Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T23:21:48.889Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - The Dynamics of Volksgemeinschaft: The Effectiveness of the German Military Establishment in the Second World War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Jürgen E. Förster
Affiliation:
University of Freiburg
Allan R. Millett
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
Williamson Murray
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
Get access

Summary

Introduction

The assumptions and conditions under which the Wehrmacht functioned after 1939 were heavily shaped by a cultural tradition that dates back to Imperial Germany. Since the German state had been founded by the army, the army was a major national institution, and military service an almost universal obligation. Not only did soldiers dedicate themselves to an exultation of military values, but the system of subordination and autocracy was widely accepted, and an authoritarian attitude predominated. The National Socialist regime did not have to invent the glorification of war as a corporate experience, dismantling social and educational barriers and uniting the whole nation except for those who, with the help of Bolshevism, had stabbed the victorious army in the back. The ‘battle as an inner experience’ (Fronterlebnis) was not a mere literary convention in Germany. It became the pivot for the amalgamation of national socialism and the German soldierly tradition.

It was General Werner von Blomberg, Hitler's Minister of War, who stated in an educational directive on 24 May 1934 that the ‘ideas of both our soldiery and National Socialism spring from the common experience of the Great War.’ The bond between the military and the movement was the ‘idea of a community of blood and destiny of all German people.’ The political goal of a militarized Volksgemeinschaft incorporated the ideas of self-sacrifice and the elimination of foreigners. In 1935 universal conscription for Aryans was decreed as a duty for the German people. In 1938 the German's honor was defined as allegiance to the Führer and the people.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×