Context: on the eve of WWI the SPD in Germany was the most successful and powerful socialist party in the world with a good shot of taking power in a couple years. Like the other socialist parties it was officially opposed to imperialist wars, but when it came down to it, barring a few principled individuals like rosa Luxembourg, the party voted yes on war bonds out of fear of looking unpatriotic, signing the blank check the kaiser issued and sending Germany into WWI which of course worked out great for the working class and Germany as a whole…
Like so many other wars, the assumption was always that the conflict would be over in a few weeks and Germany would come out ahead. Russia didn’t have the horsepower to compete with the highly advanced German war machine, the French were a bunch of goofy, peacenik frog-eaters who would roll over at a light shove, and England barely has a dog in the fight.
Where are any of these countries going to get an advanced industrial economy to fuel a long running European land war? Like, name one nascent industrial society that could possibly generate enormous profits by arming the entire Allied faction of Europe? Go ahead, I’ll wait for you to find it.
It’ll be bing-bang in and out. No muss. No fuss. And if the SDP won’t back this thing then someone else will! Then there goes the socialists’ chance at peacefully taking power in a heavily militarized capitalist oligarchy.