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German Anglophobia and the Great War, 1914–1918
This is the first major study of German attitudes towards Englandduring the Great War, 1914–18, continuing the story of Anglo-Germanantagonism where previous studies have ended. In particular itfocuses on the extremity of anti-English feeling in Germany in theearly years of the war, and on the attempt by writers, propagandistsand cartoonists to redefine Britain as the chief enemy of the Germanpeople and their cultural heritage.
New material is also offered concerning the development of anextreme rightist network in Munich and Berlin during the war years,which used anti-English feeling as a focus for attacking the supposedlydefeatist government of Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg. Such viewsformed the background to the disastrous decision to begin unrestrictedsubmarine warfare against England in January 1917; and they alsocontributed to the ideological polarisation of German politics at acrucial juncture in European and world history.
matthew stibbe is Senior Lecturer in History, Sheffield HallamUniversity.
Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare
General EditorJay Winter Pembroke College, Cambridge
Advisory EditorsPaul Kennedy Yale UniversityAntoine Prost Université de Paris-SorbonneEmmanuel Sivan The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
In recent years the field of modern history has been enriched by theexploration of two parallel histories. These are the social and culturalhistory of armed conflict, and the impact of military events on social andcultural history.
Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare pre-sents the fruits of this growing area of research, reflecting both thecolonisation of military history by cultural historians and the reciprocalinterest of military historians in social and cultural history, to the benefitof both. The series offers the latest scholarship in European and non-European events from the 1850s to the present day.
For a list of titles in the series, please see end of book
List of illustrations page viiiAcknowledgements xList of abbreviations xii
Introduction 1
1 Unser gehasstester Feind. German anglophobia and the ‘spirit of 1914’ 10
From russophobia to anglophobia 12Gott strafe England! 16The militarisation of public opinion 22Propaganda initiatives 27‘Perfidious Albion’: anglophobia in poetry and prose 33England and France as ‘betrayers’ of the white race 38The cartoonists and England 45
2 The cultural war. German intellectuals and England 49The racist denunciation of England 52England and the Great Powers 59Economic rivalries and Germany’s claim to world power
status 66The cultural war and the English national character 72
3 German war aims and propaganda against England 80Admiral von Tirpitz and the German navy 81Annexationist propaganda: the case of Count Ernst zu
Reventlow 87Annexationist propaganda: the Pan-German League and its
industrial allies 96Right-wing political parties and pressure groups 100The annexationist agitation continues 107
4 ‘U-boat demagogy’ and the crisis of Bethmann Hollweg’s 110chancellorship
The campaign against Bethmann Hollweg 113The weakness of the moderate opposition to submarine
warfare 119The government and the annexationists 131
5 The submarine crisis deepens 135Munich in the summer of 1916: anglophobia and
particularism 137The agitation spreads to other parts of the Reich 143The Volksausschuß für die rasche Niederkämpfung Englands:
membership, aims and tactics 148The final moves towards unrestricted submarine warfare 158
6 The Anglo-American powers and the collapse of the Germanempire 165
German freedom versus Anglo-Saxon tyranny 169England, Satan, the Antichrist and anti-Semitism 172The German army and total war 177The rise and fall of the German Fatherland Party 184The final offensive 188
Epilogue 194Nazi ideology 197Hitler and German anglophobia 201Conclusion 205
1. O. Gulbransson, ‘Der Hüter des Völkerrechts [The guardianof international law]’, from Simplicissimus, vol. 19, no. 20,17 August 1914. Reproduced by permission of the BritishLibrary. 19
2. Anon., ‘Verdienen wird groß geschrieben [Profits are whatis important]’, from Der Wahre Jacob, vol. 31, no. 734, 4September 1914. Reproduced by permission of theWürttembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart. 20
3. A. Mrawek, ‘Das Spinnennetz [The spider’s web]’, fromUlk, vol. 37, no. 26, 26 June 1908. Reproduced by permissionof the Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg. 29
4. A. Fips, ‘Die Weltkreuzspinne [The world cross (or garden)spider]’, from Der Wahre Jacob, vol. 31, no. 777, 28 April1916. Reproduced by permission of the WürttembergischeLandesbibliothek, Stuttgart. 30
5. A. Johnson, ‘John Bull von heute [John Bull as he is today]’,from Kladderadatsch, vol. 68, no. 25, 20 June 1915.Reproduced by permission of the Universitäts- undLandesbibliothek Münster. 41
