Nazi Germany Political Divisions

Although initially it seems apparent that the First World War narrowed the existing political divisions in Germany during this period, as the war progressed, the resentment grew, in part because of the huge losses and the economic crisis that hung over the country. Therefore because of this the political divisions increased, and by the end of the war the polarisation of German politics was explicit.

Despite the demonstrations against the war held on the 28th and 29th of July in Berlin with crows of 100,000 strong the mood soon changed as war finally broke out. The general view of the war was based on national duty and what was considered a moral obligation to any German man, women or child, largely because the government had portrayed the war as not one of offence, but one of defence. This can be seen by the crowds that gathered at Under Den Linden, and Odeonspaltz in Munich on the 2nd of August showing how people who held contrasting views were united under the war effort. Moreover, the Kaisers public address on the 4th of august once again strengthens the view that the political divisions were narrowed by the outbreak of war when he stated he knew ‘no political parties anymore, only Germans’ this was a largely socialist view and despite the socialists opposing views to the majority of political parties prior to the war, as war broke out they joined with the other political parties in voting for war credits, to ensure the war was well funded and in doing so they ended the parties isolation and removed any lingering distrust which had been looming for years before the war which simultaneously narrowed the political divisions. Another example of the narrowing of class division in Germany is shown in August 1914, when 14 out of the 110 socialists in the Reichstag argued against the war and stated they wanted peace without victory, before finally voting in favour of war credits, whilst at the end of 1914 only 1 socialist, the extremist Karl Liebknecht, voted