The Stab-in-the-Back Legend (German German (Deutsch, [ˈdɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Globally, German is spoken by approximately 120 million native speakers and also by about 80 million non-native speakers: Dolchstoßlegende (help·info)) was a popular, right-wing political legend A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. Legend, for its active and passive participants includes no happenings that are outside the realm of "possibility", defined by a highly flexible of post–First World War World War I was a military conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918 and involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Central Powers. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. More than 15 million people were Germany, which remained current until the eve of the Second World War Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland ·. In attributing Imperial German loss of the war to the public’s failure in answering their “patriotic calling”, and to the war effort In politics and military planning, a war effort refers to a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative size of the armed forces and the society supporting them, the style of government, and the popular support-sabotage of the Socialists Socialism is an economic and political theory based on public or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and allocation of resources, the Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists (Russian: большевики, большевик Russian pronunciation: [bəlʲʂɨˈvʲik], derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority", which comes from bol'she, "more", the comparative form of bol'shoi, "big") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour, and the Jews The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation. Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos, and not to the Reichsheer’s inability to engage battle, it exonerated the military of their defeat. Culturally, the legendary dagger-stabbing of the German Army The German Army was the name given the combined armed forces of the German Empire, also known as the Imperial Army (Reichsheer) or Imperial German Army. The term "Deutsches Heer" is also used for the modern German Army, the land component of the German Bundeswehr. The Imperial German Army was formed when the German Empire was formed in 18 parallels the hero’s fate in the epic poem An epic (from the Ancient Greek adjective ἐπικός , from ἔπος (epos) "word, story, poem") is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that Nibelungenlied The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge (Song of the Nibelungs), wherein Siegfried Sigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving (c. 1000) and the Gök Runestone (11th century) is stabbed in the back by Hagen von Tronje Hagen or Högni (Old Norse Hǫgni, often anglicized as Hogni) is a Burgundian warrior in tales about the Burgundian kingdom at Worms. Hagen is often identified as a brother or half-brother of King Gunther (Anglicized Old Norse Gunnar).

Historically, the Dolchstosslegende proved important to the political ascension of Adolf Hitler Hitler's rise to power in Germany began in September 1919 when Hitler joined the political party that was known as the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei . This political party was formed and developed during the post-World War I era. It was anti-Marxist and was opposed to the democratic post-war government of the Weimar Republic and the Treaty of Versailles;; as the Nazi Party The National Socialist German Workers' Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei , abbreviated NSDAP), commonly known in English as the Nazi Party (from the Ger. pronunciation of Nationalsozialist), was a political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945. It was known as the German Workers' Party (DAP) prior to a change of name grew, it maintained an original, true-believer base, embittered Great War veterans who believed the patriotic legend and its mythic interpretation of Germany’s recent military history. The Dolchstosslegende ideologically encapsulates the justifications of Nazi Germany Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the government of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party , from 1933 to 1945. Third Reich (German: Drittes Reich) denotes the Nazi state as the historical successor to the mediæval Holy Roman Empire (962–1806) and to the modern German Empire (1’s persecution and murder of Jews Antisemitism is prejudice against or hostility towards Jews, often rooted in hatred of their ethnic background, culture, and/or religion. In its extreme form, it "attributes to the Jews an exceptional position among all other civilizations, defames them as an inferior group and denies their being part of the nation[s]" in which they, Communists, Socialists, intellectuals An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity. In socialist theory, it is necessary to explain how a "workers'" movement can be led by those who have never held jobs. As such, intellectuals are an adjunct to the working class, bringing into line every dissident.

