Assessing the Role of the German Empire in Unleashing the First World War in German Newspapers (2014)
Abstract
The article examines the assessment of the German Empire’s role in unleashing the First World War by the most influential German newspapers. The chronological framework of the study was 2014, which became the anniversary year for the First World War. In the course of the research, 7 most influential newspapers were selected according to the Deutschland.de portal: Bild, die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, Süddeutsche Zeitung, die tageszeitung (taz), die Welt. All newspapers were reviewed except Frankfurter Rundschau, which is due to the lack of articles on this topic online. These publishers were further divided by ideological orientation into notional “right-wing” and “left-wing” newspapers. Before examining the newspaper articles, the author briefly characterizes German historiography on the topic of World War I in order to identify key historical works that influenced the course of scholarly discourse and the historical memory of Germans regarding German culpability in the outbreak of the war. Special attention is paid to the concept of the Australian historian Christopher Clark, who had a significant influence on the development of modern European historiography on the history of the First World War. After analysing the articles, the main tendencies observed in the newspapers of both political camps as well as separately in each of them were identified. “Right-wing” newspapers seek to absolve Germany of responsibility for the escalation of the conflict by declaring all participating countries guilty. “Left-wing” newspapers in turn seek to demonstrate Germany’s responsibility for starting the war. The newspapers of both political camps tend to appeal to scientific and historical research, as well as use opinion pieces that, in total, broadcast the narratives that each newspaper needs.
About the Author
Valentin Olegovich Terentyev
Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
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Review
For citations:
Terentyev V.O. Assessing the Role of the German Empire in Unleashing the First World War in German Newspapers (2014). International Aspect. 2024;5(2):22-34. (In Russ.)
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