German Militarism Research Articles

Press Articles from “Gazeta Polska w Brazylii” as a Source of Information about Brazilian Polonia’s Interests in the Security of the Second Republic of Poland in July and August 1939 – Selected Issues

The article aims to present an outline and analysis of the topics presented in the July and August 1939 issue of “Gazeta Polska w Brazylii” (“Polish Newspaper in Brazil”). These concerned informing the Brazilian Polish community about matters and interests crucial to the Polish state’s security. The article analyses all the issues of “Gazeta Polska w Brazylii” of July and August 1939, the available scientific literature, and other printed sources. It has been shown that “Gazeta Polska w Brazylii” was the leading periodical informing the Brazilian Polonia about matters important to the Polish state’s interests and security. On the eve of the outbreak of World War II, the dominant issues of interest to the Polish community in Brazil included the evaluation of the Brazilian government, Hitler and the Third Reich, and German actions towards the local population in the areas taken over by the German state in 1938 and 1939. The issue of the Free City of Danzig and German militarism in the region, which threatened the interests of the Second Republic and Polish citizens’ position, was also significant.

The (false) promise of Germany’s Zeitenwende

Germany’s role as a security actor has evolved considerably over the past decades. While in the twentieth century neighbouring countries feared a resurgence of German militarism, in the twenty-first century the country has come under increasing pressure to adopt a more proactive military posture. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine shattered the European security architecture, many hoped for a groundbreaking reorientation at Europe’s economic centre. However, it is unlikely that the historic turnaround announced by Chancellor Scholz will become a reality, as the Russian war will not fundamentally change Germany’s international status, nor the key domestic factors that have historically determined its approach to security and defence policy. As Germany’s historical baggage continues to weigh heavily, it seems that reforms will not go beyond a better equipped Bundeswehr and a more power-political approach to the defence industry, which already poses a costly challenge for current and future decision-makers.

Opowieść o toruńskich pomnikach patriotycznych z lat 1920–1939. Rok po roku

The period when the Polish lands (including Toruń) were under Prussian partition was not conducive to create the Polish patriotic monuments. The return of Toruń to the motherland in 1920 changed this situation and allowed for activities commemorating outstanding people or events. In addition to the initiatives to celebrate Polish heroes and historical events, the existing monuments inherited from the Prussians were verified. The Germans withdrawing from Toruń took some monuments with them. Of those left behind, the monuments representing German militarism were destroyed. The only exception was a monument for Bavarian soldiers who defended Toruń against the Russians. Monuments from the interwar period enjoyed a variety of forms, but not many of them were outstanding in artistic terms. It should be noted that in the interwar period, most patriotic monuments were dedicated to soldiers or military units. In second place in terms of the number are religious monuments with strong references to Polishness. Not many monuments and plaques promoting Polishness were created by civilians – exceptions are, among others, plaques of the mayor of Dr. Steinborn, voivode Łaszewski, astronomer Copernicus, or the monument to the composer Moniuszko. In total, about 30 monuments and commemorative plaques were created. Two objects were added to the objects discussed in this study, which were one of the symbols of the interwar Toruń - church dedicated to Christ the King, and a new road bridge across the Vistula. Unfortunately, most patriotic monuments were destroyed within a few days after Germans entered Toruń during Nazi aggression in 1939 in Poland In the period of the Polish People’s Republic, no pre-war „sanation” monuments were rebuilt. Only after 1990 it was possible to recreate some old monuments, such as the Mother of God Queen of the Polish Crown. In place of the monuments smashed by the Germans, they are now completely new in form, in new excellent locations. For example, it happened with the monuments of General Haller and Marshal Piłsudski. Unfortunately, until today, the monument of the 63rd Infantry Regiment „Children of Toruń” has been forgotten. One must be glad, that the remains of communist propaganda which specialized in placing their numerous monuments and plaques disappear from the city landscape. The theme of Torun patriotic monuments of the interwar period is still open and needs to be more detailed.