Contents

Motivation

Views of the war: the Spirit of 1914

The outbreak of World War I World War I was a military conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918 and involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Central Powers. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. More than 15 million people were in 1914 appeared to erase many of the political divisions that had existed in German Imperial The German Empire refers to Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871 to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of Wilhelm II (28 November 1918). Deutsches Reich remained the official name of Germany throughout the Weimar period and society previously; jubilant crowds of all social, political and religious groups gathered to hear the news of the War and a strong wave of euphoria known to historians as the Spirit of 1914 The Spirit of 1914 refers to the alleged jubilation in Germany at the outbreak of World War I. Many individuals remembered that euphoria erupted on 4 August 1914 after all the political parties in the Reichstag, including the previously antimilitarist Social Democratic Party of Germany , supported the war credits in a unanimous vote, later took hold in the midst of public celebration. National pride showed its potential as a force of cohesion and there was a belief in a new age; but the expectation of a quick and relatively bloodless victory The causes of the military conflict which began in central Europe in August, 1914, included many intertwined factors, including the conflicts and antagonisms of the four decades leading up to the war. Militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism played major roles in the conflict. The immediate origins of the war lay in the decisions taken was due to a general ignorance of the realistic horrors of war.

Many were under the impression that the Triple Entente The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance between the United Kingdom, the French Third Republic, and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907. The Franco-Russian Alliance, along with the Anglo-Russian Entente and the Entente Cordiale, formed the Triple Entente between the British Empire, France and Russia. This was had ushered in the war, and as such saw the war as one in which Germany's cause was morally justified. Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union. It was the second largest contiguous empire in world history, surpassed only by the Mongol Empire, and the third largest empire behind the British Empire and the Mongol was seen to have expansionist, Pan-Slavic Pan-Slavism was a movement in the mid 19th century aimed at unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where the South Slavs had been ruled for centuries by other empires, Byzantine Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Venice. It was also used as a political tool by both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, ambitions and France France (pronounced /ˈfrænts/ frantss or /ˈfrɑːnts/ frahnts; French pronunciation (help·info): [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a state in Western Europe with several of its overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian,'s dissatisfaction due to the outcome of the Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria. The complete Prussian and German victory was widely known. Later, many were shocked to learn that Great Britain Great Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 61.8 million people in mid-2009, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1,000 smaller islands and islets. The island of had declared war on Germany; the Germans felt that Britain was using the Belgian neutrality issue to enter the war and neutralise a Germany that was threatening its own foreign imperial commercial interests.

As the war progressed, illusions of an easy victory were smashed, and Germans began to suffer tremendously from what would become a long and enormously costly war. With the initial euphoria gone, old divisions resurfaced. Nationalist loyalties came into question once again as initial enthusiasms subsided. Subsequently, suspicion of Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with more than a billion members. Its leader is the Pope who holds supreme authority in concert with the College of Bishops of which he is the head. A communion of the Western church and 22 Eastern Catholic churches, it comprised a total of 2,795, Social Democrats Social democracy is a political ideology of the centre-left on the classic political spectrum. It is by tradition a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. The Frankfurt Declaration of the Socialist International, attended by many social democratic parties from across the world committed the adherents to the replacement of capitalism with and especially of Jews grew. There was a considerable amount of political tension prior to the War, aided by the growing presence of Social Democrats in the Reichstag The Reichstag was the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, and subsequently of the North German Confederation, and of Germany until 1945. The main chamber of the German parliament is now called Bundestag ("Federal Diet"), but the building in which it meets is still called "Reichstag" (see Reichstag (building)). The rise of the SPD was a great concern for aristocrats Aristocracy from Greek aristo, - excellent, and kratos - power, is a form of government in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. The term is derived from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". See Aristocracy for the historical roots of the term. The concept evolved in Ancient Greece, whereby a council of in power and the military; the SPD contingent was particularly successful in denying Erich Ludendorff Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German Army officer, victor of Liège, and, with Paul von Hindenburg, one of the victors of the battle of Tannenberg. From August 1916 his appointment as Generalquartiermeister made him joint head (with von Hindenburg) of Germany's war effort. From this point on he ran funds for the German Army, creating shortages and leading to cutbacks which played a role in the ineffectiveness of the Schlieffen Plan The Schlieffen Plan was the German General Staff's early 20th century overall strategic plan for victory in a possible future war where it might find itself fighting on two fronts: France to the west and Russia to the east. The First World War later became such a war with both a Western Front and an Eastern Front. The plan took advantage of.

