The Drastic Terms Of Surrender
( Originally Published 1918 )
THE end of the war came with almost the dramatic suddenness of its beginning. Bulgaria, hemmed in by armies through which no relief could penetrate, asked for terms. The reply came in two words, "Unconditional Surrender." Turkey, witnessing the rout of her army in Palestine by the great strategist, General Allenby, and a British army, asked for an armistice. The Porte signed without hesitation an agreement comprising twenty-five severe requirements.
The surrender of Bulgaria and Turkey forced Austria's hand. The terms under which it was permitted to capitulate were even harder than those granted to Turkey. They comprised eighteen requirements divided into military and naval clauses.
Germany, proud, imperial Germany, met the greatest humiliation of all the Teutonic allies when the Kaiser and the German High Command were brought to their knees. Thirty-five clauses, the most severe and drastic ever demanded from a great power, were included in the armistice agreement. Only the imminent menace of an invasion of Germany would have sufficed to compel the German representatives to sign such a document. Following are the drafts of the Turkish, Austrian and German armistice agreements.
THE TURKISH AGREEMENT
1. The opening of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus and access to the Black Sea. Allied occupation of the Dardanelles and Bosporus forts.
2. The positions of all mine fields, torpedo tubes and other obstructions in Turkish waters are to be indicated, and assistance given to sweep or remove them, as may be required.
8. All available information concerning mines in the Black Sea is to be communicated.
4. All Allied prisoners of war and Armenian interned persons and prisoners are to be collected in Constantinople and handed over unconditionally to the Allies.
5. Immediate demobilization of the Turkish army, except such troops as are required for surveillance on the frontiers and for the maintenance of internal order.
The number of effectives and their disposition to be determined later by the Allies after consultation with the Turkish Government.
6. The surrender of all war vessels in Turkish waters or waters occupied by Turkey. These ships will be interned in such Turkish port or ports as may be directed, except such small vessels as are required for police and similar purposes in Turkish territorial waters.
7. The Allies to have the right to occupy any strategic points in the event of any situation arising which threatens the security of the Allies.
8. Use by Allied ships of all ports and anchorages now in Turkish occupation and denial of their use by the enemy. Similar conditions are to apply to Turkish mercantile shipping in Turkish waters for the purposes of trade and the demobilization of the army.
9. Allied occupation of the Taurus Tunnel system in Asia Minor.
10. Immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops from Northern Persia to behind the pre-war frontier already has been ordered and will be carried out.
11. A part of Transcaucasia already has been ordered to be evacuated by Turkish troops. The remainder to be evacuated, if required by the Allies, after they have studied the situation.
I2. Wireless, telegraph and cable stations to be con-trolled by the Allies. Turkish Government messages to be excepted.
13. Prohibition against the destruction of any naval, military or commercial material.
14. FaciIities are to be given for the purchase of coal, oil, fuel and naval material from Turkish sources, after the requirements of the country have been met. None of the above materials are to be exported.
15. The surrender of all Turkish offices in Tripolitania and Cyrenaiea to the nearest Italian garrison. Turkey agrees to stop supplies and communication with these officers if they do not obey the order to surrender.
16. The surrender of all garrisons in Hedjaz, Assir, Yemen, Syria and Mesopotamia to. the nearest Allied commander, and withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cilicia, except those necessary to maintain order, as will be determined under Clause 6.
17. The use of all ships and repair facilities at all Turkish ports and arsenals.
18. The surrender of all ports occupied in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, including Mizurata, to the nearest Allied garrison.
19. All Germans and Austrians, naval, military or civilian, to be evacuated within one month from Turkish dominions, and those in remote districts as soon after that time as may be possible.
20. Compliance with such orders as may be conveyed for the disposal of equipment, arms and ammunition, including the transport of that portion of the Turkish army which is demobilized under Clause 5.
21. An Allied representative to be attached to the Turkish Ministry of Supplies in order to safeguard Al-lied interests. This representative to be furnished with all aid necessary for this purpose.
22. Turkish prisoners are to be kept at the disposal of the Allied Powers. The release of Turkish civilian prisoners and prisoners over military age is to be considered.
