Matthew S. Seligmann
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199261505
- eISBN:
- 9780191718618
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199261505.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Military History
Why did the British government declare war on Germany in August 1914? Was it because Germany posed a threat to British national security? Today many prominent historians would argue that this was not ...
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Why did the British government declare war on Germany in August 1914? Was it because Germany posed a threat to British national security? Today many prominent historians would argue that this was not the case and that a million British citizens died needlessly in the trenches for a misguided cause. However, this book counters such revisionist arguments. It disputes the suggestion that the British government either got its facts wrong about the German threat or even, as some have claimed, deliberately ‘invented’ it in order to justify an otherwise unnecessary alignment with France and Russia. By examining the military and naval intelligence assessments forwarded from Germany to London by Britain's service attachés in Berlin, its ‘men on the spot’, this book clearly demonstrates that the British authorities had every reason to be alarmed. From these crucial intelligence documents, previously thought to have been lost, this book proves that in the decade before the First World War, the British government was kept well-informed about military and naval developments in the Reich. In particular, the attachés consistently warned that German ambitions to challenge Britain posed a real and imminent danger to national security. As a result, the book concludes that far from being mistaken or invented, the British government's perception of a German threat before 1914 was rooted in hard and credible intelligence.Less
Why did the British government declare war on Germany in August 1914? Was it because Germany posed a threat to British national security? Today many prominent historians would argue that this was not the case and that a million British citizens died needlessly in the trenches for a misguided cause. However, this book counters such revisionist arguments. It disputes the suggestion that the British government either got its facts wrong about the German threat or even, as some have claimed, deliberately ‘invented’ it in order to justify an otherwise unnecessary alignment with France and Russia. By examining the military and naval intelligence assessments forwarded from Germany to London by Britain's service attachés in Berlin, its ‘men on the spot’, this book clearly demonstrates that the British authorities had every reason to be alarmed. From these crucial intelligence documents, previously thought to have been lost, this book proves that in the decade before the First World War, the British government was kept well-informed about military and naval developments in the Reich. In particular, the attachés consistently warned that German ambitions to challenge Britain posed a real and imminent danger to national security. As a result, the book concludes that far from being mistaken or invented, the British government's perception of a German threat before 1914 was rooted in hard and credible intelligence.
Carl-Ulrik Schierup
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780198280521
- eISBN:
- 9780191603730
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198280521.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
Germany has had the largest immigration of any European country: a mixture of ‘return’ of ethnic Germans and systematic recruitment of ‘temporary guestworkers’. The migrants stayed on and formed new ...
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Germany has had the largest immigration of any European country: a mixture of ‘return’ of ethnic Germans and systematic recruitment of ‘temporary guestworkers’. The migrants stayed on and formed new ethnic minorities after recruitment was stopped in 1973. Yet the official line until the 1990s was that Germany was ‘not a country of immigration’. The resulting processes of ethnic segmentation and social exclusion coincided with a crisis of Germany’s strong ‘social state’, based on a regulated labour market, comprehensive social insurance, collective wage bargaining, and full employment. Exposure to global competition caused chronic unemployment, undermining the financial basis for the welfare state. The result has been a simultaneous crisis of national identity and the welfare state, with the pluralistic federal system apparently incapable of making the reforms needed to restart the economy and prevent the growth of inequality.Less
Germany has had the largest immigration of any European country: a mixture of ‘return’ of ethnic Germans and systematic recruitment of ‘temporary guestworkers’. The migrants stayed on and formed new ethnic minorities after recruitment was stopped in 1973. Yet the official line until the 1990s was that Germany was ‘not a country of immigration’. The resulting processes of ethnic segmentation and social exclusion coincided with a crisis of Germany’s strong ‘social state’, based on a regulated labour market, comprehensive social insurance, collective wage bargaining, and full employment. Exposure to global competition caused chronic unemployment, undermining the financial basis for the welfare state. The result has been a simultaneous crisis of national identity and the welfare state, with the pluralistic federal system apparently incapable of making the reforms needed to restart the economy and prevent the growth of inequality.
Jack Hayward
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199216314
- eISBN:
- 9780191712265
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216314.003.0012
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
Civil discord and imperial aspirations gave the armed forces a powerful place in French politics. The officer corps has played a crucial part in ensuring domestic order, as well as fighting foreign ...
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Civil discord and imperial aspirations gave the armed forces a powerful place in French politics. The officer corps has played a crucial part in ensuring domestic order, as well as fighting foreign and colonial wars, notably in Algeria. Francophonia has been used to preserve a neo-colonial economic and cultural influence, especially in Africa. The switch to a European Union emphasis has been based on Franco-German concerted amity.Less
Civil discord and imperial aspirations gave the armed forces a powerful place in French politics. The officer corps has played a crucial part in ensuring domestic order, as well as fighting foreign and colonial wars, notably in Algeria. Francophonia has been used to preserve a neo-colonial economic and cultural influence, especially in Africa. The switch to a European Union emphasis has been based on Franco-German concerted amity.
