Septemberprogramm
The Septemberprogramm (German for September program) was a plan drafted by the German leadership in the early weeks of the First World War. It detailed Germany's ambitious gains should it win the war, as it expected. The plan was never officially adopted or put into practice, and was only discovered long after the war by historian Fritz Fischer, who concluded the expansionary goals were Germany's motives for going to war in the first place. That interpretation has been very controversial.[1]
The modern consensus is that it was more of a discussion document and not a formally-adopted government policy.
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[edit] War goals
- Annexing Luxembourg.
- Disabling of France by a crippling war indemnity of 10 billion Reichsmarks for France, with further payments to cover veterans' funds and to pay off all Germany's existing national debt.
- Cession of some northern territory such as steel producing Briey and a coastal strip running from Dunkirk to Boulogne-sur-Mer. The French economy would be dependent on Germany and all trade with the British Empire will cease. France will partially disarm by demolishing its northern forts.
- Turning Belgium and the Netherlands into satellite states, if not annexing Belgium altogether. Parts of Belgium would be annexed to Prussia and Luxembourg. Germany would retain military and naval bases in Belgium and possibly the Netherlands, which would be ruled under Germany's "guidance".
- Abolition of neutral states on Germany's borders.
- Creation of a Mitteleuropa economic association dominated by Germany but ostensibly egalitarian. Members would include newly-created buffer states carved out of the Russian Empire's west such as Poland, which would remain under German sovereignty "for all time".[2]
- Expansion of the German colonial empire with, most importantly, the creation of a contiguous German colony across central Africa at the expense of the French and Belgian colonies. Presumably leaving the option open for future negotiations with Britain, no British colonies were to be taken, but Britain's "intolerable hegemony" in world affairs was to end.
[edit] Never in effect
The "September plan" was drafted by Kurt Riezler, a staffer in the Chancellor's office.[3] It was a proposal that was under discussion but was strongly opposed by powerful political elements in Germany. It was never adopted and no movement of people was ever ordered. As historian Raffael Scheck concluded, "The government, finally, never committed itself to anything. It had ordered the September Program as an informal hearing in order to learn about the opinion of the economic and military elites."[4]
[edit] See also
- Fritz Fischer, author of Germany's Aims in the First World War
[edit] Notes
- ^ Fritz Fischer, Germany's Aims in the First World War (1967).
- ^ Tuchman, op cit., p.315.
- ^ Wayne C. Thompson, In the Eye of the Storm: Kurt Riezler and the Crises of Modern Germany (1980). pp 98-99
- ^ See Raffael Scheck, Germany 1871–1945: A Concise History (2008)
[edit] External links
- (German) Full text of the Septemberprogramm. 9 September 1914. Retrieved on 2010-09-15.
- (English) English translation. Retrieved on 2010-09-15.
