lO 
Land & Water 
June 13, 1918 
An imperial Palace 
Photograph taken from the Scorpion, the 
shall move to Berlin all the Parisian art treasures 
that belong to the State, iust as Napoleon took 
Italian art works to France. 
It is quite evident that tlie battle of the Marne saved Paris 
from the fate of Louvain. 
So confidently did Wangenlieim expect an immediate 
victory that he began to discuss the tenns of peace. Germany 
would demand of France, he said, after defeating her armies, 
that she completely demobilise and pay an indemnity. 
"France now," said Wangenheim, "can settle for 
£1,000,000.000 ; but if she persists in continuing the war, 
1 she will have to pay £4,000,000,000." 
He told me that Germany would demand harbours and 
coaling stations "everywhere." At that time, judging from 
Wangenheim's statements, Germany was not looking so 
much for new territory a^ for great commercial advantages. 
She was determined to be the great merchant nation ; and 
for this she must have free harbours, the Bagdad railroad, 
and extensive rights 
in South America and 
Africa. Wangen- 
heim said that Ger- 
many did not desire 
any more territory in 
which the popula- 
tions did not speak 
German ; they had 
had all of that kind 
of trouble they 
wanted in Alsace- 
Lorraine, Poland, and 
other non - Gennan 
countries. This state- 
ment certainly sounds 
interesting now, in 
view of recent hap- 
penings in Russia. 
He did not mention 
England in speaking 
of Germany's demand for coaling stations and harbours ; he 
must have had England in mind, however, for what other 
nation could have given them to Germany "everywhere" ? 
If England attempted to starve Germany, said Wangen- 
heim, Germany's response would be a simple one : she would 
starve France. At that time, we must remember, Germany 
expected to have Paris within a week ; and she believed that 
this would ultimately give her control of the whole country. 
It was evidently the German plan, as understood by Wangen- 
heim, to hold this nation as a pawn for England's behaviour, 
a kind of hostage on a gigantic scale, and, should England 
gain any military or naval advantage, Germany would 
attempt to counter-attack by torturing the whole French 
people. At that moment German soldiers were murdering 
mnocent Belgians in return for the alleged misbehaviour of 
other Belgians, and evidently Germany had planned to apply 
this principle to whole nations as well as to individuals. 
All through this and other talks, Wangenheim showed 
the greatest animosity to Ru'isia. 
"We've got our foot on Russia's com," he said, "and we 
propose to keep it there." 
By this he must have meant that Germany had sent the 
Gf>eben and the Breslau to the Dardanelles and so controlled, 
the situation in Constantinople. The old Byzantine capital, 
said Wangenheim, was the prize which a victorious Russia 
would demand, and her lack of an all-the-year-round port in 
warm waters was Russia's tender spot— her "corn." At this 
time Wangenheim boasted that Gerrhany had 174 German 
gunners at the Dardanelles, that the strait could be closed in 
less than thirty minutes, and that Souchon, the German 
admiral, had informed him that the straits were impregnable. 
"We shall not close the Dardanelles, however," he said, 
"unless England attacks them." Even then, two months 
before Turkey had entered the war, Germany had prepared 
- the fortifications for the naval attack that Enelafid ultimately 
made. . " The Dardanelles are defended as effectively as Cux- 
haven," said Wangenheim. 
At that time England, although she had declared war on 
Germany, had played no conspicuous part in the military 
operations; her "contemptible little army" was making its 
heroic retreat from Mons. Wangenheim entirely discounted 
England as an enemy. It was the G rman intention, he said, 
to pliice their big guns at Calais, and thrdti their shells across 
the English Channel to the English coast tiums. That 
Germany would not have Calais Wiihin the next ten days 
did not occur to him as a possibility. In this and other con- 
versations at about the same time, Wangenheim laughed 
at the idea that England could create a large independent 
army. "The idea is preposterous," he said. "It takes 
oil the hohphurub 
American guardship at Constantinople 
generations of miUtarism to produce anything hke the German 
Army. We have been building it up for two hundred years. 
It takes thirty years of constant training to produce such 
generals as we have. Our army will always maintain its 
organisation. We have 500^000 recruits reaching military 
age every year, and we cannot possibly lose that number, 
so that our army will be kept intact." 
A few weeks latei: civilisation was outraged by the German 
bombardment of English coast towns, such as Scarborough 
and Hartlepool. This was no sudden German inspiration ; 
it was part of their ''nrefully considered plans. Wangenheim 
told me, on September 6th, 1914, that Germany intended to 
bombard all English harbours, so as to stop the food supply. 
It is also apparent that Gennan ruthlessness against 
American sea trade was no sudden decision of von Tirpitz, 
for, on this same date, the German Ambassador to Constan- 
tinople told me that it would be very dangerous for the 
United States to send ships to England. 
In those August 
and September days 
Germany had no in- 
tention of precipi- 
tating Turkey imftie- 
diately into the war. 
As I had a deep 
interest in the wel- 
fare of the Turkish 
people and in main- 
taining peace, I tele- 
graphed Washington 
asking if I might use 
my influence to keep 
Turkey neutral. 1 
received a reply that 
I might do this, pro- 
vided that I made 
my representations 
unofficially and pure- 
ly upon humanitarian 
grounds. As the EngUsh and the French Ambassadors were 
exerting all their effort to keep Turkey neutral, 1 knew that 
my intervention in the same interest would not displease the 
British Government. Germany, . however, might regard any 
interference on my part as an unneutral act, and 1 asked 
Wangenheim if there could be any objection from that 
source. His reply somewhat surprised me, though I saw 
through it soon afterward. 
"Not at all," he said. "Germany desires, above all, that 
Turkey shall remain neutral." 
Undoubtedly Turkey's pohcy at that moment fitted in 
with German plans. Wangenheim was every dav increasing 
his ascendency over the Turkish Cabinet, and turkey was 
then pursuing the course that best served the German aims. 
Her pohcy was keeping the Entente on tenterhooks ; it 
never knew from day to day where Turkey stood, whether 
she would remain neutral or join Germany. 
I am speaking of the period just before the Marne, when 
Germany expected to defeat France and Russia with the 
aid of her ally, Austria, and thus obtain a victory that would 
have enabled her to dictate the future of Europe. Should 
Turkey at that time be actually engaged in mihtarv opera- 
tions, she could do no more toward bringing about this 
victory than she was doing now, by keeping idle and useless 
considerable Russian and English forces. But should Ger- 
many win this easy victory with Turkey's aid, she might 
find her new ally an embarrassment. Turkey could demand 
compensation— probably the return of Egvpt, perhaps the 
recession of Balkan territories. Such readjustments would 
have interfered with the Kaiser's plans, and he wanted 
Turkey as an active ally only in case he did not win his 
speedily anticipated triumph. 
Wangenheim was playing a waiting game, making Turkey 
a potential German ally, strengthening her army and navy, 
and preparing to u.se her, whenever the moment arrived for 
using her, to the best advantage. If Gt-rmany could not win 
the war without Turkey's aid, Germany was prepared to 
take her in as an ally ; if she could win without Turkey, 
then she would not have to pay the Turk for his co-operation. 
Meanwhile, the sensible course was to keep her prepared in 
case the Turkish forces became essential to German success. 
Next week we shall publish Mr. Morgenthau's 
account of the arrival of the ''Goeben' and 
"Breslau" at the Golden Horn, and of the 
events that imtnediately ensued. Hts daughter 
and son-in-law actually witifssed the fight between 
these ships and H.M.S. ''Gloucester:' 
