Russian Factor in the Military and Political Conflicts of Europe in 1917–1920

Статья посвящена т. н. «русскому фактору» в период после окончания Первой мировой войны и до 1920г. Революционные события в России радикально изменили внешнеполитическую ситуацию на европейском театре и одновременно стали оказывать серьезное влияние на внутреннюю повестку стран участниц конфликта, благодаря активной политике Советской России по продвижению революционных идей и поддержке революционных движений в Европе. Подобная практика была вызвана не столько искренним желанием раздуть революционный пожар и безусловной верой в его возможность, сколько необходимостью физического выживания молодого «пролетарского государства» во враждебном капиталистическом окружении. В статье подробно рассматривается идеологическая подоплека внешней политики Советской России в это период и деятельность на этом поприще ее вождя В.И. Ленина, его попытки повлиять на общественно-политические процессы в Германии, Венгрии и Польше, а также анализируются изменения в идеологической повестке большевиков после провала советской политики по созданию плацдармов для продвижения революции в центральную Европу. Также в статье обращается внимание на то, что за внешней ширмой буржуазной революции в России явно проступают признаки целенаправленной политики по удалению с карты Европы и Азии империй — Османской, Германской, Австро-Венгерской и Российской, чему предшествовала активная компания по девальвации самих монархических институтов. Большевистская же политика по полному демонтажу прежней системы, несмотря на внешнюю враждебность идеологических установок, оказалась вполне приемлемой для тех, кто стремился не допустить пересборки Центральных держав. The article deals with the influence of the so-called Russian factor in the events following the end of the First World War up until 1920. The revolution in Russia radically changed the situation in Europe, having a major impact on the domestic and foreign policies of the belligerent nations, caused by active Soviet support for revolutionary movements in Europe. This practice stemmed not from a sincere desire to fan the revolutionary flames but rather from the survival instinct of the newly-established proletarian state, surrounded by hostile capitalistic countries. The article examines the ideological motivations behind Soviet Russia's foreign policy during this period and the activities of its leader, Vladimir Lenin, as well as his attempts to influence social and political processes in Germany, Hungary, and Poland. The study also analyzes the changes in the ideological agenda of the Bolsheviks after the failure of Soviet policy to create springboards for the advancement of the revolution into Central Europe. Moreover, the paper points out that the smokescreen of the revolution in Russia reveals clear signs of a concerted effort to wipe the Ottoman Empire, the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Russian Empire from the map of Europe and Asia, preceded by an active campaign aimed at undermining the monarchic institutions themselves. Meanwhile, the Bolshevik policy that sought to completely dismantle the old regime, despite the hostility of its ideology, eventually proved perfectly acceptable for those who aimed to prevent the Central Powers from rising up again.

New Form, New Material and Color Scheme, the Exposed Concrete Phenomenon—The Centennial Hall in Wrocław

The aim of the article is to present the remarkable changes in architecture that took place in the 20th century. They can easily be called a revolution regarding the architectural form and the color scheme. Progress was being made through the development of reinforced concrete production methods. In the German Empire (Deutsches Kaiserreich), this material quickly found applications in more and more interesting solutions in architectural structures. In Wrocław (formerly Breslau), then located in the eastern German Empire, exceptional architectural works were realized before and after the First World War using new technology. In 1913, an unusual building was erected—the Centennial Hall, designed by Max Berg (inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2006). Berg’s work was inspired by the works of both Hans Poelzig and Bruno Taut. On the one hand, it was a delight with the new material (the Upper Silesian Tower at the exhibition in Poznań, designed by H. Poelzig) and, on the other hand, with the colorful architecture of light and glass by B. Taut (a glass pavilion at the Werkbund exhibition in Cologne). Max Berg left the concrete in an almost “pure” form, not hiding the texture of the formwork under the plaster layer. However, stratigraphic studies of paint coatings and archival inquiries reveal a new face of this building. The research was carried out as part of the CMP (Conservation Management Plan—prepared by the authors of the article, among others) grant from The Getty Foundation Keeping It Modern program. According to the source materials, the architect intended to leave the exposed concrete outside of the building, while the interior was to be decorated with painting, stained glass, and sculpture. The stratigraphic tests showed that the external walls were covered with a translucent yellowish color coating. Thus, the Centennial Hall shows a different face of reinforced concrete architecture.

`One Man´s Gain Is Another Man´s Loss´? Interim Report on the Consequences of Emigration for Those Staying at Home in the 18th Century

Research on historical migration has so far focused on the impact of immigration on recipient areas. Although several researchers have already pointed out this bias, no studies have been conducted on the impact of emigration from the early German Empire on the affected areas. In this study, the southern German territories affected by emigration to Hungary in the 18th century are examined. Through some examples, the paper seeks to assess potential source groups and provide a preliminary picture of impacts. In conclusion, further research needs to be carried out through intensive resource exploration, covering individuals, smaller communities along with distinct provinces and regions.

Great Expectations – Sluggish Performance

Rec.: Katja Hoyer, The Rise and Fall of German Empire, Stroud: The History Press, 2021.

