals "Rossiya."

"Russia"-The origins of this word for the largest country in the world (in land area) is not certain. There are various theories, and I will go with the one that makes most sense to me (ah, there's a caveat for you). During the 800s (A.D.), a group of North Germanic traders/warriors/raiders (take your pick, although a bit of all three is probably correct), seemingly from modern Sweden, traveled down some of the rivers in what is now Russia. They were called the "Rus," perhaps coming from Old North Germanic "Rothrslandi," their homeland area. It is "possible" this term came from Finnish. After firmly establishing themselves in settlements around Kiev, the area came to be called "Kiev Rus." At some point Greek picked up the basic term as "Rhos," and called the area "Rhosia." The Greek Orthodox branch of Christianity prevailed in that area and became "Russian" or "Eastern" Orthodox, and the Greeks traded there, so it isn't terribly difficult to see how the word spread. Latin borrowed the Greek term as "Russi," and English got the term either from Greek or Latin. The transliterated form from Russian is "Rossiya." The German term for Russia is "Russland," literally "the land of the Russ."

The German Question, Part Sixty-Seven

Updated very slightly 9/13/2015

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part One/B "Europe Moves Toward War"

"The Lead Up To War"

There were many events leading to the outbreak of war in Europe, but in an effort to keep this matter as simple as possible, I will only give a few. For those interested in more detail on the subject, there are all sorts of sources available; so, check your local library.

Britain's monarchy was headed by Queen Victoria of the German "House Of Hanover" from 1837 until her death in 1901.* Due to the law in the German states forbidding female heirs, she could not become the "Queen of Hanover," and one of her uncles became "King Of Hanover," thus ending the association between the British monarchy and Hanover.** Her first grandchild would one day become Kaiser of Germany as Wilhelm II, and in 1901, he was present at his grandmother's bedside upon her death. Her son, Edward, became king, as Edward VII, and the British monarchy then changed names to the German "House Of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha," as this was from his father's family. While still the same ruling house, the name was changed during World War One (1917) due to it's association with Germany, and became "Windsor," which is what it remains to this day (by law), although that could change with Queen Elizabeth's successor, if that successor wanted the law changed, and it again would be associated with a German noble house, "House of Schleswig-Holstein." If you're not confused...you should be!

Grandmother or no grandmother, Kaiser Wilhelm was interested in a large navy to compete with Britain's famous Royal Navy. This brought a challenge to Britain, and caused a drain on the German treasury, as Wilhelm wanted "big" ships to demonstrate German naval superiority (and soothe his own ego). A number of other interests and events which brought challenges to Germany's neighbors: colonial interests in southern Africa and in the Pacific, the Kaiser's overt sympathy with Morocco's desire to maintain independence from France (which wanted to establish a "protectorate" in Morocco), German involvement in China during the Boxer Rebellion, a widely read interview given by Wilhelm to a British newspaper, in which his clumsy statements angered much of the world, including I think, polar bears at the North Pole. Understand, in a number of these matters, it wasn't so much that Wilhelm was always wrong, or that the other European nations were always right (all of them, including Germany, had self interest motives), but it was Wilhelm's way of expressing things and his lack of tact that often caused problems, but then again, maybe he spoke too much truth at times for his own good.

Fear of growing German power brought about an alliance between France and Russia in 1892 (just two years after Bismarck left office). This now gave France, still eager to avenge their defeat at German hands in 1870/71,*** an ally on the other side of Germany, thus posing the threat of a two-front war for the Germans. Later the French and British signed an agreement, and later still the British and Russians; all of this bringing about the "Triple Entente," an alliance between Britain, France and Russia. It is not terribly difficult to see that Germany was in far worse diplomatic shape since the time of Bismarck's resignation.**** The feathers were ruffled and the alliances were set; all that was needed was the lighted match and the powder keg. That powder keg was already available in the Balkans, and the match was about to be struck. ^  (A Word History is below the notes)

* She was the longest reigning monarch in British history, up to that time (nearly 64 years) and the longest reigning female monarch anywhere. (Note: As of September 9, 2015, Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning monarch in British history, thus surpassing her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria.)

** Victoria ascended to the throne before German unification. Prussia later annexed Hanover as a prelude to the unification of Germany.

*** The French also wanted to re-annex Alsace and the ceded portion of Lorraine.

**** Remember, as noted in the previous article in this series, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy were also allied with one another.

^ In what turned out to be one of Wilhelm's "bloopers," he once gave a speech in which he noted how the "Huns" of Attila had been feared throughout Europe, and how he wanted Germans to be likewise feared. Much later, during World War One, this "comparison" gave Germany's opponents the ability to use "the Hun" as a stand in for "Germans," thus fulfilling Wilhelm's wish, although, I'm sure, not exactly the way he had intended.

WORD HISTORY:
Russia-The origins of this word for the largest country in the world (in land area) is not certain. There are various theories, and I will go with the one that makes most sense to me (ah, there's a caveat for you). During the 800s (A.D.), a group of North Germanic traders/warriors/raiders (take your pick, although a bit of all three is probably correct), seemingly from modern Sweden, traveled down some of the rivers in what is now Russia. They were called the "Rus," perhaps coming from Old North Germanic "Rothrslandi," their homeland area. It is "possible" this term came from Finnish. After firmly establishing themselves in settlements around Kiev, the area came to be called "Kiev Rus." At some point Greek picked up the basic term as "Rhos," and called the area "Rhosia." The Greek Orthodox branch of Christianity prevailed in that area and became "Russian" or "Eastern" Orthodox, and the Greeks traded there, so it isn't terribly difficult to see how the word spread. Latin borrowed the Greek term as "Russi," and English got the term either from Greek or Latin. The transliterated form from Russian is "Rossiya." The German term for Russia is "Russland," literally "the land of the Russ."

