Germany - Origins of WWII - Conclusions

[Frozzy]

I need to write a column for a fictional newspaper as part of my history course for this year, and is 20% of my final mark. Could you please read over it, give it your comments and help me improve it?

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Germany was an extraordinary nation from 1870 to 1945. German attitudes were not always the same because, naturally, temperaments varied in the different regions. There were the Prussians, aristocratic, militant, the North Germans, hard working and stubborn, the Rhinelanders, easy going and pleasure loving, and the Bavarians, good humoured and convivial. Nevertheless, in times of national crisis and war, they all supported a German point of view on the world around them (I believe the word is Weltanschaunng.)

Three times in less than a century, Germans made war on their European neighbours, ruining the stable conditions of nearly a dozen sovereign nations - in 1870, 1914 and 1939. Bismarck's dream of a German hegemony started an expansion beyond regional borders and carried on over into the ambitions of Kaiser Wilhelm and the class of 1914. Politicians ans soldiers alike joined in the patriotic anthem, Deutschland Uber Alles.

With the declaration of war in 1914, the British Foregin Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, uttered his prophetic words: "The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime." The chaos inside Germany following 1918 led to the rise of Hitler and the take over of all German institutions by the Nazi Party. The ill-concieved Treaty of Versailles and Treaty of St. Germain had destroyed the the Austro-Hungarian Empire and left a vast area of central Europe ripe for conquest by a resurrected German Army. It was, frankly, a vacuum waiting to be filled. Hitler first imposed his regime on Austria by internal subversion, then marched into Czechoslovakia. To Hitler, international treaties were bits of paper to be torn up when he saw fit. In 1939, he was ready to invade Poland. The era of Blitzkreig had begun.

Ordinary Germans, hypnotised yet again by false promises of a glorious future, began the war believing in the cause of a Greater Germany and enjoying the first, easy victories. But on the battlefields of Russia and in the west they lost their innocence. Those who lived to see what happened later were overcome by grief.

This sentiment was echoed in a German song called Sag mir wo die Blumen sind. The words expressed nostalgia and heartache for the years of sacrifice. "Where have all the flowers gone? Long long ago the girls gave them to their young me. And where have the young me gone? Gone to be soldiers, every one. So tell me where the flowers the flowers are. They are growing on the soldiers' graves." It was the lament of a generation.

Looking back on the war, a question comes up again and again. How was it possible that so many people could be pressed into service to make war against the countires of Europe. Is there something in the history of the Germans going back to Attilla the Hun which accounts for their ambitions? Some commentators have noted that the Roman Empire stopped at the Rhine and consequently it's civilising influence did not reach the territories of the Barbarians.

A more likely explanation is the Germans, like the Dutch, the French and the British were in the forefront of Europe's industrial and commercial expansion of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Rivalry in the search for raw material, markets, sphers of influence powered a relentless drive to achieve dominion and wealth and the Germans did not have a balanced political system to contain it. The great majority of people had to follow the lead of whoever was in power of the central government. Those unlucky enough to see what was happening and objected, "disappeared".

That the enigma of Germany lies in pessures from international politcs is what many people believe to be the reason for the eruptions of the past which culminated in the two world wars. Historical influences continuously shift from on national movement to another until suddenly circumstances arise when, like the opening of a strong room door by turning a code sequence in the lock, the counters click into place and war is inevitable.

The effect on people living in the areas of conflict leaves them with the imperitive of meeting the challenge in one way or another and seeking an adjustment to the situation. Take the people of the Channel Islands for example. When they think back to the occupation, their memories linger first on the harsh rules laid by the German Military Government and, in the case of the police, the brutality. But, the individuals of the armed froces they met and ecountered in every day life were a notible exception.

With the present movement towards a union of European Nations it seems unlikely that the those who endured the wars and the new generations will ever again suffer war in the near future. The age old fear of eachother in Europe which has haunted the minds of Euopeans for centuries must fade away in the new alignments of the Europe of the future.

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Thanks for reading, and I hope I can take something from your comments

[Nubclear]

I'm too tired to read 8it all, so I read a few words.

Germany was an extraordinary nation implies a good thing. Replace that with something.

[Frozzy]

I meant extraordinary in the sense of extra - ordinary (i.e. it was out of the usual). I supposed that would be slightly too old fashioned.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by Frozzy
Is there something in the history of the Germans going back to Attilla the Hun which accounts for their ambitions? Some commentators have noted that the Roman Empire stopped at the Rhine and consequently it's civilising influence did not reach the territories of the Barbarians.

