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92-683: Backed by the Pan-German League , the German Fatherland Party was founded by Heinrich Claß , August von Dönhoff , Alfred von Tirpitz and Wolfgang Kapp on 2 September 1917. On 9 September, the DVLP made its existence public in newspaper advertisements. The established bourgeois parties reacted inconsistently to the founding of the Fatherland Party. Many conservative parties expressly welcomed them. The board of

184-655: A pronunciamiento , in which the military deposes the existing government and hands over power to a new, ostensibly civilian government. A "barracks revolt" or cuartelazo is another type of military revolt, from the Spanish term cuartel ('quarter' or 'barracks'), in which the mutiny of specific military garrisons sparks a larger military revolt against the government. Other types of actual or attempted seizures of power are sometimes called "coups with adjectives". The appropriate term can be subjective and carries normative, analytical, and political implications. While

276-462: A coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is when a leader, having come to power through legal means, tries to stay in power through illegal means. By one estimate, there were 457 coup attempts from 1950 to 2010, half of which were successful. Most coup attempts occurred in the mid-1960s, but there were also large numbers of coup attempts in

368-614: A " place in the sun " secured for Germany. In the months that followed, the following ideas gradually emerged: The war aims of the DVLP were concerted at every possible opportunity in "countless meetings (...) and a flood of declarations, appeals, writings, demands and telegrams to the Kaiser, the government, the Reichstag, the Supreme Army Command and to the public" became known and popularized. Above all, this should create

460-480: A bathtub." Shortly before the signing of the treaty, on 24 June 1890, a declaration, signed by four Germans living in Switzerland, appeared in several German newspapers, titled "Germany awake!", calling for Germans to oppose the treaty. In another letter three weeks later, the authors called for the foundation of a National League, "the purpose of which should be to give expression to what we wanted and expected of

552-617: A coup is usually a conspiracy of a small group, a revolution or rebellion is usually started spontaneously by larger groups of uncoordinated people. The distinction between a revolution and a coup is not always clear. Sometimes, a coup is labelled as a revolution by its plotters to feign democratic legitimacy. According to Clayton Thyne and Jonathan Powell's coup data set, there were 457 coup attempts from 1950 to 2010, of which 227 (49.7%) were successful and 230 (50.3%) were unsuccessful. They find that coups have "been most common in Africa and

644-418: A coup. A 2019 study found that states that had recently signed civil war peace agreements were much more likely to experience coups, in particular when those agreements contained provisions that jeopardized the interests of the military. Research suggests that protests spur coups, as they help elites within the state apparatus to coordinate coups. A 2019 study found that regional rebellions made coups by

736-569: A coup. The authors of the study provide the following logic for why this is: Autocratic incumbents invested in spatial rivalries need to strengthen the military in order to compete with a foreign adversary. The imperative of developing a strong army puts dictators in a paradoxical situation: to compete with a rival state, they must empower the very agency—the military—that is most likely to threaten their own survival in office. However, two 2016 studies found that leaders who were involved in militarized confrontations and conflicts were less likely to face

828-514: A deficit of 6,000 marks , further weakened the League's position. By July 1894, membership had dropped to just 4,637. A crisis meeting in Frankfurt am Main in the summer of 1893 was called by West-German branches of the League, against the declared will of the leadership, with the intention of dissolution. However, John Wislicenus again presided over the meeting and as a result, a formal meeting

920-540: A delegation procedure, and every party member could participate in the party congresses, which were purely forums for acclamation. The Select Committee called a party congress. In addition, there was a Reich Committee composed of the Executive Board, the Select Committee, and 50 individuals to be determined by the party congress, but only met three times. In addition to Tirpitz, Johann Albrecht and Kapp,

1012-844: A fixed succession rule being much less plagued by instability than less institutionalized autocracies. A 2014 study of 18 Latin American countries in the 20th-century study found the legislative powers of the presidency does not influence coup frequency. A 2019 study found that when a country's politics is polarized and electoral competition is low, civilian-recruited coups become more likely. A 2023 study found that civilian elites are more likely to be associated with instigating military coups while civilians embedded in social networks are more likely to be associated with consolidating military coups. A 2017 study found that autocratic leaders whose states were involved in international rivalries over disputed territory were more likely to be overthrown in

