Magazine title from 1924, example of a propaganda illustration in support of the legend

The Dolchstoßlegende or Dolchstosslegende, (German "dagger-blow legend") refers to a social mythos and persecution-propaganda among bitter post-World War I German nationalists, that lay blame for the loss of the war upon non-Germans and non-nationalists. Der Dolchstoss. ... Der Dolchstoss. ... Mythos can mean: A collection of myths A brand of Greek beer; see Mythos (beer) An Origins Award-winning card game released in 1996 by Chaosium; see Mythos (card game). ... Persecution is persistent mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. ... North Korean propaganda showing a soldier destroying the United States Capitol building. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Nationalism is an ethno- political ideology that sustains the concept of a nation- identity for an exclusive group of people. ...

Many Germans supported, fought in, or had otherwise known people lost in the enormously costly war. Many of these had believed the causes for German/Austrian involvement in the war to be both justified, with the hope that the long-sought goal of a unified German nation-state would be achieved. Instead, the war had killed 1,770,000 German soldiers and 760,000 German civilians, devastated the economy, and caused the losses in both territory and national sovereignty.

Rather than finding fault amongst themselves, nationalists and ex-military leaders instead sought others to blame, and soon enough the common scapegoats were Weimar Republic politicians, communists, and "international Jewry" —a term referring to Jews with a perceived excess of wealth and influence. These "November criminals", nationalists alleged, had "stabbed them in the back" on the "home front," by either criticizing the cause of German nationalism, or by simply not being zealous-enough supporters of it. In essence the accusation was that the accused committed treason against the benevolent and righteous common cause. This social mythos resonated among its audience, and its claims would codify the basis for public support for the emerging Nazi Party, under a severely racialist-based form of nationalism. The scapegoat was a goat that was driven off into the wilderness as part of the ceremonies of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in Judaism during the times of the Temple in Jerusalem. ... The period of German history from 1919 to 1933 is known as the Weimar Republic (Pronounced Vye-Mar, and in German it is known as the Weimarer Republik). It is named after the city of Weimar, where a national assembly convened to produce a new constitution after the German monarchy... This article is about communism as a form of society, as an ideology advocating that form of society, and as a popular movement. ... Home front is the informal term commonly used to describe the civilian populace of the nation at war as an active support system of its military. ... Nationalism is an ethno- political ideology that sustains the concept of a nation- identity for an exclusive group of people. ... In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to ones nation. ... The Nazi swastika symbol The National Socialist German Workers Party ( German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ... Hitlers Nazi Germany: the epitome of 20th-century racialism Racialism is a term used to describe racial policy, in what is generally perceived to be a negative sense, as promoting stratification and inequality between racial categories (in themselves, often disputed). ...

Origins

In the latter part of the war, Germany was practically governed as a military dictatorship, with the Supreme High Command (German: OHL, "Oberste Heeresleitung") and General Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg as commander-in-chief advising the Kaiser. After the last German offensive on the western front failed in 1918, the German war effort was doomed. In response, OHL arranged for a rapid change to a civilian government. General Erich Ludendorff, Germany's Chief of Staff, said: "I have asked His Excellency to now bring those circles to power which we have to thank for coming so far. We will therefore now bring those gentlemen into the ministries. They can now make the peace which has to be made. They can eat the soup which they have prepared for us!" Augusto Pinochet (sitting) was an army general who led a military coup in Chile in 1973. ... Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL, or Supreme Army Command) was the highest echelon of command of the German army in World War I. Between the OHL and the Seekriegsleitung (SKL, or Naval Warfare Command), which was responsible for naval warfare, there was insufficient coordination, at least during the preparations for war; e. ... Paul von Hindenburg President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg (full name Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg) (October 2, 1847 – August 2, 1934) was a German Field Marshal and statesman. ... Missing image Wilhelm II German Emperor and King of Prussia Wilhelm II of Prussia and Germany, Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert von Hohenzollern (January 27, 1859–June 4, 1941) was the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and the last King (König) of Prussia, ruling from 1888 to 1918. ... 1918 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... General Erich Ludendorff Erich Ludendorff (sometimes given incorrectly as Erich von Ludendorff) (April 9, 1865 – December 20, 1937, Tutzing, Bavaria, Germany) was a German Army officer, noted as a general during World War I. Ludendorff was born in Kruszewnia near Posen, Prussia (now Poznań, Poland). ...

