Biwon Ng

How Ideological Conflict Shaped the Socio-Political Landscape in Interwar Germany

Started Sept. 2, 2023

Abstract or project description

Since the emergence of Marx and his revolutionary political thought, Germany became a center of leftist thought, particularly from the turn of the 20th century to the beginning of World War II. Countless German leftist thinkers expanded on or even opposed Marxist thought, leading to a natural division in ideologies. This paper argues that the internal discourse of the German Left and their split ideologies eventually led to their downfall and accelerated the rise of the far right in Germany during the Interwar Period leading up to World War II. Despite the many other factors that preceded the Nazi Party’s rise to power, the German Left was overall a weaker and less organized group, making them a crucial component in Germany’s political strife and eventually the beginning of a fascist Germany.