Karl Max, Fürst von Lichnowsky

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Karl Max, Fürst von Lichnowsky, 6th Prince and 8th Count Lichnowsky (1860-1928). Succeeded his father in 1901. Imperial German Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, 1912-1914.

Lichnowsky became German Ambassador to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1902, replacing Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg-Hertefeld, but was forced into retirement in 1904, accused of too much independence from the Foreign Office after several conflicts with Friedrich von Holstein, senior counselor of the foreign office's political division.

According to his memoirs, Lichnowsky was brought out of retirement in 1912 when the preferred candidate for ambassador to London was thought to be too young, and two alternate candidates turned the job down.

Contents 1 The 1914 Crisis 2 His 1916 Pamphlet 3 Comments 4 Notes

[edit] The 1914 Crisis

During the July crisis of 1914, Lichnowsky was the only German diplomat who raised objections to Germany's efforts to provoke an Austro-Serbian war, arguing that Britain would intervene in a continental war. On July 25, 1914, he implored the German government to accept an offer of British mediation in the Austro-Serbian dispute. On July 27, he followed with a cable arguing that Germany could not win a continental war. This cable was not shown to Kaiser Wilhelm II. A cable on July 28 relayed an offer from King George V to hold a conference of European ambassadors to avoid general war. A final cable on July 29 to the German Foreign Office stated simply "if war breaks out it will be the greatest catastrophe the world has ever seen." These warnings went unheeded, and by the time the final cable reached Berlin, Austrian troops were already bombing Belgrade.

On Britain's declaration of war on 4 August 1914, Lichnowsky returned to Germany. So highly was he thought of that a military guard of honour saluted his departure; a rare privilege in the circumstances.

[edit] His 1916 Pamphlet

His privately printed pamphlet, My Mission to London 1912-1914 circulated in German upper-class circles in 1916, accused his government of failing to support him in efforts to avert World War I; its 1917 publication in the United States led to his expulsion from the Prussian Herrenhaus (House of Lords). In 1918 the renamed "Lichnowsky Memorandum" was published in The Disclosures from Germany (New York: American Association for International Conciliation, 1918). It was also published in the Swedish journal Politiken in March 1918, from which a British copy was published by Cassel & Co. later in 1918 with a preface by Professor Gilbert Murray.

The pamphlet became a formative and primary source in the minds of all the allied politicians who arranged the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919.

At its conclusion he forecasts that the Central Powers must lose World War I and he gives his world-view for Germany, Britain and the USA, which now seems rather prophetic: The world will belong to the Anglo-Saxons, Russians and Japanese, and the German will remain alone with Austria and Hungary. His [i.e. the German] rule will be that of thought and commerce, not that of the bureaucrat and soldier. He made his appearance too late, and his last chance of making good the past, that of founding a Colonial Empire, was annihilated by the world-war.

[edit] Comments

In his column in the May 11, 1918 issue of Illustrated London News G. K. Chesterton would note:

And, what is worse, the spirit of this cheerless impudence has sometimes spread and chilled the blood of better men. I have noticed it lately in the last stiff pose of people who still try the stale game of blaming everybody for the war, long after the Lichnowsky revelations and the peace imposed on Russia have quite finally fixed the blame.

The latter refers to the harsh terms the Germans imposed on Russia in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in early March 1918. Chesterton is suggesting that, had Germany won the war in the west, it would have imposed equally harsh terms on Belgium and France, implying that Germany's war had never been for defensive purposes.

Professor Murray summarised his 1918 foreword to the pamphlet with:

The cleaner our national conscience the keener surely will be our will to victory. the slower we were to give up the traditions of generosity and trustfulness that came from our long security, the firmer will be our resolution to hold out...

Lichnowsky was seen as a 'Good German' who had truthfully warned his government but had been ignored at the crucial moment.

See: Lichnowsky, Karl Max, My Mission to London, 1912-1914 (New York: George H. Doran Co. [1918]) (London: Cassell & Co. 1918). and Heading for the Abyss: Reminiscences (New York: Payson and Clarke, 1928).

[edit] Notes

• Note regarding personal names: Fürst is a title, translated as Prince, not a first or middle name. The female form is Fürstin.