That's a good thing, or else we would all speak Latin now, wouldn't we?

[Frozzy]

Isay hattay eallyray aay adbay hingtay?

[Nubclear]

Onay.

[Skanky Burns]

Typo's:

sphers

Historical influences continuously shift from on national movement to another

I presume that was meant to be "one" rather than "on".

Sorry I can't think of anything content-related to help you with.

[Tripledoc]

There are a few spelling errors.

I think you should try and involve yourself in what was the mindset of not only a large number of Germans, but also many Europeans. In that way you will not do the fateful mistake when it comes to history of judging people by present standards. For instance you could explore what were the popular attitudes towards the English Empire, the Communists and the Jews. Were these founded on truths? How was it possible to convince people of such radical solutions? Did modern mass society, democracy, electronic media have anything to do with it? Should Germany be regarded as the weaker of the great powers, and therefore the one to strike first?

I should add that a too large part of the essay does not concern itself with the origins of the war. That is what the title of the essay says you are going to explore.

[CerberusIV]

There is a major issue in all this about German identity and perceptions of their neighbours.

Germany as a unified country was still less than a century old in 1939 so national confidence/insecurity and fear of rivals was a factor.

The run up to 1914 can largely be blamed on Germany coming late to the imperial game, as you correctly identify. The German response was to build up their military, particularly navy, to try and force an accommodation and a share of global resources. Unfortunately Britain and to a lesser extent Franxce were not about to be bluffed and the perceived threat of being economically strangled if not invaded by their neighbours fed German paranoia and mistrust leading to war.

1939 has similar roots. Again as you identify, Versailles was meant to make it impossible for Germany to defend herself (or at least had that effect) and it is fair to say that there was a mood that the German people were not going to take that lying down. Hitler and the National Socialists took advantage of that to help propel them to power.

I think your article is on the right lines but if you can incorporate something about German national perception of their nation and their neighbours and rivals it would be stronger.

Versailles is not the whole answer but much German military thinking from the mid 1920's onwards was focused on evading the restrictions of the treaty and avenging a perceived national humiliation. That wish creation in some ways led to wish fulfilment by creating the means and resources for Germany to start WWII.

[molly bloom]

I'd remove the reference to Attilla the Hun- he's of Turkic/Mongol ancestry and nothing to do with Germanic culture (or Hungarian for matter).

Prussia-Germany went to war against Denmark, Austria and France within a short period of time (under the 'command' of Bismarck) to consolidate the superior role of the Prussian kingdom within the German Confederation (thus supplanting Austria-Hungary, previously the 'senior' partner) This success within the German lands, and Japan's defeat of Russia are more responsible for the beginning of WWI than anything else- Austria, denied primacy within the Germanic lands, turned towards a Balkan outlet for aggrandizement, and Russia, denied spoils in Korea/China, looked again to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire.

There's nothing to suggest a particularly bloodthirsty or militaristic cast to the German peoples- after all the British Empire wasn't come by asking all those people in Africa, Asia and Australasia to loan their territories out. It needed wars for over a century to come by them.

[Ned]

Frozzy, are you sure that Hitler intended to make war on the whole of Europe? You make it seem that he embarked on his invasion of Poland knowing that it would lead to a world war. While, I think it is clear that he was willing to assume the risk a European war in order to achieve his objectives. But if those objectives lay short of the conquest of Europe, war was not inevitable.

In other words, could it have been possible that Hitler wanted to achieve his objectives without war and miscalculated in some fashion? What was the role of appeasement in such a miscalculation?
While the underlying cause of WWII lay in the Versailles Treaty and the breakup of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the proximate cause of WWII was appeasement.

[BeBro]

Originally posted by Frozzy
There were the Prussians, aristocratic, militant, the North Germans, hard working and stubborn, the Rhinelanders, easy going and pleasure loving, and the Bavarians, good humoured and convivial.

These are mostly cliches.

Nevertheless, in times of national crisis and war, they all supported a German point of view on the world around them (I believe the word is Weltanschaunng.)

Yes, a special "German" view or national awareness rised in the 19th century. It is safe to say that the unification of 1871 was welcomed by an overwhelming majority of Germans, even when there were single voices against it (which were mainly related to the strong role Prussia had in the new "Reich" - not all other regions liked this).