Special note: I did a follow up with some clarification on "Russia:"  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/01/clarification-about-russia-word-history.html 

The German Question, Part Sixty-Six

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part One/A "Europe Moves Toward War"
"The Tinderbox Of Aging Empires"

The (Second) German Empire ("Reich") was the neighbor of a number of aging empires that were so much in decline, they threatened to come apart at the seams, and this then could precipitate a general European war. The Ottoman (Turkish) Empire had been around since about 1300, with widespread territories in the Middle East, North Africa, and southeastern Europe; that is, the general region known as the Balkans. Throughout their empire, the Ottomans faced challenges from their multi-ethnic subjects who wanted independence. In the Balkans, an area with much mountainous and rough terrain, the population tended to be split into groups where each saw itself as a separate entity. To this day, the region is very divided, and it has been the center of unrest and fighting.* The Turks had mingled with the local population over the centuries, and some of these people had converted to Islam from Christianity, with the Christian population also being divided (often bitterly) largely between Orthodox and Roman Catholic.

In the northern part of the Balkans were territories of Germany's foremost ally, Austria-Hungary. Germany's connection to Austria-Hungary, and that troubled empire's connection to the powder keg of the Balkans, threatened to draw Germany into any conflict in this highly volatile region. Like the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary (aka, the "Austro-Hungarian Empire") had similar problems with its many ethnic groups. The former multi-ethnic Austrian Empire had been divided between Austria and Hungary in 1867, with each ruling numerous ethnic groups, but joined together by the Habsburg emperor, who was simultaneously "King of Hungary." The division of the empire had quieted the Hungarian population, but it did little to satisfy the other ethnic groups, which looked to the "Hungarian model" as a solution to their own desire for some sort of independence.** Austria-Hungary was ruled by Kaiser Franz Josef I, who seemingly ruled from the time of the Crucifixion, but who, in reality, ruled for 68 years!

Russia, or more precisely the Russian Empire, lay to the east of Germany, where Germany's majority Polish areas bordered Russia's even larger Polish area and Polish population. Here was another multi-ethnic entity, with all sorts of peoples and religions, and a land troubled by the threat of revolution, mainly from its very own Russian population.*** Tsar Alexander III had ruled the empire with an iron hand. He was a huge man, whom historians often cite as the symbol of "the Russian bear." This powerful man died at the early age of 49, from kidney disease ("nephritis"). The Russian throne passed to his eldest son, Nicholas, who ruled as "Nicholas II." Nicholas did not inherit his father's immense size, but rather took after his dainty mother; one of the unfavorable comparisons to his father that followed him throughout his life. Nicholas was married to German princess, Alix von Hessen (Alix of Hesse),**** who is better known by her given Russian name, Alexandra.

Kaiser Wilhelm II was a grandson of England's Queen Victoria, his mother having been the queen's daughter and namesake, Victoria. Alexandra too was a grandchild of Queen Victoria, her mother having been the queen's daughter, Alice, thus making Wilhelm and Alexandra first cousins. Kaiser Wilhelm and Nicholas were second cousins, once removed, each being descended from former King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm III.***** (A Word History is below the notes)

* The terrain certainly made it easy for each of these groups, like Albanians, Serbians and Croatians, to develop a sense of "ethnic identity" and to remain somewhat separate. The terrain has also made it difficult for invaders to really control the area, and in fact, the rugged terrain and the hearty people of the Balkans are famous for bedeviling occupying military forces.

** What I mean here by "Hungarian model" is, some leaders of the other ethnic groups saw the possibility of further dividing the empire into other portions, where they would get regional independence, but would still be bound together at the top by the Habsburg emperor (who by the way carried the title "Kaiser").

*** Tsar Alexander II (grandfather of Nicholas II) was assassinated in 1881, when a revolutionary threw a bomb at his feet after he had left his metal-plated carriage. He was carried into his palace, where he died shortly thereafter.

**** Hessen (usually rendered as "Hesse" in English) was a grand duchy of Germany, ruled by a grand duke.

***** The "once removed" simply means they were "removed" (distanced) by a generation; that is, they were of different generations. The children of your parents' brothers and sisters are your first cousins, but the children of your grandparents' brothers and sisters are your first cousins, once removed. Most of my cousins wish I were just plain removed. haha ... Wait, what the hell am I laughing about?

WORD HISTORY: 
Knock-It seems that most linguists believe this word to be an original Germanic concoction, imitative of "a sound." Old English had slight dialectal variations in "cnocian" and "cnucian," which later became "knokken," before the modern spelling. Remember, the "cn/kn" was pronounced in times past. It certainly seems that German "Knack" (the "a" is pronounced like the "a" in father) as in "Knackwurst" (usually spelled Knockwurst, in English) is really the same word. In German it means the sound of a "snap or crack," and it was applied to the sausage because of the "snap" sound made when biting into the casing.