The Schrippenfest incident: Godfrey Hodgson tells of a little-known episode in which an unofficial American diplomat attempted to redraw the political map in the summer of 1914, bringing peace to Europe and development to the Third World.(Edward Mandell House (1858-1938))(Biography) From: History Today | Date: July 1, 2003| Author: Hodgson, Godfrey | COPYRIGHT 2003 History Today Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

LONG AFTER THE WAR was over, the deposed Kaiser Wilhelm II received a German-American journalist, George Sylvester Viereck, in his exile at Doorn in Holland. Viereck was surprised to hear him say that 'The visit of Colonel House to Berlin and London in the spring of 1914 almost prevented the World War'.

This, so far as I have been able to discover, is the only evidence of the Kaiser's view of an extraordinary episode. This was nothing less than a semi-official attempt on...