Fritz Fischer facts for kids

Fritz Fischer (born March 5, 1908 – died December 1, 1999) was a German historian. He is famous for his ideas about what caused World War I. In the early 1960s, Fischer suggested that Imperial Germany was fully responsible for starting the war. This idea was very new and surprising at the time.

Fischer's claims upset many people in West Germany. They challenged the common belief that Germany was innocent in World War I. His work made it seem like Germany was guilty of starting both world wars. This changed how many Germans viewed their country's recent past. The Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing called him the most important German historian of the 20th century.

Early Life and Education

Fritz Fischer was born in Ludwigsstadt, a town in Bavaria. His father worked as a railway inspector. Fischer went to grammar schools in Ansbach and Eichstätt. Later, he studied history, teaching, philosophy, and theology. He attended the University of Berlin and the University of Erlangen.

Fischer joined the Nazi Party in 1939 but left it in 1942. His early writings were more traditional. In 1942, he became a professor at the University of Hamburg. He married Margarete Lauth-Volkmann and they had two children. Fischer served in the Wehrmacht during World War II. After the war, he was held in a prisoner-of-war camp. In 1947, he returned to the University of Hamburg. He taught there until he retired in 1978.

Fischer's Big Ideas

Understanding National Socialism

After World War II, Fischer started to rethink his earlier beliefs. He disagreed with historians like Friedrich Meinecke. They thought Adolf Hitler and National Socialism were just a "mistake" in history. Fischer believed this explanation was not good enough.

In 1949, Fischer spoke at a meeting of German historians. He criticized the Lutheran church in Germany. He said it had praised the state too much. This, he argued, helped lead to Nazi Germany. Fischer believed the church taught that the state could do no wrong. He also disagreed that Nazi Germany was caused by the Treaty of Versailles. Instead, he argued that the roots of Nazi Germany went back before 1914. He thought they came from the long-standing goals of Germany's powerful leaders.

The Fischer Thesis: Who Started World War I?

In the 1950s, Fischer looked at old German government papers. These papers were about World War I. When he published his findings in 1961, his ideas changed how people understood the war. His main idea became known as the "Fischer thesis."

In 1961, Fischer published his book, Germany's Aims in the First World War. In this book, he argued that Germany had purposely caused World War I. Germany wanted to become a world power. Fischer believed that different groups in German society wanted to expand Germany's power. They aimed for more land in Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Fischer said that the "September Program" of 1914 showed these goals. This plan called for Germany to take over parts of Europe and Africa. He argued that the German government used the July Crisis of 1914 to start a war. They wanted to create a German-controlled Europe, called Mitteleuropa. They also wanted a German-controlled Africa, called Mittelafrika. Fischer thought Germany did not want war with the British Empire. However, they were willing to risk it to gain more land and power.

Fischer's ideas made it "impossible to maintain" that World War I was just a "ghastly mistake." Instead, it seemed like a planned result of German policy. Most Germans believed Germany caused World War II, but not World War I. They thought World War I was forced on Germany. Fischer was the first German historian to show documents proving otherwise. He showed that German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg had plans in September 1914 to take over Belgium, parts of France, and parts of Russia.

Fischer suggested that Germany's foreign policy was continuous from 1900 to World War II. This meant Germany was responsible for both world wars. He explored these ideas in later books like War of Illusions. In this book, he studied German politics from 1911 to 1914. He argued that Germany's leaders used aggressive foreign policy to distract people. They wanted to stop demands for more democracy at home.

Fischer was also the first German historian to support the "Sonderweg" (special path) idea. This idea suggests that Germany's history, from the Protestant Reformation or 1871, naturally led to the Third Reich. Fischer believed that Germany grew economically but not politically in the 19th century. He thought German foreign policy before 1914 was driven by old-fashioned leaders. They wanted to distract people from voting for the Social Democrats. They also wanted to make Germany the world's greatest power.

Fischer said that the German elite who caused World War I also led to the failure of the Weimar Republic. This then opened the way for the Third Reich. He believed this elite had racist, imperialist, and capitalist ideas, similar to the Nazis. He even called Bethmann Hollweg the "Hitler of 1914."

Fischer's claims started the "Fischer Controversy" in the 1960s. Other German historians, like Gerhard Ritter, tried to argue against him. However, many historians now agree that Fischer's evidence is very strong. His work changed how German historians studied their country's past. His discovery of documents about "Lebensraum" (living space) and ethnic cleansing in Poland was shocking. It suggested that Nazi plans were not just Hitler's ideas. They reflected older German goals. Many German historians were angry and called his work "anti-German."

Criticisms and Debates

Fischer's ideas caused a big debate among historians, especially in West Germany. His arguments made some people so angry that his publisher's office in Hamburg was firebombed. Other historians, like Gerhard Ritter, wrote books to argue against his ideas about war aims.

Some critics said that Fischer did not look at Germany in the right historical context. They argued that Germany was not the only aggressive European nation in the early 20th century. At that time, ideas like Social Darwinism were popular among Europe's leaders. These ideas supported struggle and competition between nations.

Critics also pointed out that other European countries had already gained many colonies. Countries like Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands had vast overseas empires long before Germany became a unified country in 1871. So, it was hard to say Germany was uniquely "grasping for world power." This desire for power was a long-standing European tradition.

Also, some critics questioned Fischer's timeline. They noted that Bethmann Hollweg's Septemberprogramm was written after the war had already started. At that time, Germany was doing well in the war. Critics also argued that other powerful countries had their own big plans for gaining land after the war. For example, France wanted revenge against Germany after the Franco-Prussian War. France also wanted to get back Alsace and Lorraine. Russia also had its own clear goals for the war.

See also

• Causes of World War I
• Historiography of the Causes of World War I
• Karl Max, Fürst Lichnowsky