Judenzählung

Main article: Judenzählung

On November 1, 1916, the German Military While German-speaking peoples have a long history, Germany as a nation-state dates only from 1871. Earlier periods are subject to definition debates. The Franks, for instance, were a union of Germanic tribes; nevertheless, some of the Franks later identified themselves as Dutch, Flemish, French and again others as Germans. The capital of medieval High Command administered the Judenzählung (German German (Deutsch, [ˈdɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Globally, German is spoken by approximately 120 million native speakers and also by about 80 million non-native speakers for "Jewish Census"). It was designed to explore allegations of the lack of patriotism among German Jews, but the results of the census disproved the accusations and were not made public.[1][2] A number of German Jews viewed the Great War as an opportunity to prove commitment to the German homeland.

Civil unrest and allegations of profiteering

Those who were profiting from the war A war profiteer is any person or organization that improperly profits from warfare or by selling weapons and other goods to parties at war. The term has strong negative connotations. General profiteering may also occur in peace time were also subject to criticism. Krupp Friedrich Alfred Krupp was a German steel manufacturer of the company Krupp, the steel manufacturer company, actively marketed and sold arms to potential combatants, playing one against the other — an extremely profitable practice. Individual interests took precedence in other sectors. As administrators intervened in the wartime economy by introducing price ceilings and other measures, producers often responded by switching goods, which created shortages. This led to great tensions between the cities and the countryside and, more importantly, exacerbated hardships and bred discord. By 1917, labour strikes had become common across Germany, and the industrial workers who took part in these events were also looked upon with scorn. By 1917, there were roughly five hundred strikes across Germany, resulting in over 2,000,000 total work hours lost.

Civil disorder Civil disorder, also known as civil unrest, is a broad term that is typically used by law enforcement to describe one or more forms of disturbance caused by a group of people. Civil disturbance is typically a symptom of, and a form of protest against, major socio-political problems; the severity of the action coincides with public expression of grew as a result of increased poverty. While it is true that production slumped during the crucial years of 1917 and 1918, the nation had maximized its war effort In politics and military planning, a war effort refers to a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative size of the armed forces and the society supporting them, the style of government, and the popular support. Despite its overwhelming individual power, Germany's industrial might and population were matched by the Entente as a whole. Russia's exit in late 1917 did little to change the overall picture, as the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language had already joined the War on April 6 of that same year. U.S. industrial capacity alone outweighed that of Germany.

Allied propaganda

In his memoirs, Erich Ludendorff consistently points out that the Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near Hechingen leadership failed to acknowledge the power of Allied propaganda As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result and conduct a successful campaign of its own. British and U.S. presses were particularly successful with their leaflet and tabloid campaign. With their help, the view that the German autocracy An autocracy is a form of government in which one person possesses unlimited power. An autocrat is a person ruling with unlimited authority. The term autocrat is derived from the word autokratōr (αὐτοκράτωρ, lit. "self-ruler", or "one who rules by himself"). It is distinct from oligarchy ("rule by the few") was an exporter of "Prussian militarism Militarism has been a significant principle in the imperialist or expansionist ideologies of several nations throughout history. Some prominent examples are the Greek city state of Sparta, the Roman Empire, the Aztec nation, the Kingdom of Prussia, the British Empire, the Empire of Japan, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , the" and also guilty of crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings. They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a even resonated within German society. After Russia's February Revolution The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It occurred March 8–12 (February 23–27 Old Style) and its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the collapse of Imperial Russia and the end of the Romanov dynasty. The non-Communist Russian Provisional Government under Prince Georgy Lvov, all members of the Entente had nominally democratic governments. The claimed contrast between the "free world The free world is a Cold War-era term often applied to or used by non-communist nations to describe themselves. The term was used to contrast the greater personal freedom enjoyed by citizens of non-communist countries that were democratic, such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Western Europe, with the communist rule" that wanted peace versus the "barbaric" autocratic-led Germany that supposedly wanted war became a frequent theme.

