Source: Timeline
Nov. 15, 1918 Nuncio Pacelli sends reports to Gasparri on (a) the collapse of the German Empire and (b) the revolution in Bavaria.
Italian original at www.Pacelli-Edition.de and English translation of Pacelli’s report re German EmpireItalian original at www.Pacelli-Edition.de and English translation of Pacelli’s report re Bavaria
Nov. 15, 1918 Nuncio Pacelli to Cardinal Gasparri, from Munich:
Most Reverend Eminence,
In your esteemed detailed letter of October 23rd, Your Most Reverend Eminence deigned to request explanations concerning the causes of Germany’s enormous catastrophe on the Western Front. Although the various Reports after this event that should have arrived in Rome could have amply clarified this question, I am nonetheless carrying out my duty to summarize concisely here the causes of the events:
1. The first cause of the German defeat was the active intervention of the United States, which, sending to France a huge army composed of young, fresh elements and armed with the most copious quantities of high quality war materiel, reversed the military situation in short order in favor of the Entente, forcing the German troops to begin their retreat. Especially effective were the actions of innumerable tanks, whose assaults were irresistible. Germany realized too late the formidable error it committed when it announced unrestricted submarine warfare, which provoked America’s entry into the war. The military authorities, following the usual prideful mentality that led them to underestimate the enemy, laughed off the idea of American intervention at the time, thinking it was an American bluff and that the United States, so far away and so little prepared for war, without military training, without officers, etc., would not be able to create terrible forces to overpower the invincible German organization... Then in July of last year, when Deputy Erzberger demonstrated to the principal Reichstag Commission the lack of success of the [submarine warfare] enterprise and provoked the vote on the well-known “Peace Resolution,” and shortly after he read to a Center Party meeting a secret report from [Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister] Czernin to the Emperor, which outlined the future in rather grim terms, the pan-Germanists and militarists, in their blindness and crazy pride, pounced on him, accusing him of defeatism and practically of treason against the fatherland, making him live it down and practically disavow the “Resolution” itself.
2. Simultaneously with the growth of the power of the armies of the Entente, by contrast, the strength of the armies of the Central Powers became weaker. The diminished fighting spirit of the German troops was already apparent during the offensive on the Western Front from March to July last year, as Germany tried to pre-empt, by an audacious strike, the imminent threat of the Americans’ intervention... The reasons for this deterioration were several-fold: (a) the inevitable weariness from four long years of fighting and suffering, (b) the lack of adequate food and clothing, the soldiers often being famished and injured, (c) the active Socialist and Bolshevik propaganda in the ranks of the army, (d) the detrimental influence exercised upon the military, often instigating them to rebellion, by their own family members, who were also worn out by such struggles and privations, whether this influence came by way of letters or above all while they were on leave.
3. The depression in the German army naturally increased when the retreat began around the middle of July. At the beginning of August the Supreme Command decided to pull back the troops upon the old Hindenburg Line, which was considered impregnable, and even though they had to recognize that there was no longer any way to win the war, yet they believed it certain that they would not be conquered and that they would be able to defend indefinitely. Instead, the ever-growing power of the Entente, under the united command of General Foch, continually pressing the offensive and not giving a single day of respite to the German troops, not only made their powerful line waver, but brought, as the even graver result,
4. the collapse of Germany’s allies, of which Austria-Hungary had to surrender not so much because of the military situation (it was still able to maintain its front), as by reason of complete internal dissolution. Nevertheless Germany, even when left alone against an entire world of enemies, could perhaps, with a new levy of manpower, have avoided a breakthrough on its front and a military catastrophe, if the increasingly troubled and restless domestic situation had not constrained it to beg for an armistice and peace at any price, opting for capitulation. With the armistice it got revolution, which overthrew all the thrones and proclaimed the socialist republic.
There is no doubt that if Germany had heeded the suggestions of the Holy See, it would not have been brought to such a sad end. The Chancellor, Mr. von Bethmann Hollweg, had actually agreed to the point proposed by the Holy See, but precisely because of his relative moderation, he was overthrown, seemingly by an attack from Mr. Erzberger, but in reality by the overbearing will of Hindenburg and Ludendorff, who dictated to the Emperor, who, moreover, was a rather unbalanced man and was, along with them, a pan-Germanist and a militarist, and surrounded by pan-Germanists and militarists...
