n Navy was determined and bent on that aim.
Bethmann and Zimmermann were both decidedly against it. It was
entirely in keeping with the prudent wisdom of the former not to risk
such experiments; Bethmann was an absolutely dependable, honourable
and capable partner, but the unbounded growth of the military
autocracy must be imputed to his natural tendency to conciliate. He
was powerless against Ludendorff and little by little was turned aside
by him. My first visit to Berlin afforded me the opportunity of
thoroughly discussing the U-boat question with the Imperial
Chancellor, and we were quite agreed in our disapproval of that method
of warfare. At all events, Bethmann pointed out that such essentially
military matters should in the first instance be left to military
decision, as they alone were able to form a correct estimate of the
result, and these reflections made me fear from the very first that
all reasonable political scruples would be upset by military
arguments. On this my first visit to Berlin, when this question
naturally was the dominating one, the Chancellor explained to me how
difficult his position was, because the military leaders, both on land
and at sea, declared that if the unrestricted U-boat warfare were not
carried out they would not be able to guarantee the Western front.
They thus brought an iron pressure to bear on him, for how could he,
the Chancellor, undertake to guarantee that the Western front could
hold out? As a matter of fact, the danger of introducing the
unrestricted U-boat campaign became greater and greater, and the
reports sent by Hohenlohe left no doubt as to the further development
of affairs in Berlin.

On January 12 he reported as follows:

The question of the extension of the U-boat warfare, as Your
Excellency is aware from the last discussions in Berlin, becomes
daily more acute.

On the one hand, all leading military and naval authorities insist
on making use of this means as speedily as possible, as they
declare it will end the war much more rapidly; on the other hand,
all statesmen have grave fears as to what effect it will have on
America and other neutrals.

The Supreme Military Command declares that a new offensive on a
very large scale is imminent in the West and that the armies which
are to resist this attack will not be able to understand why the
navy should not do all that lies in its power to prevent, or at
any rate to decrease, the re