Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, Bethmann Hollweg and his foreign minister Gottlieb von Jagow were instrumental in assuring Austria of Germany's unconditional support regardless of Austria's actions against Serbia. While Sir Edward Grey was suggesting a mediation between the Austrians and the Serbs, Bethmann Hollweg is known to have been manipulating the British message—in order to forestall any chance that the Austrians would refrain from attacking Serbia—by deleting the last line of the letter, which read:
"Also, the whole world here is convinced, and I hear from my colleagues that the key to the situation lies in Berlin, and that if Berlin seriously wants peace, it will prevent Vienna from following a foolhardy policy."
Kaiser Wilhelm was persuaded to go on holiday by Bethmann-Hollweg, but only after he had also encouraged Kaiser Wilhelm to give Austria-Hungary "blank cheque" support.
After sending Wilhelm away to Norway, Bethmann-Hollweg then kept Wilhelm out of the loop. Wilhelm later wrote in his memoirs that he only learned about developments in Europe from Norwegian newspapers.
But was he asking for information from Berlin while he was on Norway? Or did he trust Bethmann-Hollweg that much?
Anyway, on 23rd July Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia, accusing the Serbian government of assassinating Arch Duke Ferdinand.
At this time Wilhelm was still in Norway and out of the loop, but still receiving some intelligence not official direct from Berlin.
Upon hearing news of this ultimatum, Sir Edward Grey proposes a 4 power conference:
Lichnowsky to Jagow. Spoke Grey. He suggests GB, F, D and I should mediate between AH and R if dangerous tension arose between them and would join with D in urging an extension to the time limit.
But apparently Germany was aware of what Austria-Hungary would issue to Serbia. Vienna sent Berlin a copy of the ultimatum on 19th July, and postponed the ultimatum due to Germany!
So was Kaiser Wilhelm aware of this on his yacht in Norway? And if so then did he acquiesce?
I don't think so, because of his almost fury at reading the news of the ultimatum in the Norwegian newspaper and his anger at Bethmann-Hollweg for allowing the situation to develop so.
So what of this manipulation by Bethmann-Hollweg of offers for mediation from Grey?
I have not been able to properly source this but apparently Bethmann-Hollweg was informed of a plan for mediation by Germany over Austria-Hungary proposed by Grey, which Bethmann-Hollweg:
1. manipulated by removing the final sentence (see above);
2. sent the manipulated version to the German Ambassador in Vienna, telling the Ambassador to not pass it on to the Austro-Hungarians, and to keep it secret from German diplomatic staff in Vienna;
3. passed the manipulated version onto Kaiser Wilhelm;
4. replied to Grey that the proposal had been passed onto Vienna in full.
If this is the case then Rothschild cousin Bethmann-Hollweg bares a significant amount of responsibility for WW1.
This manipulation by Rothschild cousin Bethmann-Hollweg and the manipulations by Sir Edward Grey, proposing that Great Britain would remain neutral when Germany was about to declare war on Russia, were stepping stones to war.
But it was the assassination of Ferdinand which kicked it off.
And as we know:
1. C H Norman in Some Secret Influences behind the War writes that the Grand Orient lodge was involved in assassinating Ferdinand;
2. Kaiser Wilhelm wrote in his memoirs that he was told by distinguished German freemason that the Grand Orient lodge had engineered the war to create a power vacuum in Central Europe.
3. Freemasonry had condemned Ferdinand to death, and he knew it;
4. At their trial the assassins of Ferdinand stated that they had received the material from freemasons abroad and knew that Freemasonry had condemned Ferdinand to death.
My question is: was Bethmann-Hollweg the freemason who told Wilhelm about the freemasonic plan to create a power vacuum in Central Europe?
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