Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg

(click to enlarge)
Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, detail from a portrait by Brant, 1909. (credit: Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin)

(born Nov. 29, 1856, Hohenfinow, Prussia — died Jan. 1, 1921, Hohenfinow, Germany) German politician and chancellor (1909 – 17). A member of the civil service, he was appointed Prussian minister of the interior in 1905 and became German chancellor in 1909. Before World War I, he allowed the militarist factions to dominate the government; in 1914 he supported a "blank check" to Austria-Hungary for measures against Serbia. In 1916 he tried to secure the mediation of the U.S. to end the war, but he also failed to restrict submarine warfare. In 1917 he angered conservatives by promises of electoral reforms in Prussia and was forced to resign.

For more information on Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, visit Britannica.com.

(b. Hohenfinow, 29 Nov. 1856; d. 1 Jan. 1921) German; German Chancellor 1909 – 17 Bethmann Hollweg was the son of a German landed estate owner whose family had produced a number of gifted lawyers, and a French Swiss officer's daughter. Having studied law he decided to join the civil service where his abilities were soon recognized. In 1905 he was appointed Prussian Minister of the Interior. He was known as a Conservative who encouraged the integration of the Social Democrats. On his resignation in 1909, von Bülow recommended his appointment as Chancellor. At the same time he served as Prussian Minister-President and Foreign Minister and worked for an understanding with Britain. In return for a naval accord he wanted British neutrality in the event that Germany was involved in a European war. Grand Admiral Tirpitz opposed this and, despite goodwill on both sides, Lord Haldane's mission of 1912 failed to bring about an Anglo-German understanding. This greatly increased the likelihood of war between the two states.

It appears that Bethmann Hollweg bore more responsibility than the Kaiser for the war which broke out in the summer of 1914. He saw Russia as the real danger to Germany and gambled on British neutrality in any German conflict with France and Russia. His mistake led to a general war. He believed the generals, who mistakenly thought the war would be short, and allowed himself to be convinced of the need for unrestricted submarine warfare, a major factor in the US declaration of war on Germany in 1917. Reactionaries brought about his downfall in July 1917 after he had successfully argued for electoral reform in the wake of growing political discontent. Neither his reforms, nor opposition to them, could stop the revolutionary flood and Germany's defeat.

The German statesman and chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg (1856-1921) led Germany during the first 3 years of World War I.

Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg was the son of a prominent commercial and agrarian family. After a rather routine rise in German political life, he became Prussian minister of the interior in 1905 and the imperial secretary of state for the interior in 1907. In 1909, after the fall of Bernhard von Bülow, he became imperial chancellor.

As a conservative of open mind and modern outlook, Bethmann Hollweg seemed a likely choice to heal divisions, such as the conflict between civilian and military, that were developing in Germany at that time. But in spite of some early achievements - such as the comprehensive social insurance law and liberal constitution for Alsace-Lorraine (both 1911) - he did not live not live up to expectations. His attempt to extend the franchise failed, and when Germany entered the war it had still not solved the problem of integrating the Social Democrats, the largest party in the Reichstag after the 1912 elections.

Diplomatically, Bethmann Hollweg inherited a situation as difficult as the domestic one, and he was no more successful on the international level. Germany was diplomatically isolated, and, worst of all, because of the naval race between Germany and England the relations of those two countries were deteriorating. When the British war secretary, Richard Haldane, came to Germany in 1912 on a diplomatic mission, Bethmann Hollweg was willing to be conciliatory. He was overruled, however, by Adm. Alfred von Tirpitz and the navy, which pushed through a new naval bill over Bethmann Hollweg's objections.

Although the chancellor sincerely tried to preserve peace in the summer of 1914, he was unable to control the military establishment's pressure for war. In any event, Bethmann Hollweg himself - with his "blank check" to Austria and his "scrap of paper" remark concerning Belgian neutrality - was partly responsible for the developing crisis. His wartime leadership was equally indecisive. He alienated the socialists and liberals by his apparent subservience to the military on questions of negotiated peace, annexations, and submarine warfare, and he alienated the right wing and the high command with his efforts in behalf of reform and civilian control of the military. In July 1917 Bethmann Hollweg was easily removed from office, and the establishment of a military dictatorship in Germany was virtually complete. He died in 1921.

Further Reading

Bethmann Hollweg's wartime memoirs, Reflections on the World War (2 vols., 1919-1921; trans., 1 vol., 1920), are well known. There is a good deal of information on him in Fritz Fischer's monumental Germany's Aims in the First World War (1961; rev. ed. 1967; trans. 1967). See also J. W. Headlam, The German Chancellor and the Outbreak of War (1917).

Bethmann-Hollweg, Theobald von (nr. Eberswalde, 1856-1921, nr. Eberswalde), Chancellor of the German Empire from 1909 to 1917. After a civil service career, Bethmann-Hollweg became Prussian Minister of the Interior in 1905 and deputy chancellor in 1907. He succeeded Bülow on the latter's recommendation. Though he genuinely desired a relaxation of tension and a rapprochement with Great Britain, his intentions were sterilized by the consequences of Bülow's policy. In the events leading to the outbreak of war in 1914 Bethmann-Hollweg was a virtually helpless figure. His notorious reference to the guarantee of Belgian neutrality as ‘a scrap of paper’ (‘einen Fetzen Papier’) was an indiscretion widely publicized abroad. Gradually overshadowed by the politico-military partnership of Hindenburg and Ludendorff, he was unceremoniously dismissed in July 1917, some months after the failure of his peace overtures of December 1916.