After Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were assassinated, Pohl participated in meetings with Kaiser Wilhelm II, Helmuth von Moltke, and Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg. These deliberations produced the blank check extended to Austria-Hungary and a German expectation that it would be used. The leadership's thinking contained a contradiction: confidence that Germany was the coming world power existed alongside fear that Russian modernization would soon make war unwinnable. Pohl's presence places the naval leadership inside the political decision chain that accelerated the crisis.
Chapter · 18:18-22:15
Pohl in the July Crisis and the blank check
Pohl joined the Kaiser's inner deliberations that produced Germany's blank check to Austria-Hungary and accelerated the July Crisis toward war.