Nationalist and Racialist Movements in Britain and Germany Before 1914

This volume is the outcome of discussions held in St Antony's College, Oxford, between historians interested in a comparative approach to the problems of Wilhelmine Germany and Edwardian Britain. Too often the boundaries of the nation state set limits for research and restrict the perspectives of those conducting it. The work presented here is designed to help broaden our horizons without overlooking the importance of specific developments within national communities. Indeed it can be argued that only by looking at different national responses to similar social pressures or political theories can the real peculiarities of nation states be made to reveal themselves. Imperialist, nationalist and racialist notions were widespread in Europe in the first decade of the century. The manner in which they were received and disseminated, and the impact they had on government policies and popular movements form the subject of this book. The British and the German cases are useful for purposes of comparison. Roughly comparable in size and economic development, the two countries nonetheless differed in political tradition and social structure. Both the similarities and the contrasts are of historical significance. The volume could not have been produced ifBritish and German scholars had not had the chance to meet together in Oxford to discuss their work. With the torrent of scholarly works on right-wing associations in Wilhelmine Germany, it has been assumed perhaps too often that Germany held exclusive rights to the phenomenon of nationalist and racialist movements in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although similar movements existed across the channel in Edwardian England, they have been overshadowed by the German case. This recently published collection of eleven essays presented at a 1978 conference at St. Antony's College, Oxford, should be welcomed, therefore, as a first attempt to explore the nature of right-wing ideologies and organizations in both Britain and Germany and to provide a framework for future comparative studies on this important subject.The book falls into two sections: one dealing primarily with the ideological framework, the other with organizations and political practice.In a topic in which so many gaps remain, it is perhaps inevitable that the essays deal with either Britain or Germany, but not both. Efforts at comparison are left to the editor, Paul Kennedy, whose fine introduction addresses the overriding question of why nationalist and racialist movements were much stronger in Germany than in Britain before the First World War.[excerpted from 1984 review in Journal of Social History] Front Matter....Pages i-xi The Pre-war Right in Britain and Germany....Pages 1-20 The ‘Revolt from the Right’ in Edwardian Britain....Pages 21-39 Some Thoughts on the Nationalist Pressure Groups in Imperial Germany....Pages 40-67 The Character of Edwardian Nationalism: Three Popular Leagues....Pages 68-87 Anti-Semitism — a Focal Point for the British Radical Right....Pages 88-105 Roman Catholics, the Centre Party and Anti-Semitism in Imperial Germany....Pages 106-129 The British Imperialist Intelligentsia and the Kaiserreich....Pages 130-142 Racial Theories of History and Politics: the Example of Houston Stewart Chamberlain....Pages 143-153 Treitschke’s Influence on the Rise of Imperialist and Anti-British Nationalism in Germany....Pages 154-170 Jingoism and Xenophobia in the Electioneering Strategies of British Ruling Elites before 1914....Pages 171-189 The Function of ‘Race’ in Imperialist Ideologies: the Example of Joseph Chamberlain....Pages 190-203 Back Matter....Pages 204-210