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1104-512: A greater consultation of regional and local-specific sources. Successful coups are one method of regime change that thwarts the peaceful transition of power . A 2016 study categorizes four possible outcomes to coups in dictatorships : The study found that about half of all coups in dictatorships—both during and after the Cold War—install new autocratic regimes. New dictatorships launched by coups engage in higher levels of repression in

1196-816: A major threat to dictators. The Harem conspiracy of the 12th century BC was one of the earliest. Palace coups were common in Imperial China . They have also occurred among the Habsburg dynasty in Austria, the Al-Thani dynasty in Qatar , and in Haiti in the 19th to early 20th centuries. The majority of Russian tsars between 1725 and 1801 were either overthrown or usurped power in palace coups. The term putsch ( [pʊtʃ] , from Swiss German for 'knock'), denotes

1288-460: A national government in situations similar to the situation created by the Anglo-German treaty". By 1 August 1890, Alfred Hugenberg had picked up the call and declared himself temporarily in control of the management of such a league, while at the same time calling on Peters to become its leader. Peters, who had just recently returned from Africa, originally refused, not wanting to antagonise

1380-405: A putsch. Pronunciamiento ( ' pronouncement ' ) is a term of Spanish origin for a type of coup d'état . Specifically the pronunciamiento is the formal declaration deposing the previous government and justifying the installation of the new government by the golpe de estado . One author distinguishes a coup, in which a military or political faction takes power for itself, from

1472-567: A set of imperialist war aims calling for the annexation of most of Europe and Africa that in many ways were a prototype for the war aims of the Second World War. The official purpose for the existence of the Fatherland Party was to end the war victoriously and secure a "German peace." On 24 September 1917, Tirpitz had demanded a "correct solution to the Belgian question," a "safeguarding of the open sea lanes," "physical compensation" and

1564-572: A somewhat higher chance of success in Africa and Asia. Numbers of successful coups have decreased over time. A number of political science datasets document coup attempts around the world and over time, generally starting in the post-World War II period. Major examples include the Global Instances of Coups dataset, the Coups & Political Instability dataset by the Center of Systemic Peace,

1656-425: A two-sided impact on coup attempts, depending on the state of the economy. During periods of economic expansion, elections reduced the likelihood of coup attempts, whereas elections during economic crises increased the likelihood of coup attempts. A 2021 study found that oil wealthy nations see a pronounced risk of coup attempts but these coups are unlikely to succeed. A 2014 study of 18 Latin American countries in

1748-533: A unifying force. By 1922, the League had grown to over 40,000 paying members. Berlin housed the central seat of the league, including its president and its executive, which was capped at a maximum of 300. Full gatherings of the league happened at the Pan-German Congress. Although numerically small, the League enjoyed a disproportionate influence on the German state through connections to the middle class,

1840-589: Is an editor's note in the London Morning Chronicle ,1804, reporting the arrest by Napoleon in France, of Moreau , Berthier , Masséna , and Bernadotte : "There was a report in circulation yesterday of a sort of coup d'état having taken place in France, in consequence of some formidable conspiracy against the existing government." In the British press , the phrase came to be used to describe

1932-533: Is more likely in former French colonies. A 2018 study in the Journal of Peace Research found that leaders who survive coup attempts and respond by purging known and potential rivals are likely to have longer tenures as leaders. A 2019 study in Conflict Management and Peace Science found that personalist dictatorships are more likely to take coup-proofing measures than other authoritarian regimes;

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2024-584: The Kolonialverein (Colonial Society) and the Central-Verein für Handelsgeographie (Central Society for Commercial Geography) grew rapidly. In the following year, colonist Carl Peters , who had acquired the majority of Germany's colonial holdings up to this point, returned from Africa, and, using the public awareness following the steamboat subsidy debate to initiate a congress on German overseas interests. Taking place from 13-16 September 1886,