As Your Eminence can well understand, I have not had a possibility of seeing either the Emperor or, up to now, the ex-Chancellor [Count von Hertling] who has retired to his estate at Ruhpolding [Bavaria]; but Your Eminence can be assured that I have shown all the other political and diplomatic men with whom I am in contact the error committed by the governing figures of Germany in persisting in the folly and pride of their warlike way, notwithstanding the suggestions from the Holy See, and I must add that many of them have recognized the truth of this observation...
Source: Vatican Secret Archives, reprinted in Emma Fattorini, Germania e Santa Sede [Germany and the Holy See] (1992), pp. 307-310, and at the online www.Pacelli-Edition.de, with Italian original and German translation. The Pacelli Edition is an online searchable database of correspondence between Pacelli's Nunciature in Germany and the Vatican Secretariat of State; it is a project of the University of Münster, Germany, in cooperation with the German Historical Institute in Rome and the Vatican Secret Archive; it is financed by the German Research Foundation.
Nov. 15, 1918 Nuncio Pacelli to Cardinal Gasparri, from Munich:
Most Reverend Eminence,
The revolution in Bavaria exploded suddenly like lightning. The revolutionary leaders themselves did not believe (for all one can suppose) that they had triumphed in that tragic night of November 7th to 8th. They attempted a sudden strike. They speculated on the psychological state of masses eager for peace, starved for bread, wearied by four years of unheard-of sacrifices. The soldiers could be the strong arm of the revolution. Under the weight of a discipline made even more steely by the exigencies of war, they also, tormented by long and painful privations, were easily lured by terrible passion.
To these psychological conditions must be added the example of Russia and the Socialist propaganda in the army. These can be stated as the remote causes of the revolution. It would be a mistaken assessment to believe that the excesses into which the Russian Revolution degenerated would be a salutary example for revolutionaries in other countries. What for men of order were slaughters, muggings and massacres, were for men who dreamed and worked for the revolution, events that encouraged them and drove them on to the fulfillment of their cruel ideals. Then Socialist propaganda in the ranks of the army was so widespread and continuous that it could not fail to contribute its effects.
However (much as the future was rather obscure), no one predicted and no one could predict that such a storm would occur in Bavaria for the first time and so suddenly explode.
The Socialist Party and the Free Workers Associations had planned a big demonstration for peace at 3 o’clock on Thursday the 7th of this month, remembering on that day the anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Similarly inclined to celebrate on this occasion the union of the Socialists with the Independents (the left wing of the Socialists), orators from both parties spoke on this day. Naturally the Independents put forward a radical order of the day that went from social providence for the workers and soldiers to the abdication of the Kaiser and the renunciation of the Crown Prince.
Already during the speeches and the demonstration that followed them, the soldiers agitated among the crowd (which was counted at several hundreds of thousands of persons), and this military agitation was headed up by the publicist Kurt Eisner and by Deputy Gandorfer. Spirits were fired up, calm went out the window, and riots were threatening. After shouting “down with the King” and the Kaiser beneath the Residence Palace until a late hour, the revolutionary leaders wanted to attempt a coup. Soldiers and the crowd went off toward the barracks. What happened there is indescribable. Everything was devastated, stolen by the unrestrained rebellion, without any limitations from the mob of soldiers. The officials were forced to flee, disarmed and beaten, forced to tear off the national cockade from their hats, which all the soldiers had already taken off and thrown away. No battalion, no company, no soldier from the garrison remained faithful to his King (as ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs von Dandl told me the day after). Thus it was that, developing tumultuously, in the rooms of a beer hall, a first council of soldiers and workers, the revolution took possession of the telegraph and telephone offices, the central train station, and all the public administrative buildings. And meanwhile throughout the night there was sporadic firing of rifles, machine guns, hand grenades, which the soldiers had seized in the barracks, sacking all the munition depots...
Nonetheless the population, if unable to sleep tranquilly during that night, believed in general that conflicts between police and demonstrators had provoked the continuous shooting. Instead Munich, waking up on the morning of the 8th of this month, was surprised by the news in the newspapers that Bavaria had become a Social Democratic Republic.
