Fritz Fischer (March 5, 1908- December 1, 1999) was a German historian best known for his analysis of the causes of World War I. Fischer was born in Ludwigstadt in Bavaria. His father was a railroad inspector. Educated at grammar schools in Ansbach and Eichstätt, Fischer attended the University of Berlin and the University of Erlangen, where he studied history, pedagogy, philosophy and theology. In 1942, Fischer married Margarete Lauth-Volkmann, with whom he fathered two children. Fischer served in the Wehrmacht in World War II. After his release from a POW camp in 1947, Fischer became a professor at the University of Hamburg, where he stayed until his retirement in 1978. In 1949, at the first post-war German Historians' Congress in Munich, Fischer strongly criticized the Lutheran tradition in German life, accusing the Lutheran church of glorifying the state at the expense of individual liberties and thus helping to bring about Nazi Germany. Fritz Fischer may refer to: Fritz Fischer, the German historian (1908-1999). ... March 5 is the 64th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (65th in leap years). ... 1908 (MCMVIII) is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... December 1 is the 335th (in leap years the 336th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Main article: World War I On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo in a conspiracy involving Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb student. ... The Free State of Bavaria  (German: Freistaat Bayern), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... There is no institution called the University of Berlin, but there are four universities in Berlin, Germany: Humboldt University of Berlin (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) Technical University of Berlin (Technische Universität Berlin) Free University of Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin) Berlin University of the Arts (Universität der Künste Berlin) This is... Erlangen is a German city in Middle Franconia. ... This article is about the year. ... The German Army (German: Heer listen â–¶(?)) is one of the three parts of the Bundeswehr (Federal Defence), as well as previously the Wehrmacht (Defence Force) - the others are the Air Force (Luftwaffe) and the Navy (Marine). ... Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 17 million military deaths 7 million military deaths World War II, also known as the Second World War (sometimes WW2 or WWII), was a mid-20th century conflict that engulfed much of the globe and is accepted as... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The University of Hamburg was founded on the 1 April 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday. ... Munich and the Alps Munich (German: München (pronounced listen) is the capital of the German federal state of Bavaria. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

By 1961, Fischer, who had risen to the rank of professor emeritus at the University of Hamburg, rocked the history profession with his first postwar book, Griff nach der Weltmacht: Die Kriegzielpolitik des kaiserlichen Deutschland 1914-1918 (Loosely translated as Bid For World Power: Germany's Aims in the First World War), in which he argued that Germany had deliberately instigated the First World War in an attempt to become a world power. For most Germans at this time, it was acceptable to believe that Germany had caused World War Two, but not World War One, which was still widely regarded as a war forced upon Germany. Fischer was the first German historian to publish documents showing that the German chancellor Dr. Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg had developed plans in 1914 to annex all of Belgium, part of France and most of European Russia. Furthermore, Fischer suggested that there was continuity in German foreign policy aims from 1900 to the Second World War, implying therefore that Germany was indeed responsible for both world wars. These ideas were expanded in his later books Krieg der Illusionen (War of Illusions), Bündnis der Eliten (From Kaiserreich to Third Reich) and Hitler war kein Betriebsunfall (Hitler Was No Chance Accident). 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Combatants Entente Powers Central Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties > 5 million military deaths > 3 million military deaths World War I, also known as the First World War and (before 1939) the Great War, the War of the Nations, War to End All Wars was a world conflict... Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg (November 29, 1856–January 1, 1921) was a German politician and statesman who served as Chancellor of the German Empire from 1909 to 1917. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

Fischer was the first German historian to champion the "Sonderweg" or "special path"' interpretation of German history, which holds that the way German culture and society developed from the Reformation onwards inexorably culminated in the Third Reich. In Fischer's view, while 19th-century German society moved forwards economically and industrially, it did not do so politically. For Fischer, German foreign policy before 1914 was largely motivated by the efforts of the reactionary German elite to distract the public from casting their votes for the Social Democrats and to make Germany the world's greatest power at the expense of France, Britain, and Russia. Furthermore, the same German elite that caused World War One also caused the failure of the Weimar Republic and ushered in the Third Reich. This traditional German elite, in Fischer's analysis, was dominated by an irrational racist, imperialist, and capitalist ideology that was no different from the beliefs of the Nazis. For this reason, Fischer called Bethmann-Hollweg the "Hitler of 1914". Sonderweg, (literally: sonder= special, weg= path) is a theory in historiography that considers the German-speaking lands, or the country Germany, to have followed its own, unique course through its evolution and history, separate from other European countries: therefore, a route of development which is special or an alternative. ... The Protestant Reformation was a movement which began in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... SPD redirects here. ... The period of German history from 1919 to 1933 is known as the Weimar Republic (German Weimarer Republik, IPA: []). It is named after the city of Weimar where a national assembly convened to produce a new constitution after the German Monarchy and German Empire were abolished following the nations... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

Criticisms

Fischer caused a deep controversy with his books, particularly in West Germany. His arguments sparked so much anger that his publisher's office in Hamburg was firebombed. His works inspired other historians, such as Gerhard Ritter, to write books and articles in direct response to his war-aims thesis. Hamburgs central promenade Jungfernstieg on the Alster lake, between 1900 and 1914 Hamburg is Germanys second largest city (after Berlin) and, with the Hamburg Harbour, its principal port. ... Gerhard Albert Ritter (April 6, 1888-July 1, 1967) was a well-known German conservative historian. ...

Some critics contend that Fischer placed Germany outside the proper historical context. Germany was not uniquely aggressive amongst European nations of the early 20th century, a time when Darwinian ideals of struggle were popular throughout European governing circles. Fischer's timetable has also been criticized as inaccurate. Hollweg's "September Programme", outlining German war aims, was not produced until after the war had begun and was still going well for Germany. At the same time, other powers had been harboring similarly grandiose plans.

Work

• Moritz August von Bethmann-Holllweg und der Portestantismus, 1938.
• Ludwig Nikolvius: Rokoko, Reform, Restauration, 1942.
• Griff nach der Weltmacht: die Kriegszielpolitik des Kaiserlichen Deutschland, 1914-18, 1961.
• Krieg der Illusionen: Die deutsche Politik von 1911 bis 1914, 1969.
• Bündnis der Eliten: Zur Kontinuität der Machstrukturen in Deutschland, 1871-1945, 1979.
• Hitler war kein Betriebsunfall: Aufsätze, 1992.

Reference

• Fletcher, Roger Introduction to Fritz Fischer, From Kaiserreich to Third Reich, London: Allen & Unwin, 1986.
• Geiss, Imanuel, Studien über Geschichte und Geschichtswissenschaft, 1972.
• Geiss, Imanuel & Wendt, Bernd Jürgen (editors) Deutschland in der Weltpolitik des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts: Fritz Fischer zum 65. Geburtstag (Germany in the World Politcs of the 19th and 20th centuries: Fritz Fischer on His 65th Birthday), Düsseldorf: Bertelsmann Universitätsverlag, 1973.
• Moses, John The Politics of Illusion: The Fischer Controversy in German Historiography, London: Prior, 1975.