Editing Albert Ballin (section)

== World War I ==
[[File:Albert Ballin Gravesite.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Albert Ballin's [[gravestone]] in [[Hamburg]], [[Germany]]. It is located on [[land lot|landlot]] Q9, 430–433 in [[Ohlsdorf Cemetery]].]]
Ballin acted as mediator between Great Britain and the [[German Empire]] in the tense years prior to the outbreak of World War I. Terrified that he would lose his ships in the event of naval hostilities, Ballin attempted to broker a deal whereby Britain and Germany would continue to race one another in passenger liners but desist in their attempts to best one another's naval fleets. Working with his close friend the British financier [[Ernest Cassel]], they convinced the governments in London and Berlin to negotiate a solution to the [[Anglo-German naval arms race|naval arms race]] through the [[Haldane Mission]] of 1912. Unfortunately it was a failure.<ref>{{cite book|last=Massie|first=Robert|title=Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War|year=1991|publisher=Random House|location=New York, NY|isbn=0-394-52833-6|pages=801}}</ref> Consequently, the outbreak of war deeply disillusioned him. Many of the Hamburg-America Line's ships were lost or suffered considerable damage during the hostilities.

Completely distraught upon hearing the news of the abdication of his benefactor and protector, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Ballin committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills<ref>Elon, Amos, The Pity of it All, 2002, pp. 342–342. {{ISBN|0805059644}}</ref><ref name=fox88>{{cite book|last=Fox|first=Robert|title=Liners: The Golden Age|year=2006|publisher=Tandem Verlag GmbH|location=Potsdam, Germany|isbn=978-3-8331-6186-5|page=88}}</ref> two days before the [[Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)|armistice]] ended World War I. Ballin's fears were soon to be realized; the company's flagships, the triumvirate {{SS|Imperator||2}}, {{SS|Vaterland|1913|2}} and ''[[RMS Majestic (1914)|Bismarck]]'', were ceded as war prizes to Great Britain and the United States.<ref name=fox88/>