I intend to discuss and examine the effects that the Fascist and Socialist regime had upon the movements of art, and architecture in Germany during their rule. In doing so I aim to focus mainly on The Bauhaus. .
THE EFFECT OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR .
The reason for the massive casualties in the First World War was very clear: Technology in the form of massed artillery, machine guns, planes, gas shells, tanks and submarines. At home whole industries were turned over to war production: guns, shells, tanks, planes, and so on. Women, who used to live a purely domestic life, were now working in large numbers in factories while their men went out to the battlefields. Society changed. It became clear that industrial production (i.e. mass production) was the key to winning the war, not individual heroism.
It can be shown that design in the broadest sense had become integrated with Industry in the cause of the war. It was a relationship, which would deepen and strengthen with time. In a way, German design lost its original ideal of the application of art and beauty to functional products. German Design became part of production.
MODERN DESIGN EMERGES .
After the War, the various elements of Modern German Design were ready in waiting to be brought together. Three things should be remembered: .
1) The link between Industry and art & design' had already been established by the formation of the German Werkbund in 1907 (an association of designers and industrialists). .
2) In Western Europe and the United States, the war had forcefully brought together all parts of production, design, and industry, in a coordinated effort to win the war. .
3) Technology and industrial production had developed rapidly in order to cope with war production needs. The war forced Western society to move more quickly towards becoming fully industrial states. .
Although Germany had lost the war it had established a lead in the development of Modern design concepts (Weimar School of Art & Werkbund).