Left Liberals, the State, and Popular Politics in Wilhelmine Germany

Although often viewed as ineffectual intellectuals, or a spent political force, the left liberals had become the third largest party in German politics by 1914. This study investigates left liberals in the locality, as well as at a national level, with case studies ranging from Kiel to Kattowitz.
Although often viewed as ineffectual intellectuals, or a spent political force, the left liberals had become the third largest party in German politics by 1914 and in the German Revolution of 1918-19, it was the left liberals who effectively wrote the new Weimar constitution, overturning old notions of German liberalism as the helpless victim of mass mobilization and political polarization. It is therefore necesary to understand both the increasing left liberal influence and support on the eve of the First World War, and why liberal values could not be consolidated after 1918 This study has general implications for the history of imperial Germany, reassessing the role of political parties, public perceptions of politics, and the impact and character of the state.