In fact in this historic night the revolutionaries took over the Landtag and constituted there a Provisional Council of workers, soldiers and farmers, proclaiming Bavaria a democratic and socialist republic and overthrowing the Wittelsbach Dynasty...
When Kurt Eisner retained for himself the presidency of the Ministerial Cabinet, he said he did it because his persona was the symbol of the revolution. He was right. To sketch his person is to summarize what the revolution in Bavaria truly represents. Atheist, radical socialist, implacable propagandist, intimate friend of Russian nihilists, head of all the revolutionary movements of Munich, imprisoned any number of times for political crimes, and moreover a Galician Jew, Kurt Eisner is the flag, the program, the soul of the revolution, which rages in Bavaria and menaces its religious, political and social life. It is said that in the first secret session Eisner had exclaimed, “Now we need to be done with the priests.” The other Ministers found that the moment had not yet arrived. And in fact the tactic of the revolutionaries is explained for the time being as not offending the sentiments of the population. They are making it believed that they will give full freedom of worship, that there will not be another Kulturkampf, that conscience will be respected. And meanwhile the Minister of Education is a Protestant and a well-known anti-clerical.
Thanks be to God, Bavarian Catholics have taken a stand. The newspaper of Catholics in Munich, the Bayerischer Kurier, in an explicit, energetic article, stated that Catholics will not provoke disorders, but, trusting in the promise of freedom by the revolutionary Government, are demanding this freedom for religion, for the schools, and for the exercise of worship, and will defend with drawn swords the rights and goods of the Church.
The Catholic labor associations, in a solemn assembly, affirmed the same program. The Bishops are consulting with each other to establish a unified and energetic line of conduct. The Center Party is not asleep. The clergy and religious Orders are seeking to save themselves and save their rights and their property. The catastrophe is immense, however, and everyone is afraid that the saddest days may be approaching for the Catholic Church in Bavaria. The general opinion is that the men who stand in power will not be able to remain long. Everyone is hoping in the National Assembly elections, everyone is preparing for them. But who is unaware that the elections are held by the Government, which holds the power in its hands? The Monarchy appears gone forever, all the more since the King released the officials from their oath of loyalty, and since, with the Bavarian Monarchy have passed away one after another of the Reigning Houses in Germany, starting with that of the Hohenzollerns. The future appears uncertain and perilous. Bolshevism, anarchy, famine, the disorderly return of the troops from the front, the lack of the most necessary things for them, lodging, work, bread, clothing, are likewise problems of extreme gravity that obscure the present hour, so that the eye fears that it cannot see beyond the present. And as matters stand today, only the Mercy of God can save the Catholic Church in Bavaria.
To complete this report written with a distressed and affected heart, I say that on the day after the proclamation of the Republic, the Diplomatic Corps (consisting only of Germans and the Austrian Minister) met with the Nuncio for a conference about the attitude to take toward the new Government. It was decided unanimously to refrain from any action that could appear to be a recognition of that Government. However, I was asked to demand on behalf of all, permission for free movement, which was granted.
The day after, the telegraph offices having begun to refuse my coded telegrams, the Auditor of the Nunciature, Msgr. Schioppa, went to the Minister President. After an hour in the waiting room among domestics, while soldiers, workers and women, people of a hardly reassuring appearance, had free access to the aforementioned Minister, the Auditor was not received. Having to return the next day, and with difficulty, thanks to the intervention of the Head of Session (employed by the former Government), he could obtain for the Nunciature permission (or better said, recognition of its right) for telegrams in code and for correspondence under seal addressed to the Pontifical Representative in Bern, albeit without couriers and diplomatic guarantees. The behavior of Mr. Eisner was so unencouraging that it would be entirely contrary to the dignity of a Pontifical Nuncio to deal with him...
Source: Vatican Secret Archives, reprinted in Fattorini, Germania e Santa Sede, pp. 310-314, and in the online www.Pacelli-Edition.de, with Italian original and German summaries. The Pacelli Edition is an online searchable database of correspondence between Pacelli's Nunciature in Germany and the Vatican Secretariat of State; it is a project of the University of Münster, Germany, in cooperation with the German Historical Institute in Rome and the Vatican Secret Archive; it is financed by the German Research Foundation.