Editing Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg (section)

==== Prussian electoral law reform ====
At that time the long postponed electoral law reform in Prussia reappeared on the political agenda. On 27 February 1917 Bethmann Hollweg came before the Reichstag and in a speech that he later called his "most significant" said that he saw the typically German expression of a liberal form of government in a monarchy based "on the broad shoulders of the free man". A progressive, social "people's empire" seemed to him acceptable to right and left, and therefore the long term solution to domestic problems.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bethmannhollweg00hollgoog/page/n281/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Bethmann Hollwegs Kriegsreden |publisher=Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt |year=1919 |editor-last=Thimme |editor-first=Friedrich |location=Stuttgart |pages=208 ff |language=de |trans-title=Bethmann Hollweg's War Speeches}}</ref>

But this form of government had no appeal to the outside world, especially the USA. Bethmann Hollweg's intellectual limitation to German idealism made him misjudge its international impact. In the last months of his term, the Chancellor pursued the goal of a parliamentary monarchy and reform of Prussia's electoral system. On 9 March the conservatives moved even further away from the center and rejected the "whole liberal and parliamentary idea". To avoid a break with them, the Chancellor – who was also Prussian minister president – again avoided general constitutional theory in his remarks to the [[Prussian House of Lords]]. But he clearly rejected an insistence on three-class suffrage and said that his preference was to reform the electoral law as soon as possible. He nevertheless pointed out that rushing the issue could have "fatal" consequences and uttered words that were to echo widely:<blockquote>Woe to the statesman who does not recognize the signs of the times, woe to the statesman who believes that after a catastrophe such as the world has never before seen, we could simply pick up where we left off.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bethmannhollweg00hollgoog/page/n288/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Bethmann Hollwegs Kriegsreden |publisher=Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt |year=1919 |editor-last=Thimme |editor-first=Friedrich |location=Stuttgart |pages=215 ff |language=de |trans-title=Bethmann Hollweg's War Speeches}}</ref></blockquote>Although Bethmann Hollweg had wanted to avoid any rupture by using imprecise formulations, the right took the speech as an expression of anti-state sentiment. The reactionary wing of the conservatives insulted him as a "henchman of the Jews and Social Democrats".{{Sfn|Ritter|1964|p=496, Vol. 3}} The progressive [[Conrad Haußmann]] (DVP), on the other hand, spoke of a "historic event" because the Chancellor had openly placed himself on the left.
[[File:Kaiser and his Generals LCCN2014699080.jpg|left|thumb|317x317px|Emperor Wilhelm II in an undated photo. Bethmann Hollweg is second from the right, standing. The German words above him mean "From a Great Time".]]
On 31 March 1917 Bethmann Hollweg appointed a commission to draft an emperor's message that would explicitly mention equal suffrage. The tired and spent chancellor then mustered all his remaining resolve and traveled to [[Bad Homburg]] to see Wilhelm II. In deference to conservative circles, the Emperor refused to make direct reference to equal (manhood) suffrage. Bethmann Hollweg agitatedly explained to him that it was impossible for him to advocate a bill under which a "worker adorned with the [[Iron Cross First Class]] would have to go to the polls next to a well-off draft dodger from the same village" with unequal voting rights.{{Sfn|Patemann|1964|pp=58 ff.}} In the end Wilhelm II agreed to the wording of the Easter message and thus to the democratization of Prussia. Ludendorff described the Easter Message of 7 April, which promised the abolition of three-class suffrage, as "kowtowing to revolution".{{Sfn|Ritter|1964|p=547, Vol. 3}}

The SPD called for a clear commitment from the German government to peace without annexations. There was hope for the peace initiative of [[Pope Benedict XV]], who had offered to mediate between the warring parties. The Chancellor and Wilhelm II agreed with the Pope's efforts and were prepared to release Belgium and cede Alsace–Lorraine.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Steglich |first=Wolfgang |title=Die Friedenspolitik der Mittelmächte 1917/1918 |publisher=F. Steiner Verlag |year=1964 |volume=1 |location=Wiesbaden |pages=124 ff |language=de |trans-title=The Peace Policy of the Central Powers 1917/1918}}</ref> The nuncio in Munich, [[Eugenio Pacelli]], later said confidentially that the prospects for peace would have been good if Bethmann Hollweg had remained chancellor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herzogin Viktoria Luise |title=Ein Leben als Tochter des Kaisers |publisher=Göttinger Verlagsanstalt |year=1965 |location=Göttingen |pages=159 |language=de |trans-title=A Life as the Kaiser's Daughter}}</ref>

It was at that time that [[Matthias Erzberger]] of the Centre Party put his [[Reichstag Peace Resolution]] before the main parliamentary committee. The efforts, which in their radicalism were also directed against the Chancellor, astonished Bethmann Hollweg, since the position of the broad Reichstag majority had always been with him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Epstein |first=K. |title=Matthias Erzberger und das Dilemma der deutschen Demokratie |publisher=Leber |year=1962 |location=Berlin |pages=215 |language=de |trans-title=Matthias Erzberger and the Dilemma of German Democracy}}</ref>