Matthew S. Seligmann
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199261505
- eISBN:
- 9780191718618
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199261505.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Military History
The book ends by summarizing the case made. It concludes that service attachés were a vital source of military and naval information for the British government, that they predicted developments ...
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The book ends by summarizing the case made. It concludes that service attachés were a vital source of military and naval information for the British government, that they predicted developments ranging from the impact of Fokker aircraft through to the probability of Germany starting a major war between 1913 and 1915, and that their views influenced those in charge of British policy. This conclusion challenges the arguments of those revisionist historians who contend that Germany posed no threat to the existing European order and that the British Government had no reason to suppose that Germany had aggressive intentions. On the contrary, courtesy of the reports of the military and naval attachés, the Admiralty, War Office and Foreign Office and, through them, the rest of the Government had extensive grounds for worrying about Germany's aggressive intent. That they shaped their policy accordingly was, therefore, not irrational, as some historians suggest, but the logical response to the information available to them, as was Britain's entry into the First World War.Less
The book ends by summarizing the case made. It concludes that service attachés were a vital source of military and naval information for the British government, that they predicted developments ranging from the impact of Fokker aircraft through to the probability of Germany starting a major war between 1913 and 1915, and that their views influenced those in charge of British policy. This conclusion challenges the arguments of those revisionist historians who contend that Germany posed no threat to the existing European order and that the British Government had no reason to suppose that Germany had aggressive intentions. On the contrary, courtesy of the reports of the military and naval attachés, the Admiralty, War Office and Foreign Office and, through them, the rest of the Government had extensive grounds for worrying about Germany's aggressive intent. That they shaped their policy accordingly was, therefore, not irrational, as some historians suggest, but the logical response to the information available to them, as was Britain's entry into the First World War.
Toshimasa Yasukata
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195144949
- eISBN:
- 9780199834891
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195144945.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–81) is held in high esteem as one who marks the cutting edge of the German Enlightenment. He was the very first German to achieve a spiritually and intellectually ...
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Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–81) is held in high esteem as one who marks the cutting edge of the German Enlightenment. He was the very first German to achieve a spiritually and intellectually mature state of being, the hallmark of which is independent and responsible use of one's own reason. He also stands as a key figure in German intellectual history, a bridge joining Luther, Leibniz, and German idealism. Yet despite his well‐recognized importance in the history of thought, and despite a substantial body of in‐depth studies, Lessing as theologian or philosopher of religion remains an enigmatic figure. Even today, his theology or philosophy of religion is a subject of dispute. With regard to the genuine core of his theological or religious‐philosophical thought, researchers hold diametrically opposed interpretations. It is not without reason that scholars refer to the “riddle” or “mystery” of Lessing, a mystery that has proved intractable because of his reticence on the subject of the final conclusions of his intellectual project. Confronted with this perplexity in Lessing studies, this book seeks to resolve the enigma. On the basis of intensive study of the entire corpus of Lessing's philosophical and theological writings as well as the extensive secondary literature, it leads the reader into the systematic core of Lessing's highly elusive religious thought. From a detailed and thoroughgoing analysis of Lessing's developing position on Christianity and reason, there emerges a fresh image of Lessing as a creative modern mind, both shaped by and giving shape to the Christian heritage.Less
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–81) is held in high esteem as one who marks the cutting edge of the German Enlightenment. He was the very first German to achieve a spiritually and intellectually mature state of being, the hallmark of which is independent and responsible use of one's own reason. He also stands as a key figure in German intellectual history, a bridge joining Luther, Leibniz, and German idealism. Yet despite his well‐recognized importance in the history of thought, and despite a substantial body of in‐depth studies, Lessing as theologian or philosopher of religion remains an enigmatic figure. Even today, his theology or philosophy of religion is a subject of dispute. With regard to the genuine core of his theological or religious‐philosophical thought, researchers hold diametrically opposed interpretations. It is not without reason that scholars refer to the “riddle” or “mystery” of Lessing, a mystery that has proved intractable because of his reticence on the subject of the final conclusions of his intellectual project. Confronted with this perplexity in Lessing studies, this book seeks to resolve the enigma. On the basis of intensive study of the entire corpus of Lessing's philosophical and theological writings as well as the extensive secondary literature, it leads the reader into the systematic core of Lessing's highly elusive religious thought. From a detailed and thoroughgoing analysis of Lessing's developing position on Christianity and reason, there emerges a fresh image of Lessing as a creative modern mind, both shaped by and giving shape to the Christian heritage.
Conan Fischer
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208006
- eISBN:
- 9780191716607
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208006.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Poincaré's invasion of the Ruhr District in 1923 might have been driven by sincerely-held convictions, but inflicted untold damage on the political health of the fledgling German Republic. Passive ...