23. An obligation on the part of Turkey to cease all relations with the Central Powers.
24. In case of disorder in the six Armenian vilayets the Allies reserve to themselves the right to occupy any part of them.
25. Hostilities between the Allies and Turkey shall cease from noon, local time, Thursday, the 31st of October, 1918.
THR AUSTRIAN AGREEMENT
1. The immediate cessation of hostilities by land, sea and air.
2. Total demobilization of the Austro-Hungarian army and immediate withdrawal of all Austro-Hungarian forces operating on the front from the North Sea to Switzerland. Within Austro-Hungarian territory, limited as in Clause 3 below, there shall only be maintained as an organized military force reduced to pre-war effectiveness. Half the divisional, corps and army artillery and equipment shall be collected at points to be indicated by the Allies and United States of America for delivery to them, beginning with all such material as exists in the territories to be evacuated by the Austro-Hungarian forces.
S. Evacuation of all territories invaded by Austro-Hungary since the beginning of the war. Withdrawal within such periods as shall be determined by the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces on each front of the Austro-Hungarian armies behind a line fixed as follows,
From Pic Umbrail to the north of the Stelivo it will follow the crest of the Rhetian Alps up to the sources of the Adige and the Eisach, passing thence by Mounts Reschen and Brenner and the heights of Oetz and Zoeller. The line thence turns south, crossing Mount Toblach and meeting the present frontier Carnic Alps. It follows this frontier up to Mount Tarvis and after Mount Tarvis the watershed of the Julian Alps by the Col of Predil, Mount Mangart, the Terglou and the watershed of the Cols di Podberdo, Podlaniscam and Idria. From this point the line turns southeast towards the Schnee-berg, excludes the whole basin of the Save and its tributaries. From Schneeberg it goes down towards the coast in such a way as to include Castua, Mattuglia and Bolosca in the evacuated territories.
It will also follow the administrative limits of the present province of Dalmatia, including the north Lisarica and Trivania and, to the south, territory limited by a line from the Semigrand of Cape Planca to the summits of the watersheds eastwards, so as to include in the evacuated area all the valleys and water course flowing towards Sebenaco, such as the Cicola, Kerga, Butisnica and their tributaries. It will also include all the islands in the north and west of Dalmatia from Premuda, Selve, Ulbo, Scherda, Maon, Paga and Puntadura in the north up to Meleda in the south, embracing Santandrea, Busi, Lisa, Lesina, Tercola, CurzoIa, Cazza and Lagosta, as well as the neighboring rocks and islets and pressages, only excepting the islands of Great and Small Zirona, Bua, Solta and Brazza. All territory thus evacuated shall be occupied by the forces of the Allies and of the United States of America.
All military and railway equipment of all kinds, including coal belonging or within those territories, to be left in situ and surrendered to the Allies, according to special orders given by the commander-in-chief of the forces of the associated Powers on the different fronts. No new destruction, pillage or requisition to be done by enemy troops in the territories to be evacuated by them and occupied by the forces of the associated Powers.
4. The Allies shall have the right of free movement over all road and rail and waterways in Austro-Hungarian territory and of the use of the necessary Austrian and Hungarian means of transportation. The armies of the associated Powers shall occupy such strategic points in Austria-Hungary at times as they may deem necessary to enable them to conduct military operations or to maintain order. They shall have the right of requisition on payment for the troops of the associated Powers what-ever they may be.
5. Complete evacuation of all German troops within fifteen days not only from the Italian and Balkan fronts, but from all Austro-Hungarian territory. Internment of all German troops which have not left Austro-Hungary within the date.
6. The administration of the evacuated territories of Austria-Hungary will be entrusted to the local authorities under the control of the Allied and associated armies of occupation.
7. The immediate repatriation without reciprocity of all Allied prisoners of war and internal subjects and of civil populations evacuated from their homes on conditions to be laid down by the commander-in-chief of the forces of the associated Powers on the various fronts.
Sick and wounded who cannot be removed from evacuated territory will be cared for by Austria-Hungary personnel, who will be left on the spot with the medical material required.
1. Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite information to be given as to the location and movements of all Austro-Hungarian ships. Notification to be made to neutrals that freedom of navigation in all territorial waters is given to the naval and mercantile marine of the Allied and associated Powers, all questions of neutrality being waived.