2116-656: The Allgemeiner Deutscher Verein , a nominal resurrection of Peters' original society, was founded on 9 April 1891 in Berlin. The League took a quotation by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg as its motto: Gedenke, daß Du ein Deutscher bist ("Remember that you are a German"). Peters initially took over the presidency of the League, but soon went back to Africa and resigned from his post, in order not to come into conflicts of interest between

2208-542: The Defence League . These organizations became collectively known as the nationale Verbände . The DVLP had its central main management based in Berlin and was divided into state, district, and local associations at the middle and lower levels. The Berlin headquarters of the DVLP employed almost 150 members at the end of 1917. According to the statutes, the state, district, and local associations were set up as required. The local associations could only communicate with

2300-822: The German Revolution on 10 December 1918. Most of its members later joined the German National People's Party (DNVP), the major national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic . Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Weimar Germany. Head of the noticeably large head office of the party with its last nine departments and up to 137 employees were (one after

2392-655: The German Workers' Party , which later became the National Socialist German Workers' Party , better known as the Nazi Party, that came to national power in January 1933 under Adolf Hitler . German scholar Dirk Stegmann concluded that the Fatherland Party was pre- or proto-fascist because of Drexler's involvement. It should be considered that many historians challenge this position. In 1997, scholar Heinz Hagenlücke argued that "the party

2484-591: The Jews and Slavs . Agitation against Poles was a central focus for the Pan-German League. The agitations of the Alldeutscher Verband influenced the German government and generally supported the foreign policy developed by Otto von Bismarck . One of the prominent members of the league was the sociologist Max Weber who, at the League's congress in 1894 argued that Germanness ( Deutschtum )

2576-586: The Mitteilungen des allgemeinen deutschen Verbandes (News of the General German League) were only produced seven times between 1891 and 1893 and even those were not distributed to all members, since this required an additional fee. Expansion of the League outside of Berlin and Prussia was also scarce, partly due to improper management as well as bans on political associations in states like Saxony and Bavaria . A rise in open antisemitism in

2668-483: The National Liberal Party offered to cooperate with the Fatherland Party and left party members the option to join it. The left-liberal Progressive People's Party , which lost a noticeable number of members to the DVLP, expressly refused to work with it. The Catholic Centre Party ( Zentrum ) told party members on 12 October 1917 not to assist the DVLP. The November Revolution effectively ended

2760-568: The Reichstag Peace Resolution of July 1917. It played a vital role in the emergence of the stab-in-the-back myth and the defamation of certain politicians as the November Criminals. The Fatherland Party was decidedly monarchist and supportive of the war efforts of German Emperor Wilhelm II . Militarism played an essential role in the party. In March–April 1915, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz stated that

2852-456: The head of government assume dictatorial powers. A soft coup , sometimes referred to as a silent coup or a bloodless coup , is an illegal overthrow of a government, but unlike a regular coup d'état it is achieved without the use of force or violence. A palace coup or palace revolution is a coup in which one faction within the ruling group displaces another faction within a ruling group. Along with popular protests, palace coups are

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2944-420: The paramilitary faction led by Ernst Röhm , but Nazi propaganda justified it as preventing a supposed putsch planned or attempted by Röhm. The Nazi term Röhm-Putsch is still used by Germans to describe the event, often with quotation marks as the 'so-called Röhm Putsch'. The 1961 Algiers putsch and the 1991 August Putsch also use the term. The 2023 Wagner Group rebellion has also been described as

3036-444: The rents that an incumbent can extract . One reason why authoritarian governments tend to have incompetent militaries is that authoritarian regimes fear that their military will stage a coup or allow a domestic uprising to proceed uninterrupted – as a consequence, authoritarian rulers have incentives to place incompetent loyalists in key positions in the military. A 2016 study shows that the implementation of succession rules reduce

3128-480: The "state within the state" in that Tirpitz was not punished despite having essentially called for deposing the Emperor. In August 1916, Germany became a de facto military dictatorship under the duumvirate of Generalfeldmarschall Hindenburg and Generalquartiermeister Ludendorff, who ruled Germany until 1918. During the rule of the "silent dictatorship" of Hindenburg and Ludendorff, the German government advocated