The Captain of Köpenick and the Uniform Fantasies of German Militarism

Few events in Imperial Germany's forty-plus years of existence have been remembered with as much pride and hilarity as the one that took place on October 16, 1906. It began shortly after noon, when a man dressed in a captain's uniform appeared on the streets in the northern part of Berlin and commandeered two small contingents of soldiers returning to their barracks from guard duty. Claiming to be acting on instructions from the kaiser himself, the man ordered the ten soldiers to accompany him to Köpenick, a small but growing city on the southeastern outskirts of Berlin. Arriving in front of city hall around 3:30 p.m., he assigned four of the men to take up positions at the three entrances of the building to ensure that no one entered or left without his permission. The remaining troops followed him inside, where he instructed two men to secure the ground floor. Heading upstairs, he encountered an off-duty constable, who, along with other police officials, was given the task of controlling the growing crowd of curious gawkers that had begun to amass in the plaza and streets outside. With these arrangements set, he barged into the offices of the mayor and other top officials, announcing their arrest on the kaiser's orders and stationing soldiers outside their doors. Within an hour, he arranged to have the mayor and city treasurer transported by carriage to the Neue Wache, the main guardhouse in central Berlin. After issuing orders for the remaining soldiers to withdraw at 6:00 p.m., the unidentified captain disappeared into the night with the contents of the city's cash box, totaling 3557 marks and 45 pfennig.

ЧОМУ ЛІВІ ПУБЛІЧНІ ІНТЕЛЕКТУАЛИ НЕ РОЗУМІЮТЬ УКРАЇНУ? (НОАМ ХОМСЬКИЙ ТА ЮРҐЕН ГАБЕРМАС)

The article considers the attitude of left public intellectuals to the Russian-Ukrainian war. A brief analysis of the concept of “public intellectual”, the roles and functions of intellectuals in society is made. Based on the study of public speeches of famous philosophers and influential intellectuals Noam Chomsky (USA) and Jürgen Habermas (Germany), their views on the causes and possibilities of ending the Russian-Ukrainian war, as well as the circumstances of their reproduction of individual Russian narratives, were analyzed. The conclusions show that Noam Chomsky and Jürgen Habermas see the role of the public intellectual in the position of a critical dissident. They have traumatic memories of World War II, using of nuclear weapons, and the Cold War. Therefore, they seek to avoid a recurrence of these events. Chomsky wants to keep the chance for Europe as a “third power” between the United States and Russia and for the space of security from the Atlantic to Vladivostok. Habermas seeks to preserve the post-national and post-heroic mentality of the Germans as a guarantee of the revival of German militarism, which led to two world wars. Chomsky focuses on the problems of the global world order (and because of this he is ready to sacrifice Ukraine to the idea of a single European security space). Habermas is primarily concerned with internal German issues and fears the influence of an overly national Ukraine. He supports the Social Democrats and the moderate policies of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Ukraine is not in the center of their attention, although they have sympathy for Ukraine. Russia abuses the fears of intellectuals, especially of a nuclear war. But they cannot be branded as agents of the Kremlin. We need to look for arguments for these authoritative and wise people how to make Ukraine interesting for them.

Ekonomske odredbe Versajskog mirovnog ugovora: preispitivanje nakon jednog veka

Contrary to widespread belief, reparations imposed on Germany by the economic provisions of the Treaty of Versailles did not undermine the German economy, nor push it into a vicious cycle of crises and backwardness, from which emerged National Socialism and Adolf Hitler’s power takeover. In the first decade after the conclusion of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany’s economy prospered, with high growth rates. In the same decade, German National Socialists managed to win over only a negligible segment of the constituency, and Franco-German relations even improved. The turn took place with the Great Depression, which was, however, not related to the Treaty of Versailles whatsoever. Thus, it is a myth that the Treaty, predominantly through its economic provisions, led to the Second World War. The shortcomings of the Treaty of Versailles, with regard to providing sustainable peace in Europe, should be sought in the framework of the outcome of the First World War, which ended in an armistice, not German surrender. It was only after the Second World War that German unconditional surrender, full occupation of the country and dismemberment of German militarism created the grounds for political stability and sustainable peace in Europe.

‘The Bully of the World’

During the period between the outbreak of war in August 1914, and the first major engagement for Australian troops in April 1915 on Gallipoli, the Queensland press in Australia articulated a vision of the conflict framed by binary opposites. The most pervasive of these was the positioning of German militarism and lust for conquest as the antithesis of the civilized values embodied in Pax Britannica. The approach of the newspapers over the course of these nine months can be divided neatly into two distinct though overlapping themes—why the Germans fought and how they fought. In its exploration of these issues, the Queensland press demonized the Germans for their perceived barbarism and disregard for civilized norms. In contrast, the perceived righteousness of the British cause facilitated a celebration of Australian nationalism and imperial loyalty as complementary imperatives.

