Militarism

Militarism is a belief or desire held by a government or a people. It suggests that a state should maintain a very strong military capability. This belief often includes the desire to use that military aggressively. Such actions aim to expand national interests or specific values. Militarism may also involve the glorification of the military. It can celebrate the ideals of a professional military class. In some cases, it leads to the predominance of armed forces in state administration. This means the military has a major role in making a country's policies.

The history of German militarism is rooted in 18th and 19th-century Prussia. Some historians, like Hans Rosenberg, trace these roots even further back. He points to the Teutonic Order during the late Middle Ages. This Order colonized Prussia and granted lands to mercenaries from the Holy Roman Empire. These men eventually formed a new landed nobility. This group later evolved into the Junker nobility. This class of landowners became a central part of Prussian military culture.

In the 17th century, the ruler Frederick William, the "Great Elector," increased the military to 40,000 men. He established an effective administration called the General War Commissariat. Later, Frederick William I, known as the "soldier king," began large reforms in 1713. He wanted to bolster his power both at home and abroad. He set a tradition of very high military spending. He increased the annual military budget to 73 percent of Prussia's entire budget. By 1740, the Prussian Army had 83,000 men. This was one of the largest armies in Europe. At that time, the total Prussian population was only 2.5 million people. This led some to say Prussia was "an army with a country."

Prussia also used a specific method called the Kruemper System. This system involved dismissing trained men at regular intervals. They were then replaced by raw recruits. This process allowed a large number of men to pass through the ranks. The officers were almost always drawn from the land-owning nobility. This created a professional officer class and a large group of enlisted men. The enlisted men were conditioned to obey all commands implicitly. This created a culture of deference based on social class. Because officers also served as government officials, military interests became identical to national interests.

In the 20th century, German militarism continued through different political eras. During the reign of Wilhelm II, militant monarchism was highly developed. In 1917, General Erich Ludendorff became a chief policy maker. He exercised the constitutional powers of the Emperor. After World War I, the Allies tried to limit German militarism. The Treaty of Versailles aimed to crush these influences. However, militaristic nationalism remained strong during the Weimar Republic period. Groups like the Freikorps and the Stahlhelm were active. Some radical militarists eventually joined the Nazi party.

Japan has a similarly deep history of military prominence. This began during the 15th-century Sengoku period, or Age of Warring States. During this time, powerful samurai warlords called daimyōs played major political roles. After the Meiji Restoration, a nationalist style of militarism developed. The 1882 Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors demanded absolute loyalty to the Emperor. In the 1920s, the military gained veto power over the government. This happened because of the "Military Ministers to be Active-Duty Officers Law." Additionally, a phenomenon called gekokujō occurred. This was the institutionalized disobedience of junior officers.

In the 1930s, the Great Depression helped radical military elements in Japan. In 1931, the Kwantung Army staged the Mukden Incident. This event sparked the invasion of Manchuria. Later, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident sparked the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Japan eventually attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. After Japan surrendered in 1945, the country underwent a major change. A new 1947 Constitution replaced the Emperor's rule with a parliamentary government. This helped remove many militarist influences from Japanese politics.

Today, different nations show various connections to military strength. After 1947, India emphasized military preparedness due to tensions with Pakistan. India also became a nuclear power in 1998. The territory of Jammu and Kashmir is now one of the most militarized places in the world. In Germany, the culture changed significantly after 1945. The Allied Control Council oversaw programs to reduce militarism. However, the modern Federal Republic of Germany maintains a large military. In 2019, its defense budget was about US$50 billion. This is about 1.3 percent of Germany's GDP.