Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XIX. Sweden in 1915
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
object alone—that of saving its stake, and a few of the
successes achieved, by the immediate conclusion of an
“honourable” peace. Berlin understood—although this
was rigidly kept from the public—that the victories
might be fleeting, and that it was imperative to seize
this moment to act on that portion of the Allies which
Germany considered the weakest morally, that is to say
on Russia.
In June, 1915, before the surrender of Warsaw,
I had held in my hands the first German proposal
of peace. A Russian merchant, residing at the time
in Stockholm, had had a visit from a second-class
German financier who came to talk to him about the
necessity for both countries of putting an end to this
disastrous war, and “suggested” to him, by dictating
them, the conditions to which the parleyings might pledge
themselves. My compatriot brought me this curious
statement at once. It began by stating that Russia had
just undergone a serious reverse; that such reverses
would only increase in the course of the summer; that
Warsaw and Riga would inevitably fall into the hands of
the Germans, and that it would be better to seek peace
before the fall of these two capitals obliged the German
Government to offer far less favourable peace conditions
than those which Russia might get at the moment.
Now, these favourable conditions were the following:
(1) Russia was to abandon the part of Poland
belonging to her, which was to form an autonomous state,
economically associated with Germany.
(2) Russia was to consent to “a few” modifications
of her frontiers in Courland and Lithuania, to Germany’s
advantage.
(3) Germany and Russia were together to exercise a
kind of condominium in Constantinople, sharing the
influence over Turkey and keeping out the other
Powers. This condominium would have as its object to
guarantee to Germany free penetration into Asia Minor
and the south of Persia by way of Bagdad, and to Russia
free passage through the Straits.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
