The Spirit of 1914 (German: ; or, more frequently, , ) was the name given to the feeling of euphoria that affected parts of the German population at the start of World War I. For many decades after the war, the enthusiasm was portrayed as nearly universal, but studies since the 1970s have shown that it was more limited. 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 urban working class and rural Germans, however, took little part in the jubilation. They looked at the war sceptically and as a matter of duty.
The government portrayed the war to the people as purely defensive and likely to be short, lasting perhaps only a few months. When the German military failed to achieve the quick victory everyone expected, the euphoria faded into a grim determination. 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.
Background The reactions of the German people to the outbreak of World War I had roots that went back at least as far as the founding of the German Empire in 1871. 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. Its strong military tradition, rooted in the Prussian nobility, led to Prussian virtues such as duty, obedience, loyalty and discipline playing an important role in shaping middle class society in the Empire.
Both nationalism and social Darwinism were also common among the educated classes. The belief that war was necessary for a people's survival was spread by schools, universities, youth groups, churches and patriotic societies such as the Pan-German League and the Colonial Society.
Under Emperor Wilhelm II (r. 1888–1918), Germany strove to gain the status of a great power and to have its proper "place in the sun". Wilhelm, however, was prone to diplomatic blunders such as the Kruger telegram (1896) and the Daily Telegraph Affair (1908) which seriously offended Britain. Germany's unpredictable foreign policy and its military sabre-rattling, especially the Second Morocco Crisis and the expansion of its navy to compete with Britain's, led to the 1907 Triple Entente agreement between Britain, France and Russia. Germany felt that it was encircled by enemies and began to consider a preventative war that would allow it a quick victory before its enemies became too strong for it to overcome (see the Schlieffen Plan).
War propaganda was able to reach a mass audience immediately after the outbreak of the war and to spread the belief that Germany was defending itself from attack when it declared war, a belief that the government thought was necessary to win the people's support.
The "August experience"
Until well after the end of World War I, most historians held that the enthusiasm for the war at its outbreak had been almost universal in the major countries involved. The picture is now more nuanced. 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 fact that it was the jubilation rather than the resignation that was widely reported can be explained by the fact that the elite, with the backing of the government, were in the position to project their perceptions onto the whole of German society.
The news of the defeat of Russian forces at the Battle of Tannenberg in East Prussia (23 to 30 August) and reports portraying a victorious march into Belgium briefly spread the war euphoria even to the working class, but when the promised quick victory failed to materialise, the feeling faded.
Enthusiasm When Germany's ultimatum to Russia demanding that it demobilise expired on 1 August 1914, an officer announced from the Berlin Palace that Germany too was mobilising. The crowd that had gathered to await the news then sang Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale ("Now all give thanks to God") in a clear expression of religious emotion.
In 1958 Golo Mann, one of Thomas Mann's sons, wrote that "jubilation, war fury and the joy of war" could be felt everywhere in Europe, since everyone thought they were the ones under attack, especially in Germany. For years the belief had been growing that Germany was encircled by enemies from whom it was necessary to free itself. It was the news of the Russian mobilisation in particular that triggered a wave of patriotism. 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.
For some Germans, the beginning of the war was perceived as a "revival experience". Many students viewed the existential experience of battle as a possible escape from an existence that was seen as boring and shallow. Nationalist-minded Germans spoke of the "cleansing steel bath of the nation". 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. The prospect of war in the summer of 1914 became a projection screen for a wide range of political, philosophical and existential desires:People did not take it for granted that there was such a thing as war, but it did not seem particularly frightening to them either; war was part of the human condition and was tremendously exciting. War seemed to be the ideal way to escape from everyday life. ... 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. ... [O]ne had the feeling that the war was seen as salvation. ... Students, professors, writers, artists, priests, atheists, anarchists, political activists, radicals: everyone wanted to be there when the Pax Europaea came to an end. ... They all saw in war not the horror, but the change.An emergency Abitur (the qualification exam that came at the end of a secondary school education) was decreed on the day the war began. 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 written but not the oral examinations were waived. In a very short time, entire sixth forms were channelled through the process and were ready for military service. One of them was the poet Carl Zuckmayer, who later described the experience:For us, the whole thing was tremendous fun. The uniform gave even the worst pupil a touch of manly dignity against which the teacher was powerless. ... We were asked only the easiest questions, so no one could fail. 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. With the nation threatened from without, a new spirit of community would reshape national life. The burdens and rewards of the war would be shared equally. But the early idealism became disillusionment in the face of the reality of the war.
Religious and cultural expressions Some churches gave the war their religious blessing. , a Protestant pastor, reworked the Lord's Prayer nationalistically: "In thy merciful patience, forgive each bullet and each blow that misses its mark. Lead us not into the temptation of letting our wrath be too gentle in carrying out Thy divine judgment. Deliver us and our pledged ally from the Evil One and his servants on earth. Thine is the kingdom, the German land. May we, through Thy mailed hand, come to power and glory."
The war was welcomed by some writers and artists. In his "Thoughts in War" (), written in August and September 1914, Thomas Mann spoke of the war as "cleansing" and an exit from a peaceful world:We knew it, this world of peace. ... Did it not swarm with the vermin of the spirit like maggots? Did it not fester and stink of the decomposing substance of civilisation? ... How could the artist, the soldier in the artist, not have praised God for the collapse of a world of peace with which he was so fed up, so utterly fed up? War! What we felt was purification, liberation and a tremendous hope.Support for the war was reflected in the Manifesto of the Ninety-three () 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 same feelings were echoed in the Declaration of University Teachers of the German Reich of October 1914, which was signed by almost 90% of Germany's university teachers: "Our belief is that the salvation of the entire culture of Europe depends on the victory that German 'militarism' will win." Both declarations, it should be noted, were primarily a reaction to the worldwide outrage over the German Army's actions in Belgium during the early stages of the war.
Intellectuals who had kept their distance from the masses presented themselves as patriots. The sociologist Max Weber wrote of "this great and marvellous war" and that it was wonderful to still be able to experience it, even if very bitter not to be allowed to go to the front. Rudolf Alexander Schröder wrote in his 1915 poem "We ride hidden by forests and gorges" (): "For you I want to live, for you I want to die, Germany, Germany." In "Soldier's Farewell" (), Heinrich Lersch in 1914 wrote the frequently quoted refrain "Germany must live, even if we have to die!"
Austria-Hungary The experience of the people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the start of World War I was in many ways similar to that in Germany. The enthusiasm was not particularly widespread. It was strongest among the middle class, in the large cities and in the German and Hungarian regions, although initially it was felt among the Poles and Czechs as well. The Habsburg monarchy portrayed its tie to the German Empire as one of ("Nibelung loyalty") and saw itself as a superior bulwark of civilization against the "barbarian East" of the Serbs and Russians.
Prior to the start of the war, Austrian social democrats supported peace initiatives and held anti-war demonstrations. After the fighting began, they hoped it would bring changes to the unjust political and social systems not just at home but across Europe. It was seen as a chance to overcome the decadent pessimism of the aristocracy's Fin de siècle culture. Once the initial mood of enthusiasm wore down, however, the Dual Monarchy fell into a period of political passivity. Resistance to its war policy came only later.