The Slender Threads

Abstract

During the period from 1871 to 1914, when grossdeutsch sentiment generally lapsed into a comfortable sense of cultural affinity between Germans of the two empires, two continuing ideological trends bridged the gap between the heated political controversies of the 1860’s and the wartime interest in Mitteleuropa. One aspect was manifested in Germany, the other, in Austria. Both were distorted into local, and differing, types of Pan-German thought.¹ The Reich-German trend was caught up in the ideas of that quixotic personality, Paul de Lagarde, during a time of declining interest in the affairs of the Austrian-Germans and accelerating enthusiasm for Weltpolitik. The Austrian trend, personified in the agitation of the demagogue, Freiherr von Schönerer, attracted varying amounts of attention at different times. At best it was never more than a minority sentiment, albeit often a very strident one. Each of the trends ran counter to the prevailing direction and interests of political and diplomatic policy of its respective state. The Austrian aspect was closely intertwined with the crises and problems of the Monarchy, whereas the one in Germany was overwhelmed by enthusiasm for overseas expansion. Both trends were to be reasserted in very different ways during the First World War.