Left-wing parties, especially the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), made large gains in the 1912 German election. German government at the time was still dominated by the Prussian Junkers who feared the rise of these left-wing parties. Fritz Fischer famously argued that they deliberately sought an external war to distract the population and whip up patriotic support for the government.[47] Indeed, one German military leader said that a war was "desirable in order to escape from difficulties at home and abroad"[48] and a Prussian conservative leader even argued that "a war would strengthen patriarchal order".[49] Russia was in the midst of a large-scale military build-up and reform that they intended to complete in 1916–1917.