---
title: Georg von Hertling
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/georg-von-hertling/
description: 3 verified quotes from Georg von Hertling, Reich Chancellor (November 1917-September 1918), 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 von Hertling

![Georg von Hertling, "the new Reich Chancellor", on a magazine cover of 1917](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/german-empire/georg-von-hertling.jpg)

[Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Graf_Georg_von_Hertling,_der_neue_Reichskanzler,_1917.jpg): Photograph credited on the page to a Munich court photographer (Hofphotograph Müller), Public domain (PD-old-auto-1923)

Reich Chancellor (November 1917-September 1918) · Germany

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

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

1. > “Our war aims from the beginning were the defense of the Fatherland, the maintenance of our territorial integrity, and the freedom of our economic development. Our warfare, even where it must be aggressive in action, is defensive in aim.” — English: English text of The New York Times Current History (New York Times Company, 1918). Original-language text not found. — February 25, 1918 · Speech · Berlin, Reichstag Verified (secondary source) — Hertling replied to President Wilson's address of 11 February 1918 and described German aims in the east. His army was advancing in Ukraine and the Baltic region after the Russian delegation broke off the Brest-Litovsk talks on 10 February. — Count Georg von Hertling, address to the Reichstag, 25 February 1918, in The New York Times Current History: The European War, vol. 15 (New York: The New York Times Company, 1918), "Long-Distance Peace Parley: Hertling's Address", pp. 99-102 [Source](https://archive.org/details/newyorktimescurr0000newy_q2c5)
2. > “We do not intend to establish ourselves, for example, in Esthonia or Livonia. In Courland and Lithuania our chief object is to create organs of self-determination and self-administration.” — English: English text of The New York Times Current History (New York Times Company, 1918). Original-language text not found. — February 25, 1918 · Speech · Berlin, Reichstag Verified (secondary source) — In the same speech Hertling described German policy towards the Baltic provinces taken from Russia. On 3 March 1918 the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk took Courland and Lithuania from Russian control, and on 19 March the Chancellor told the Reichstag that they were united to Germany politically, economically and militarily. — Count Georg von Hertling, address to the Reichstag, 25 February 1918, in The New York Times Current History: The European War, vol. 15 (New York: The New York Times Company, 1918), "Long-Distance Peace Parley: Hertling's Address", pp. 99-102 [Source](https://archive.org/details/newyorktimescurr0000newy_q2c5)
3. **Content note:** Contempt for the Allies. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “Hypocrisy has become second nature to the enemy, whose untruthfulness is made worse by its brutality. Every attempt at calm explanation and every real deliberation must fail, when the enemy, at the very moment he is laying a heavy hand on a neutral country, dares to speak of a policy guided by complete unselfishness.” — English: English text of The New York Times Current History (New York Times Company, 1918). Original-language text not found. — March 19, 1918 · Speech · Berlin, Reichstag Verified (secondary source) — Hertling defended the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 March 1918) at its first reading in the Reichstag, after German forces had advanced in the east and Russia had accepted the peace terms. — Count Georg von Hertling, address to the Reichstag on the first reading of the peace treaty with Russia, 19 March 1918, as reported in The New York Times Current History: The European War, vol. 15 (New York, 1918), "Von Hertling Defends Treaty", pp. 50-51 [Source](https://archive.org/details/newyorktimescurr0000newy_q2c5)