Споры о Канте во время Великой Отечественной войны: взгляд спустя 75 лет после Победы. Часть I

With the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, in the Soviet Union, an old discussion about Kant began again under the new conditions. This time, its issue was Kant’s philosophy that was a part of the so-called Classical German Philosophy and the role of this philosophy in the formation of German National Socialism with its aggressive foreign policy. To understand the origin of the dispute, I initially turn to the debates on Kant as the face of German militarism during the First World War. They were initiated with V.F. Ern’s paper “From Kant to Krupp” and almost ignored by Russian Marxists. The Marxist view of Kant is investigated by the reference to the history of Kant’s treatises (“Prolegomena” and pre-critical works) first publications after the October revolution of 1917 till the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Details of the dispute over Kant during the Great Patriotic War are analyzed through the lens of two significant events, namely the publication of V.F. Asmus’s paper “Fascist Falsification of Classical German Philosophy” (1942) and the cancellation of the Stalin award for the third volume of “The history of philosophy” (1943) in 1944. In conclusion, I evaluate the results of this war-time discussion from the contemporary perspective that considers the modern understanding of both National Socialism and the involvement of German Kant Scholars into the Nazi movement. The perspective also takes into account post-war debates on Kant’s philosophy responsibility for unfortunate events of the Second World War.

Война любой ценой! Французская пропаганда в России в 1917 году

In the period between the two Russian revolutions of 1917 Russia’s Allies were intensifying constantly their efforts to affect the development of domestic affairs in Russia. Various French representatives in Russia were actively carrying out a propaganda work. This activity was boosted during the visit to Russia of a prominent French socialist and member of the French Government A. Thomas. It was his initiative to create a unified French organization using existing French centres of propaganda and to involve new people in its activities. Special missions and individuals were sent to Russia to exercise an influence on various groups of the Russian society. French socialists were trying to convince their Russian colleagues — first of all members of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies — that for establishing a truly lasting peace it was necessary to destroy German militarism. Soldiers and officers from the French military missions were visiting Russian army units striving to convince Russians to continue fighting until complete victory. The French propagandist organization was publishing and distributing numerous leaflets and other materials all around Russia. The article studies the main directions of these activities and means which were used. That helps to better understand the goals pursued by the French government’s policy in Russia between the February and the October Revolutions of 1917.

Fictional German governesses in Edwardian popular culture: English responses to German militarism and modernity

Historians have tended to focus on propaganda when assessing Edwardian attitudes towards Germans, but a shift of focus to fiction reveals a rather different picture. Whereas propaganda created the cliché of ‘the Hun’, fiction produced non- and even counter-stereotypical figures of Germans. An analysis of German governess characters in a selection of short stories, performances, novels, and cartoons indicates that the Edwardian image of Germans was not purely negative but ambivalent and multifarious. Imagined German governesses appeared as patriots and spies, pacifists and warmongers, spinsters and seducers, victims and evil-doers. A close look at characterisations by Saki [H. H. Munro], M. E. Francis [Margaret Blundell], Dorothy Richardson, D. H. Lawrence, Radclyffe Hall, Frank Hart and others reveals not only their variety but also their metaphorical use as responses to Germany’s aggressive militarism and avant-garde modernity. Each governess figure conveyed a positive, negative or ambivalent message about the potential impact of German militarism and modernity on England and Englishness. The aggregate image of German governesses, and by inference Germans, was therefore equivocal and demonstrates the mixed feelings of Edwardians toward their ‘cousin’ country.

Durkheim, Germany, War, Europe

Among the classical authors of sociology, Émile Durkheim passed away the first on 15 November 1917. His conception of the war as well as his ideas of a possible way out of it, therefore, are far from the horizon of experience that characterized the last year of the conflict. His major war writing is a critical analysis of the intellectual sources of German militarism: L’Allemagne au-dessus de tout. Karsenti focuses on Durkheim’s examination of the “Über-Ideology”, which moulded German nationalism since unification in 1871, especially in the work of Heinrich von Treitschke. Durkheim’s book is a censorship of the enemy’s warfare. Yet, what is interesting to discover, according to Karsenti, is the particular perspective of Durkheim’s investigation. The writing is a critique of all tendencies to reduce international politics to an “Über”. Accordingly, for Durkheim, there is a possible way out of the war, yet it has to be read between the lines of his distinction between a “good and a bad tradition” of the moral sciences in Germany.