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Poincaré's invasion of the Ruhr District in 1923 might have been driven by sincerely-held convictions, but inflicted untold damage on the political health of the fledgling German Republic. Passive resistance by the people of the Ruhr was driven by their republican convictions, but the physical and moral price they paid during this campaign was compounded by its failure. Their commitment to the republican order was further compromised by the readiness of cash-strapped industrialists to renege on their promises to Weimar. A decade later Hitler's Nazis were arguably the indirect beneficiaries of the Ruhr Crisis. Despite this bleak scenario, there were moments when key players — French and German — seemed to recognise that the futures of France and Germany were inextricably linked if Europe was ever to enjoy peace and prosperity. That realisation has finally born fruit in the aftermath of World War Two with the creation of the European Union.Less
Poincaré's invasion of the Ruhr District in 1923 might have been driven by sincerely-held convictions, but inflicted untold damage on the political health of the fledgling German Republic. Passive resistance by the people of the Ruhr was driven by their republican convictions, but the physical and moral price they paid during this campaign was compounded by its failure. Their commitment to the republican order was further compromised by the readiness of cash-strapped industrialists to renege on their promises to Weimar. A decade later Hitler's Nazis were arguably the indirect beneficiaries of the Ruhr Crisis. Despite this bleak scenario, there were moments when key players — French and German — seemed to recognise that the futures of France and Germany were inextricably linked if Europe was ever to enjoy peace and prosperity. That realisation has finally born fruit in the aftermath of World War Two with the creation of the European Union.
Matthew S. Seligmann
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199574032
- eISBN:
- 9780191741432
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199574032.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Military History
This book examines the way in which the prospect of a wartime German assault on British seaborne commerce influenced the development of British naval policy in the run up to the First World War. It ...
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This book examines the way in which the prospect of a wartime German assault on British seaborne commerce influenced the development of British naval policy in the run up to the First World War. It argues that, owing to the Admiralty’s consistently expressed fears that, in the event of an Anglo-German conflict, German commerce-raiders could interdict vital supplies, the British government began to consider German maritime power as a serious danger to British national security at the very outset of the twentieth century and that this sense of anxiety continued, even sharpened, as the years unfolded. It further argues that as a result of this perception of a growing menace, the Royal Navy devoted considerable time and energy to devising ever more elaborate countermeasures. These included developing new types of auxiliary and then regular warships, attempting to change international maritime law, creating a new global intelligence network, seeking to involve the government in the maritime insurance system and, finally, arming British merchant vessels and taking steps to place trained gun crews on these vessels in peacetime. While some of these developments have been subject to alternative explanations, some have never been explained at all. Yet, as this book shows, all had their origins, substantially or even entirely, in the Admiralty’s fears of a German threat to British maritime commerce. As a result, it concludes that the prospect of a German assault on British trade played a major part in shaping Admiralty policy in the twelve years before 1914.Less
This book examines the way in which the prospect of a wartime German assault on British seaborne commerce influenced the development of British naval policy in the run up to the First World War. It argues that, owing to the Admiralty’s consistently expressed fears that, in the event of an Anglo-German conflict, German commerce-raiders could interdict vital supplies, the British government began to consider German maritime power as a serious danger to British national security at the very outset of the twentieth century and that this sense of anxiety continued, even sharpened, as the years unfolded. It further argues that as a result of this perception of a growing menace, the Royal Navy devoted considerable time and energy to devising ever more elaborate countermeasures. These included developing new types of auxiliary and then regular warships, attempting to change international maritime law, creating a new global intelligence network, seeking to involve the government in the maritime insurance system and, finally, arming British merchant vessels and taking steps to place trained gun crews on these vessels in peacetime. While some of these developments have been subject to alternative explanations, some have never been explained at all. Yet, as this book shows, all had their origins, substantially or even entirely, in the Admiralty’s fears of a German threat to British maritime commerce. As a result, it concludes that the prospect of a German assault on British trade played a major part in shaping Admiralty policy in the twelve years before 1914.
Elizabeth Vlossak
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199561117
- eISBN:
- 9780191595035
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199561117.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This book studies modern Alsatian history using gender as a category of historical analysis, and the first to record the experiences of the region's women from 1870 to 1946. Relying on an extensive ...