3220-429: The 20th century study found that coup frequency does not vary with development levels, economic inequality , or the rate of economic growth. In what is referred to as "coup-proofing", regimes create structures that make it hard for any small group to seize power. These coup-proofing strategies may include the strategic placing of family, ethnic, and religious groups in the military; creation of an armed force parallel to

3312-604: The Americas (36.5% and 31.9%, respectively). Asia and the Middle East have experienced 13.1% and 15.8% of total global coups, respectively. Europe has experienced by far the fewest coup attempts: 2.6%." Most coup attempts occurred in the mid-1960s, but there were also large numbers of coup attempts in the mid-1970s and the early 1990s. From 1950 to 2010, a majority of coups failed in the Middle East and Latin America. They had

3404-405: The Berlin branch affected the image of the organisation in the public eye. Additionally, von der Heydt and his general manager, along with other members of the League, attempted to form a new political party towards the end of 1892. Since the League had been formed as a body above party politics, this endavour threatened its existence. The failed attempt to sell a "Calendar of all Germans", leading to

3496-625: The Coup d'etat Project by the Cline Center, the Colpus coup dataset, and the Coups and Agency Mechanism dataset. A 2023 study argued that major coup datasets tend to over-rely on international news sources to gather their information, potentially biasing the types of events included. Its findings show that while such a strategy is sufficient for gathering information on successful and failed coups, attempts to gather data on coup plots and rumors require

3588-426: The DVLP board of directors was made up of the following people: Gottfried Traub , August Rumpf , Heinrich Beythien , Carl Pfeiffer , Lambert Brockmann , Wilhelm von Siemens , Dietrich Schäfer , Franz von Reichenau , Ernst Schweckendieck , Otto Hoffmann , Ulrich von Hassell and Stephan von Nieber . The party executive of the DVLP had a powerful, almost independent position - it could not be changed from within

3680-413: The DVLP line were deleted on 24 September 1917, without comment. The party promised not to put up its own candidates for Reichstag elections, and the "internal dispute" should rest until the war's end. However, this demonstration of disinterest was merely a tactical tool that arose from the DVLP's political concept. The main domestic political goal of the party leadership was clearly to force a dissolution of

3772-494: The DVLP, which only about 20 people visited, decided to dissolve the party. On this occasion, a three-member liquidation committee was established, which initiated the transfer of the party's assets to the German National People’s Party (DNVP) and became finalized on 1 February 1919. During World War I, Anton Drexler joined the German Fatherland Party. After the war, he would go on to form a similar organization,

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3864-474: The Fatherland Party and the Supreme Army Command ( Oberste Heeresleitung ) with the military providing the party’s main source of funding and featuring statements from the party in the military’s official publication Militär-Wochenblatt . Many former officers joined the DVLP; those on active duty were not permitted to participate in any political party. The party was officially dissolved during

3956-461: The German government, which he hoped would fund his further East African endeavours. The first official meeting of the organisation that would become the Pan-German League took place in Frankfurt am Main on 28 September 1890, presided over by university professor John Wislicenus and attended by seven people. As a result of the meeting, Hugenberg and Wislicenus issued another call to action. After

4048-714: The Germans lose the war. According to Ludendorff and the Verband, the army should not have been held responsible for the German defeat. Ludendorff, however, had declared that the war was lost in October 1918, before the German November Revolution . That fanciful allegation was known as the " Stab-in-the-back myth " ( Dolchstosslegende ). Membership in the league was overwhelmingly composed of middle- and upper-class males. Most members' occupations reflected

4140-569: The League and the Foreign Office . Karl von der Heydt, a banker, took over the position. The early period of the League was difficult. While membership rose quickly, from around 2,000 in June 1891 to around 21,000 in May 1892, management of the League was lacking. The membership fee was set low, aimed to attract members, but the profits proved insufficient to run the operation. The League's journal,

4232-585: The League on a more secure financial footing. On 1 January 1894, the first issue of the new journal, the Alldeutsche Blätter , was released. At a meeting of the executive committee on 1 April 1894, a decision was made to change the name of the organisation to Alldeutscher Verein (Pan-German League). This came about as an amalgamation between the League with a society called Allgemeiner Deutscher Verein (General German Association), aimed at promoting German education, led by Albert von Levetzow ,

