World War I:From War Frenzy to Mass Death

On August 1, 1914, Germany declares war on Russia. The First World War begins, the "primal catastrophe of the 20th century". Initial jubilation is quickly followed by disillusionment.

by Andrei Reisin

Hamburg, Rathausmarkt, in the late afternoon of July 31, 1914:Infantry soldiers of the Hamburg Regiment march through the Alster metropolis. At their head:an officer on horseback, who stops in all public places and announces the imposition of the so-called state of siege, the final preliminary stage to war.

First World War:The "primal catastrophe of the 20th century"

Austria-Hungary had already gone to war against Serbia three days earlier, an approach unofficially coordinated with Berlin in the greatest secrecy. Serbia's biggest ally, Russia, is to be forced into mobilization, which is happening as predicted. Publicity seems to confirm that an attack by Russia is imminent. The Germans believe they are going to a just defensive war. On the morning of August 1, at six o'clock in the morning, general mobilization began throughout Germany. War is officially declared on Russia. The First World War, the "primal catastrophe of the 20th century", has begun.

Collective war frenzy:The "August experience"

In the summer days of July and August 1914, enthusiasm for the war first spread. A frenzied, collective nationalism, later mystified as the "August experience," gripped large sections of the population. The same applies to the citizens of Hamburg, who come together in the elegant "Alsterpavillon" on Jungfernstieg. As the "Hamburger Nachrichten" reports, "the band has to play incessantly, and then the tones of 'Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles' reached the ears of those who had to wait outside because inside wasn't for a person either there would have been more space". Such scenes of spontaneous war euphoria take place in almost all northern German cities.

"Battle at Jungfernstieg":euphoria turns to violence

From the start, nationalist enthusiasm also included carnivalesque scenes, hooliganism and brutal violence. Even the proprietor of the "Alsterpavillon" is not spared:when he tries to stop a guest from reading an extra sheet aloud several times, the angry crowd beats him to the hospital and the café turns into a heap of broken glass. The advancing police had to draw their sabers to stop the "Battle at Jungfernstieg". Something similar is repeated in Kiel:when the imperial anthem is played there on July 28, students beat up other café guests who don't get up spontaneously, sing along and say "Hurrah!" roar.

"Spyitis" and mass hysteria are spreading

A kind of mass hysteria gripped the people:on August 4, 1914, at Bremen's main train station, shouting the slogan "Stop spying!" was enough to trigger a mass psychosis, as a result of which a man was nearly kicked to death by a fanatic mob. When the police are finally able to free the seriously injured victim, it turns out that he is a German soldier on his way to his unit. The Hanoverian philosophy professor Theodor Lessing, who was arrested on the same day as a "Russian spy" because of his long beard on a platform, was ultimately saved only by a Prussian officer, who turned out to be his former student. "How much abuse, how much malice, acts of revenge, bestialities were practiced in those horrible days", Lessing later noted, "no one was sure of his life."

"Clouds are mistaken for airplanes, bicycle handlebars for bombs"

In the first days of August alone, 28 civilians were shot dead at wild roadblocks because of the rumor that French gold was being smuggled from France to Russia in cars. A police chief speaks of a "madhouse" in which "the residents" are beginning to go mad:"Everyone sees their fellow human beings as a Russian or French spy and thinks it is their duty to bloody him and the policeman who takes care of him Mistaken clouds for planes, stars for airships, bicycle handlebars for bombs and spies summarily shot. There's no telling how all this will play out when times really get tough."

Start of war:ordinary people are skeptical

Contrary to the myth of the "August experience", according to which all sections of the population were equally enthusiastic about the war, this phenomenon primarily affects the nobility, the bourgeoisie, many intellectuals and, of course, the political leadership. In the working-class districts of the big cities and in the country, on the other hand, the mood is often very different. On their spy tours through working-class pubs in Hamburg, the agents of the political police note that those present ask aloud what concerns the Austrian heir to the throne and why they should give their lives for it. As early as August 1, a Social Democrat in Bremen observed the "most miserable mood" he had "ever experienced":"Mothers, women and brides bring the young men to the train and cry. Everyone has the feeling:It's going straight to the slaughterhouse. "

Not prepared for years of world war

However, hardly anyone expects how quickly times will become more difficult. Most soldiers think they'll be home for Christmas, and the state isn't prepared for a long war either.

• ARD.de:1914-1918
• Historical Museum:The First World War
• Federal Agency:The First World War

For the majority of the civilian population in northern Germany, there was no military threat associated with the outbreak of war, but after the declaration of war there was "sudden horror" in many villages, as one eyewitness noted. Many farmers fear for their harvest and livelihood. In addition, horses and carriages are often confiscated by the military. Siegfried Jacobson, publisher of the magazine "Schaubühne", wrote during his summer vacation on the North Sea:"Bring the enthusiastic Berliners here between our 15 farmhouses and they will be silent."

Hunger and unemployment are spreading

The war made itself felt particularly quickly in the north German ports. The British naval blockade practically brought shipping to a standstill. Despite the general mobilization, there is already mass unemployment in August. Shipowners, ship brokers, trading and port companies in Hamburg, Bremerhaven and elsewhere are laying off their employees. Although the conscripts go to war, 30,000 unemployed are registered in Hamburg alone at the beginning of September 1914, many of them dockworkers. As early as August 21, the "Hamburger Echo" reported that in the poorer parts of the city "the need is infinitely great, yes, that in many cases people are starving directly". Many families can no longer pay the rent, the number of homeless increases from 7,000 to 16,000 within a month.

Ten million soldiers die in the First World War

With the first terrible experiences at the front, the "baptism of fire", disillusionment and disillusionment also spread among the war volunteers. Theodor Reil from Oldenburg wrote to his teacher from Belgium at the end of August:"After a 33-hour train journey and a seven-hour wait, our people had a strenuous march. On the way you saw the first destruction, the terrible fires of the war, burnt-out houses, villages completely destroyed ."

At the latest with the defeat in the Battle of the Marne in September 1914, which made a quick victory against France impossible, many felt the same way as the grocer Johanna Boldt. At the beginning of October she wrote to her husband Julius on the eastern front:"People want nothing more than the end of this unfortunate war. And there is still no prospect of that." It will be four long years before this wish comes true in the course of the November Revolution of 1918, which begins in Kiel and Wilhelmshaven. By the end of the war, ten million soldiers had died on the battlefields of Europe - including Julius Boldt.