“We have always believed that our people are capable of great achievements”: the Pan-Germans’ war plans in 1914–1918

The basic understanding of the Pan-German League in historical literature is,      as a rule, inextricably linked with the popular belief in the incitement of a military sentiment within the German society on the eve and during the First World War, as well as in the fact that Pan-Germans paved the way for the rooting of National Socialism during the Weimar Republic. If we limit ourselves to only studying the mass literature published by the Pan-German League in large editions, then, undoubtedly, this idea is true. The Pan-Germans really offered the Germans their vision of Germany’s military   goals,      persistently seeking their approval by the society and the ruling elite. However, outside the scope of the general research, there often remains an understanding of the reasons, motives and the conditions in which the Pan-German League carried out its agitation and propaganda work. The memoirs of its chairman, published in 1932 and 2022, significantly expand the knowledge of what was outside the Pan-German movement: the struggle for the resignation of the Chancellor, the establishment of a dictatorship, the widespread use of all types of weapons, German colonization. The purpose of the article is to show, on the basis of the previously unpublished memoirs of H. Claß, how the Pan-German League’s military objectives were prepared, how those objectives were justified; the paper also aims at revealing the internal contradictions and intentions that went beyond the scope of military plans. The conclusion is about the failed attempts of the Pan-Germans to establish a temporary dictatorship, pushing aside the civil administration, as well as about the failure of the project of military goals. However, despite the failures, the Pan-German agitation achieved its goal, causing a crisis of public confidence in the Chancellor’s personally, and their attempts to spread thoughts about dictatorship in society, inspired by H. Claß, allowed the future myth of the Fuhrer to crystallize.

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