German policies with respect to lands of former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in World War I era. Pro-Lithuanian and pro-Belarusian, or directed against Polish aspirations?

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Vokiečiai; Lenkai; Lietuviai; Baltarusiai; I pasaulinis karas; Buvusi Lenkijos-Lietuvos valstybė; Buvusi Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė; Bethmann Hollweg; Gustaw Krupp; Silvio Alois Max Broederich-Kurmahlen. Keywords: Germans; Poles; Lithuanian; Belarusian; WW I era; Former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; Former Grand; Duchy; Bethmann Hollweg; Gustaw Krupp; Silvio Alois Max Broederich-Kurmahlen.

ENThe Germans did not fight the Great War to liberate anyone. Their goal was to expand Germany's borders. This paper seeks to develop an old thesis of Franz Fischer about the expansionist nature of the German war objectives through the examination of yet unknown primary sources found, for the most part, in archives in Vilnius. As Fischer demonstrated, Bethmann-Hollweg planned to push away Russia as far as possible from the German borders, and to abolish Petrograd's hold over non-Russian vassal peoples already in September 1914. Berlin intended to establish a Central European economic union operating de facto under German leadership, although with preservation of the external equality of its members. It seems that this plan was maintained through the war. The Bethmann-Hollweg peace terms, transmitted to Wilson in January 1918, stipulated, among other things, that the lands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth should be included in the German economic and military sphere of influence. [From the publication]