| 151. |
The Kaiser Speaks from the Balcony of the Royal Palace (August 1, 1914)
War has often served as an integrative force in society. Here, Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) seeks to overcome all social conflicts in German society by appealing to national unity in a time of war.....
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| 152. |
The Powers of the Deputy Commanding Generals (1915)
This memorandum shows the expansive legal authority that the military gained by virtue of mobilization. The Deputy Commanding Generals were given broad executive powers over the home-districts of....
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| 153. |
The Socialists Support the War (August 4, 1914)
In 1914, the Social Democratic Party decided to support the war. Ideologically, it justified the war as a fight against Russian reaction and autocracy. Socialist support for the war in the Reichstag....
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| 154. |
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare (December 22, 1916)
This document from Admiral von Holtzendorff (1853-1919) reveals the calculations behind the decision for unrestricted submarine warfare. Above all, the precarious state of world grain markets and....
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| 155. |
German Industry Responds (after August 1914)
The mobilization of German industry was essential to the war effort. Organizations like the War Committee of German Industry [Kriegsausschuß der deutschen Industrie] emerged from the marriage....
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| 156. |
The Bundesrat Regulates the Economy (August 4, 1914)
In Imperial Germany’s federal system, both the Reichstag (the German federal parliament) and the Bundesrat (the federal chamber representing the states) were responsible for legislation. With the....
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| 157. |
The September Memorandum (September 9, 1914)
Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg (1856-1921) managed the precarious domestic consensus on....
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| 158. |
A Separate Peace with Russia? (November 19, 1914)
Late in 1914, General Falkenhayn (1861-1922), then the head of the Supreme Command, told the chancellor that he believed that Germany could not win the war militarily. He was convinced that a military....
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| 159. |
Germany’s Industrial Leaders on War Aims (1915)
Annexations were part of the Right’s underlying assumptions about German victory. In the occupied territories to the West, the opportunities for exploitation were lavish, ranging from rich reserves....
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| 160. |
Hermann Cohen, "Germanness and Jewishness" ["Deutschtum und Judentum"] (1915)
Hermann Cohen (1842-1918) was one of the most important German philosophers of the second half of the nineteenth century. He was professor at the prestigious University of Marburg and is perhaps....
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