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States. A leader of the Progressive Era, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican Party vote, Wilson was elected President as a's Fourteen Points The Fourteen Points was a speech delivered by United States President Woodrow Wilson to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1918. The address was intended to assure the country that the Great War was being fought for a moral cause and for postwar peace in Europe. People in Europe generally welcomed Wilson's intervention, but his Allied were particularly popular among the German people. Socialists and liberals, especially the Social Democrats that formed the majority of the parliamentary body, were already known as advocates of social change prior to 1914. When peace and full restoration were promised by the Allies, patriotic enthusiasm began to wane. Likewise, Germany's allies began to question the cause for the war, and found their questions answered in the Allied propaganda.

When the Armistice finally came in 1918, Ludendorff's prophecy appeared accurate almost immediately; although the fighting had ended, the British maintained their blockade of the European continent for a full year, causing severe malnutrition and mass starvation throughout Germany. Upwards of 1,000,000 people died from British blockade after the peace was made. This coincided with the gutting of the German military leaving no hope for a physical response. The non-negotiable peace agreed to by Weimar politicians in the Treaty of Versailles was certainly not what the German peace-seeking populace had expected.

The Treaty of Versailles

As a result of the Treaty, Germany's territory was reduced by about 13%, several millions of ethnic Germans came under foreign rule, the Rhineland was demilitarized and Allied troops occupied several areas. (see Territorial changes of Germany). There were also enormous war reparations to be paid over a period of 70 years, although they ended in 1931. The most important aspect of the Treaty relating to the Dolchstosslegende was the War Guilt Clause, which forced Germany to accept complete responsibility for the hostilities. The Treaty was enormously unpopular in Germany. The Dolchstosslegende was the accepted antithesis of the War Guilt Clause, as the latter was in stark contrast to what the population found to be factual.

Post-war reactions and reflections

"12,000 Jewish soldiers died on the field of honor for the fatherland." A leaflet published in 1920 by German Jewish veterans in response to accusations of the lack of patriotism

Conservatives, nationalists and ex-military leaders began to speak critically about the peace and Weimar politicians, socialists, communists, and Jews were viewed with suspicion due to presumed extra-national loyalties. It was claimed that they had not supported the war and had played a role in selling out Germany to its enemies. These November Criminals, or those who seemed to benefit from the newly formed Weimar Republic, were seen to have "stabbed them in the back" on the home front, by either criticizing German nationalism, instigating unrest and strikes in the critical military industries or profiteering. In essence the accusation was that the accused committed treason against the "benevolent and righteous" common cause. These theories were given credence by the fact that when Germany surrendered in November 1918, its armies were still in French and Belgian territory, Berlin remained 450 miles from the nearest front, and the German armies retired from the field of battle in good order.

The Allies had been amply resupplied by the United States, which also had fresh armies ready for combat, but Britain and France were too war-weary to contemplate an invasion of Germany with its unknown consequences. On the Western Front, no Allied army had penetrated the western German frontier, and on the Eastern Front, Germany had already won the war against Russia, concluded with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. In the West, Germany had come close to winning the war with the Spring Offensive. Contributing to the Dolchstosslegende, its failure was blamed on strikes in the arms industry at a critical moment of the offensive, leaving soldiers without an adequate supply of materiel. The strikes were seen to be instigated by treasonous elements, with the Jews taking most of the blame.[citation needed] This overlooked Germany's strategic position and ignored how the efforts of individuals were somewhat marginalized on the front, since the belligerents were engaged in a new kind of war. The industrialization of war had dehumanized the process, and made possible a new kind of defeat which the Germans suffered as a total war emerged.

