HISTORICAL DATA-1917:

JANUARY:    All during this month  Adolf Hitler is still recovereing from the leg wound that he suffered in October of last year during the Battle of the Somme;  he has not  yet returned to his unit, the 16th  Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. FEBRUARY:     All during the month of February of this year, Adolf Hitler continues to recuperate from the leg wound that he suffered last October during the Battle of the  Somme. He is improving well enough now that he will soon be judged fit for return to service with his original unit, the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. MARCH:   On March 1 of this year Adolf Hitler is back with the "List Regiment"-the Bavarian 16th Reserve Regiment, receiving a warm welcome from officers and comrades alike. His dog, Fuchsl is ecstatic at his return. The company cook prepares a specuial meal-potato dumplings, bread and jam, and cake.  (SOURCE:  ADOLF HITLER  by John Toland ((paperback)), pg. 66).He is promoted to corporal and resumes his duties as a dispatch runner. APRIL:    In Munich, Germany on April 3 of this year the newly-installed papal nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Aversa, has a sudden, fatal attack of appendicitis. This leaves the Vatican and Pope Benedict XV without a direct envoy to one of the main combatants in the current war.  (SOURCE:  HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pg. 61).  APRIL:    In France on April 9 of this year a force of 20,000 Canadian soldiers attacks the strong German positions on Vimy Ridge, which is located qbout 12 km. to the northeast of Arras, France. By this afternoon the ridge is in Canadian hands, and  the victors move on to attack further objectives in the area.  (SOURCE: electronic posting by Gene Hanson ((twcal2@aol.com)) on WWII-L@listserv.buffalo.edu bulletin board on 3/06/2003).   APRIL:    In Germany on April 19 of this year the Catholic Center Party, in an indication of its political power at this time, manages to force the repeal of the laws against the Jesuit religious order which have been in effect since 1872. As a result, the Jesuits soon come back into the country and begin to set up communities, schools and colleges.  (SOURCE:  HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pg. 81).    MAY:    In  the Vatican on May 13 of this year, at a small private ceremony in the Sistine Chapel, Pope Benedect XV personally consecrates Eugenio Pacelli as archbishop of Sardi or Sardes, which is actually a diocese in name only, having been destroyed in the past by the Muslims. Perhaps indicative of the high regard in which Pacelli is held in leading Vatican circles, besides the Pope himself, also present in the Sistine for this ceremony are Pietro Cardinal Gasparri, Cardinal Secretary of State, and Achille Ratti, a close friend of now Archbishop Pacelli (and a man who himself will be eleceted to the papacy five years from now). At the present, Ratti is the Vatican librarian and a diplomat.  (SOURCE:  HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pg. 61).       In Fatima, Portugal on Sunday, May 13 of this year (the same day that Eugenio Pacelli is consecrated an archbishop in Vatican City), the Blessed Mother is said to have appeared to three peasant children and to have told them, "Come here on the thirteenth day for six months at this same time and then I will tell you who I am and what I want."  (SOURCE:  FATIMA: THE GREAT SIGN  by F. Johnston  Exeter, 1980, pg. 28--quoted in:  HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pg. 61).        At Vatican City on May 18 of this year, newly-consecrated A rchbishop Eugenio Pacelli departs the city bound by train for Munich, Germany. After leaving the boundary of the Vatican, he enters Rome and proceeds to the Stazione Termini railroad station where he boards a train for his new assignment in the Bavarian capital. He travels in fine style, in his own private compartment, and he has had an additional car added to the train, and sealed, to carry some sixty cases of the special foods that he needs for his delicate stomach. Baron Carlo Monti will report Pacelli's lavish travel arrangements to Pope Benedict XV the next day. The Holy Father is shocked when he hears that the Baron had had to use the services of as many as four departments of the Italian government to satisfy the travel needs of the Archbishop. Monti says that Pacelli's food alone has cost eight thousand lire, and that the Pope will have to find a way to meet this bill.     The Pope remarks that he himself would rather have wanted to share the living conditions of an ordinary Bavarian citizen, if he had been sent to Munich.  (SOURCE:  HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pg. 62).         By May 25 of this year recently-consecrated Archbishop Eugenio Pacelli has established himself in the Apostolic Nuncio's residence in Munich, Bavaria. His building faces directly across the fashionable Brennerstrasse from what will become known as the Brown House when it becomes the first formal home of the Nazi Party. Archbishop Pacelli has use of a luxurious automobile that is adorned with the Papal crest, and he immediately sets out to promote Pope Benedict XV's peace proposal among the Germans.     The Pope's plan calls for the elimination of the military draft, gradual but progressive disarmament, the replacement of warfare with international arbitration-with sanctions against those nations which refuse  to accept the decisions of the arbiters-and freedom of the seas. A crucial feature of the Pope's plan is that it also calls for the return of occupied territories to their original status, and lays down a protocol for the discussion of the future of such disputed regions as Alsace-Lorraine, Trent, and Trieste. The plan also seeks to grant consideration to the wishes of the indigenous peoples. The Pope also would seek the independence of Belgium, with guarantees of that ststus, and the reunification and restoration of Poland. These are all very controversial proposals at this time.  (SOURCE:  HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pg. 63).       On May 28 of this year Archbishop Eugenio Pacelli travels in a horse-drawn carriage to the court of King Ludwig III of Bavaria, where he presents his credentials. The King is attended by his foreign minister, Count Georg Friedrich von Hertling.  (SOURCE:  HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pg. 63).          At some time during this month the Roman Catholic Church publishes the full text of its Code of Cannon Law. This document makes many sweeping changes in the organization and governance of the Church, saying, for example, that the Pope has sole authority to nominate bishops, as opposed to having them named by local secular rulers. The new code also makes formal the Pope's infallibility in matters of faith and morals,and it goes further in that it declares, in Cannon 1323 that the ordinary and the solemn teaching authority of the Pope are to be followed with equal obedience. Cannon 1324 expands on this in saying that "It is not enough  to avoid heresy, but one must also carefully shun all errors that more or less approach it; hence all must observe the constitutions and decrees by which the Holy See has proscribed and forbidden opinions of that sort."  (SOURCE:  HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pp. 43-45). JUNE:  On Monday,  June 25 of this year Archbishop Eugenio Pacelli, the Apostolic Nuncio to Germany, travels by train from Munich in Bavaria to Berlin, where he arrives at 7:20 in the morning. He is met at the Berlin station by Deputy Matthias  Erzberger, who is an important Catholic leader of the Center Party. Erzberger drives with the Archbishop in "a splendid military automobile" to the Hotel Continental, a first-class hotel where a "tolerably commodious apartment on the first floor" is put at his disposal as a guest of the imperial government. Archbishop Pacelli stresses to Erzberger that this visit be kept from scrutiny by the press, to avoid "hostile comments against the Holy See on the peace plan..." His wish is granted, and the official censor imposes a blackout on press commentary on the visit. The Archbishop celebrates Mass in the Catholic Church of St. Edwige at 10:00 A.M., and at 11:30 A.M. he starts his meeting with the Imperial Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg.  (SOURCE:  Vatican Secretariat of State Archives, Guerra Europa, 1914-18, I, viii,17, Vol. III folios 50-51, quoted in:  HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pp. 63-64).      At about this time also, German Parliamentary Deputy Matthias Erzberger is trying to persuade Archbishop Michael von Faulhaber of Bavaria that, no matter how the war may turn out for Germany, he foresees the dawning of a "great Catholic renaissance" soon. Erzberger feels that, on the four hundredth anniversary of Martin Luther's publication of his attack on the institution of the papacy, the Wittenberg Theses,  this is the time that Cathoilicism should be viewed by the world as one of the focal points of a broad Christian cultural and intellectuial revival. He tries to convince the Archbishop that Bavaria should be the natural center of such a spiritural rebirth, with Munich-the very heart of Catholic Bavaria-taking the lead. Then, Erzberger says, the benefits of such a reawakening could and should be shared with all of the German nation.  (SOURCE:  HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pg. 83).     During Archbishop Pacelli's meeting with German Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg in Berlin on June 25 of this year, the Chancellor tells Pacelli that the Germans are concerned about the issues of gradual and mutual disarmament, independence for Belgium, and the future status of Alsace-Lorraine, as well as about the border disputes between Italy and Austria. He states, with some tentativeness, that a bit of flexibility may be achieved on these matters, but he is not completely encouraging regarding them.  The Chancellor does, however, suggest that Austria may make some concessions regarding its border disagreements with Italy, and he gently rebukes the Archbishop for the attitude of French bishops towards the Germans and the German nation.  (SOURCE:  HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pp. 64-65).       On Thursday, June 28 of this year Archbishop Eugenio Pacelli, the Pope's representative in Germany, makes an evening train trip from Berlin to the Kaiser's headquarters in the Rhineland. He is assigned a magnificent special railway carriage, and he travels with his assistant, Monsignor Schioppa. When they arrive, the Archbishop is  taken to the Kaiser's residence in the castle which dominates the very old  town of Kreuznach and is shown to an elegant apartment which has been made available to him.    Pacelli is then escorted into the Kaiser's personal office, which is in a very plain room containing a desk and a few chairs. It is a most military-appearing room, with a field telephone on the desk and various battle maps covering the walls. The German leader rises as the Archbishop enters, and he has his withered left arm resting on the hilt of his sword; the Grand Iron Cross hangs from the collar of his drab Army tunic.     Pacelli reads out to the German the Pope's message, as he has been told to do. He relates the Pope's anxiety that the war should not be further prolonged, his sadness concerning the moral and material devastation that the war has wrought, and the "suicide of European civiliazation built up over many centuries of human history." Pacelli informs the Kaiser that the Pope does not doubt the German leader's desire to help him end the war.     The Kaiser listens respectfully, but his reply is "quite fanatical and not altogether normal" according to Pacelli, accompanied by excited facial expressions and gestures. He denies Germany's responsibility for starting the war, claiming that Germany was fighting only to defend itself against the English, a nation whose power to make war had to be smashed. The German says that his nation had, as far back as last December, offered terms of peace, but that Pacelli's own Pope had ignored this in what Pacelli has just reported as the Pope's words.      Kaiser Wilhelm then launches intro a tirade about the dangers of world socialism and the need for peace. He tells Pacelli that what the Pope should do is to seriously order all of the Catholic clergy, and the Catholic people, to work for and to pray for peace. Then the Prussian army and the Catholic leaders could form a united front to combat the socialist menace.     There is then some talk about the fate of Belgium, with the Archbishop pleading strongly in the Pope's name and in pursuit of the Kaiser's own promise, to end the deportation of Belgians to Germany. The German leader may have then promised again to end this practice, but the official record is ambiguous on this point. Thus the meeting ended, and the two men adjourned for lunch.  ((SOURCE:   HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pp. 65-66).       The Kaiser's impression of Archbishop Pacelli, as he will reveal in his memoirs when they are published in translationin 1922 and carried in the New York Times, is that he was "a distinguished, likeable man, of high intelligence aqnd excellent manners." He also came away fromn their meeting with the belief that Archbishop Pacelli seemed to know the German language "well enough to understand it easily when he hears it, but not sufficiently to speak it with  frluency." He reveals that their meeting on June 28 of this year was conducted in French, although Pacelli "occasionally employed German expressions of  speech."     