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This book studies modern Alsatian history using gender as a category of historical analysis, and the first to record the experiences of the region's women from 1870 to 1946. Relying on an extensive array of documentary, visual and literary material, national and regional publications, oral testimonies, and previously-unused archival sources gathered in France, Germany and Britain, the book contributes to the growing literature on the relationship between gender, the nation and citizenship, and between nationalism and feminism. It does so by focusing on the roles, both passive and active, that women played in the process of German and French nation-building in Alsace. The work also critiques and corrects the long-held assumptions that Alsatian women were the preservers, after 1871, of a French national heritage in the region, and that women were neglected or disregarded by policy-makers concerned with the consolidation of German, and later French, loyalties. Women were in fact seen as important agents of nation-formation and treated as such. In addition, all the categories of social action implicated in the nation-building process — confession, education, socialization, the public sphere, the domestic setting, the iconography of regional and national belonging — were themselves gendered. Thus nation-building projects impacted asymmetrically on men and women, with far-reaching consequences. Having been ‘nationalized’ through different ‘rounds of restructuring’ than men, the women of Alsace were, and continue to be excluded from national and regional histories, as well as from public memory and official commemoration. Marianne or Germania questions, and ultimately challenges, these practices.Less
This book studies modern Alsatian history using gender as a category of historical analysis, and the first to record the experiences of the region's women from 1870 to 1946. Relying on an extensive array of documentary, visual and literary material, national and regional publications, oral testimonies, and previously-unused archival sources gathered in France, Germany and Britain, the book contributes to the growing literature on the relationship between gender, the nation and citizenship, and between nationalism and feminism. It does so by focusing on the roles, both passive and active, that women played in the process of German and French nation-building in Alsace. The work also critiques and corrects the long-held assumptions that Alsatian women were the preservers, after 1871, of a French national heritage in the region, and that women were neglected or disregarded by policy-makers concerned with the consolidation of German, and later French, loyalties. Women were in fact seen as important agents of nation-formation and treated as such. In addition, all the categories of social action implicated in the nation-building process — confession, education, socialization, the public sphere, the domestic setting, the iconography of regional and national belonging — were themselves gendered. Thus nation-building projects impacted asymmetrically on men and women, with far-reaching consequences. Having been ‘nationalized’ through different ‘rounds of restructuring’ than men, the women of Alsace were, and continue to be excluded from national and regional histories, as well as from public memory and official commemoration. Marianne or Germania questions, and ultimately challenges, these practices.
Alastair Matthews
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199656998
- eISBN:
- 9780191742187
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199656998.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book presents a narratological analysis of the Kaiserchronik, or chronicle of the emperors, an account of the Roman and Holy Roman emperors from the foundation of Rome to the run-up to the ...
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This book presents a narratological analysis of the Kaiserchronik, or chronicle of the emperors, an account of the Roman and Holy Roman emperors from the foundation of Rome to the run-up to the Second Crusade that was remarkably popular in medieval Germany. Previous research has concentrated on the structure and sources of the work and emphasized its role as a Christian narrative of history, but this study shows that the Kaiserchronik does not simply illustrate a didactic religious message: it also provides an example of how techniques of story-telling in the vernacular were developed and explored in twelfth-century Germany. Four aspects of narrative are described (time and space, motivation, perspective, and narrative strands), each of which is examined with reference to the story of a particular emperor (Constantine the Great, Charlemagne, Otto the Great, and Henry IV). Rather than dogmatically imposing a single analytical framework on the Kaiserchronik, the book takes account of the fact that modern theory cannot always be applied directly to works from premodern periods: it draws critically on, and where necessary refines, a variety of approaches, including those of Gérard Genette, Boris Uspensky, and Eberhard Lämmert. Throughout the book, the narrative techniques described are contextualized by means of comparisons with other texts in both Middle High German and Latin, so that the place of the Kaiserchronik as a literary narrative in the twelfth century becomes clear.Less
This book presents a narratological analysis of the Kaiserchronik, or chronicle of the emperors, an account of the Roman and Holy Roman emperors from the foundation of Rome to the run-up to the Second Crusade that was remarkably popular in medieval Germany. Previous research has concentrated on the structure and sources of the work and emphasized its role as a Christian narrative of history, but this study shows that the Kaiserchronik does not simply illustrate a didactic religious message: it also provides an example of how techniques of story-telling in the vernacular were developed and explored in twelfth-century Germany. Four aspects of narrative are described (time and space, motivation, perspective, and narrative strands), each of which is examined with reference to the story of a particular emperor (Constantine the Great, Charlemagne, Otto the Great, and Henry IV). Rather than dogmatically imposing a single analytical framework on the Kaiserchronik, the book takes account of the fact that modern theory cannot always be applied directly to works from premodern periods: it draws critically on, and where necessary refines, a variety of approaches, including those of Gérard Genette, Boris Uspensky, and Eberhard Lämmert. Throughout the book, the narrative techniques described are contextualized by means of comparisons with other texts in both Middle High German and Latin, so that the place of the Kaiserchronik as a literary narrative in the twelfth century becomes clear.
Gerhard Dannemann
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199533114
- eISBN:
- 9780191705526
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199533114.003.0007
- Subject:
- Law, Comparative Law, Law of Obligations
This chapter presents an overview of issues of concurrent liability. Topics covered include concurrent liability within unjustified enrichment, unjustified enrichment and contract law, unjustified ...
