Militarismus

This essay on "militarism" in the classic series Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe: Historisches Lexikon zur politisch-sozialen Sprache in Deutschland (Basic Historical Terms: Historical Lexicon on the Political-Social Language in Germany) discusses the development of Prussian-German militarism. In the time of the publication of this essay in 1978 militarism was not only a controversial issue but it also aroused renewed interest in its quality as a historical phenomenon. This essay is part of a historiographical discussion of the question of whether the term militarism could provide an accurate description of a great variety of historical phenomena of the modern era military and war, such as the economic burdens of armies in the absolutism of the late 18th century, political and social primacy of the military in the German Empire and the further increasing militarization in the age of industrialized total wars.  The essay attempts to substantiate a positive answer to this question.