2. Surrender to Allies and the United States of fifteen Austro-Hungarian submarines completed between the years 1910 and 1918 and of all German submarines which are in or may hereafter enter Austro-Hungarian territorial waters. All other Austro-Hungarian sub-marines to be paid off and completely disarmed and to remain under the supervision of the Allies and United States.
3. Surrender to Allies and United States with their complete armament and equipment of three battleships, three light cruisers, nine destroyers, twelve torpedo boats, one mine layer, six Danube monitors, to be designated by the Allies and United States of America. All other surface warships, including river craft, are to be concentrated in Austro-Hungarian naval bases to be designated by the Allies and United States of America and are to be paid off and completely disarmed and placed under the supervision of Allies and United States of America.
4. Freedom of navigation to all warships and merchant ships of Allied and associated Powers to be given in the Adriatic and up the River Danube and its tribu-taries in the territorial waters and territory of Austria-Hungary. The Allies and associated Powers shall have the right to sweep up all mine fields and obstructions, and the positions of these are to be indicated. In order to insure the freedom of navigation on the Danube, the Allies and the United States of America shall be em-powered to occupy or to dismantle all fortifications or defense work.
5. The existing blockade conditions set up by the Al-lied and associated Powers are to remain unchanged and all Austro-Hungarian merchant ships found at sea are to remain liable to capture, save exceptions may be made by a commission nominated by the Allies and the United States of America.
6. All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and impactionized in Austro-Hungarian bases to be designated by the Allies and United States of America.
7. Evacuation of all the Italian coasts and of all ports occupied by Austria-Hungary outside their national territory and the abandonment of all floating craft, naval materials, equipment and materials for inland navigation of all kinds.
8. Occupation by the Allies and the United States of America of the land and sea fortifications and the islands which form the defenses and the dockyards and arsenal at Pola.
9. All merchant vessels held by Austria-Hungary belonging to the Allies and associated Powers to be returned.
10. No destruction of ships or of materials to be permitted before evacuation, surrender or restoration.
11. All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of the Allied and associated Powers in Austro-Hungarian hands to be returned without reciprocity.
THE GERMAN AGREEMENT
1. Cessation of operations by land and in the air six hours after the signature of the armistice.
2. Immediate evacuation of invaded countries: Belgium, France, Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, so ordered as to be completed within fourteen days from the signature of the armistice. German troops which have not left the above mentioned territories within the period fixed will become prisoners of war. Occupation by the Allied and United States forces jointly will keep pace with evacuation in these areas. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be regulated in accordance with a note annexed to the stated terms.
3. Repatriation beginning at once and to be completed within fifteen days of all inhabitants of the countries above mentioned, including hostages and persons under trial or convicted.
4. Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the following equipment: Five thousand guns (two thousand five hundred heavy, two thousand five hundred( field), twenty-five thousand machine guns, three thou-sand minenwerfers, seventeen hundred airplanes. The above to be delivered in situ to the Allies and the United States troops in accordance with the detailed conditions laid down in the annexed note.
5. Evacuation by the German armies of the countries on the left bank of the Rhine. These countries on the left bank of the Rhine shall be administered by the local troops of occupation under the control of the Allied and United States armies of occupation. The occupation of these territories will be carried out by Allied and United States garrisons holding the principal crossings of the Rhine, Mayence, Coblenz, Cologne, together with bridgeheads at these points in thirty kilometer radius on the right bank and by garrisons similarly holding the strategic points of the regions.
A neutral zone shall be reserved on the right of the Rhine between the stream and a line drawn parallel to it forty kilometers (twenty-six miles) to the east from the frontier of Holland to the parallel of Gernsheim and as far as practicable a distance of thirty kilometers (twenty miles) from the east of the stream from this parallel upon Swiss frontier. Evacuation by the enemy of the Rhine lands shall be so ordered as to be completed within a further period of sixteen days, in all thirty-one days after the signature of the armistice. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be regulated according to the note annexed.