For his part, the German leader will claim in his memoirs that when he had turned to the question of peace between Austria and Italy, the Archbishop replied that it would be hard for the Pope to interfere in that matter because there are no diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the Italian government,and that Italy would not be pleased at all with even the suggestion of a conference if it were the Pope who were to raise the possibility. The Kaiser will also add that at this point Monsignor Schioppa, Pacelli's personal aide, intervened to say that such a step would be out of the question, because the Italian government would mobilize "the piazza"; a popular uprising would be fomented. The Kaiser dismissed the objection, but the Monsignor styill insisted, saying that the German leader did not really know the attitude of the Romans; that they were just terrible when provoked. He did not even rule out the possibility of an attack upon the Vatican, which could possibly endanger the life of the Pope himself.      The Kaiser tried to allay the Monsignor's fears, but the Italian continued to try to explain the terrors of the Italian masses. Then the Archbishop reclaimed the initiative by saying that the Pope would find it difficult to do anything really useful toward establishing peace without giving offense to someone and facing opposition among the laity in Italy. He continued, saying, "that it must be borne in mind that [the Pope] was, unfortunately, not free; that had the Pope a country, or at least a district of his own where he could govern autonomously and do as he pleased, the situation would be quite different; that as matters stood, he was too dependent upon lay Rome and not able to act according to his own free will."     In his memoirs the Kaiser will say that at this point he encouraged Pacelli to consider the Pope's need for courage. "I remarked that thea im of bringing peace to the world was so great that it was impossible for the Pope to be discouraged by purely worldly considerations, from accomplishing such a task, shich seemed created especuially for him." The kaiser will later claim in his memoirs that Archbishop Pacelli then conceded that the German was "right after all".     The Kaiser also, in his memoirs, will say that he told the Archbishop that the Pope must take the lead in the fight against Socialism and that, "if the Pope did nothing, there was danger of peace being forcedupon hte world by the socialists, which would mean the end of the power of the Pope and the Roman Church."     The Kaiser will write that this argument makes an impression upon the Archbishop and that he promises to repeat it to the Vatican, along with his personal support.     However, the Kaiser will write that Monsignor Schioppa once again raised his fear of a Roman popular revolt agaisnt any such action by the Pope, and that he (the Kaiser) asked the Monsignor whether he himself-a Protestant- had more faith in the Pope's desire and ability to act for peace than did the Monsignor himself. Archbishop Pacelli then, according to the Kaiser in his memoirs, grabbed the monarch's hand and-"with shining eyes" said in French: "You are absolutely right! It is the duty of the Pope; he must act; it is through him that the world must be won back to peace."  (SOURCE:  HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pp. 66-68).         JULY:    At some time during this month, after the Germans have introduced mustard gas into the war in Eueope, the U. S. Army takes the lead in America in developing chemical warfare weapons. Research contracts are awarded to Cornell, Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, Yale, and other universities to study the creation of poison gasses.  (SOURCE:  THE MAKING OF THE ATOMIC BOMB by Richard Rhodes A Touchstone Book Published by Simon & Schuster, Inc. New York London Toronto Sydney Tokyo ((papereback)) 1986, pg. 100). AUGUST:    In the United States on August 3 of this year the War Department, in General Order 101 authorizes the creation of the 84th Infantry Division for the Army. This General Order also sets the foundation for the expansion of the Army in the current World War. The first commander of the 84th Division is Major General Harry C. Hale, who is a veteran of the Philippine campaign. The first Operations commander (G-3) is Major Walter Krueger, who will later rise to General's rank in the Pacific campaign of the Second  World War. The men to fill out this division are drawn mainly from Kentucky, Indiana and southern Illinois, and the division is called, therefore, the "Lincoln Division".  (SOURCE:  THE 84TH INFANTRY DIVISION IN THE BATTLE OF GERMANY   NOVEMBER 1944-MAY 1945 by Lt. Theodore Draper  THE VIKING PRESS NEW YORK  MCMXLVI [1946]  Introduction, pg. 1).     In the United States on August 25 of this year, the Army organizes the 79th Infantry Division at its activation at Camp Meade, Maryland. The Division draws men mainly from the Middle Atlantic States, and they will receive about 10 months' military training before they will be sent "overseas" next year.  (SOURCE:  THE CROSS OF LORRAINE  A COMBAT HISTORY OF THE 79TH INFANTRY DIVISION  JUNE 1942-DECEMBER 1945  ((no author, no date))  reprinted by  THE BATTERY PRESS, INC.  P.O.  Box 3107, Uptown Station  Nashville, Tennessee  37219  U.S.A.  1986, pg. 8).     In the United States on August 27 of this year President Wooodrow Wilson replies to the peace proposals set out by Pope Benedict XV. The President says that, "We cannot take the word of the present rulers of Germany sufficiently to trust their conciliatory disposition in a peace conference." He also declares that the real issue behind the current war had become the need to deliver the free people of the world from the threat and the real power of the enemy's vast military forces.     Meanwhile there is no direct response to these proposals from the French or the British governments; for their part, they are still waiting for the Vatican to reply to their own queries about the true intentions of the Germans. Germany itself is trying to use its back channels in Spain to learn just how much the Allies would be willing to concede to them in return for a cessation of hostilities.  (SOURCE:  HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pp. 68-69). SEPTEMBER:    On September 20 of this year a Swiss news agency publishes the replies of Germany and of Austria to Pope Benedict's recent peace proposals. The  Austrian government  says that it welcomes the proposals and is looking forward eagerly to begin actual peace talks. The Germans are more restrained, merely referring in a "pat-your-own-back" way to the Kaiser's love of peace and expressing a pious hope that something good would result from the Pope's efforts.     On September 24 of this year a more formal reply to the Pope's initiatives is made by Bethmann-Hollweg's successor in Germany, Chancellor Georg Michaelis. That statement is never officially published, but it said that, "the situation was not sufficiently clear." This was evidence that the Germans were not really ready to engage in specific peace negotiations, and that they were afraid that they might come out of such talks with less than they could get by continuing to fight.  (SOURCE:   HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pg. 69). OCTOBER:    At some time during this month Archbishop Pacelli returns to Rome from his diocese in Munich, Germany, to review the current international scene with Pope Benedict XV  and the Cardinal Secretary of State, Gasparri. It is apparent to them that the Pope's peace initiative is not going to be accepted by the warring powers. Archbishop Pacelli then returns to Germany to concentrate on his efforts at war relief measures.  (SOURCE:  HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pg. 69). NOVEMBER    DECEMBER           NO SPECIFIC DATE:    At some time during this year in Germany Gottfried  Feder sets up an organization called the German Fighting League  for the Breaking of Interest Slavery. Feder is by profession a construction engineer, but he has become possessed by the economic notion that  "speculative" capital,  that he considers to be at odds with "creative" and "productive" capital, is the root cause of much of Germany's  current economic distress. He calls for the elimination of all "speculative", or non-physically-earned  capital.   NO SPECIFI9C DATE:    At about this time in Bavaria, Germany-according to John Cornwell-Papal Nuncio Archbishop Pacelli has the ambition to see the German government endorse the imposition by the Catholic Church of its newly-ratified (by te Pope) Code of Canon Law upon German Catholics. The Code would then bind those Catholics ever more closely to Rome,because it contains a strong emphasis upon the supreme authority of the Pope in Church matters.  (See:    HITLER'S POPE THE SECRET HISTORY OF PIUS XII by John Cornwell  Penguin Books ((paperback)) 2000, pg. 84). NO SPECIFIC DATE:    At some time during this year in Moscow, Russia, Alfred Rosenberg-born in Reval, Estonia in 1893-receives his architectural degree from the University of Moscow. He will continue to live in Moscow throughout the coming Bolshevik revolution, and he will even toy with the idea of himself becoming a member of the Communist Party. At this time Rosenberg has never heard of Adolf Hitler. NO SPECIFIC DATE:    At some time during this year there is "a major expansion" of the Polish army as an offshoot of French foreign policy, "which ha[s] decided to support an independent Polish state after the current war."  (SOURCE:  THE POLISH CAMPAIGN 1939 by Steven Zaloga & Victor Madej  Hippocrene Books, Inc.-1985, pg. 3).                              BACK:  EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY                                    EXIT:  WELCOME SCREEN