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This chapter presents an overview of issues of concurrent liability. Topics covered include concurrent liability within unjustified enrichment, unjustified enrichment and contract law, unjustified enrichment and negotiorum gestioun, justified enrichment and tort law, and unjustified enrichment and property law.Less
This chapter presents an overview of issues of concurrent liability. Topics covered include concurrent liability within unjustified enrichment, unjustified enrichment and contract law, unjustified enrichment and negotiorum gestioun, justified enrichment and tort law, and unjustified enrichment and property law.
Patrick Major
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199243280
- eISBN:
- 9780191714061
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199243280.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Few historical changes occur literally overnight, but on 13 August 1961 18 million East Germans awoke to find themselves walled in by an edifice which was to become synonymous with the Cold War: the ...
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Few historical changes occur literally overnight, but on 13 August 1961 18 million East Germans awoke to find themselves walled in by an edifice which was to become synonymous with the Cold War: the Berlin Wall. This new history rejects traditional, top‐down approaches to Cold War politics, exploring instead how the border closure affected ordinary East Germans, from workers and farmers to teenagers and even party members, ‘caught out’ by Sunday the Thirteenth. Party, police, and Stasi reports reveal why one in six East Germans fled the country during the 1950s, undermining communist rule and forcing the eleventh‐hour decision by Khrushchev and Ulbricht to build a wall along the Cold War's frontline. Did East Germans resist or come to terms with immurement? Did the communist regime become more or less dictatorial within the confines of the so‐called ‘Antifascist Defence Rampart’? Using film and literature, but also the GDR's losing battle against Beatlemania, Patrick Major's cross‐disciplinary study suggests that popular culture both reinforced and undermined the closed society. Linking external and internal developments, Major argues that the GDR's official quest for international recognition, culminating in Ostpolitik and United Nations membership in the early 1970s, became its undoing, unleashing a human rights movement which fed into, but then broke with, the protests of 1989. After exploring the reasons for the fall of the Wall and reconstructing the heady days of the autumn revolution, the author reflects on the fate of the Wall after 1989, as it moved from demolition into the realm of memory.Less
Few historical changes occur literally overnight, but on 13 August 1961 18 million East Germans awoke to find themselves walled in by an edifice which was to become synonymous with the Cold War: the Berlin Wall. This new history rejects traditional, top‐down approaches to Cold War politics, exploring instead how the border closure affected ordinary East Germans, from workers and farmers to teenagers and even party members, ‘caught out’ by Sunday the Thirteenth. Party, police, and Stasi reports reveal why one in six East Germans fled the country during the 1950s, undermining communist rule and forcing the eleventh‐hour decision by Khrushchev and Ulbricht to build a wall along the Cold War's frontline. Did East Germans resist or come to terms with immurement? Did the communist regime become more or less dictatorial within the confines of the so‐called ‘Antifascist Defence Rampart’? Using film and literature, but also the GDR's losing battle against Beatlemania, Patrick Major's cross‐disciplinary study suggests that popular culture both reinforced and undermined the closed society. Linking external and internal developments, Major argues that the GDR's official quest for international recognition, culminating in Ostpolitik and United Nations membership in the early 1970s, became its undoing, unleashing a human rights movement which fed into, but then broke with, the protests of 1989. After exploring the reasons for the fall of the Wall and reconstructing the heady days of the autumn revolution, the author reflects on the fate of the Wall after 1989, as it moved from demolition into the realm of memory.
Patrick Major
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206934
- eISBN:
- 9780191677397
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206934.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Political History
Why was the West German Communist Party banned in 1956, only 11 years after it had emerged from Nazi persecution? Although politically weak, the post-war party was in ...
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Why was the West German Communist Party banned in 1956, only 11 years after it had emerged from Nazi persecution? Although politically weak, the post-war party was in fact larger than its Weimar predecessor and initially dominated works councils at the Ruhr pits and Hamburg docks, as well as the steel giant, Krupp. Under the control of East Berlin, however, the KPD was sent off on a series of overambitious and flawed campaigns to promote national unification and prevent West German rearmament. At the same time, the party was steadily criminalized by the Anglo-American occupiers, and ostracized by a heavily anti-communist society. The author has used material available only since the end of the Cold War, from both Communist archives in the former GDR as well as western intelligence, to trace the final decline and fall of the once-powerful KPD.Less
Why was the West German Communist Party banned in 1956, only 11 years after it had emerged from Nazi persecution? Although politically weak, the post-war party was in fact larger than its Weimar predecessor and initially dominated works councils at the Ruhr pits and Hamburg docks, as well as the steel giant, Krupp. Under the control of East Berlin, however, the KPD was sent off on a series of overambitious and flawed campaigns to promote national unification and prevent West German rearmament. At the same time, the party was steadily criminalized by the Anglo-American occupiers, and ostracized by a heavily anti-communist society. The author has used material available only since the end of the Cold War, from both Communist archives in the former GDR as well as western intelligence, to trace the final decline and fall of the once-powerful KPD.