On November 11, 1918, the civilian representatives of the newly formed Weimar Republic of Germany signed an armistice with the Allies which would end World War I. The subsequent Treaty of Versailles led to further territorial and financial losses. November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 50 days remaining. ... 1918 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The period of German history from 1919 to 1933 is known as the Weimar Republic (Pronounced Vye-Mar, and in German it is known as the Weimarer Republik). It is named after the city of Weimar, where a national assembly convened to produce a new constitution after the German monarchy... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Woodrow Wilson with the American Peace Commissioners The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 is the peace treaty created as a result of six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, which put an official end to World War I between the Allies and Central Powers. ...

As the Kaiser had been forced to abdicate and the military relinquished executive power, it was then the temporary, civilian government which "had to" sue for peace. This led to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Even though they publicly despised the treaty, it was most convenient for the generals - there were no war crime tribunals, they were celebrated as undefeated heroes, and they could covertly prepare for removing the republic which they had helped to create.

Indeed, in 1919 the Reichswehr (National Militia) already began "educating" an impressionable Adolf Hitler about the causes of the war and the defeat, firmly placing the Dolchstoßlegende in his mind; it was Ludendorff who would lead the unsuccessful Beer Hall Putsch on November 8, 1923 together with Hitler; it was the Reichswehr which provided early funding to the Nazi Party; and it was an 85-year-old Paul von Hindenburg who would appoint Hitler as chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. The Reichswehr (literally National Defence or National Militia) formed the military organization of Germany from 1918 until 1935, when the government rebranded it as the Wehrmacht (Defence Power). ... Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889–April 30, 1945) was the Führer und Reichskanzler (leader and chancellor) of Germany from 1933 to his death. ... The Beer Hall Putsch occurred in the evening of Thursday, November 8 to early afternoon of Friday, November 9, 1923 when the nascent Nazi partys Führer Adolf Hitler, the popular World War I General Erich Ludendorff, and other leaders of the Kampfbund, unsuccessfully tried to gain power in Munich... November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 53 days remaining. ... 1923 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The official birth of the legend can be dated to November 1919, when Hindenburg attempted to exonerate himself and the German army as a whole by placing blame specifically on a Dolchstoß by troops stationed within Germany who joined soldiers' and sailors' unions during the Spartacist uprisings. The term "November criminals" refers both to the statesmen who signed the Treaty of Versailles and to a vast Jewish-Marxist conspiracy that was often interpereted as including Germans who were not considered sufficiently patriotic or militaristic. It was also applied to those who participated in the revolution that overthrew the imperial government and instituted the Weimar Republic. 1919 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The Spartacist League (Spartakusbund in German) was a left-wing Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during and just after the politically volatile years of World War I, founded by Rosa Luxemburg (nicknamed Red Rosa) and Karl Liebknecht along with others such as Clara Zetkin. ... Militarism is the philosophical belief in which militaries (armies or navies) should control the country and whatever they do theyre causing good to the country. ...

No Allied soldiers had stepped foot on German soil, and German troops stood in fact before Paris in the West, and had signed the Peace of Brest-Litovsk with Russia in the East. Many who believed in the utter invincibility of the army asserted that the statesmen who had signed the Treaty of Versailles were traitors, and that victory would have eventually come otherwise. A point supported by the fact that the German leadership believed in fair and just conditions of a peace treaty, based upon Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points. As a result of the treaty, Germany's territory instead reduced by a third, the Rhineland was demilitarized and Allied troops were to occupy many areas. There were also enormous war reparations to be paid for a period of 70 years (until 1988). From a propaganda perspective, perhaps the most important aspect of the treaty was the War Guilt Clause, which forced Germany to accept complete responsibility for the war. When spelt with a capital A, Allies usually denotes the countries that fought together against the Central Powers in World War I and against the Axis powers in World War II. Other uses In general, allies are people or groups that have joined an alliance and are working together to... The Rhineland (Rheinland in German) is the general name for the land on both sides of the river Rhine in the west of Germany. ... War reparations refer to the monetary compensation provided to a triumphant nation or coalition from a defeated nation or coalition. ... The War Guilt Clause in the 1919 Versailles Treaty forced Germany to accept full responsiblity for initiating hostilities in World War I. The clause is generally accepted to be Article 231 of The Treaty of Versailles: The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and...

