In April, 1916, when I sent in my resignation for other reasons, Germany's confidence in victory was stronger than ever.

The Eastern front was free: Russia and Roumania were out of action.

The troops were bound westward, and no one who knew the situation as it was then can repudiate my assertion that the German military leaders believed themselves then to be nearer than ever to a victory peace; that they were persuaded they would take both Paris and Calais and force the Entente to its knees.

It is out of the question that at such a moment and under such conditions they could have replied to the falling away of Austria-Hungary otherwise than by violence.
All who will not admit the argument, I would refer to a fact which it would be difficult to evade.

Six months afterwards, when there was already clear evidence of the German collapse, when Andrassy declared a separate peace, the _Germans, as a matter of fact, threw troops into the Tyrol_.