My last speech before the assembled Reichstag on December 12, 1916, concerned the proposal of Germany and her Allies to enter into peace negotiations… - Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg

Of the sea blockade imposed by us jointly with Austria-Hungary on Britain, France and Italy, I spoke on January 31 before your Main Committee. To the Note announcing the blockade which was published at the tune, we have received from the neutrals replies with reservations and protests. We are by no means unaware of the great difficulties with which neutral shipping has become confronted, and are trying to mitigate them as far as possible. But we also know that these difficulties are ultimately due only to Britain's brutal sea tyranny. It is this enslavement by Britain of all non-British sea traffic that we want to and willl break. The freedom of the sea, for which we are fighting, will also be of benefit to the neutral countries.

[We are confronted with our] old dilemma at every Austrian action in the Balkans. If we encourage them, they say we pushed them into it. If we discourage them, they say we left them in the lurch. Then they will throw themselves into the open arms of the Western powers and we lose our last important ally. ... [My predicament is] worse than in 1912, because this time Austria is on the defensive against Serbo-Russian intrigues. ... An attack on Serbia can lead to world war. [Any general conflagration] however it ends [will lead] to a revolution of all existing conditions. ... The future belongs to Russia which grows and grows, looming above us as an increasingly terrifying nightmare. ... Perhaps the old Emperor [Francis Joseph] will prefer not to fight after all. If war comes from the east so that we have to fight for Austria-Hungary and not Austria-Hungary for us, we have a chance of winning. ... [I]f war does not break out, if the Tsar is unwilling or France, alarmed, counsels peace, we have the prospect of splitting the Entente.

Lord yes, in a certain sense it was a preventive war, [motivated by] the constant threat of attack, the greater likelihood of its inevitability in the future, and by the military's claim: today war is still possible without defeat, but not in two years! Yes, the generals. It could only have been avoided by a rapprochement with England, that is still my conviction. But after we had decided for a [common] policy with Austria, we could not desert her in such danger.