The Crucible of German Democracy: Ernst Troeltsch and the First World War

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Robert E. Norton offers the first comprehensive study in any language devoted to Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923) and his activities during the First World War. Troeltsch was one of the most famous figures of his day, a renowned historian, philosopher, sociologist, and theologian. But he did not just comment on events, he also actively served in a number of public roles before, during, and after the war. Throughout the last decade of his life, Troeltsch was a central participant in many of the most significant political debates and struggles that took place in his country, and in the process he became one of the most forceful and committed proponents of democracy in Germany. Tracing the gradual rise and growth of democratic thought during the war, Robert E. Norton shows how democracy itself emerged as the pivotal question within German domestic politics around which everything else came to revolve. In this process, Ernst Troeltsch emerged as one of the most eloquent and persuasive voices advocating for democracy and peace, and always promoting the ideals of freedom and human dignity for all peoples. Cover Title Contents Preface Introduction Democracy in Germany Der Kulturkrieg Ideas vs. Spirit The Einstein of Culture Political Ethics and Christianity Chapter One: To Arms! To Arms! A Summer Storm After the Declaration of Mobilization War The War of Words Belgium Burns The Death of Internationalism Our People’s Army Chapter Two: Why Do Other Peoples Hate Us? The British Betrayal Exterminating the Germ-Huns The Mobilization of Opinion The Battle of the Marne The Manifesto of the 93 What does it Mean to be German? The German Essence War Aims Imperialism Chapter Three: Battleground Berlin Germany and the World War The Spirit of German Culture The Turn Inward Explaining The Culture War Blazing New Trails Delbrück’s “Wednesday Evening” Reorientation The New Germany Chapter Four: The Ideas of 1914 Caesar Absconditus A General Theory of Cultural Relativism The Importance of Ideas The Free Patriotic Association German Society 1914 Die Ideen von 1914 The Idea of Mitteleuropa Chapter Five: German Freedom Nemesis U-Boat Introit America Exeunt Tirpitz Rallying Behind Bethmann National Committee for an Honorable Peace Sobriety and Courage The Primacy of Domestic Politics Is there a German Idea of Freedom? The Duumvirate Bread and the Franchise! Finis Bethmann Chapter Six: The Struggle over Democracy A Dispirited 1917 Reorientation Redux The Onslaught of Democracy What Does Freedom Mean? Are Germans Free? How Free are the Others? A Democracy of Beggars? The Second July Crisis The Peace Resolution Two Varieties of Vaterland The People’s League for Freedom and Fatherland Politics and Ethics Chapter Seven: Between Reaction, Reform, and Revolution The Specter of Civil War A Dispute with Dr. Troeltsch Denunciations of Defeatism A Growing Threat Two Kinds of Realpolitik The End of the Beginning Yet Another Imperial Chancellor The Education of a German Prince Levée en masse Parliamentarization and Peace at Last From Volksbund to Völkerbund Conclusion: Spectator Politician The Murdered Friend Natural Law and Humanity in World Politics Postscript Acknowledgements Bibliography Index of Names Index of Subjects