THE TRAUMA OF THE “GREAT WAR”
Many historians today regard Imperial Germany as the
aggressor in 1914, but almost all Germans BELIEVED at first
that they were fighting a legitimate war of national defense
against Russian aggression.
In 1907 all parties of the Socialist International had resolved
to do whatever they could to prevent the outbreak of war.
But when the leaders of the International convened on July
29, 1914, to discuss the situation caused by Austria’s conflict
with Serbia, the SPD’s Hugo Haase declared, “We know that
Germany wants peace, but if Russia intervenes, Germany
must also intervene.”
Only in 1916/17 did many Germans (including Haase)
suspect that they were fighting a war of Imperialist
aggression.
Europe on the eve of the Great War: Germans felt “encircled” by
the Triple Entente (Great Britain, France, & Russia)
The territorial
settlement of the
Second Balkan
War in 1913, and
the territorial
claims by Serb
and Romanian
nationalists
Cnancellor Theobold von
Bethmann Hollweg (1909-17)
Helmuth von Moltke the
Younger (1906-14)
Social Democrats and liberals knew that their army command
was aggressive but trusted that their Chancellor and
diplomats sought to maintain the peace of Europe.
Photograph of Austria’s
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
on a state visit to Sarajevo,
Bosnia, on June 28, 1914,
and artist’s rendition of the
bloody deed by the Bosnian
Serb terrorist Gavrilo Princip
Austria and Germany
seized the pretext for a
show-down with Serbia
and its ally, Russia
Soldiers in Berlin march toward Paris, 2 August 1914
A troop train heads west, August 1914,
as the German Army mobilized 3.8 million men.
Munich’s Odeon Square, August 1, 1914
The Kaiser proclaims the Burgfrieden:
“I no longer see parties, I only see Germans!”
The Schlieffen Plan (initiated on July 31, 1914)
The actual
German
advance by
September 5,
1914, when
France
counterattacked in
the Battle of
the Marne
German war
dead,
Battle of the
Marne
(published
only in France)
The Battle of Tannenberg, East Prussia, August 27-30, 1914:
30,000 Russians killed, 100,000 captured
Russians surrendering at Tannenberg,
August 30, 1914 (published only in Germany)
By November 1914 a continuous line of trenches
stretched from Switzerland to the English Channel
The Western Front: Aerial view of a German trench network
The situation in December 1915
German
women at
work in a
munitions
factory,
1916
The British blockade caused hunger, because Germany
only produced 2/3 of the food it consumed in 1914.
AS THE WAR DRAGGED ON, MANY CALLED FOR
DEMOCRATIC REFORMS OF THE IMPERIAL CONSTITUTION
1. To abolish “three class suffrage” in state and local
elections.
2. To make the chancellor and Imperial cabinet
“responsible” to the Reichstag (i.e., adopt British style
“parliamentary” government).
3. To impose civilian control over the military and rely on
diplomacy for a compromise peace.
The army command regained popularity in 1916, however,
under the war heroes Hindenburg and Ludendorff.
Kaiser Wilhelm II confers with the new heads of the Supreme
Army Command, Hindenburg & Ludendorff, 1916/17
The popular
victors of
Tannenberg
insisted on
the
resumption
of
unrestricted
submarine
warfare.
Illustration of
U-Boot warfare
in a German
children’s book.
The resumption
of unrestricted
U-Boot warfare
in January 1917
caused the USA
to declare war
in April.
Fraternization on the Eastern Front, November/December 1917:
The Russian Revolution gave Ludendorff the opportunity
to launch a new offensive in the West.
German troops move through San Quentin to prepare
for the “Ludendorff Offensive,” launched on March 21, 1918
But the British deployed
300 Mark IV tanks at the
Battle of Cambrai in
November 1917 and took
thousands of German
prisoners.
The Allies won the war
because of
overwhelmingly superior
economic resources.
By May 1918 two million U.S. troops had arrived in France
German POWs captured in April 1918, as the Ludendorff
Offensive began to falter. Over 1.8 million German
soldiers died in combat.
Breaking through the “Hindenburg Line” –British troops
occupying the San Quentin Canal, October 2, 1918, and
their multitude of German prisoners
Ludendorff told the Kaiser to appoint Prince Max of Baden
head of a “parliamentary” government and appeal to
Woodrow Wilson for a lenient peace. Max relied on support
from the SPD leader Friedrich Ebert.