What events or conditions in 1960’s Germany lead to the formation of the Red Army Faction?
There were a number of factor that directly and indirectly led to the RAF. An important factor was the massive upheaval going on in the German university system; in the space of just a few short years, you had a very rigid system where students quietly listened to their professor’s lecture to them in a god-like manner, to an environment where students in many university’s were voting on their professors, their grades etc. Basically students were becoming empowered as never before. Coupled with this was an extremely strong Marxist ideology that permeated the university system. Marx’s theories on Capitalism were accepted as fact, and the notion of a Revolution among the western societies was accepted as well. It wasn’t a matter of IF there was to a revolution, but WHEN there was going to be a revolution and who would lead it. Events in Germany politics also pushed many young leftists away from the mainstream. In 1966 there was no clear majority party winners in the federal elections, so
