Sonderweg Thesis

Sonderweg Thesis

Introduction

One major dilemma in people's minds regarding Germany is how could a relatively civil country all of a sudden turn towards Nazism and commit so many mass murders for no reason, many analyst and researchers have pondered over this issue until many have stated that the underlying reason behind the rise of the Nazism is the Sonderweg Thesis. Sonderweg means special path.

The Sonderweg thesis was a conventional theory before 1940 according to which it separated favorably the differences of Germany from the Western nations. This is a principle every nation follows, showing to the world what's best about them and why their country is the finest why are they unique and different from all other nations. According to the Sonderweg Thesis Germany felt that within many European countries like Britain and France, the bourgeoisie or in other words the middle class were weak, hence they progressed towards absolute monarchy instead of democracy. The revolution that began in 1848 was a struggle to bring parliamentarian rule to the country, which was overpowered by Otto von Bismarck who carried out a revolution on the behalf of the Prussian monarchy.

Historical perspective

It was initially believed by the historians of the nineteenth century that the German government was ideal and positive; the non parliamentary aspect of the constitutional monarchy was considered an asset not as a liability. German culture and civilization was considered superior than the western cultures.

This principle had reached its zenith at the beginning of the First World War. A decade after the 1848 revolution in Germany, the middle class German's were still being led by the revolution of Germany into an industrialized state. The famous German historian Wheler has given a list of elements that distinguished Germany from other Western nations; the most obvious included the dominance of Bismarck in the formation of the nation led by the nonstop power of the monarch instead of a parliament.

The middle class people were restricted by the powerful monarch and the radical labor movements. In order to access the situation more appropriately we need to analyze the critical factors that were a turning point. In comparison with other nations Germany became industrialized relatively later than many other nations. Initially industrial entrepreneurs and business men of such high scale were scarce.

The majority of the German society wanted a unified Germany with a proper constitution and parliament, only a few middle class people or bourgeoisie were in the favor of ruling dynasties as found in many German states. During the 1848 revolution many people placed forward the idea of a constitutionally governed Germany into practice. The ruling countries within Europe Austria and Prussia blocked the establishment of a unified government within Germany. By the end of 1862 Bismarck was appointed the prime minster of Prussia; the policies made by Bismarck became the major role behind unifying Germany. In 1866 a war between Prussia and Austria broke out in order to decide who will rule over Germany. After being defeated n 1866 Habsburg ...