Three times in less than a century, Germans made war on their European neighbours, ruining the stable conditions of nearly a dozen sovereign nations - in 1870, 1914 and 1939.
Bismarck's dream of a German hegemony started an expansion beyond regional borders and carried on over into the ambitions of Kaiser Wilhelm and the class of 1914.

I wouldn´t draw a direct line from 1870/71 (which was more about unification than about hegemony - Bismarck rather wanted a balanced Europe, but of course with a strong Prussia/Germany) to WWI (which was an imperialistic war, not only from the German side) or even WWII.

With the declaration of war in 1914, the British Foregin Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, uttered his prophetic words: "The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime." The chaos inside Germany following 1918 led to the rise of Hitler and the take over of all German institutions by the Nazi Party. The ill-concieved Treaty of Versailles and Treaty of St. Germain had destroyed the the Austro-Hungarian Empire and left a vast area of central Europe ripe for conquest by a resurrected German Army. It was, frankly, a vacuum waiting to be filled. Hitler first imposed his regime on Austria by internal subversion, then marched into Czechoslovakia. To Hitler, international treaties were bits of paper to be torn up when he saw fit. In 1939, he was ready to invade Poland. The era of Blitzkreig had begun. Ordinary Germans, hypnotised yet again by false promises of a glorious future, began the war believing in the cause of a Greater Germany and enjoying the first, easy victories. But on the battlefields of Russia and in the west they lost their innocence. Those who lived to see what happened later were overcome by grief.

Very short for the complex history, but for that ok (from here I also think many of your comments fit only to the Nazi time, not for the total period
1870-1945)

Looking back on the war, a question comes up again and again. How was it possible that so many people could be pressed into service to make war against the countires of Europe.

Hm, they weren´t pressed mostly, most of the Germans did support the Nazis sooner or later, or they did not openly oppose them. There are many reasons for this - lack of long-term democratic traditions, the impression of the economic crisis of the late 20ies/early 30ies, the wish for a strong rule under a "leader", the feeling that the Versailles treaty was highly unfair (and the Nazi propaganda used this feeling very effective) and many more....

[MrBaggins]

There is far more to the rise of the Nazi party than just "chaos in Germany" after 1918.

Lingering anti-semitism stirred by, notables such as the later and great Henry Ford, in large part created the enemy to fight against... a concrete "evil empire" if you will...

Consider the following abbridged history of anti-semitism (largely European) until the end of the second world war

A Chronology of Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism is the political, social, and economic agitation and activities directed against Jews. The term is now used to denote anti-Judaic acts or sentiments based on any grounds, including religious ones. The adjective Semitic originally was applied to all descendants of Shem, the eldest son of the biblical patriarch Noah; in later usage it refers to a group of peoples of southwestern Asia, including both Jews and Arabs. The word anti-Semitism was coined in 1879 to denote hostility only towards Jews. This hostility is supposedly justified by a theory, first developed in Germany, that peoples of the so-called Aryan stock are superior in physique and character to all those of Semitic stock. This racial superiority was used to justify the civil and religious persecution of Jews during Hitler's Holocaust.

The Chronology of Anti-Semitism

1710 - J.A. Eisenmenger's Judaism Exposed is published.
1764 - Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary gives a secular basis to anti-Jewish thought.
1782 - The Austrian Emperor, Joseph II, issues an Edict of Toleration, acknowledging Jews as permanent residents.
1807 - Napoleon revises French provisions for Jewish equality enacted on 1790-91.
1845 - Alphonse Toussenel, a socialist, condemns "Jewish money power" in his The Jews, Kings of the Epoch.
1850 - Richard Wagner publishes Jewry in Music under a pseudonym.
1855 - Count Gobineau provides a theoretical basis for racial anti-Semitism in Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races.
1867-1871 - Germany, Austria, and Hungary institute legal equality for Jews.


1873 - Financial crash causes a major depression in Central Europe.
1879 - Wilhelm Marr introduces the term anti-Semite into politics while founding the first anti-Semitic party.

Court Chaplin Stoecker and his Christian Social party turn to anti-Semitism.

The historian Heinrich von Treitschke publishes "A Word About Our Jews."

1881 - Wide-scale anti-Jewish riots (pogroms) in Russia initiate a massive westward Jewish emigration.
1886 - Edouard Drumont publishes La France Juive.
1889 - Austrian university fraternities adopt the "Aryan paragraph," prohibiting Jewish membership.
1895 - Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer on the French General Staff, is convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island (pardoned in 1906).
1897 - Karl Lueger is elected Mayor of Vienna.
1898 - Protocols of the Elders of Zion is fabricated in Paris from old and new materials, probably by agents of the Okhrana (tsarist secret police).
1898-1900 - Ritual-murder accusations lead to sensational trials of Austria-Hungary and Prussia.
1912 - Roman Dmowski organizes the boycott of Jewish businesses in Poland.
1917 - Balfour Declaration promises British support for a Jewish national home in Palestine.
1919 - Minorities' Treaty, safeguarding Jewish equality, is signed by Poland and Romania.