The weakness of Germany's strategic position was exacerbated by the rapid collapse of other central powers in late 1918, following Allied victories on the Eastern and Italian fronts. Bulgaria was the first to sign an armistice on September 29, 1918 at Saloniki.[3] On October 30 the Ottoman Empire capitulated at Mudros.[3] On November 3 Austria-Hungary sent a flag of truce to ask for an Armistice. The terms, arranged by telegraph with the Allied Authorities in Paris, were communicated to the Austrian commander and accepted. The Armistice with Austria-Hungary was signed in the Villa Giusti, near Padua, on November 3. Austria and Hungary signed separate armistices following the overthrow of the Habsburg monarchy.

Nevertheless, the idea of domestic betrayal resonated among its audience, and its claims would provide some basis for public support for the emerging National Socialist Party, under an autocratic form of nationalism. Anti Jewish sentiment was intensified by the Bavarian Soviet Republic, a Communist government which ruled the city of Munich for two weeks before being crushed by the Freikorps militia. Many of the Bavarian Soviet Republic's leaders were Jewish, allowing anti-Jewish propagandists to connect Jews with Communism (and thus treason).

Origins

Reichspräsident Friedrich Ebert: (1923), as Provisional President of the Weimar Republic in 1919, he contributed to the myth, in telling home-coming veterans that “no enemy has vanquished you”. “Germans, consider this!”: A right-wing German cartoon of the dagger-stabbing-in-the-back of the Germany Army by the politicians Philipp Scheidemann (Social Democratic Party), who proclaimed the Weimar Republic, and was the second Chancellor; and the anti-war militant Matthias Erzberger (Centre Party), who signed the Armistice with the Allies Note the background plutocrat Jews. (1924)

In the latter part of the War, Germany was practically a military dictatorship, with the Supreme High Command (German: OHL, "Oberste Heeresleitung") and General Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg as commander-in-chief advising the Kaiser. After the last German offensive on the Western Front failed in 1918, the war effort was doomed. In response, OHL arranged for a rapid change to a civilian government. General Ludendorff, Germany's Chief of Staff, said:

I have asked His Excellency to now bring those circles to power which we have to thank for coming so far. We will therefore now bring those gentlemen into the ministries. They can now make the peace which has to be made. They can eat the broth which they have prepared for us!

On November 11, 1918, the representatives of the newly formed Weimar Republic signed an armistice with the Allies which would end World War I. The subsequent Treaty of Versailles led to further territorial and financial losses. As the Kaiser had been forced to abdicate and the military relinquished executive power, it was the temporary "civilian government" that sued for peace - the signature on the document was of Matthias Erzberger, a civilian, who was later murdered for his alleged treason; this led to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

The official birth of the term "stab-in-the back" itself possibly can be dated to mid-1919, when Ludendorff was having lunch with British general Sir Neil Malcolm. Malcolm asked Ludendorff why it was that he thought Germany lost the war. Ludendorff replied with his list of excuses: the home front failed us, etc. Then Sir Neil Malcolm said that "it sounds like you were stabbed in the back, then?" The phrase was to Ludendorff's liking, and he let it be known among the general staff that this was the 'official' version, then disseminated throughout German society. This was picked up by right-wing political factions and used as a form of attack against the SPD-led early Weimar government, which had come to power in the German Revolution of November 1918.

