It is clear one of the biggest factors that contributed to the mobilization of the young nation of Germany was the Great War. Germany's declaration of war against France, Great Britain, and Russia was followed by a surge of nationalism. Never before had such a movement made German citizens comprehend the idea of a nation. Furthermore, both socialists and nationalists felt their political programs were justified by the national war efforts.
As Hitler would put it, "the declaration for war produced a sense of Germaness that filled him with ecstasy." 1914, the year of the monumental gathering in Munich, would become a model for what national mobilization could achieve.
However, towards the end of World War I the hopeful times celebrated by Germany would be a distant memory. Similar to other nations, Germany lost hundreds of thousands of men. But what is more significant is how the mass mobilization of the wartime economy would lead to severe inflation and a major depression, as well as political turmoil between the Left and Right sides of the political spectrum, as well as a food crisis which would cause many individuals to turn to the black market in an effort to avoid giving everything to the army and/or be able to eat feed one's family.
Because of all this, the measure of Germany's political future had now become the citizens, all of the soldiers, workers, and consumers. I feel that although the rapid wartime mobilization caused many problems for both the citizens and monarchy, it led to a realisation as to what the new European power of Germany needs to have.
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War seems to have brought the once diverse group of Germans together and the horrible outcome that the Germans would face after war continued to allow this unity to flourish amongst the Germans. I think we have discussed that even post unification many Germans still held onto their local identities rather than a national one. Victory as well as defeat in war seems to be the best remedy to unify people. Think Sept. 11 for instance in US history, before this instance many of us held on to racial, ethnic, and regional identities, but this atrocity that would take the lives of people we did not even know would invoke a surge of American Nationalism amongst all the people of the US. I think the same sine of national identity and unity can be compared to the German people during and after WWI.
ReplyDeleteI think you are exactly right in the sense of the importance of unity fostered by the war effort. Not only did it help to bring Germans together but it also taught them to rely on themselves. It showed the German people what they could accomplish as a population.
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