Esra Özyürek
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691162782
- eISBN:
- 9781400852710
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691162782.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
Every year more and more Europeans, including Germans, are embracing Islam. It is estimated that there are now up to 100,000 German converts—a number similar to that in France and the United Kingdom. ...
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Every year more and more Europeans, including Germans, are embracing Islam. It is estimated that there are now up to 100,000 German converts—a number similar to that in France and the United Kingdom. What stands out about recent conversions is that they take place at a time when Islam is increasingly seen as contrary to European values. This book explores how Germans come to Islam within this antagonistic climate, how they manage to balance their love for Islam with their society's fear of it, how they relate to immigrant Muslims, and how they shape debates about race, religion, and belonging in today's Europe. The book looks at how mainstream society marginalizes converts and questions their national loyalties. In turn, converts try to disassociate themselves from migrants of Muslim-majority countries and promote a denationalized Islam untainted by Turkish or Arab traditions. Some German Muslims believe that once cleansed of these accretions, the Islam that surfaces fits in well with German values and lifestyle. Others even argue that being a German Muslim is wholly compatible with the older values of the German Enlightenment. This book provides a fresh window into the connections and tensions stemming from a growing religious phenomenon in Germany and beyond.Less
Every year more and more Europeans, including Germans, are embracing Islam. It is estimated that there are now up to 100,000 German converts—a number similar to that in France and the United Kingdom. What stands out about recent conversions is that they take place at a time when Islam is increasingly seen as contrary to European values. This book explores how Germans come to Islam within this antagonistic climate, how they manage to balance their love for Islam with their society's fear of it, how they relate to immigrant Muslims, and how they shape debates about race, religion, and belonging in today's Europe. The book looks at how mainstream society marginalizes converts and questions their national loyalties. In turn, converts try to disassociate themselves from migrants of Muslim-majority countries and promote a denationalized Islam untainted by Turkish or Arab traditions. Some German Muslims believe that once cleansed of these accretions, the Islam that surfaces fits in well with German values and lifestyle. Others even argue that being a German Muslim is wholly compatible with the older values of the German Enlightenment. This book provides a fresh window into the connections and tensions stemming from a growing religious phenomenon in Germany and beyond.
Mark Hewitson
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208587
- eISBN:
- 9780191678073
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208587.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This book examines the interrelationship between the construction of national identity and the transformation of political thought in Germany before the First World War. During the decade or so ...
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This book examines the interrelationship between the construction of national identity and the transformation of political thought in Germany before the First World War. During the decade or so before the war, the German Empire was challenged openly by both left and right for the first time since the 1870s. Paradoxically, however, this pre-war crisis of Germany's system of government occurred during a period of increasing nationalism, which created a solid cross-party basis of support for the Empire as a nation-state. The book argues that Wilhelmine debates about the reform of the German Empire can only be understood in the context of a broader discussion and comparison of European and American political regimes which took place in Germany after the turn of the century. In such contemporary debates about a German Sonderwag, France remained a principal point of reference because French-style parliamentarism had come to be viewed as the main alternative to German constitutionalism. By analysing Wilhelmine depictions of the Third Republic, the book revises accepted interpretations of German politics and nationalism.Less
This book examines the interrelationship between the construction of national identity and the transformation of political thought in Germany before the First World War. During the decade or so before the war, the German Empire was challenged openly by both left and right for the first time since the 1870s. Paradoxically, however, this pre-war crisis of Germany's system of government occurred during a period of increasing nationalism, which created a solid cross-party basis of support for the Empire as a nation-state. The book argues that Wilhelmine debates about the reform of the German Empire can only be understood in the context of a broader discussion and comparison of European and American political regimes which took place in Germany after the turn of the century. In such contemporary debates about a German Sonderwag, France remained a principal point of reference because French-style parliamentarism had come to be viewed as the main alternative to German constitutionalism. By analysing Wilhelmine depictions of the Third Republic, the book revises accepted interpretations of German politics and nationalism.
David Midgley
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198151791
- eISBN:
- 9780191672835
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198151791.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This chapter summarizes the discussions in the preceding chapters and presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It shows that what we are dealing with in the Weimar period is not a ...
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This chapter summarizes the discussions in the preceding chapters and presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It shows that what we are dealing with in the Weimar period is not a straightforward paradigm shift from one literary style to another, nor a straightforward collapse into authoritarian attitudes. Rather, we are dealing with a contest among writers and artists over the appropriate attitudes to adopt towards the post-war situation of the German-speaking world, over the interpretation of major cultural issues which present themselves in that situation, and over the techniques of representation appropriate to that task of interpretation.Less
This chapter summarizes the discussions in the preceding chapters and presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It shows that what we are dealing with in the Weimar period is not a straightforward paradigm shift from one literary style to another, nor a straightforward collapse into authoritarian attitudes. Rather, we are dealing with a contest among writers and artists over the appropriate attitudes to adopt towards the post-war situation of the German-speaking world, over the interpretation of major cultural issues which present themselves in that situation, and over the techniques of representation appropriate to that task of interpretation.