Max Weber and political theology of Friedrich Naumann

In the Weberian literature, it has been repeatedly noted that there is no serious theological interest in the most important provisions of the sociology of religion by Max Weber. This seems paradoxical given the religious-theological context for the development of Webers intellectual project of the social-theoretical hermeneutics of Western modernity. In the first part of the article, the author reconstructs the family and friends religious constellation which determined Webers understanding of the existential significance of religious meanings for certain groups of the modern era. The author mentions Webers close ties with a number of leading theologians of Germany in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, which influenced the heuristics of his writings. The second part of the article focuses on the multifaceted figure of Friedrich Naumann, a public intellectual, who was a Protestant pastor and a reactionary-conservative theologian and became a spiritual-political leader of the German left liberals. The author shows the initial ambivalence of the political-religious situation in the German Empire in the 1880s-1890s, in which Naumann tried to combine Christianity and socialism, and provides a brief overview of the young theologian and social activists gradual turning into a prominent figure of the German journalism and politics. In the third part of the article, the author describes the meeting of two thinkers as fateful for both Weber and Naumann, and emphasizes a radical turn in the worldview of the famous religious theorist and practitioner, who under the powerful influence of Webers personality and argumentation gave up both many previous ideas and pastors office. In conclusion, the author identifies the paradigmatic nature of Naumans ideological-political evolution as typical for a significant part of German intellectuals at the beginning of the 20th century, and considers Naumanns Hegelian acceptance of the modern nation-state as the highest value (following Weber) as a self-fulfilling diagnosis for the crisis modernity on the eve of the First World War catastrophe.

“Incurable Megalomania” and “Fantasies of Expansion”: The German Army Reimagines Empire in Occupied Poland, 1915–1918

Plans for a Polish “border strip” are frequently cited to argue that the German army entered the First World War committed to pacifying conquered space through Germanization. This article contends that, in 1914, the German officer corps did not understand national homogeneity as essential for imperial security. Many influential officers insisted that Polish identity was compatible with German imperial loyalty. They supported a multinational imperial model, proposing to trade Poland its cultural and political autonomy for the acceptance of German suzerainty in foreign policy and military command. The army's preference for Germanizing space developed during the occupation of Russian Poland, as officers learned to conflate diversity with imperial fragility. Only a series of political crises after 1916 shifted military opinion against multinational imperialism. Increasingly convinced that Poland would betray the German Empire, some officers abandoned multinationalism. Others revised their plans to contain Poland and fortify Germany by annexing and Germanizing Polish space.

Chancellor ambitions of Alfred Von Waldersee: personal diary as a historical source

Жизнь и деятельность графа Альфреда фон Вальдерзее (1832–1904), одного из ведущих представителей военно-политической элиты Германии конца XIX в., до сих пор остается слабо изученной. Цель настоящего исследования – выяс-нить, может ли его личный дневник дать однозначный ответ на вопрос о нали-чии у него канцлерских амбиций. Обращаясь к исследованиям культурологов, социологов и психологов, автор делает вывод о том, что дневник отражает в первую очередь представления человека о самом себе, его идентичность. Вальдерзее крайне неохотно писал о тех своих действиях, которые плохо со-относились с образом «идеального офицера». Таким образом, ссылка на днев-никовые записи не является однозначным аргументом в пользу отсутствия у Вальдерзее канцлерских амбиций. The life and activities of Alfred Graf Waldersee – one of the most influential military-political leaders of the German empire in the late XIXth century – remain understudied. The goal of the present article is to assess whether his personal diary can provide us a definitive answer about Waldersee’s chancellor ambitions. The main conclusion after consulting the writings of cultural scientists, social scientists and psychologists dealing with diaries is that a diary reflects primarily the self-image of a person, his/her identity. Waldersee was very reticent in describing his actions not corresponding with the image of an “ideal officer”. Therefore, the diary entries cannot prove the absence of ambitions for chancellorship by Waldersee.

The Cartographic Propositions of Raumforschung und Raumordnung, 1936-1955: from Territorial Expansion to Defeat and Division

This paper examines shifts in the design of, use of and rhetoric accompanying maps published in the periodical Raumforschung und Raumordnung from 1936 through 1955. In the discussion of these maps published prior to and during the Second World War, special attention is paid to the depiction of the German Empire, the incorporation of Austria into maps of the Third Reich, and cartographic portrayalsof Poland and other eastern European territory. Particularly in-depth investigation into articles and maps written and drawn by Reinhold Niemeyer and Rudolf Hoffmann is also undertaken here. In evaluating the maps published in Raumforschungund Raumordnung (RuR) after Germany’s defeat, this paper focuses on depictions of the new Federal Republic of Germany and the mapping of its relationship, geographically, to the German Democratic Republic. While the content of the maps published in RuR reflected the territorial reality of its German cartographers and authors – from violent expansionism to defeat, territorial diminution and a split into two distinct nation states –, this paper argues that many of the cartographic strategies employed in its pages remained relatively consistent over time.