The German White Book (German:Das Deutsche Weißbuch) was a series ofpropaganda publications made by theGerman Empire duringWWI. The full title of the 1914 version was "The German White Book about the outbreak of the German-Russian-French war" and documents German claims on the causes of the war.[a][1] An authorized English translation appeared in 1914.[2] The book contained extracts of diplomatic material intended to portray the war's cause as defensive on the part of Germany. A second White Book, "The conduct of the Belgian People's War in violation of international law"[b][3] was published on 10 May 1915 in response to theBryce committee report intoGerman atrocities in Belgium, though it was already in preparation eight months earlier. This book featured manipulated testimony intended to show that German actions were the result of Belgian guerilla warfare. It was not found convincing by most outside readers[4][5] though it found a second life with revisionists after the war.[6]
Other combatants in the war published similar books:The Blue Book of Britain,[1]The Orange Book of Russia,[1][7] and theYellow Book of France.[8]
The 1914 book comprised two sections:
"How Russia and Her Ruler Betrayed Germany's Confidence and Thereby Caused the European War"
"How the German-Franco Conflict Might have been Avoided"
Kantorowicz, Hermann; Geiss, Imanuel (1967).Gutachten zur Kriegsschuldfrage 1914 [Report on the War guilt question 1914] (in German). Frankfurt: Europäische Verlagsanstalt.OCLC654661194. Retrieved4 October 2020.
France. Ministère des affaires étrangères; Commission de publication des documents relatifs aux origines de la guerre de 1914 (1936).Documents diplomatiques français (1871-1914) [French diplomatic documents]. Vol. Tome X, (17 mars-23 juillet 1914) (3e Série, (1911-1914) ed.). Imprimerie Nationale.OCLC769058353.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
France. Ministère des affaires étrangères; Commission de publication des documents relatifs aux origines de la guerre de 1914 (1936).Documents diplomatiques français (1871-1914) [French diplomatic documents]. Vol. Tome XI, (24 juillet-4 août 1914) (3e Série, (1911-1914) ed.). Imprimerie Nationale.OCLC769062659.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Hartwig, Matthias (12 May 2014)."Colour books". In Bernhardt, Rudolf; Bindschedler, Rudolf; Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (eds.).Encyclopedia of Public International Law. Vol. 9 International Relations and Legal Cooperation in General Diplomacy and Consular Relations. Amsterdam: North-Holland. pp. 26–.ISBN978-1-4832-5699-3.OCLC769268852. Retrieved5 October 2020.
Horne, John, and Alan Kramer.German atrocities, 1914: a history of denial (Yale University Press, 2001).
Huebsch, B.W.The German Army in Belgium: The White Book of May 1915 (1921).
