Berlin

On the eve of Serbia’s reply to Vienna’s ultimatum, huge crowds gathered outside the newspaper offices in Berlin, awaiting news of Belgrade’s response. According to one witness, the people were quite tense; they had collected in the streets because they were “too excited to remain at home.” Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg was so worried that the Berliners would respond angrily to the Austrian ultimatum that he advised Wile to delay his return to the capital from his annual North Sea cruise. Although the kaiser was always happiest when away from Berlin, he was offended by the chancellor’s advice: “Things get madder every minute!” he fumed. “Now the man writes to me that I must not show myself to my subjects!” But Bethmann need not have worried about the Berliners’ response to the news of the Serbs’ decision. After reading the announcement in the newspaper extras, some citizens cheered “Et jeht los!”—Berlinerisch for “It’s on!”—while others went quietly home. Soon another crowd assembled in the city center, this one much more emphatically enthusiastic about the latest developments. The revelers moved down Unter den Linden to the Royal Palace, where they burst into the song Heil Dir im Siegerkranz

(“Hail to You in Victory Wreath”). Yet another group, mostly university students, trooped to the Austrian Embassy, cheering the ambassador when he made a brief appearance. “German and Austrian, student and soldier, merchant and worker, all feel as one in this deadly serious hour,” commented the Vossische Zeitung

.

Jingoists were not the only ones taking to the streets of Berlin in this hour of crisis. In response to calls from Vorwärts

, the SPD’s newspaper, for antiwar demonstrations, on July 28 thousands of workers marched from the proletarian suburbs toward the center of town chanting “Down with war!” and “Long live Social Democracy!” The police put up roadblocks and rode their horses into the columns, but about 2,000 workers managed to reach the city center. They strolled up Unter den Linden singing internationalist songs, while prowar zealots responded with patriotic refrains.

Whether they were pro- or antiwar, Berliners continued to fill the streets in the last days of July, if for no other reason than to get the latest information regarding the escalating crisis. On July 29 they learned that the czar had mobilized his troops on Russia’s border with Austria. This prompted renewed demonstrations of support for Vienna, along with calls for German mobilization against Russia. The kaiser saw Russia’s action as the latest episode in a long-running international conspiracy to keep Germany down. Although the order to mobilize was given in St. Petersburg, Wile believed that it had been set in motion by the anti-German policies of his late uncle, King Edward VII. “[Edward] is stronger after his death than I who am still alive,” he cried.

Learning on July 31 that Russia had extended its mobilization to the German border, the kaiser announced a state of drohende Kriegsgefahr—imminent danger of war. At 5:00 P.M. that day a lieutenant of the Grenadier Guards stood before the statue of Frederick the Great on Unter den Linden and read a proclamation from the Commanding General of Berlin giving him full authority over the city according to the Prussian Law of Siege of 1851. This law suspended civil rights, barred civilians from carrying arms, and granted the military the right to search houses at any time; it amounted, in effect, to granting the military dictatorial control over the capital for the duration of the war.

The announcement of Kriegsgefahr prompted widespread jubilation in Berlin. Thousands of men, not just the young and stupid, rushed to enlist in the army. Among them was Count Harry Kessler, a cosmopolitan art connoisseur who in the Weimar era would be identified with liberal internationalism. In 1914, however, he was proud to call himself a conservative nationalist. He spoke for all those crowding Berlin’s recruiting centers when he declared, upon ordering his military kit: “One breathes freely, the pressure and cloying closeness fall away, replaced by cool decisiveness.” The bellicosity, however, was mixed with signs of fear. Berliners removed their deposits from banks and housewives stormed the stores to stockpile food and supplies. In response, store owners hiked prices. These actions set the tone for an internal struggle for private advantage that would accompany the carnage on the front during the next four years.