Foreign Office of the German Empire

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We wish to call the German Empire to Vienna for Peace Talks over recent tensions across the continent of Europe, if they are so inclined to seek a peaceful resolution to the current crisis.

[Zar]

AN APPEAL FOR PEACE IN THE UNITED STATES

The German Empire sends its sincere condolences to the American people during its time of crisis. Although our nations have had our share of disagreements, we have lived in peace since the beginning of the Republic.

It was Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben who came to America to train the Continental Army. Frederick the Great, a hero to all Germans, provided great support during the darkest hours of the American War of Independence. His statue, given as a gift from the German Empire, stands in the Army War College in Washington D.C.

This legacy continues today. As His Imperial and Royal Majesty wrote to the American ambassador Mr. William Walter Phelps:

"From my boyhood up I have had great admiration for the powerfully progressing commonwealth which you are to represent here, and the study of your history in peace and war has always had a peculiar interest for me. Among the many remarkable characteristics which your country can justly claim, it is especailly their spirit of enterprise, of order, and their inventiveness which have drawn upon them the attention of the world. The Germans feel attracted to the people of the United States all the more as they are intimately allied with the North Americans by the manifold ties which race affinity brings about. The predominant sentiment of both nations is that of tried friendship and good-will, and the future will only strengthen the cordiality of these relations."

Given this goodwill between our nations, we loath to see a fine nation plunge into ruin. We ask that all sides of the conflict to commit themselves fully to the American ideal and try to resolve their differences in peace.

Our appeal will end with the plea of Abraham Lincoln:

"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. "