6. T. T. Heine, ‘Weihnachten in England [Christmas inEngland]’, from Simplicissimus, vol. 19, no. 38, 22 December1914. Reproduced by permission of the British Library. 43
7. T. T. Heine, ‘Der Engländer und sein Japaner [The Englishman and his Japanese friend]’, from Simplicissimus,vol. 19, no. 22, 1 September 1914. Reproduced by permission of the British Library. 44
8. A. Johnson, ‘Das Schwert des Damokles [The sword ofDamocles]’, from Kladderadatsch, vol. 67, no. 46, 15 November1914. Reproduced by permission of the Universitäts- undLandesbibliothek Münster. 46
9. T. T. Heine, ‘Ein Bild aus dem englischen Familienleben[A picture of English family life]’, from Simplicissimus, vol.19, no. 35, 1 December 1914. Reproduced by permission ofthe British Library. 48
10. T. T. Heine, ‘Deutschlands Parlamentarisierung [Germany’sparliamentarisation]’, from Simplicissimus, vol. 22, no. 18,31 July 1917. Reproduced by permission of the BritishLibrary. 173
11. ‘Deutsche Treue – Hindenburg-Frieden [German loyalty –Hindenburg peace]’, from the Görlitzer Nachrichten undAnzeiger [1917]. Reproduced by permission of theBundesarchiv, Koblenz. 181
12. ‘So ist es jetzt! So kann es kommen! [The situation now –and as it could be]’, anonymous leaflet [1917/18].Reproduced by permission of the Berlin-BrandenburgischeAkademie der Wissenschaften. 183
Cartoons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 are also reproduced in William A. Coupe,German Political Satires from the Reformation to the Second World War,Part II, 1849–1918 (New York, 1987).
This book is based on my original D.Phil. thesis, ‘Vampire of theContinent. German Anglophobia during the First World War,1914–1918’, which I submitted to the University of Sussex in the autumnof 1997. It is now a great pleasure and a privilege to be able to acknowl-edge the many sources of assistance I have received while researchingit and rewriting it for publication.
First and foremost I would like to thank Professor John Röhl, mysupervisor at Sussex, for his constructive criticism, moral support andenthusiasm for my project. The following people at different times andin different places have also helped with their friendly advice andencouragement: Karl-Ludwig Ay, Stefan Berger, Christopher Clark,William Coupe, William Davies, Elizabeth Harvey, Janet Hollinshead,Paul Hoser, Rod Kedward, Mark Mazower, Manfred Messerschmidt,Ingo Materna, Annika Mombauer, Raffael Scheck, Matthew Seligmann,Jim Simpson, Duncan Tanner, Jeffrey Verhey, Jay Winter and HartmutZelinsky.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the staff and directors ofthe many libraries and archives which I have worked in over the pastfew years. These include the university libraries at Sussex, Bangor andLiverpool Hope, the British Library and the Newspaper Library(Colindale), the German Historical Institute, London, the Institute ofHistorical Research, London, and the Wiener Library, London. Duringa twelve-month stay in Germany in 1995/6 I was able to make extensiveuse of the Staatsbibliothek I in Berlin (Unter den Linden) and in partic-ular its extremely useful Weltkriegssammlung or collection of pam-phlets written during the First World War. In addition I was grantedpermission to use the following archives: the Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv in Freiburg, the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz, the PolitischesArchiv des Auswärtigen Amtes in Bonn, the Bayerisches Hauptstaats-archiv in Munich, the Bundesarchiv, Abteilung Potsdam (now in Berlin-Lichterfelde), the Geheimes Staatsarchiv in Berlin-Dahlem and theArchiv der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften inBerlin-Mitte.
Financial sponsorship and assistance with travel expenses came froma wide variety of sources: the British Academy, the Graduate ResearchCentre in the Humanities at the University of Sussex, the Erasmus-Socrates scheme and (since 1997) the research committees of theUniversity of Wales, Bangor, and of Liverpool Hope University College.In this respect I would also like to thank the Göttingen-based BritishCentre for Historical Research in Germany and its director, Joe Canning,for their hospitality during a six-week stay in the summer of 1998.
Finally, I would like to thank all those people who have assisted mein more indirect ways. I include in this respect my father Paul and step-mother Hazel, my six sisters and brothers, my two nieces Elin-Judithand Eva, and the many friends who have helped towards the success-ful completion of this book. Simon, Katherine, Noah and Harrietdeserve special mention for their endless hospitality and Simon in par-ticular for his ability to lose gracefully at backgammon. Last, but by nomeans least, I am deeply grateful for the love, support and patience ofmy partner, Samantha, who has contributed so much to the happinessin my life over the past five years.
I dedicate this book to the memory of my mother, Dr Judith Dimock.