GERMAN NATIONALISM and THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

GERMAN NATIONALISM AND THE FATE OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC: HYPOTHESIS II

1. Hypothesis. This essay tests Hypothesis II, namely, that in the context of the experience of the Weimar Republic in Germany, nationalism promoted Germany's political unity as well as democracy there.

2. Variables. In this hypothesis, the dependent variables

are (1) the strength of national unity; and (2) the viability of political democracy. The independent variables are: (1) the existence of a common sense of national identity; (2) the length of time it has existed; and (3) the extent to which national feeling is rooted in the people.

3. Expectations. If this hypothesis is correct, then we can expect to find that (a) all or almost all the citizens of the Weimar Republic would have thought of themselves first and foremost as Germans as opposed to their having any other national, ethnic or racial identity; (b) the Weimar Republic would have been solidly based on a long history of a single German state under one government and German democracy would have been traditionally and in fact during its existence supported by the preponderance of, if not all, Germans; (c) the concept of German nationalism held by the main political parties and interest groups in German society would have been the same or similar and such parties and groups would have supported democratic institutions and equal rights for all under the law; (d) those same parties and interest groups would have agreed on how Germany should

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f monarchical rule" (4). The liberal opposition contained many who favored an expanded role for the state. Leading intellectuals and cultural leaders were "openly contemptuous of democracy" (6). Nevertheless, Reichstag and Kaiser worked together in relative harmony until 1918 when the German war effort collapsed. The evidence on this expectation is mixed, but basically inconsistent with the hypothesis. (c) Shared concepts of nationalism and democracy. Pre-1946 German nationalism often tended toward ultranationalism or even xenophobia and racism, encapsulated by the phrase 'Deutschland uber alles,' and a tendency which dates back at least to the days of the French Revolution to romanticize the German volk and its mythical accomplishments in folk legend. While almost all Germans during the period leading up to the establishment of the Weimar Republic and during it were patriotic, many groups, especially those on the right, such as the military officer class, the large land owners or Junkers, some businessmen and the more fanatic rightist organizations, especially the Nazis, pursued more strident forms of nationalism than did other groups. The defeats suffered in World War I, the disarray (mutinies, strikes, insurrections and putsc

Category: Foreign - G