“World domination or ruin”. Friedrich von Bernhardi and German militarism before World War I

Abstract

The paper analyzes the role of militarism in the political life of Germany before WWI. By pointing out the roe of militarism in the political life of Germany at the start of the 20th century, the paper puts an emphasis on the writing of Friedrich von Bernhardi titled Germany and the next war, published in 1912. Bernhardi sought to prove the inevitability of “preemptive war” and territorial annexations in order to provide for the economic and political interests of Germany as a global force. Bernhardi legitimized his opinion by calling on social-Darwinist arguments as well as the tradition of German idealist philosophy, and claiming that war is the only means by which it is possible to sustain German culture as the highest form of “German spirit” and its most valuable contribution to humanity. Considering the high rank which Bernhardi held as a general in the German military, as well as how his attitudes fell in with German foreign policy of the period, Bernhardi’s writing represents, in a condensed fashion, an expression of militaristic ideas present in German society before WWI.

Keywords

• Friedrich von Bernhardi
• Germany
• militarism
• social-Darwinism
• culture
• civilization