Stargardt Nicholas. The German Idea of Militarism: Radical and socialist critics, 1866-1914

Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994. — 248 p. — ISBN-10: 052146692X; ISBN-13: 978-052146692.This book examines the development of the modern idea of militarism from its inception in the 1860s until the outbreak of World War I. Often regarded as the archetypical militarist state, Imperial Germany in fact witnessed a major controversy over the issue, as the arms race and the military-industrial complex displaced more traditional concerns about authoritarian rule, and militarism gradually acquired its modern meaning. Older radical traditions and the impact of Marxism are reassessed as Nicholas Stargardt examines the political history of German Social Democracy, the principal anti-militarist protagonist.The anti-militarist tradition, 1866-1900Democracy and cheap governmentThe idea of militarism
The parting of ways
The Social Democratic programme
Soldiers versus civilians
Citizens as taxpayersSocial Democracy and the FatherlandMilitary capacity and defence 50
The nation
Foreign policy
War scares and socialist internationalismKarl Kautsky’s theory of militarismMarx, Engels and the Left-Liberal tradition
Kautsky on the army and state
Kautsky on German militarismThe new militarism, 1900-14Karl Liebknecht and the end of democratic anti-militarismKarl Liebknecht’s Militarism
Reflections in prisonThe economics of armamentMilitary spending and economic crisis
Monopoly prices and economic growth
The military-industrial complexThe tides of pacificism, 1907-14From national defence to pacifism
Programme and policy
August 1914: from pacifism to national defenceNotes

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