On the Invisible Threat: Bacteriologists in Fiction and Periodical Advertisements, 1894–1913

This article explores the values attributed to the new science of bacteriology in five early stories of bacteriologists: H. G. Wells’ ‘The Stolen Bacillus’ (1894), T. Mullett Ellis’s Zalma (1895), W. L. Alden’s ‘The Purple Death’ (1895), Algernon Blackwood’s ‘Max Hensig’ (1907), and Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Adventure of the Dying Detective’ (1913). I argue that the new science becomes a vehicle for anxieties about anarchist terrorism and German militarism. Responding to Martin Willis’s (2011) account of the microscope’s creative function at the fin de siecle, I suggest that the distinctive qualities of bacteriological science inflect the plot and style of these tales, as well as the nature of their fictional antagonists. These qualities include the magnification of an otherwise invisible threat and the ensuing distortion of the scientist’s moral judgement, the discrepancy between microbial size and potency, and German dominance in the field. The formal mechanisms of the texts, their patterns of tension and revelation, are also shown to interact with the new dynamics of bacteriological science and its play of visibility and invisibility. Comparing these texts with contemporaneous advertisements, I point out that the bacteriologist was simultaneously portrayed, to the same audiences, as a vector of threat and a trustworthy authority underwriting new commercial products. This divergence suggests the pliancy of bacteriology’s cultural significance and the limited influence of fiction on commercial uses of bacteriology. I argue that such fiction exploits limited public knowledge of the bacteriologist to develop an enduring motif of bacteriology as a moral and political danger.

Vicente Blasco Ibanez and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The Civil War of Europeans as a Cultural War

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, a novel about the Great War, was written in 1916 by the Spanish author Vicente Blasco Ibáñez. Ibáñez was a liberal intellectual and opponent to German militarism and the House of Austria, which had been intolerant and retrograde during its rule of Spain in the seventeenth century. This study explores the imperialist, militarist and cultural tensions of the war through Ibáñez’s novel. The formation of blocks of alliances and the capture of rich territories, according to Lenin, translated into the juxtaposition of the German Reich—represented historically by old Germania and the current German Empire fighting for European supremacy—with the Latinity of Ancient Rome and the contemporary French Republic. This cultural and ideological struggle is reflected in the novel’s characters and dialogue. Ibáñez suggests that the 1914 confrontation arose from the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. In the novel, the conflict is typified in two opposing novelistic characters, a German and a Frenchman, who immigrate to Argentina to escape war and poverty. Both return to their countries of origin rich and related to each other, having married the daughters of a rich landlord, Madariaga, although his sons have become cousins and nephews and they face each other from opposite sides of the battlefield. World War I is an irresistible force the magnitude of which draws together all the characters, Ibáñez was absorbed in narrating the first year of the war, when France suffered bitter defeats, and writing about this ongoing event led to his success in the USA, where he maintained the appreciation of the public by quickly creating a film version of the novel.

A Baptist View from the Trenches: Lockhart Landels Ireland (1887–1916)

The Great War (1914–1918) was seen by many Scottish Baptists as a just war waged by the British Empire to protect smaller nations against German militarism. Many young men volunteered for war service to do their bit to defeat an unscrupulous foe that had inflicted such brutality on the civil population of Belgium. One of these volunteers was Lockhart L. Ireland a gifted writer and committed Baptist. Through his war fiction he gives real insight into the brutality of war but his other writings suggest a glory set over and against this. He was not disillusioned about the war's purpose and to die in such conflict would be a noble act. He is an important figure who eloquently presents commonly held views at the time and how far many Baptists had come to identify British political war aims with Christian duty.

The Lost Sketchbooks: A Young Artist in the Great War

The Lost Sketchbooks: A Young Artist in the Great War

What Does China Mean for Pragmatism?

This paper aims to investigate the transformations undergone by Dewey’s philosophy in the period from 1916 to 1921. By analyzing three different problematic situations with which Dewey found himself confronted (German militarism; the effects of propaganda on American society; the experience of a two-year stay in China), the paper seeks to show the various lines of development at work in his thought. The thesis of the paper is that in the war and immediately post-war years Dewey was concerned with outlining a new account of the nature of theory which was preliminary to the formulation of his social philosophy. The paper presents Dewey’s main philosophical achievements, with the aim of providing some background knowledge that could be useful to understanding that place and significance of the Lectures in China in the overall context of his thought.

