Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-2006

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

History

Major Professor

Vejas Liulevicius

Committee Members

Denise Phillips, David Tompkins

Abstract

This study will inspect the propaganda of the German Fatherland Party found in rightist newspapers published in Berlin, the capital of the German Empire. This propaganda explained the goals of the party, which included a desire to win a Siegfrieden (Victory Peace), to increase the Siegeswillen (Will for Victory) within the German population, to annex vast territory in the East and West, and to create a unified block of citizens within Germany by reviving the ancient myth of Deutschtum or an essential "Germanness." In response to this new nationalistic party, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S P D) organized its own anti-Fatherland Party propaganda, which successfully prevented the leftist working class from joining the Fatherland Party. This study is important because it illustrates the significance of public opinion and explains how the German population became politically active and radicalized during the First World War.

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