4324-567: The League's concrete relations with the Nazis were not always smooth. In 1932, there was moment when the Pan-German League accused the Nazis of betraying the national idea and called on their supporters to support the rival German National People's Party (DNVP). The Nazis, who came to power the next year, did not forget that incident. After the Nazis came to power, the Pan-Germans were for a time tolerated due to their ideological closeness, but on

4416-422: The League's emphasis on education, property ownership and service to the state. The League was clearly close ideologically to the Nazis and anticipated many of their basic ideas, such as the demand that the individual Germans should unconditionally submit to the national whole, represented by the state and the authorities, or the idea of expansion to the east in order to gain "Living Space" ( Lebensraum ). Still,

4508-494: The Reichstag by employing extra-parliamentary pressure. This was justified with a populist and pseudo-democratic argument that parliament no longer portrayed the " will of the people ." The party's leaders were Wolfgang Kapp – who would later play a key role in the failed coup in 1920 known as the Kapp Putsch – and Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz , a naval minister and post-war party leader. Walter Nicolai , head of

4600-548: The Verband were called cowards. Influential figures in the Alldeutscher Verband founded the Vaterlandspartei in 1917 following the request of the majority of the German parliament to begin peace negotiations with the allies. After World War I, the Alldeutscher Verband supported General Erich Ludendorff in his accusation against democrats and socialists that they had betrayed Germany and made

4692-412: The above factors are connected to military culture and power dynamics. These factors can be divided into multiple categories, with two of these categories being a threat to military interests and support for military interests. If interests go in either direction, the military will find itself either capitalizing off that power or attempting to gain it back. Oftentimes, military spending is an indicator of

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4784-424: The authors argue that this is because "personalists are characterized by weak institutions and narrow support bases, a lack of unifying ideologies and informal links to the ruler". In their 2022 book Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism , political scientists Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way found that political-military fusion, where the ruling party is highly interlinked with

4876-731: The congress ended with the establishment of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Verband zur Förderung überseeischer deutsch-nationaler Interessen (General German Society for the Furthering of German National Oversea Interests). The Society was not successful and marked by internal strife and after Peters left again for Africa, it dissolved. On 1 July 1890, the German Empire signed the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty with Great Britain . The treaty

4968-510: The contextualized idea of a 'knockout blow to the existing administration within a state'. One early use within text translated from French was in 1785 in a printed translation of a letter from a French merchant, commenting on an arbitrary decree, or arrêt , issued by the French king restricting the import of British wool. What may be its first published use within a text composed in English

5060-489: The coup attempt will be successful. The number of successful coups has decreased over time. Failed coups in authoritarian systems are likely to strengthen the power of the authoritarian ruler. The cumulative number of coups is a strong predictor of future coups, a phenomenon referred to as the "coup trap". In what is referred to as "coup-proofing", regimes create structures that make it hard for any small group to seize power. These coup-proofing strategies may include

5152-609: The coup trap and reduces cycles of political instability. Hybrid regimes are more vulnerable to coups than very authoritarian states or democratic states. A 2021 study found that democratic regimes were not substantially more likely to experience coups. A 2015 study finds that terrorism is strongly associated with re-shuffling coups. A 2016 study finds that there is an ethnic component to coups: "When leaders attempt to build ethnic armies, or dismantle those created by their predecessors, they provoke violent resistance from military officers." Another 2016 study shows that protests increase

5244-657: The eve of the Second World war were finally dissolved by Reinhard Heydrich on March 13, 1939, on the grounds that their program (namely the unification of all Germans in one Greater Germany) had been fulfilled with the Austrian Anschluss and the annexation of the Sudetenlands . Coup d%27etat A coup d'état ( / ˌ k uː d eɪ ˈ t ɑː / ; French: [ku deta] ; lit.   ' stroke of state ' ), or simply

5336-593: The existence of the DVLP. Until 28 November, the board met again and agreed to stop all "public activities." Furthermore, the members were asked to agitate for the early convocation of a national assembly , to ensure that the "national forces" were gathered together, and, for the time being, to support the Council of the People's Deputies in "maintaining order." Finally, on 10 December 1918, the Reich Committee of

