Loose Cannons: War Veterans and the Erosion of Democracy in Weimar Germany

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: University of Rome Tor Vergata; University of Bristol
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050722000523
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 167-202
• 关键词: fascism; Europe; rise

摘要

This article shows that democracy in Weimar Germany was eroded by the political legacy of WWI. Using novel data on WWI veterans and an election panel from 1893-1933, I find that former soldiers are associated with a sizeable, persistent, and momentous shift in political preferences from left to right. I provide suggestive evidence that war participation made veterans highly receptive to nationalism and Anti-Communism. This alienated them from leftwing parties and drove the majority toward the political right. Contrary to historical accounts, veterans' shifts in political preferences cannot be explained by exposure to violence or other polarizing post-war events. Far more [German WWI] veterans managed subsequently to lead unremarkable humdrum lives than sought refuge in a life of violence. (...) Yet, they did vote.