Spirit of 1914

It was experienced primarily by the educated upper and middle classes in the large cities who saw it as exciting, a chance to reshape lives and to lift Germany to its proper role as a great world power.

The memory of the August experience was nevertheless regularly recalled after Germany's defeat, in part by the politicians of the Left who wanted to justify their support for the war.

Because Germany's unification had taken place under Prussian leadership and Prussia was by far the most populous state in the new nation, it was in a position to be a dominant force in the Empire.

The German sense of elation in August 1914 affected primarily intellectuals, university students and the middle class in the larger cities.

Among the urban worker and rural populations, the mood was more sombre and sceptical: "The soldiers did not go to war with a joy in their hearts and a song on their lips, but instead with grim determination and out of a sense of duty.

The subsequent rapid succession of declarations of war against Russia and France gave the impression that the impending encirclement had been averted, with the result that confidence in victory spread.

[10] Military historian Manfried Rauchensteiner saw the enthusiasm for war as a very real factor that had an impact across all social classes and political camps.

... All sorts of contradictory things flowed into the feeling: weariness of modernity and the longing for something new, irrational expectations of redemption, the resolution of a wide variety of dilemmas, the overcoming of stagnation.

... Students, professors, writers, artists, priests, atheists, anarchists, political activists, radicals: everyone wanted to be there when the Pax Europaea came to an end.

In view of the enthusiasm for the war that gripped many young men, upper primary school pupils (13th grade) who wanted to join the army voluntarily were allowed to take the Abitur early.

The Abitur, the nightmare of many youthful years, became a family celebration.There were those among the educated elite who hoped that the "Spirit of 1914" would help heal the social, political and cultural divisions that plagued Germany.

Dietrich Vorwerk [de], a Protestant pastor, reworked the Lord's Prayer nationalistically: "In thy merciful patience, forgive each bullet and each blow that misses its mark.

What we felt was purification, liberation and a tremendous hope.Support for the war was reflected in the Manifesto of the Ninety-three (Manifest der 93) of October 1914, a document signed by 93 artists and intellectuals, including Mann.

In defence of Germany's conduct of the war, they made reference to its culture: "You who know us, you who together with us have guarded the highest possessions of mankind – to you we also call out: Believe us!

Believe that we shall fight this war to the end as a cultured people to whom the legacy of Goethe, Beethoven and Kant are as sacred as hearth and land.

The Habsburg monarchy portrayed its tie to the German Empire as one of Nibelungentreue ("Nibelung loyalty") and saw itself as a superior bulwark of civilization against the "barbarian East" of the Serbs and Russians.

When a rumour spread in early August that French gold was being smuggled to Russia, a total of 28 people were shot dead at impromptu roadblocks.

A police president compared the situation to a madhouse: "Everyone sees a Russian or French spy in the person next to him and believes he has a duty to beat him and anyone protecting him to a bloody pulp.

[7] The leadership of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was nevertheless reluctant to use mass protests as a means of exerting political pressure and taking the offensive against the "Hurrah Patriots".

Their anti-war efforts were mostly confined to meetings in closed rooms as authorised by the police, leaving the streets to the pro-war sections of the middle class.

[26][27] According to police reports on the mood of the population, the war was met with scepticism and anxiety in the working-class districts of the large industrial cities.

An SPD official in Bremen said that the mood among the workers there on the first of August was grim: "Mothers, wives and brides bring the young men to the train station and cry.

"[7] Historian Sven Oliver Müller noted that in the countryside, the beginning of the war caused "an almost general feeling of deep depression".

Hugo Haase, chairman of the Reichstag parliamentary group said in defence of the SPD's actions: "We will not abandon our own country in its hour of danger.

[35] The national truces began to crumble in 1916–17, when the absence of military success despite high casualty rates and the deteriorating food situation, especially in the states of the Central Powers that were under the Allied blockade, shattered the illusion of a community that transcended class.

[36] The facts that photographs were most often taken in the cities and that journalists and writers tended to report from the capitals played a key role in the dominant image of a rejoicing population.

"The widespread jubilation over the impending war, at least among parts of the population in the major European capitals, cannot be denied", wrote Ian Kershaw.

Many theses about the events of August 1914 were based on post-1918 statements by SPD politicians who were under great pressure to justify themselves,[39] or on sources from the middle class, the majority of whom had indeed been filled with enthusiasm for the war.