ica which was so
widespread in Germany. From the very first moment the problem was
not properly understood by the German nation. The fact was overlooked
that the most important battle of the war was taking place in
Washington, and when the tragedy reached its climax, no one believed
that, with all her political, military and economic power, the
United States of America would ever enter into the War.

Finally, it has been pointed out as an objection to my view, that,
after all, the Entente would have rejected Wilson's efforts at
mediation. I am no longer in a position to prove the contrary to-day,
and it is, of course, just possible, that the President and Mr.
House were mistaken in assuming as much as they did. If at that
time, however, we expected the Entente to reject Mr. Wilson's offer
of mediation, we should at all events have postponed the U-boat
war, and accepted American intervention, in order to improve our
diplomatic position in Washington, before having recourse to the
_ultima ratio_. It seems to have been our destiny that all our most
important decisions of the war were the outcome of military and
not of political considerations. On the Entente side, the converse
was always true, and that is why, though it suffered many military
reverses, the Entente won the war.

In pursuing the policy I advocated, I was influenced by considerations,
which now, in conclusion, I should like to sum up as follows:

(1) It was no longer possible to achieve a decisive German victory
after the first Battle of the Marne, that is why German policy
should have been directed towards obtaining "Peace without Victory";
and, as things turned out, such a victory was only to be obtained
by means of American mediation.

(2) The personality of Mr. Wilson played no decisive part in determining
my attitude. I never once reckoned upon his personal friendliness
towards ourselves; for I knew him too well to suppose him capable
of pro-German tendencies. I expected nothing more from him than
that he would play America's game--America's and no other
country's--supported by the public opinion of the United States.
American policy, however, pursued the object of a "Peace without
Victory," from the standpoint of practical politics, in order that,
neither Germany nor England should attain to a superlatively powerful
position. A "Peace without Victory" of this sort, under American
patronage, would have left the United States in the undisputed
pos