5428-410: The impression of a "primitive popular movement." In the first few months of its existence, the DVLP repeatedly emphasized its "national" character and its alleged domestic political neutrality. The call to members and supporters, which was still little veiled in the "Great Appeal," to stand up against a Prussian electoral reform, the parliamentarization of Reich policy, and the government's commitment to

5520-540: The initial political struggles over the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty had subsided, Peters eventually agreed to join forces, on the condition that the remnants of the earlier General German Society were included. On 25 January 1891, Peters personally invited a number of members of the Reichstag , the German federal parliament, and several other people to meet with Hugenberg and Wislicenus. As a result,

5612-419: The likelihood of a coup taking place. Nordvik found that about 75% of coups that took place in many different countries rooted from military spending and oil windfalls. The accumulation of previous coups is a strong predictor of future coups, a phenomenon called the coup trap . A 2014 study of 18 Latin American countries found that the establishment of open political competition helps bring countries out of

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5704-435: The likelihood of coups. A fifth 2016 study finds no evidence that coups are contagious; one coup in a region does not make other coups in the region likely to follow. One study found that coups are more likely to occur in states with small populations, as there are smaller coordination problems for coup-plotters. In autocracies, the frequency of coups seems to be affected by the succession rules in place, with monarchies with

5796-409: The members belonged to "patriotic" clubs and associations affiliated with the Fatherland Party. It is also known that several higher officials - including Prussian government presidents - forced the staff of the departments and authorities they headed to join the party. The party tried harder to attract workers, especially after the January strike. A guideline for party speakers had previously stated that

5888-427: The mid-1970s and the early 1990s. Coups occurring in the post- Cold War period have been more likely to result in democratic systems than Cold War coups, though coups still mostly perpetuate authoritarianism . Many factors may lead to the occurrence of a coup, as well as determine the success or failure of a coup. Once a coup is underway, coup success is driven by coup-makers' ability to get others to believe that

5980-674: The military and created the administrative structures of the military from its inception, is extremely effective at preventing military coups. For example, the People's Liberation Army was created by the Chinese Communist Party during the Chinese Civil War , and never instigated a military coup even after large-scale policy failures (i.e. the Great Leap Forward ) or the extreme political instability of

6072-400: The military more likely. A 2018 study found that "oil price shocks are seen to promote coups in onshore-intensive oil countries, while preventing them in offshore-intensive oil countries". The study argues that states which have onshore oil wealth tend to build up their military to protect the oil, whereas states do not do that for offshore oil wealth. A 2020 study found that elections had

6164-638: The military secret service, was also supportive. Media baron Alfred Hugenberg was also a prominent member and Duke John Albert of Mecklenburg was made "Honorary Chairman". The party included many leading industrialists, large landowners, and business association officials, including Georg Wilhelm von Siemens , Carl Duisberg , Ernst von Borsig , Hugo Stinnes , Emil Kirdorf and Hermann Röchling , but also humanities scholars such as Eduard Meyer . The Fatherland Party held two congresses (on 24 September 1917 and 19 April 1918 in Berlin). The statute did not provide

6256-509: The occurrence of coup attempts. Succession rules are believed to hamper coordination efforts among coup plotters by assuaging elites who have more to gain by patience than by plotting. According to political scientists Curtis Bell and Jonathan Powell, coup attempts in neighbouring countries lead to greater coup-proofing and coup-related repression in a region. A 2017 study finds that countries' coup-proofing strategies are heavily influenced by other countries with similar histories. Coup-proofing

6348-432: The only thing that was keeping Germany from winning the war was the poor leadership of the Chancellor and the Emperor. His solution was a plan in which Bethmann-Hollweg would be sacked, and the office of Chancellor abolished; the Kaiser would "temporarily" abdicate; and Generalfeldmarschall Hindenburg be given the new office of "Dictator of the Reich ," concentrating all political and military power into his hands to win

6440-472: The other) Kapp's close confidants Georg Wilhelm Schiele , Franz Ferdinand Eiffe , and Konrad Scherer . Huge sums of money were incurred for the maintenance and activities of the DVLP party apparatus, which were completely unusual for other contemporary parties. In addition, the party gave the bulk of its literature and other propaganda material completely free of charge. This effort could not possibly be covered only by membership fees and occasional donations. In

