Hans Delbrück (1848-1929) a public conservative intellectual lived during the time of the
Weimar Republic. He published a lot of articles for several newspapers and was involved in the
following three major political debates: Firstly he made as a 'Vernunftrepublikaner' several
proposals to bring the new republic to a success even though he was still convinced of the
Prussian-German monarchy. Secondly he researched the war guilt question harshly criticized the
assumption that Germany was the only guilty state and pleaded for a fair-minded approach to
reach a reconciliation with all European nations. Thirdly Delbrück rejected as a protagonist
the stab-in-the-back legend and proved as a leading military (civil) historian that Germany
suffered a military defeat different to the general claim. In contrast to the radical proposals
from the political left and right Delbrück started with these alternative explanations a
fruitful debate to strengthen the young German republic.
