Daring to dream of war’s ending
An indication that the war might be nearing a conclusion came in an Observer editorial.
The paper admitted it was too soon to say the war was over but the “rapid march of events”indicated that peace was in sight.
August, September and October had seen Allied forces clinch a number of victories on the battlefield and wipe out gains made by the enemy during an offensive earlier in the year.
The German forces were in “full retreat” on the Western Front while their allies, Turkey and AustraHungary, were virtually out of the war.
Against that background the German Government had little choice but to accept conditions laid down by US President Woodrow Wilson, which had to be met before any peace talks could start.
These conditions included the evacuation of all invaded territories, restoration of Belgium, France, Serbia, Romania and Montenegro and the return to France of Alsace Lorraine.
Britain, United States and their allies also wanted the creation of an independent Polish state, the freeing of the Dardanelles and evacuation of Russian territory.
Germany had said she was willing to accept the conditions, provided the Allies would agree to an “armistice by land, sea and air”.
The Observer said: “To comply with these terms is nothing less than a complete confession of defeat on the part of Germany but the Allies will require more solid proof of Germany’s good faith and sincerity than her bond, which is worth nothing.”
No accord could be agreed which allowed the German army to march from the battlefield with the “laurels of victory on their brows”.
Allied commanders had to decide whether the Germans must surrender their arms, artillery and war material and Britain could not consent to stop the war unless all German U-boats were given up.
“Nothing less is unthinkable given the Huns’ atrocious sea crime in the Irish Channel,” added the Observer.
“There must be no stoppage of the war which will permit Germany to resume it by land or sea after collecting and reorganising her forces.”
The paper also wanted Germany to surrender for trial all those who had ordered and carried out bombings and machine gunning of Allied wounded in hospitals.
It went on: “Germany must atone for her ill-treatment of prisoners, deportation and enslavement of civilian populations, sinking of hospital ships, foul murder of Edith Cavell and all the other crimes which have made Germany an outcast among the nations.”