Book contents
- On a Knife Edge
- Cambridge Military Histories
- On a Knife Edge
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Hubris
- Part II Climax: At the Apex of War
- Part III Nemesis: The Defeat of the Central Powers and the Destruction of the European Order
- 14 Military Developments in the First Half of 1917
- 15 The First Russian Revolution and the Opportunity for a Peace Agreement with the Russian Democracy
- 16 ‘War Psychosis’? The Reichstag’s Peace Offer and Bethmann Hollweg’s Demission
- 17 ‘The Unmasking of the Central Powers’?
- 18 ‘Glorious, but Hopeless’: Germany’s Position at the Turn of the Year 1917/18
- 19 ‘Ludendorff’s Hammer’: The Western Offensive of 1918
- 20 ‘Now the War Was Lost’: The Military Collapse of the Central Powers
- 21 ‘Savage in Victory, Contemptuous in Defeat’: Germany’s Route out of the War
- The Final Reckoning: A Terrible Debt that Must Be Paid
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index: People
- Index: Places
16 - ‘War Psychosis’? The Reichstag’s Peace Offer and Bethmann Hollweg’s Demission
from Part III - Nemesis: The Defeat of the Central Powers and the Destruction of the European Order
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 October 2022
- On a Knife Edge
- Cambridge Military Histories
- On a Knife Edge
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Hubris
- Part II Climax: At the Apex of War
- Part III Nemesis: The Defeat of the Central Powers and the Destruction of the European Order
- 14 Military Developments in the First Half of 1917
- 15 The First Russian Revolution and the Opportunity for a Peace Agreement with the Russian Democracy
- 16 ‘War Psychosis’? The Reichstag’s Peace Offer and Bethmann Hollweg’s Demission
- 17 ‘The Unmasking of the Central Powers’?
- 18 ‘Glorious, but Hopeless’: Germany’s Position at the Turn of the Year 1917/18
- 19 ‘Ludendorff’s Hammer’: The Western Offensive of 1918
- 20 ‘Now the War Was Lost’: The Military Collapse of the Central Powers
- 21 ‘Savage in Victory, Contemptuous in Defeat’: Germany’s Route out of the War
- The Final Reckoning: A Terrible Debt that Must Be Paid
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index: People
- Index: Places
Summary
The chapter analyses the German Reichstag’s peace offer, its background, genesis and intentions; it focuses on the question of whether the offer was honest and states that it was considered to be binding for German politics later in the war. It deals also with the demission of Bethmann Hollweg and shows how these events, the peace offer, the chancellor’s demission and the general mood in Germany in summer 1917 were interconneced.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- On a Knife EdgeHow Germany Lost the First World War, pp. 283 - 295Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022