Christian Goeschel
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199532568
- eISBN:
- 9780191701030
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199532568.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Social History
The Third Reich met its end in the spring of 1945 in an unparalleled wave of suicides. Hitler, Goebbels, Bormann, Himmler and later Göring all killed themselves. These deaths represent only the tip ...
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The Third Reich met its end in the spring of 1945 in an unparalleled wave of suicides. Hitler, Goebbels, Bormann, Himmler and later Göring all killed themselves. These deaths represent only the tip of an iceberg of a massive wave of suicides that also touched upon ordinary lives. As this suicide epidemic has no historical precedent or parallel, it can tell us much about the Third Reich's peculiar self-destructiveness and the depths of Nazi fanaticism. The book looks at the suicides of both Nazis and ordinary people in Germany between 1918 and 1945, from the end of World War I until the end of World War II, including the mass suicides of German Jews during the Holocaust. It shows how suicides among different population groups, including supporters, opponents, and victims of the regime, responded to the social, cultural, economic and, political context of the time. The book also analyses changes and continuities in individual and societal responses to suicide over time, especially with regard to the Weimar Republic and the post-1945 era.Less
The Third Reich met its end in the spring of 1945 in an unparalleled wave of suicides. Hitler, Goebbels, Bormann, Himmler and later Göring all killed themselves. These deaths represent only the tip of an iceberg of a massive wave of suicides that also touched upon ordinary lives. As this suicide epidemic has no historical precedent or parallel, it can tell us much about the Third Reich's peculiar self-destructiveness and the depths of Nazi fanaticism. The book looks at the suicides of both Nazis and ordinary people in Germany between 1918 and 1945, from the end of World War I until the end of World War II, including the mass suicides of German Jews during the Holocaust. It shows how suicides among different population groups, including supporters, opponents, and victims of the regime, responded to the social, cultural, economic and, political context of the time. The book also analyses changes and continuities in individual and societal responses to suicide over time, especially with regard to the Weimar Republic and the post-1945 era.
Volker R. Berghahn
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691179636
- eISBN:
- 9780691185071
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691179636.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This book takes an in-depth look at German journalism from the late Weimar period through the postwar decades. Illuminating the roles played by journalists in the media metropolis of Hamburg, the ...
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This book takes an in-depth look at German journalism from the late Weimar period through the postwar decades. Illuminating the roles played by journalists in the media metropolis of Hamburg, the book focuses on the lives and work of three remarkable individuals: Marion Countess Dönhoff, distinguished editor of Die Zeit; Paul Sethe, “the grand old man of West German journalism”; and Hans Zehrer, editor in chief of Die Welt. All born before 1914, Dönhoff, Sethe, and Zehrer witnessed the Weimar Republic's end and opposed Hitler. When the latter seized power in 1933, they were, like their fellow Germans, confronted with the difficult choice of entering exile, becoming part of the active resistance, or joining the Nazi Party. Instead, they followed a fourth path—“inner emigration”—psychologically distancing themselves from the regime, their writing falling into a gray zone between grudging collaboration and active resistance. During the war, Dönhoff and Sethe had links to the 1944 conspiracy to kill Hitler, while Zehrer remained out of sight on a North Sea island. In the decades after 1945, all three became major figures in the West German media. The book considers how these journalists and those who chose inner emigration interpreted Germany's horrific past and how they helped to morally and politically shape the reconstruction of the country. With fresh archival materials, the book sheds essential light on the influential position of the German media in the mid-twentieth century and raises questions about modern journalism that remain topical today.Less
This book takes an in-depth look at German journalism from the late Weimar period through the postwar decades. Illuminating the roles played by journalists in the media metropolis of Hamburg, the book focuses on the lives and work of three remarkable individuals: Marion Countess Dönhoff, distinguished editor of Die Zeit; Paul Sethe, “the grand old man of West German journalism”; and Hans Zehrer, editor in chief of Die Welt. All born before 1914, Dönhoff, Sethe, and Zehrer witnessed the Weimar Republic's end and opposed Hitler. When the latter seized power in 1933, they were, like their fellow Germans, confronted with the difficult choice of entering exile, becoming part of the active resistance, or joining the Nazi Party. Instead, they followed a fourth path—“inner emigration”—psychologically distancing themselves from the regime, their writing falling into a gray zone between grudging collaboration and active resistance. During the war, Dönhoff and Sethe had links to the 1944 conspiracy to kill Hitler, while Zehrer remained out of sight on a North Sea island. In the decades after 1945, all three became major figures in the West German media. The book considers how these journalists and those who chose inner emigration interpreted Germany's horrific past and how they helped to morally and politically shape the reconstruction of the country. With fresh archival materials, the book sheds essential light on the influential position of the German media in the mid-twentieth century and raises questions about modern journalism that remain topical today.
