---
title: Georg Michaelis
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/georg-michaelis/
description: 3 verified quotes from Georg Michaelis, Reich Chancellor (July-October 1917), with sources.
section: FRAME
---

![Illustration: a First World War field-intelligence collage of trench maps, wireless transmission logs and aerial reconnaissance photographs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-wwi.jpg)

[Quotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/) · Germany

# Georg Michaelis

![Georg Michaelis, "the new Reich Chancellor", in a magazine portrait of 1917](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/german-empire/georg-michaelis.jpg)

[Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dr._Georg_Michaelis,_der_neue_Reichskanzler,_1917.jpg): Elly Lisser (1883 to 1943), Public domain (PD-old-auto-1923)

Reich Chancellor (July-October 1917) · Germany

On the regime page: [German Empire under Wilhelm II](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/german-empire/#georg-michaelis)

3 quotes, oldest first. [Filter with other speakers](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/#speaker=georg-michaelis).

1. > “These ends are attainable within the framework of your resolution, as I interpret it.” — Original (German) — Diese Ziele lassen sich im Rahmen Ihrer Resolution, wie ich sie auffasse, erreichen. — English: Jeffrey Verhey and Roger Chickering, in German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) — July 19, 1917 · Speech · Berlin, Reichstag — Michaelis had become Chancellor on 14 July 1917 and spoke to the Reichstag on the day it passed the Peace Resolution, which called for a peace of understanding without forced territorial acquisitions. This sentence is the one cited for the phrase "as I interpret it". — Speech of Chancellor Georg Michaelis in the Reichstag, 19 July 1917, in Stenographische Berichte über die Verhandlungen des Reichstages, XIII. Legislaturperiode, 2. Session, vol. 310, pp. 3571-72, reprinted in Wolfdieter Bihl, ed., Deutsche Quellen zur Geschichte des Ersten Weltkrieges (Darmstadt, 1991), pp. 297-98 [Source](https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/wilhelmine-germany-and-the-first-world-war-1890-1918/chancellor-michaelis-interpretation-of-the-peace-resolution-july-19-1917)
2. > “I define our war aims in light of this situation. In the first place, the territory of the Fatherland is inviolable. We cannot negotiate with an enemy who demands territory from us. When we make peace, we must above all secure the frontiers of the German Empire for all time.” — Original (German) — Hieraus ergeben sich für mich die Ziele. In erster Linie ist das Gebiet des Vaterlandes unantastbar. Mit einem Gegner, der uns mit der Forderung entgegentritt, uns Reichsgebiet zu nehmen, können wir nicht verhandeln. Wenn wir Frieden machen, dann müssen wir in erster Linie erreichen, daß die Grenzen des Deutschen Reichs für alle Zeit sichergestellt sind. — English: Jeffrey Verhey and Roger Chickering, in German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) — July 19, 1917 · Speech · Berlin, Reichstag — Michaelis had become Chancellor on 14 July 1917 and spoke to the Reichstag on the day it passed the Peace Resolution, which called for a peace of understanding without forced territorial acquisitions. — Speech of Chancellor Georg Michaelis in the Reichstag, 19 July 1917, in Stenographische Berichte über die Verhandlungen des Reichstages, XIII. Legislaturperiode, 2. Session, vol. 310, pp. 3571-72, reprinted in Wolfdieter Bihl, ed., Deutsche Quellen zur Geschichte des Ersten Weltkrieges (Darmstadt, 1991), pp. 297-98 [Source](https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/wilhelmine-germany-and-the-first-world-war-1890-1918/chancellor-michaelis-interpretation-of-the-peace-resolution-july-19-1917)
3. > “We cannot offer peace again. (Quite right! on the right.) The hand that we sincerely extended met with no response.” — Original (German) — Wir können den Frieden nicht nochmals anbieten. (Sehr richtig! rechts.) Die ehrlich ausgestreckte Hand hat einmal ins Leere gegriffen. — English: Jeffrey Verhey and Roger Chickering, in German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) — July 19, 1917 · Speech · Berlin, Reichstag — Michaelis had become Chancellor on 14 July 1917 and spoke to the Reichstag on the day it passed the Peace Resolution, which called for a peace of understanding without forced territorial acquisitions. — Speech of Chancellor Georg Michaelis in the Reichstag, 19 July 1917, in Stenographische Berichte über die Verhandlungen des Reichstages, XIII. Legislaturperiode, 2. Session, vol. 310, pp. 3571-72, reprinted in Wolfdieter Bihl, ed., Deutsche Quellen zur Geschichte des Ersten Weltkrieges (Darmstadt, 1991), pp. 297-98 [Source](https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/wilhelmine-germany-and-the-first-world-war-1890-1918/chancellor-michaelis-interpretation-of-the-peace-resolution-july-19-1917)