Propaganda handbill dropped over France by the newly formed German Republic offering terms of peace to end World War I. One side is in French and the other in English. Translated as follows:
The German people Offers Peace
The new German democratic government has this programme:
"The will of the people is the highest law."
The German people wants quickly to end the slaughter.
The new German popular government therefore has offered an
Armistice
and has declared itself ready for
Peace
on the basis of justice and reconciliation of nations.
It is the will of the German people that it should live in peace with all peoples, honestly and loyally.
What has the new German popular government done so far to put into practice the will of the people and to prove its good and upright intentions?
a) The new German government has appealed to President Wilson to bring about peace.
It has recognized and accepted all the principles which President Wilson proclaimed as a basis for a general lasting peace of justice among the nations.
b) The new German government has solemnly declared its readiness to evacuate Belgium and to restore it.
c) The new German government is ready to come to an honest understanding with France about
Alsace-Lorraine.
d) The new German government has restricted the U-boat War.
No passenger steamers not carrying troops or war material will be attacked in future.
e) The new German government has declared that it will withdraw all German troops back over the German frontier.
f) The new German government has asked the Allied Governments to name commissioners to agree upon the practical measures of the evacuation of Belgium and France.
These are the deeds of the new German popular government. Can these be called mere words, or bluff, or propaganda?
Who is to blame, if an armistice is not called now?
Who is to blame, if daily thousands of brave soldiers needlessly have to shed their blood and die?
Who is to blame, if the hitherto undestroyed towns and villages of France and Belgium sink in ashes?
Who is to blame, if hundreds of thousands of unhappy women and children are driven from their homes to hunger and freeze?
The German people offers its hand for peace.