Roger M. Barker
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199576814
- eISBN:
- 9780191722509
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576814.003.0009
- Subject:
- Business and Management, International Business, Corporate Governance and Accountability
A declining level of support for the status quo blockholder model of corporate governance emerged among German insider labor and Left party actors during the late 1990s. At the same time, the private ...
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A declining level of support for the status quo blockholder model of corporate governance emerged among German insider labor and Left party actors during the late 1990s. At the same time, the private universal banks withdrew from their postwar role as guardians of the German corporate network. The reduced willingness of blockholders to compromise with insider labor in the operation of firms – due to the reduced availability of economic rents – made it possible for SPD party modernizers to win support for pro‐shareholder reform that redistributed power from blockholders to outsider capital.Less
A declining level of support for the status quo blockholder model of corporate governance emerged among German insider labor and Left party actors during the late 1990s. At the same time, the private universal banks withdrew from their postwar role as guardians of the German corporate network. The reduced willingness of blockholders to compromise with insider labor in the operation of firms – due to the reduced availability of economic rents – made it possible for SPD party modernizers to win support for pro‐shareholder reform that redistributed power from blockholders to outsider capital.
Anthony Kauders
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206316
- eISBN:
- 9780191677076
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206316.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This book is a scholarly reassessment of the ‘Jewish Question’ in Germany (1910–1933). It challenges the view that, following Hitler's rise to power, anti-Semitism radically increased among the ...
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This book is a scholarly reassessment of the ‘Jewish Question’ in Germany (1910–1933). It challenges the view that, following Hitler's rise to power, anti-Semitism radically increased among the majority of Germans. It argues that the Weimar Republic was also very influential in changing people's attitudes towards the Jews and their place in German society. Through a study of Düsseldorf and Nuremberg, two German cities of comparable size but disparate regional, religious, and economic characteristics, it explores the attitudes of journalists, politicians, clerics, and ordinary people. Using local and national archival material, the book is able to show that, whereas before the First World War most Germans would distance themselves from racial anti-Semitism, after 1918 many Germans agreed with völkisch agitators that Jews were, in a variety of ways, alien to the national community.Less
This book is a scholarly reassessment of the ‘Jewish Question’ in Germany (1910–1933). It challenges the view that, following Hitler's rise to power, anti-Semitism radically increased among the majority of Germans. It argues that the Weimar Republic was also very influential in changing people's attitudes towards the Jews and their place in German society. Through a study of Düsseldorf and Nuremberg, two German cities of comparable size but disparate regional, religious, and economic characteristics, it explores the attitudes of journalists, politicians, clerics, and ordinary people. Using local and national archival material, the book is able to show that, whereas before the First World War most Germans would distance themselves from racial anti-Semitism, after 1918 many Germans agreed with völkisch agitators that Jews were, in a variety of ways, alien to the national community.
Omer Bartov
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195079036
- eISBN:
- 9780199854455
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195079036.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This study shows that the Wehrmacht was systematically involved in atrocities against the civilian population on the Eastern Front. Including quotes from letters, diaries, and military reports, this ...
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This study shows that the Wehrmacht was systematically involved in atrocities against the civilian population on the Eastern Front. Including quotes from letters, diaries, and military reports, this book aims to challenge the notion that the German army during World War II was apolitical and to reveal how thoroughly permeated it was by Nazi ideology. Focusing on ordinary German soldiers on the Eastern front, the book shows how government propaganda and indoctrination motivated the troops not only to fight well but to commit unprecedented crimes against humanity. This institutionalized brainwashing revolved around two interrelated elements: the radical demonization of the Soviet enemy and the deification of the führer. Consequently, most of the troops believed the war in the Eastern theater was a struggle to dam the Jewish/Bolshevik/Asiatic flood that threatened Western civilization. This book demonstrates how Germany's soldiers were transformed into brutal instruments of a barbarous policy.Less
This study shows that the Wehrmacht was systematically involved in atrocities against the civilian population on the Eastern Front. Including quotes from letters, diaries, and military reports, this book aims to challenge the notion that the German army during World War II was apolitical and to reveal how thoroughly permeated it was by Nazi ideology. Focusing on ordinary German soldiers on the Eastern front, the book shows how government propaganda and indoctrination motivated the troops not only to fight well but to commit unprecedented crimes against humanity. This institutionalized brainwashing revolved around two interrelated elements: the radical demonization of the Soviet enemy and the deification of the führer. Consequently, most of the troops believed the war in the Eastern theater was a struggle to dam the Jewish/Bolshevik/Asiatic flood that threatened Western civilization. This book demonstrates how Germany's soldiers were transformed into brutal instruments of a barbarous policy.
