American Historiography of the Origins of World War I, 1914-1935| a Comparative Study

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American Historiography of the Origins of World War I, 1914-1935| a Comparative Study University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 1958 American historiography of the origins of World War I, 1914-1935| A comparative study Richard D. Warden The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Warden, Richard D., "American historiography of the origins of World War I, 1914-1935| A comparative study" (1958). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 1511. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/1511 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AMERICAN HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE ORIGINS OF WORLD WAR I, 1914-1935: A COMPARATIVE STUDY by RICHARD DANA WARDEN B.A. Montana State University, 1957 Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY 1958 Approved by: ^ # 111^ ^ Chairman, Boafd of Examiners Dean, Graduate School JttJG 2 2 1958 Date UMI Number: EP35459 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT MMMtarion RbMMiing UMI EP35459 Published by ProQuest LLC (2012). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 -1346 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION .......................................... 1 Chapter I. INTELLECTUAL CLIMATE, i g i ^ - l Ç R O .......... I4. II. ORIGINS OF WORLD WAR I AS VIEWED BY AMERICAN HISTORIANS, 1914^1920 ................... 28 III. REVELATIONS BEARING ON THE ORIGINS OF THE WAR, 1 9 1 7 - 1 9 3 0 .......................... 106 IV. ORIGINS OF WORLD WAR I AS VIEWED BY AMERICAN HISTORIANS AFTER 1920 ................... 122 CONCLUSION.......................................... 207 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................ 219 11 INTRODUCTION The task of writing a contemporary history is sur­ rounded by more than the ordinary difficulties common to any scholarly effort. Scarcely a month passes without the publication of letters, memoirs, biographies or other evidence which may supplement or refute what has previously been accepted as fact. Also political shifts--a presi­ dential election campaign, a war or domestic economic unrest--often alter perspectives as to the wisdom of past policies. The twentieth century historian in writing on the causes of recent wars has enjoyed one advantage. In earlier times, the archives or repositories of belliger­ ent nations have been closed to non-official readers for a period of forty to eighty years after cessation of hostilities.^ This was not the case, however, after World War I, yet the historian, during the first years, had access to only a limited and edited amount of infor^ mation. A radical change occurred after I92O when many of the national archives of the erstwhile belligerent powers were opened to scholars. It was inevitable that a drastic revision of judgments reached during the war would follow the publication of so much new evidence. ^Harry E. Barnes, History and Social Intelligence (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, I926 ), p. 22?. 2 Historians who had written without reserve during and immediately after the war saw themselves confronted with the need of revising their own Judgments or having others do the Job for them. A case in point was the American historian during and after World War I. Prior to the American entry in 1917, public opinion in the United States was divided. The declaration of war, however, forced the consensus of the American people along one line with one ultimate goal, the complete defeat of the Central Powers. To assure an united home front, the government set out through the use of propaganda and censorship to mold dissident groups into a conforming public amenable to the successful prosecution of the war. Propagandizing by official and private agencies in the United States, to say nothing of the innumerable pressures exerted upon the public mind from without the country, was probably a necessary evil accompanying the war, but the vicious hatreds and prejudices engen­ dered by that device made the task of contemporary his­ torians, particularly those writing on the origins of the war while hostilities were in progress, doubly difficult. In the frenzied atmosphere of war, scholars were frequently caught up in the mass hysteria and made concrete observations without the advantage of essential perspectives. The publication of the secret documentary evidence bearing on the war's beginnings confronted them 3 with the need for revision of the wartime verdict of responsibility. The label of "revisionism" has been applied to the work of the historians who challenged the wartime Interpretation of responsibility for World War I, but. In a broader sense, all historians are re­ visionists . A study of the writings of American scholars on the question of the origins of the war logically must be divided Into two broad phases. The first Includes works written while the authors were subject to wartime pressures, propaganda and a marked shortage of substantial evidence and roughly spans the years 191I1-I92O. The second phase, the revisionist period beginning about 1920, followed the unprecedented openings of national archives after the war and witnessed an Increasing acceptance In America and the world at large of the revisionist posi­ tion on the origins of the war. CHAPTER I INTELLECTUAL CLIMATE, I91I1-I92O Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, signed June 2 8 , 1919, reads as follows: The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts, the responsibility of her­ self and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a con­ sequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies. This is the famous or infamous "war guilt" clause upon which were based the Allied demands for reparations and which, by implication, sanctioned the entire treaty. It was generally assumed in the United States and in other Entente nations that Germany, by her acquiescence in such an indictment, admitted her guilt and ended for all time the debate over the responsibility for precipitating World War I. Nothing could have been further from the case. On the contrary, neither the German nation nor a great body of historians, variously called revisionists or debunkers, was ready to accept the signing as final proof of Germany’s guilt. In 1919, however, Germany had no choice except to subscribe to a verdict in which she had no faith. The German people as a whole were certain that they had not willed the war. German diplomats and statesmen, while recognizing certain omissions and blunders, likewise 4 5 were not conscious of having charted a course which aimed at war. The German signature on the Treaty of Versailles hence could only be involuntary— extorted at the point of a bayonet. It was inevitable that Ger­ many from the first advocated a closer examination of the evidence, convinced that the verdict was open to modification. American historians generally were ready to accept and defend the judgment of the Allies. Wartime emotions and the lack of evidence to the contrary made them susceptible to interpretations which in retrospect seem crude and infantile. It is necessary to examine the climate and bounds within which the historian moved. By 191^, historical scholarship generally had attained a high degree of impartiality. Patriotic senti­ ments the world over had been subordinated to a desire to tell the truth. Then came the World War, and history was set back, in psychological temper, to the generation before Ranke. Historians of repute in all nations were guilty of succumbing to the popular ardor sweeping the world. It was in the United States, however, that the largest number of eminent scholars "broke loose from their intellectual moorings and outdid Bancroft in enthusiasm. ^Harry E. Barnes, A History of Historical Writing (Norman; University of Oklahoma Press, 193#), P. 279* 6 That the student of history may become affected by biases arising from religion, race, nationality, partisan zeal or economic attachments is a generalization which might be applied to the historiography of any period but which is even more true during periods of international tension. After the decision of the United States govern­ ment to enter the war in 1^17, the American historian was more than ever apt to succumb to any or all of these pitfalls in his search for the truth. Furthermore, it goes without saying that even the most scholarly histor­ ian is likely to become group-conditioned, a fact which was illustrated graphically by the behavior of American historians and pseudo-historians during the war years. Many of these, #10 had shown remarkable poise in handling such controversial subjects as the American Revolution or the Civil War, showed now that they had not the courage to oppose public opinion and rode a crest of popularity by reiterating what was being said on street corners across the nation. In the frenzied atmosphere of American neutrality and particularly after the entry of the United States into the war, authors were caught up in the mass hysteria brought on by the dissemination of propaganda and made their Interpretations without the advantage of an objective perspective.
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