A Long-lasting Success of Peace? Max Weber in the World War

Abstract

This article explores Max Weber’s ideas about a «successful peace» that he exposed during World War I. For Weber, a successful peace depended essentially on important domestic reforms and a fundamental reorganisation of the German Reich, more than on the foreign policy dimension. Analysing Weber’s “ideas of 1918” – opposed to the so-called “ideas of 1914” – this paper focuses on three aspects: (1) nation and citizenship, (2) Prussia, (3) German tradition, history and political culture.