6532-426: The party and chose new members if necessary. Decisions were made in small groups; according to the statute, the committee had a quorum when two (from April 1918 three) members were present. The Select Committee, abolished in April 1918, later included the eight people appointed in September 1917. The party's political influence peaked in the summer of 1918 when it had around 1,250,000 members. Close ties existed between

6624-698: The party executive through the state associations. District associations were only to be interposed when needed; they had no members and only served the regional associations as administrative bodies. In July 1918, 32 state associations, 237 district associations, and 2,536 local associations across Germany. According to its own information, the DVLP had 450,000 members in March 1918, 1,250,000 in July, and 800,000 in September. However, these numbers are considered highly exaggerated. At least, very likely, but more than half of

6716-641: The political establishment and the media, as well as links to the 300,000 strong Agrarian League . The origins of the Pan-German League lie in the growing movement for German colonial expansion, which gained traction over the course of the 1880s. In order to gain public support for the passing of the Steamboat Subsidy Act of 1885, which was a precursor to a state-funded colonial policy, chancellor Otto von Bismarck raised public outrage against British deals with both France and Portugal in dividing up Africa. Membership in pro-colonial societies, such as

6808-652: The political-military actions of an unsuccessful minority reactionary coup. The term was initially coined for the Züriputsch of 6 September 1839 in Switzerland. It was also used for attempted coups in Weimar Germany , such as the 1920 Kapp Putsch , Küstrin Putsch , and Adolf Hitler 's 1923 Beer Hall Putsch . The 1934 Night of the Long Knives was Hitler's purge to eliminate opponents, particularly

6900-544: The president of the Reichstag. The term alldeutsch (pan-German) had been a suggestion by August Diederichs, a friend of Hasse's, who had set up a donation fund for the League under this name. The name change took effect from 1 July 1894. The aim of the Alldeutscher Verband was to protest against government decisions which they believed could weaken Germany. A strong element of its ideology included social Darwinism . The Verband wanted to uphold German racial hygiene and were against breeding with so-called inferior races like

6992-510: The publication "If I were the Kaiser," Claß called on Germans to conquer eastern territories inhabited by "inferior" Slavs , depopulate their territories and settle German colonists there . There were also calls for expulsion of Poles living in Prussia . The Alldeutscher Verband had an enormous influence on the German government during World War I , when they opposed democratization and were in favour of unlimited submarine war. Opponents of

7084-440: The regular military; and development of multiple internal security agencies with overlapping jurisdiction that constantly monitor one another. It may also involve frequent salary hikes and promotions for members of the military, and the deliberate use of diverse bureaucrats. Research shows that some coup-proofing strategies reduce the risk of coups occurring. However, coup-proofing reduces military effectiveness, and limits

7176-401: The risk of coups, presumably because they ease coordination obstacles among coup plotters and make international actors less likely to punish coup leaders. A third 2016 study finds that coups become more likely in the wake of elections in autocracies when the results reveal electoral weakness for the incumbent autocrat. A fourth 2016 study finds that inequality between social classes increases

7268-506: The spring of 1918 alone, the sum of the initially uncovered expenses averaged 142,000 marks per month. In addition to the support from the Pan-German League, the Fatherland Party also received additional support from a number of nationalist organizations and pressure groups . Among them were the German Eastern Marches Society , German Navy League , German Colonial Society , German Anti-Semitic Organization and

7360-400: The strategic placing of family, ethnic, and religious groups in the military and the fragmenting of military and security agencies. However, coup-proofing reduces military effectiveness as loyalty is prioritized over experience when filling key positions within the military. The term comes from French coup d'État , literally meaning a 'stroke of state' or 'blow of state'. In French,

7452-457: The top, is a form of coup d'état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power through illegal means through the actions of themselves and/or their supporters. The leader may dissolve or render powerless the national legislature and unlawfully assume extraordinary powers not granted under normal circumstances. Other measures may include annulling the nation's constitution , suspending civil courts, and having

