EIT Week 12- The German Revolution
Between 1917 and 1923- Europe experienced a revolutionary crisis
Germany 1914- outbreak of war greeted by cheering crowds- all political parties vote to fund war effort
Economic misery- real wages fell about 25%- food shortages- allied blockades- rationing and starvation
Strikes and food riots
Political repression- authoritarianism vs a more democratic Britain and France
Reichstag voted for by men- Chancellor appointed by the Emperor- Reichstag can't propose laws
By 1916 Germany a virtual military dictatorship
Unrestricted submarine warfare
Auxiliary Service Law- military discipline in factories
Ignored Peace Resolution of Reichstag- July 1917- rejected calls for political reform- supported new Fatherland Party
Shock of defeat
March 1918- Spring Offensive- Russia defeated in the East- British and French armies driven back- British and French reinforced by US- German army forced into retreat
By September 1918- Germany faced defeat
Population was unprepared
Revolution
Mutiny spread to other cities
Councils of soldiers, sailors and workers elected
Sailors mutinied at Kiel
9 Nov 1918- Wilhelm II abdicated
28 October- German navy ordered last suicidal attack on British fleet
Majority of Social Democrats took charge of the government
Social Democrats wanted to restore order, have an election and make a democratic constitution- socio-economic reform must wait- suspicious of workers' and soldiers' councils- depended on army and paramilitary Free Corps to suppress revolution unrest
Real change in constitutional and political matters
Elections in 1919- democratic constitution of Weimar Republic- votes for adult men and women- elected President
Much less change in socio-economic affairs- capitalist system and class structure survived- industry in private hands- Army officer corps- legal system not reformed- often hostile to new Republic
France
1918- "strike until armistice"- more than 10,000- protest excessive sacrifice- not endanger national defence
1919- continued strikes- May 1919- 8-hour law
1917- isolated strikes- wages- saturday rest
1920- wave of strikes- foundation of French Communist Party- no revolution
Britain- full labour market- collaboration with government- rise in membership- financially stronger- strikes continue to increase- Communist Party founded- fear spreads
Causes for unrest in Britain and France- anti-war sentiment- economic hardship- failure of state intervention to provide for Home Front and war effort
1950s-60s- veterans perceived as 'vanguard of the nation'
1970s- diversity of veterans comes to the fore
Brutalisation Thesis- claims to explain interwar violence in Germany- men and societies were 'brutalised' by experience of war- desensitised to death- killing as an act of intense emotion and manliness- these sentiments carried on after war- left-wing and right-wing paramilitary groups
Cultural Demobilisation- 'total war' required total demobilisation after the war- violence represented as 'un-British'- process complete in France by 1926- German 'stab in the back' myth
Italy- 1917 remobilisation of the nation- celebration of nationalism, violence and elite soldiers- 'veteran' seen as a new force in politics- small minority join Mussolini in 1919- gradual appropriation of 'veteran' by right-wing- veteran used in fascist propaganda and discourse- Mussolini looks to co-opt the veterans' associations
France- 6 million veterans- 1/2 to an association- veterans refer to a 'combatant spirit'- 'trench fraternity'- moral superiority of veterans- leads to fierce anti-parliamentarianism- growing violence in French politics
Portugal- entered WW1 in 1916- ambiguous attitude to the war
Weimar Republic faced an uphill battle in establishing its political legitimacy- had to content with economic legacy of the war- no possibility of economic growth- money would have to be wrested from richer classes in society- D.G. Williamson, The Age of Dictators: A Study of European Dictatorships, 1918-53 (Harlow: Pearson, 2007), pp. 142-46