Pogroms occur in Hungary, following the overthrow of the communist regime of Bela Kun, and throughout the rest of eastern Europe.

1920 - A quota limiting Jewish attendance is established at Hungarian universities.
1921 - Henry Ford reissues articles from his newspaper in a four-volume pamphlet, The International Jew.
1922 - Radical rightists assassinate Walther Rathenau in Germany.
1933 - January 30. Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.

April. Hitler's government institutes an official boycott of Jewish businesses in Germany, purges the civil service, and restricts admission to public schools and universities.

1935 - Nuremberg Laws, defining German citizenship in racial terms, abolish Jewish emancipation in Germany.
1936 - Cardinal Hlond's pastoral letter on the Jewish question in Poland condemns Jews as atheists and revolutionaries and lends church support for economic anti-Semitism.
1938 - May. "First Jewish Law" in Hungary limits participation in economic and professional life.

November 9-10. During the Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), stormtroopers burn 300 synagogues, loot and vandalize hundreds of Jewish shops, kill 91 Jews, and send 25,000 concentration camps.

1939 - Beginning in September, the Nazi policy of forced emigration of Jews is phased out in favor of deporting them to the East, where they are concentrated in ghettos.
1941 - January. The fascist Iron Guard instigates a wave of pogroms in Romania.

March. Commissariat-General for Jewish Affairs, created by the Vichy regime, directs anti- Jewish policies in France.

September 29-30. 33,771 Jews are massacred at Babi Yar, outside of Kiev.

1942 - January 20. The Wannsee Conference systematizes the Final Solution of the Jewish Question.

By April, Einsatzgruppen (mobile death squads) operating behind the advancing German armies have murdered 461,500 Soviet Jews.

July-September. First phase of mass deportations of Western-European Jews to Auschwitz.

1943 - January-April. Jews inside the Warsaw ghetto resist deportation.

October. Operation "Reinhard" ends; 1.5 million Jews have been exterminated in the death camps at Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka.

1944 - By July 7, over 437,000 Hungarian Jews have been deported to Auschwitz.

October 7. Jewish prisoners revolt in Auschwitz.

1945 - April-May. With the collapse of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust ends.
1948 - Founding of the State of Israel.
Taken from: Anti-Semitism in the Modern World: An Anthology of Texts D.C. Health

Note Henry Ford's involvement in 1921. Hilter read that material in jail, fwiw.

[Frozzy]

Originally posted by Ned
Frozzy, are you sure that Hitler intended to make war on the whole of Europe? You make it seem that he embarked on his invasion of Poland knowing that it would lead to a world war. While, I think it is clear that he was willing to assume the risk a European war in order to achieve his objectives. But if those objectives lay short of the conquest of Europe, war was not inevitable.

I suppose hindsight is a wonderul thing. Obviously, and I come from a British viewpoint, it was obvious that after the Munich agreement was torn up, Britain and France would not trust Germany again, and this, I believe, was stated publicly. However, I believe von Ribbentrop did attempt to persuade Hitler overwise. In any case, the reason for bringing the draft copy here was to see if it was accurate in any way from a German viewpoint.

[Frozzy]

Originally posted by BeBro
Very short for the complex history, but for that ok (from here I also think many of your comments fit only to the Nazi time, not for the total period
1870-1945)

Well, it was on the origins of World War II, and the imperialistic link between '71 and '14 was there.

Hm, they weren´t pressed mostly, most of the Germans did support the Nazis sooner or later, or they did not openly oppose them. There are many reasons for this - lack of long-term democratic traditions, the impression of the economic crisis of the late 20ies/early 30ies, the wish for a strong rule under a "leader", the feeling that the Versailles treaty was highly unfair (and the Nazi propaganda used this feeling very effective) and many more....

Well, it was either economic doom, or Hitler. I can understand the reasoning for voting for Hitler, but remember the select few who realised what Hitler was going to do after the burning of the Reichstag found their way into concentration camps. Coupled with the highly effective Nazi propaganda machine, it's no small wonder that people trusted Hitler going into 1939.