In 1919 Deutschvölkischer Schutz und Trutzbund leader Alfred Roth, writing under the pseudonym Otto Arnim, published the book The Jew in the Army which he said was based on evidence gathered during his participation on the Judenzählung. Roth's work claimed that most Jews involved in the war were only taking part as profiteers and spies, whilst he also blamed Jewish officers on fostering a defeatist mentality which impacted negatively on their soldiers. As such the book offered one of the earliest published versions of the Stab-in-the-back legend.[4]

In November 1919, the newly elected Weimar National Assembly initiated a Untersuchungsausschuß für Schuldfragen to investigate the causes of the World War and Germany's defeat. On November 18, von Hindenburg testified in front of this parliamentary commission, and cited a December 17, 1918 Neue Zürcher Zeitung article that summarized two earlier articles in the Daily Mail by British General Frederick Barton Maurice with the phrase that the German army had been 'dagger-stabbed from behind by the civilian populace' ("von der Zivilbevölkerung von hinten erdolcht."). (Maurice later disavowed having used the term himself.). It was particularly this testimony of Hindenburg that led to the wide spread of the Dolchstosslegende in post-WWI Germany.

Warrior to War: Siegfried departs from Kriemhild. (Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, ca. 1843). In the epic poem Nibelungenlied (Song of the Nibelungs), Siegfried is famously stabbed in the back by Hagen.

Richard Steigmann-Gall says that the stab-in-the-back legend traces back to a sermon preached on February 3, 1918, by Protestant Court Chaplain Bruno Doehring, six months before the war had even ended.[5] German scholar Boris Barth, in contrast to Steigmann-Gall, implies that Doehring did not actually use the term, but spoke only of 'betrayal'.[6] Barth traces the first documented use to a centrist political meeting in the Munich Löwenbräu-Keller on November 2, 1918, in which Ernst Müller-Meiningen, a member of the Progressive coalition in the Reichstag, used the term to exhort his listeners to keep fighting:

As long as the front holds, we damned well have the duty to hold out in the homeland. We would have to be ashamed of ourselves in front of our children and grandchildren if we attacked the battle front from the rear and gave it a dagger-stab. (wenn wir der Front in den Rücken fielen und ihr den Dolchstoss versetzten.)

Barth also shows that the term was primarily popularized by the patriotic German newspaper Deutsche Tageszeitung that repeatedly quoted the Neue Zürcher article after Hindenburg had referred to it in front of the parliamentary inquiry commission.

Charges of a Jewish conspirational element in Germany's defeat drew heavily upon figures like Kurt Eisner, a Berlin-born German Jew who lived in Munich. He had written about the illegal nature of the war from 1916 onward, and he also had a large hand in the Munich revolution until he was assassinated in February 1919. The Weimar Republic under Friedrich Ebert violently suppressed workers' uprisings with the help of Gustav Noske and Reichswehr General Groener, and tolerated the paramilitary Freikorps forming all across Germany. In spite of such tolerance, the Republic's legitimacy was constantly attacked with claims such as the stab-in-the-back. Many of its representatives such as Matthias Erzberger and Walther Rathenau were assassinated, and the leaders were branded as "criminals" and Jews by the right-wing press dominated by Alfred Hugenberg.

German historian Friedrich Meinecke already attempted to trace the roots of the term in a June 11, 1922, article in the Viennese newspaper Neue Freie Presse. In the 1924 national election, the Munich cultural journal Süddeutsche Monatshefte published a series of articles blaming the SPD and trade unions for Germany's defeat in World War I, which came out during the trial of Adolf Hitler and Ludendorff for high treason following the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. The editor of an SPD newspaper sued the journal for defamation, giving rise to what is known as the Munich Dolchstossprozess from October 19 to November 20, 1924. Many prominent figures testified in that trial, including members of the parliamentary committee investigating the reasons for the defeat, so some of its results were made public long before the publication of the committee report in 1928.

The Dolchstoss was a central image in propaganda produced by the many right-wing and traditionally conservative political parties that sprang up in the early days of the Weimar Republic, including Hitler's NSDAP. For Hitler himself, this explanatory model for World War I was of crucial personal importance. He had learned of Germany's defeat while being treated for temporary blindness following a gas attack on the front. In Mein Kampf, he described a vision at this time which drove him to enter politics. Throughout his career, he railed against the "November criminals" of 1918, who had stabbed the German Army in the back.

