The spirit of 1914 A redefinition and a defence

• Published in: War in history Vol. 25; no. 1; pp. 26 - 47
• Main Author: Ringmar, Erik
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE 01.01.2018; SAGE Publications; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: enthusiasm; European history; First World War; Historia; Historia och arkeologi; Historical analysis; History; History and Archaeology; Humaniora och konst; Humanities; Humanities and the Arts; Moods; outbreak of war; Political Science; revisionism; Samhällsvetenskap; Social Sciences; Statsvetenskap; World War I; Europe; First World War; revisionism; spirit of 1914; public mood; popular reactions; experience
• ISSN: 0968-3445; 1477-0385; 1477-0385
• DOI: 10.1177/0968344516650476

The received wisdom has long been that people in Europe reacted with great enthusiasm as war was approaching in August, 1914. However, scholars who have investigated the matter have found little evidence of enthusiasm. There was no unique "spirit of 1914," and people in general were not happy about the prospect of war. This revisionist thesis is now the new orthodoxy and should as such be subject to scrutiny. In this article I focus on the notion of an "experience." Experiences are felt and gone through, the argument will be, not rationalized after the fact. As such they will always leave only faint traces in the historical sources. It is very difficult to say what people in August 1914 actually felt. As a way around this problem I suggest we should focus on a study of public moods. It is in a public mood that felt experiences arise and public moods are in principle open to historical investigation.