Citation

Koenig C. J. Econ. Hist. 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Economic History Association, Publisher Cambridge University Press)

DOI

10.1017/S0022050722000523

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article shows that democracy in Weimar Germany was eroded by the political legacy of WWI. Using novel data on WWI veterans and an election panel from 1893-1933, I find that former soldiers are associated with a sizeable, persistent, and momentous shift in political preferences from left to right. I provide suggestive evidence that war participation made veterans highly receptive to nationalism and Anti-Communism. This alienated them from leftwing parties and drove the majority toward the political right. Contrary to historical accounts, veterans' shifts in political preferences cannot be explained by exposure to violence or other polarizing post-war events.

Far more [German WWI] veterans managed subsequently to lead unremarkable humdrum lives than sought refuge in a life of violence. (…) Yet, they did vote.
--Richard Bessel (1995)

Language: en