The treaty became enormously unpopular in Germany, in no small part because it impinged extensively on internal German sovereignty. However, the Allies were willing to gradually scale down the treaty in the coming years to counter the anti-capitalist Soviet Union. Moreover, the Weimar Republic under Friedrich Ebert violently suppressed workers' uprisings with the help of the Reichswehr and tolerated the paramilitary Freikorps forming all across Germany. In spite or because of this tolerance of the extreme right, the republic was viciously attacked, many of its representatives such as Walther Rathenau were assassinated, and the leaders were branded as "criminals" and Jews by the right-wing press dominated by Alfred Hugenberg. This is not the same Friedrich Ebert who was briefly the GDRs head of state, but rather his father. ... A paramilitary is a group of civilians trained and organized in a military fashion. ... The designation of Freikorps (German for Free Corps) was originally applied to voluntary armies. ... Walter Rathenau Walther Rathenau (September 29, 1867–June 24, 1922) was a German industrialist and politician who served as Foreign Minister of Germany. ... Alfred Hugenberg (June 19, 1865 - March 12, 1951) was an influential German businessman and politician. ...

The well-funded Dolchstoß propaganda managed to conceal the key facts about the armistice and the Weimar Republic, so the meme of the stab in the back would prove to be highly effective in building a strong nationalist movement in Germany. Its emotional effectiveness stemmed from the manner in which it addressed the anger and confusion felt not only by the average German, but also by soldiers returning from the front. Many of these men, feeling detached from civilian society as a whole because of their experiences at the front, were only too willing to join the Freikorps to exact some sort of revenge. Latent anti-Semitism, intensified by the Jewish dominance of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, could be easily exploited and built upon to create a powerful ideology of racism. The term and concept of meme (pronounced in IPA; from the Greek word for memory) was introduced by Richard Dawkins in 1976 in his book The Selfish Gene. ... Anti-Semitism (alternatively spelled antisemitism) is hostility towards Jews (not: Semites - see the Misnomer section further on). ... The Bavarian Soviet Republic (Bayerische Räterepublik)—also known as the Munich Soviet Republic (Münchner Räterepublik)—was a short-lived revolutionary government over the German state of Bavaria in 1919 that sought to replace the fledgling Weimar Republic in its early days. ... An African-American drinks out of a water cooler designated for use by colored patrons in 1939 at a streetcar terminal in Oklahoma City. ...

As such, the Dolchstoß quickly became a central image in propaganda produced by the many right-wing and traditionally conservative political parties that sprung up in the early days of the Weimar Republic, including Hitler's NSDAP. For Hitler himself, having an explanatory model for World War I was of crucial personal importance. He had learned of Germany's defeat while being treated for temporary blindness following a gas attack on the front. He alleged to have had a vision at this time which drove him to enter politics and "redress these dreadful wrongs," (Spielvogel) "liberate the Germans from their bondage and make Germany great." Throughout his career he successfully railed against the "November criminals". Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ...

"Stab in the back" outside of Weimar Germany

Due to the highly potent imagery of a "stab in the back", and the common perception amongst political conservatives that politically hostile homefronts defeat otherwise winnable wars, the stab in the back legend is a common legend in a number of modern societies. In particular, the stab in the back legend is often used by conservatives to explain the defeat of the United States in the Vietnam war. In the context of the US involvement in the Vietnam War the stab in the back legend is part of the Vietnam Syndrome complex. Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ... The Vietnam War was a war fought roughly from 1957 to 1975 after the North Vietnamese government secretly agreed to begin involvement in South Vietnam. ... The Vietnam War was a war fought roughly from 1957 to 1975 after the North Vietnamese government secretly agreed to begin involvement in South Vietnam. ... This article is in need of attention. ...

Sources

• Spielvogel, Jackson J. Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History. New Jersey, Prentice Hall: 2001.
• OSS Psychological Profile of Hitler, Part Five (http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/h/hitler-adolf/oss-papers/text/oss-profile-05-04.html)