An Ottoman response to Darwinism: İsmail Fennî on Islam and evolution.

The Scopes trial (1925) fuelled discussion in the United States on the social and political implications of Darwinism. For the defenders of the 1925 Tennessee law - which prohibited the teaching of Darwinism in schools - Darwinism was, amongst other things, responsible for the German militarism which eventually led to the First World War. This view was supported by İsmail Fennî, a late Ottoman intellectual, who authored a book immediately after the trial which aimed to debunk scientific materialism. In it, he claimed that Darwinism blurred the distinction between man and beast and thus destroyed the foundations of morality. However, despite his anti-Darwinist stance, İsmail Fennî argued against laws forbidding the teaching of Darwinism in schools, and emphasized that even false theories contributed to scientific improvement. Indeed, because of his belief in science he claimed that Muslims should not reject Darwinism if it were supported by future scientific evidence. If this turned out to be the case, then religious interpretations should be revised accordingly. This article contributes to the literature on early Muslim reactions to Darwinism by examining the views of İsmail Fennî, which were notably sophisticated when compared with those of the anti-religious Darwinist and anti-Darwinist religious camps that dominated late Ottoman intellectual life.

Nietzsche 1914 – eine Philosophie für die Front?

Abstract During World War I Nietzsche, on the one hand, was blamed for German militarism in Anglo-American and French writings, and, on the other hand, became celebrated as a spiritual hero of German culture and greatness. This essay delivers a critique of simplistic images of Nietzsche’s philosophy in the context of war by analyzing essentials of his mature work (“will to power” etc.). Additionally, the German intellectual scene is confronted with Nietzsche’s denouncement of nationalism, anti-Semitism, Christianity, socialism in order to deny the existence of a definitive Nietzschean war position. Finally, Nietzsche’s European idea is reflected in light of Max Weber’s comments on World War I and his political theory. The essay concludes that the problem of how to relate philosophical thinking to realities of historical development deserves further inquiry.

Militant Democracy: The Legacy of West Germany’s War on Terror in the 1970s

In the 1970s the Federal Republic of Germany found itself locked in a battle with leftwing extremism, when groups of self-styled urban guerrillas attempted to press through a radical agenda using methods that included bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations. This essay examines the counterterrorist initiatives of West Germany’s ruling social-liberal coalition as anti-state violence forced officials to reconsider the principles of democracy and state power. With the collapse of the Weimar Republic casting an ominous shadow, political leaders gradually forged a consensus around the concept of “militant democracy.” In practice, this meant a more centralized state, prepared to forcefully defend the lives and property of its citizens against terrorist attacks. Although the country embraced a new image of German militarism in the form of counterterrorist commandos, citizens expressed a growing concern over computerized crime fighting as an intrusive surveillance of their private lives.

Der Boykott gegen die deutschen Wissenschaftler und die deutsche Sprache nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg

After the First World War, the Allied academies of sciences staged a boycott against German scientists and the German language. The objective of the boycott was to prevent the re-establishment of the prewar dominance of German scientists, the German language and German publications in the area of international scientific cooperation. Therefore the Allies excluded German scientists and the German language from international associations, congresses and publications, while they created new international scientific organizations under their leadership. Medical associations and congresses were also affected, e. g. congresses on surgery, ophthalmology and tuberculosis. Allied physicians replaced the "International Anti-Tuberculosis Association" founded in Berlin in 1902 with the "Union Internationale contre la Tuberculose"/"International Union against Tuberculosis", founded in Paris in 1920. Only French and English were used as the official languages of the new scientific organizations, just as in the League of Nations. The boycott was based on the fact that the German scientists had denied German war guilt and war crimes and glorified German militarism in a manifesto "To The Civilized World!" in 1914. The boycott first started in 1919 and had to be abolished in 1926, when Germany became a member of the League of Nations. Many German and foreign physicians as well as other scientists protested against the boycott. Some German scientists and institutions even staged a counter-boycott impeding the resumption of international collaboration. The boycott entailed an enduring decline of German as an international scientific language. After the Second World War scientists of the victorious Western Powers implemented a complete reorganization of the international scientific arena, based on the same organizational structures and language restrictions they had built up in 1919/1920. At the same time scientists from the U.S.A. staged an active language and publication policy, in order to establish the dominance of English in the international scientific arena.