The outbreak of the First World War unleashed political tensions in Europe that had been building up for decades. The cause of these tensions lay in the rivalry of the large European powers, who in the era of imperialism were wrestling for economic and political influence around the world. Ultimately, the old colonial powers of Great Britain and France were allied with Russia on one side, and the economically emerging German Empire, which had been short-changed in the division of the colonies in the 19th century – from the perspective of many Germans – was allied with the multinational state of Austria-Hungary on the other.
Smoldering inner conflicts in the Balkans had last brought Europe to the brink of war in 1912-13. The murder of the Austrian crown prince by a nationalistic Serbian perpetrator on June 28, 1914 triggered the July crisis, at the end of which Austria-Hungary, its position supported unconditionally by the German Reich, declared war on Serbia, which had, in turn, promised Russia military assistance. Due to the European federation constellation, within a few days, this developed into a European, then a world war, in which ultimately the German Reich, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria (starting in 1915), and the Ottoman Empire were on one side, and France, the British Empire, Russia, Serbia, Belgium, Italy (starting in 1915), Romania (starting in 1916), and Japan on the other.
The First World War was the “original catastrophe” (George F. Kennan) of the 20th century. It was conducted with modern, industrialized weapons technology and with a degree of violence never seen before. It cost 17 million people their lives and was accompanied by extremely heightened mass mobilization and nationalistic propaganda. It created deep-reaching political and social changes across Europe – due to the fundamental violence, the ever-greater emergency of broad portions of the population, and the inability of the reigning governments to provide satisfactory answers to the burning social questions.
Mobilization
Social democracy and trade associations had constantly warned about a world war and threatened a general strike together with the “Socialist International” should one nation begin a war of attack. After the beginning of the war, however, both sides claimed to be the attacked. Out of fear of a Russian invasion, therefore, German social democracy agreed to the requested war credits, with applause from the bourgeois parties.
A wave of patriotism washed across the land. On August 2, 1914, Munich's Odeonsplatz was the showplace of a large, patriotic demonstration – and among the demonstrators was also the 25-year-old Adolf Hitler. However, it is not possible to speak of a general enthusiasm for war, such as was communicated in the media and propaganda. This was especially true for the agricultural population, where every laborer was urgently needed, as well as for a large portion of workers. Any open opposition to the war, such as cropped up soon in Munich, especially on the left wing of the Socialist Party of Germany (SPD) (Kurt Eisner), among the young socialists (Felix Fechenbach) and some bourgeois pacifists (Anita Augspurg), was suppressed by the police as an attack on the unity of the nation.
Violence and mass death – emergency on the home front
While the German army succeeded in decisively defeating the Russian troops that had advanced into East Prussia in the summer of 1914, German troops in the West advanced into northern France and neutral Belgium, and tried, according to the “Schlieffen Plan,” to conquer the French capital quickly and thus defeat France. However, the resistance was too strong, and the hoped-for quick military victory did not come; the front in the West solidified. With the deployment of ever more soldiers and war material, both side tried in vain to achieve a pivotal victory. The battles in Verdun, in Ypres, and on the Somme were synonyms for violent material battles and mass death. In the national propaganda, however, they stood for the selfless sacrifice and unmatched heroism of German soldiers on the front. Hundreds of thousands of people died, millions were wounded, crippled, and traumatized. On the Eastern Front, the war was fought with greater mobility but here, too, the soldiers were exposed to enormous hardships and the losses were horrendous. 11,000 citizens of Munich lost their lives on the battlefields; the German Reich had a total of two million soldiers to mourn.
On the ‘home front,’ the situation for people became more precarious the longer the war went on. Women had to get by without the income of their drafted husbands; frequently the support payments made were not enough. The need for armaments production kept growing. Munich became a significant armaments production location where thousands of women worked. In addition, the blockade of the sea route by the Allies starting in 1915 was having more of an effect. Supplies of food and other goods kept getting worse. There were long queues at stores, and in June 1916, the first “hunger riot” happened in Munich. After the famous “turnip winter” of 1916-17, such unrest was repeated. The triggers were protests about the frequently catastrophic quality of food, due to smaller rations, and if salespeople were accused of profiteering.
In April 1917, military adversaries and left Social Democrats founded the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD), which broke away from the previous course of the SPD leadership of maintaining a “truce” with the bourgeois parties and the Emperor's government. In Munich, a USPD Local Group was established in May; Kurt Eisner assumed its leadership. The increasingly poor mood at home had an effect on the soldiers on the front. Some showed understanding for the dissatisfaction at home because they were tired of war; others believed that the home front was stabbing the soldiers in the back.
The path to revolution
After the revolution in Russia in February and November 1917, many people hoped that the war would soon be over. The Bolsheviks declared the war over, but the German government forced their opponents, who were tired of war, into a forced peace, the Peace of Brest-Litowsk, in 1918. This, in turn, caused unrest among German workers: The protests resulted in the large “January strike,” the “dress rehearsal” for the November revolution (Rosenberg, p. 181). Across the Reich, more than a million workers went on strike. And there were thousands in Munich too.
First the workers of the Bavarian Geschützwerke (Krupp) gathered on January 31, 1918 in the Schwabinger Brauerei and organized a demonstration procession through the city under the leadership of Kurt Eisner. Workers from BMW, Krauss-Maffei, the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, and other companies joined in. The strictly political strike demands were as follows: immediate offer of peace to the military adversaries, no annexations; elimination of the state of occupation and censorship, unlimited freedom to assemble, a right to form coalitions and strike; freeing of the political prisoners. The leaders of the strike movement, including Kurt Eisner, Ernst Toller, and Hans Unterleitner, were arrested on February 1, 1918 and sentenced to prison. After a few days, the majority Social Democrats succeeded in controlling the movement and ending the strike.
The growing readiness for rebellion was also apparent in summer 1918, when war-wounded took part in a hunger strike and loud expressed their dissatisfaction. The police officials did not dare to take brutal action, for fear of provoking still more unrest.
The defeat
Starting with the USA's entrance into the war in spring 1917 due to the expansion of the German submarine war, the balance of power initially shifted to the disadvantage of the German Reich. Russia’s departure from the entente after the October Revolution in 1917 left the German Reich hoping yet again that the war could still be won. By spring 1918, the entente was always able to throw fresh troops into the fray with the US soldiers; their military superiority became more oppressive. In August 1918, the Battle of Amiens marked the beginning of a major offensive by the Allies that forced the Germans to withdraw their lines and raised fears of military defeat in the West. Morale on the front collapsed, signs of disintegration threatened to spread.
The top leadership of the German army finally had to admit military defeat, and sent the political leadership of the Reich to negotiate an end to the war. At the end of October 1918, the sailors of the deep-sea fleet refused a last, militarily nonsensical engagement and mutinied. Troops of sailors and soldiers spread across the land and supported the revolution, which was breaking out everywhere.
The fight for the causes of the defeat was conducted with great bitterness. The legend spread by the German army about the ‘stab-in-the-back’ of the army by the home front permanently poisoned the political climate in the Weimar Republic. In the eyes of the National Socialists, “Jews” and “Marxists” were responsible for this 'stab-in-the-back’. The fight against the ‘November criminals’ became their central political concern.