6. In all territory evacuated by the enemy there shall be no evacuation of inhabitants; no damage or harm shall be done to the persons or property of the inhabitants. No destruction of any kind to be committed. Military establishments of all kinds shall be delivered as well as military stores of food, munitions, equipment not re-moved during the periods fixed for evacuation. Stores of food of all kinds for the civil population, cattle, etc., shall be left in situ. Industrial establishments shall not be impaired in any way and their personnel shall not be moved. Roads and means of communication of every kind, railroad, waterways, main roads, bridges, telegraphs, telephones, shall be in no manner impaired. No person shall be prosecuted for offenses in participation in war measures prior to the signing of the armistice.
7. All civil and military personnel at present employed on them shall remain. Five thousand locomotives, one hundred fifty thousand wagons and five thou-sand motor lorries in good working order with all necessary spare parts and fittings shall be delivered to the associated Powers within the period fixed for the evacuation of Belgium and Luxemburg. The railways of Alsace-Lorraine shall be handed over within thirty-six days, together with all pre-war personnel and material. Further material necessary for the working of railways in the country on the left bank of the Rhine shall be left in situ. All stores of coal and material for the upkeep of permanent ways, signals and repair shops left entire in situ and kept in an efficient state by Germany during the whole period of armistice. All barges taken from the Allies shall be restored to them. All civil and military personnel at present employed on such means of communication and transporting including waterways shall remain. A note appended regulates the details of these measures.
8. The German command shall be responsible for revealing within forty-eight hours all mines or delay acting fuses disposed on territory evacuated by the German troops and shall assist in their discovery and destruction. The German command shall also reveal all destructive measures that may have been taken (such as poisoning or polluting of springs, wells, etc.) under penalty of reprisals.
9. The right of requisition shall be exercised by the Allies and the United States armies in all occupied territory, "subject to regulation of accounts with those whom it may concern. The upkeep of the troops of occupation in the Rhine land (excluding Alsace-Lorraine) shall be charged Io the German Government.
10. An immediate repatriation without reciprocity ac-cording to detailed conditions which shall be fixed, of all Allied and United States prisoners of war. The Allied Powers and the United States shall be able to dispose of these prisoners as they wish. This condition annuls the previous conventions on the subject of the exchange of prisoners of war, including the one of July, 198, in course of ratification. However, the repatriation of German prisoners of war interned in Holland and in Switzerland shall continue as before. The repatriation of German prisoners of war shall be regulated at the conclusion of the preliminaries of peace.
11. Sick and wounded, who cannot be removed from evacuated territory will be cared for by German personnel who will be left on the spot with the medical material required.
12. All German troops at present in any territory which before the war belonged to Roumania, Turkey or Austria-Hungary shall immediately withdraw within the frontiers of Germany as they existed on August 1, 1914. German troops now in Russian territory shall withdraw within the frontiers of Germany, as soon as the Allies, taking into account the internal situation of those territories, shall decide that the time for this has come.
13. Evacuation by German troops to begin at once and all German instructors, prisoners and civilian as well as military agents, now on the territory of Russia (as de-fined before 1914) to bé recalled.
14. German troops to cease at once all requisitions and seizures and any other undertakings with a view to obtaining supplies intended for Germany in Roumania and Russia (as defined on August 1, 1914).
15. Renunciation of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk and of the supplementary treaties.
16. The Allies shall have free access to the territories evacuated by the Germans on their eastern frontier either through Danzig or by the Vistula in order to convey supplies to the populations of those territories and for the purpose of maintaining order.
17. Evacuation by all German forces operating in East Africa within a period to be fixed by the Allies.
18. Repatriation, without reciprocity, within maximum period of one month, in accordance with detailed conditions hereafter to be fixed, of all civilians interned or deported who may be citizens of other Allied or associated states than those mentioned in clause three, paragraph nineteen.
19. The following financial conditions are required: Reparation for damage done. While such armistice lasts no public securities shall be removed by the enemy which can serve as a pledge to the Allies for the recovery or repatriation of the cash deposit, in the National Bank of Belgium, and in general immediate return of all documents, specie, stocks, shares, paper money together with plant for the issue thereof, touching public or private interests in the invaded countries. Restitution of the Russian and Roumanian gold yielded to Germany or taken by that Power. This gold to be delivered in trust to the Allies until the signature of peace.
20. Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite information to be given as to the location and movements of all German ships. Notification to be given to neutrals that freedom of navigation in all territorial waters is given to the naval and merchant marines of the Allicd and associate Powers, all questions of neutrality being waived.
21. All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of war of the Allied and associated Powers in German hands to be returned without reciprocity.
22. Surrender to the Allies and the United States of America of all German submarines now existing (including all submarine cruisers and mine laying submarines), with their complete armament and equipment in ports which will be specified by the Allies and the United States of America. Those which cannot take the sea shall be disarmed of the material and personnel and shall remain under the supervision of the Allies and the United States. All the conditions of the article shall be carried into effect within fourteen days. Submarines ready for sea shall be prepared to leave German ports immediately upon orders by wireless, and the remainder at the earliest possible moment.
23. The following German surface warships which shall be designated by the Allies and the United States of America shall forthwith be disarmed and thereafter interned in neutral ports, to be designated by the Allies and the United States of America and placed under the surveillance of the Allies and the United States of America, only caretakers being left on board, namely:
Six battle cruisers, ten battleships, eight light cruisers, including two mine layers, fifty destroyers of the most modern type. All other surface warships (including river craft) are to be concentrated in naval bases to be designated by the Allies and the United States of America, and are to be paid off and completely disarmed and placed under the supervision of the Allies and the United States of America. All vessels of the auxiliary fleet (trawlers, motor vessels, etc.) are to be disarmed. Vessels designated for internment, shall be ready to leave German ports within seven days upon direction by wireless and the military armament of all vessels of the auxiliary fleet shall be put on shore.
24. The Allies and the United States of America shall have the right to sweep all mine fields and obstructions laid by Germany outside German territorial waters, and the positions of these are to be indicated.
25. Freedom of access to and from the Baltic to be given to the naval and mercantile marine of the Allied and associated Powers. To secure this Allies and the United States of America shall be empowered to occupy all German forts, fortifications, batteries and defense works of all kinds in all the entrances from the Cattegat into the Baltic, and to sweep up all mines and obstructions within and without German territorial waters without any question of neutrality being raised, and the positions of all such mines and obstructions are to be Indicated.
26. The existing blockade conditions set up by the Allies and associated Powers are to remain unchanged and all German merchant ships found at sea are to remain liable to capture. The Allies and the United States shall give consideration to the provisioning of Germany during the armistice to the extent recognized as necessary.
27. All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and immobilized in German bases to be specified by the Allies and the United States of America.
28. In evacuating the Belgian coasts and ports, Germany shall abandon all merchant ships, tugs, lighters, cranes and all other harbor materials, all materials for Inland navigation, all aircraft and all materials and stores, all arms and armaments, and all stores and apparatus of all kinds.
29. All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated by Germany, all Russian war vessels of all descriptions seized by Germany in the Black Sea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United States of America; all neutral merchant vessels seized are to be released; all warlike and other materials of all kinds seized in those parts are to be returned and German materials as specified in clause twenty-eight are to be abandoned.
30. All merchant vessels in German hands belonging to the Allied and associated Powers are to be restored in ports to be specified by the Allies and the United States of America without reciprocity.
31. No destruction of ships or materials to be permitted before evacuation, surrender or restoration.
32. The German Government will notify neutral governments of the world, and particularly the governments of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Holland, that all restrictions placed on the trading of their vessels with the Allied and associated countries, whether by the German Government or by private German interests, and whether in return for specific concessions such as the export of shipbuilding materials or not, are immediately canceled.
33. No transfers of German merchant shipping of any description to any neutral flag are to take place after signature of the armistice.
34. The duration of the armistice is to be thirty days, with option to extend. During this period, on failure of execution of any of the above clauses, the armistice may be denounced by one of the contracting parties on forty-eight hours' previous notice. It is understood that the 'execution of Articles 3 and 18 shall not warrant the denunciation of the armistice on the ground of insufficient execution within a period fixed, except in the case of bad faith in carrying them into execution. In order to assume the execution of this convention under the best conditions, the principle of a Permanent International Armistice Commission is admitted. This commission shall act under authority of the Allied military and naval commanders-in-chief.
35. This armistice to be accepted or refused by Germany within seventy-two hours of notification.