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'''Defeatism''' is the acceptance of defeat without struggle, often with negative connotations. It can be linked to [[pessimism]] in psychology.<ref>http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/defeatism. Retrieved 2014-03-13.</ref>
==History==
The term ''defeatism'' commonly is used in politics as a descriptor for an ideological stance that considers co-operation with the opposition party. In the military context, in wartime, and especially at the front, ''defeatism'' is synonymous with [[treason]].
Under military law, a soldier can be accused of being defeatist if he refuses to fight by voicing doubt of the ideological validity of national policy; thus, existential questions such as “Is the war already lost?” and “Is the fight worth the effort?” are defeatism that connote advocacy of an alternative end-to-the war other than military victory.
During [[World War II]], [[Adolf Hitler]] unexpectedly dismissed many generals for defeatism. During the last year of war, the German [[Volksgerichtshof|people's court]] executed many people accused of defeatist talks or acts and their names were announced weekly in a pink colored poster pasted on billboards around the country.<ref>H.W. Koch: ''In the Name of the Volk: Political Justice in Hitler's Germany''. I.B. Tauris, 1997. ISBN 1860641741 pp. 228</ref>
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