Even provisional President Friedrich Ebert contributed to the myth when he saluted returning veterans with the oration that "no enemy has vanquished you" (kein Feind hat euch überwunden!) and "they returned undefeated from the battlefield (sie sind vom Schlachtfeld unbesiegt zurückgekehrt)" on November 10, 1918. The latter quote was shortened to im Felde unbesiegt as a semi-official slogan of the Reichswehr. Ebert had meant these sayings as a tribute to the German soldier, but it only contributed to the prevailing feeling.

Use in American context

In June 2006, in an article published in Harper's Magazine, journalist Kevin Baker extended the use of the phrase and applied it to the right-wing in politics in the United States:

Every state must have its enemies. Great powers must have especially monstrous foes. Above all, these foes must arise from within, for national pride does not admit that a great nation can be defeated by any outside force. That is why, though its origins are elsewhere, the stab in the back has become the sustaining myth of modern American nationalism. Since the end of World War II it has been the device by which the American right wing has both revitalized itself and repeatedly avoided responsibility for its own worst blunders. Indeed, the right has distilled its tale of betrayal into a formula: Advocate some momentarily popular but reckless policy. Deny culpability when that policy is exposed as disastrous. Blame the disaster on internal enemies who hate America. Repeat, always making sure to increase the number of internal enemies.[7]

Baker claims that the American right-wing has invoked the stab-in-the-back myth on numerous occasions, most recently in the War in Iraq, but also notably at the end of the Vietnam War as well, when the homefront anti-war movement and their sympathizers in the mass media were frequently blamed for the U.S. losing the will to win the war. An early version of the stab-in-the-back theory in American politics was the "Loss of China thesis", which accused the Truman administration and the State Department of willfully allowing the victory of Mao Zedong's Communists in the Chinese Civil War.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Deutsche Jüdische Soldaten” Bavarian National Exhibition
  2. ^ "In October 1916, when almost three thousand Jews had already died on the battlefield and more than seven thousand had been decorated, War Minister Adolf Wild von Hohenborn saw fit to sanction the growing prejudices. He ordered a "Jew census" in the army to determine the actual number of Jews on the front lines as opposed to those serving in the rear. Ignoring protests in the Reichstag and the press, he proceeded with his head count. The results were not made public, ostensibly to "spare Jewish feelings." The truth was that the census disproved the accusations: 80 percent served on the front lines." (Elon, Amos (2002): The Pity of It All. Metropolitan Books. p.338.) Jews, in fact, enlisted at a higher percentage than non-Jews, served in combat units at a higher percentage, and died at a higher percentage. The Judenzählung has since served as an example of how researchers must accept the results of their work even if the results do not support the researchers' hypothesis.
  3. ^ a b "1918 Timeline". http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1918.htm.
  4. ^ Richard S. Levy, Antisemitism, 2005, pp. 623-4
  5. ^ Richard Steigmann–Gall, The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919–1945 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) p. 16
  6. ^ Boris Barth, Dolchstosslegenden und politische Disintegration: Das Trauma der deutschen Niederlage im Ersten Weltkrieg, 1914-1933 (Düsseldorf: Droste, 2003), 167 and 340f. Barth says Doehring was an army chaplain, not a court chaplain. The following references to Barth are on pages 148 (Müller-Meiningen), and 324 (NZZ article, with a discussion of the Ludendorff-Malcolm conversation).
  7. ^ Kevin Baker, "Stabbed in the Back! The past and future of a right-wing myth", Harper's Magazine, June 2006

Further reading

External links

Categories: World War I | Military history of Germany during World War II | Theories of history | Weimar Republic | Antisemitic canards | Propaganda legends

 

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Wed, 23 Aug 2006 05:34:00 GM

It makes the same basic point as we do, but introduces the . Dolchstosslegen​de. concept (and the 1924 poster above) that was especially in vogue among Nazis in post-World War I Germany. We aren't sure who Kevin W. is or if he goes to school ...

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