7544-664: The various murders by Napoleon's alleged secret police , the Gens d'Armes d'Elite , who executed the Duke of Enghien : "the actors in torture, the distributors of the poisoning draughts, and the secret executioners of those unfortunate individuals or families, whom Bonaparte's measures of safety require to remove. In what revolutionary tyrants call grand[s] coups d'état , as butchering, or poisoning, or drowning, en masse, they are exclusively employed." A self-coup , also called an autocoup (from Spanish autogolpe ) or coup from

7636-410: The war's duration. A 2003 review of the academic literature found that the following factors influenced coups: The literature review in a 2016 study includes mentions of ethnic factionalism, supportive foreign governments, leader inexperience, slow growth, commodity price shocks, and poverty. Coups have been found to appear in environments that are heavily influenced by military powers. Multiple of

7728-460: The war. These positions continued to receive support from the Fatherland Party. Internally, there were calls for a coup d'etat against the German government, led by Hindenburg and Ludendorff, even against the Emperor if necessary. Though the Tirpitz plan was not implemented, the very fact it was mooted showed the extent of military dissatisfaction with the existing leadership and the strength of

7820-410: The word État ( French: [eta] ) is capitalized when it denotes a sovereign political entity. Although the concept of a coup d'état has featured in politics since antiquity, the phrase is of relatively recent coinage. It did not appear within an English text before the 19th century except when used in the translation of a French source, there being no simple phrase in English to convey

7912-468: The worker "must gain the understanding that he is serving himself by joining our party; because our party especially serves the welfare of the workers by advocating a peace that secures our economic future." As early as January 1918, the party officially claimed to have over 290,000 "registered workers" in its ranks. Informational notes Citations Bibliography Pan-German League The Pan-German League ( German : Alldeutscher Verband )

8004-575: The year after the coup than existed in the year before the coup. One-third of coups in dictatorships during the Cold War and 10% of later ones reshuffled the regime leadership. Democracies were installed in the wake of 12% of Cold War coups in dictatorships and 40% of post-Cold War ones. Coups occurring in the post- Cold War period have been more likely to result in democratic systems than Cold War coups, though coups still mostly perpetuate authoritarianism . Coups that occur during civil wars shorten

8096-584: Was a Pan-German nationalist organization which was officially founded in 1891, a year after the Zanzibar Treaty was signed. Primarily dedicated to the German question of the time, it held positions on German imperialism, antisemitism , the Polish question , and support for German minorities in other countries. The purpose of the league was to nurture and protect the ethos of German nationality as

8188-413: Was arranged for 5 July 1893 in Berlin. Here, von der Heydt resigned along with many other members of the League's executive committee. Von der Heydt paid 4,000 of the 6,000 marks debt, with Peters covering the remaining 2,000 marks. The presidency of the League was taken over by Ernst Hasse  [ de ] , a university professor from Leipzig . Hasse, together with new general manager Adolf Lehr, put

8280-528: Was explicitly founded as a party and not a movement, members reflected the typical picture of high Wilhelmine society in contrast to the lower class organizations of the Weimar Republic, which sociologically reached the lower-middle class, soldiers, and the youth." The Fatherland Party represented pan-German , national liberal , conservative , nationalist , populist , antisemitic and völkisch political circles, united in their opposition against

8372-470: Was the first major sign of the new foreign policy of Emperor Wilhelm II , following the dismissal of chancellor Bismarck earlier in the year. The pro-colonial, national-conservative factions within Germany strongly opposed the treaty, as it gave away colonial possessions in Africa to the British. Peters was particularly negative, declaring that Germany had exchanged "two kingdoms, Witu and Uganda [...] for

8464-796: Was the highest form of civilization. Weber left the league in 1899 because he felt it did not take a radical enough stance against Polish migrant workers in Germany. Later Weber went on to become one of the most prominent critics of German expansionism and of the Kaiser 's war policies. He publicly attacked the Belgian annexation policy and unrestricted submarine warfare and later supported calls for constitutional reform, democratisation and universal suffrage . The position of Pan-German League gradually evolved into biological racism, with belief that Germans are "superior race", and Germans need protection from mixing with other races, particularly Jews. By 1912 in

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