Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of plates
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Map: The Western Front 1914–1918
- Introduction
- 1 War of endurance
- 2 Why men fought: combat motivation in the trenches
- 3 Self-deception and survival: mental coping strategies
- 4 Junior leadership: command, cohesion and combat motivation
- 5 Morale and military endurance
- 6 The German collapse in 1918: strike, mutiny or an ordered surrender?
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Walter Ludwig's study of Württemberg soldiers' coping strategies
- Appendix 2 Psychiatric casualties in the German and British armies
- Appendix 3 Military ranks and status in the German and British armies
- Glossary of German terms
- Bibliography
- Index
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of plates
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Map: The Western Front 1914–1918
- Introduction
- 1 War of endurance
- 2 Why men fought: combat motivation in the trenches
- 3 Self-deception and survival: mental coping strategies
- 4 Junior leadership: command, cohesion and combat motivation
- 5 Morale and military endurance
- 6 The German collapse in 1918: strike, mutiny or an ordered surrender?
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Walter Ludwig's study of Württemberg soldiers' coping strategies
- Appendix 2 Psychiatric casualties in the German and British armies
- Appendix 3 Military ranks and status in the German and British armies
- Glossary of German terms
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Victory will go to him who has the best nerves.
Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg, 1916Although usually remembered as a conflict of attrition or material, the First World War was, above all, a contest of endurance. Nowhere was this truer than on the Western Front where, for the four years following August 1914, the French, Belgian and British armies, later joined by the Americans, fought the German army in some of the most costly battles in history. The conflict's long duration, unprecedented bloodiness and particularly horrendous and indecisive ‘trench warfare’ placed extreme strain on individuals, armies and nations. Yet it was only in the second half of 1918, after enduring months of inconclusive static combat followed by a dramatic offensive which almost broke through Entente lines, that the overstrained German war effort finally collapsed. The rapid decline in combat motivation at the front and the outbreak of revolution at home indicated clearly that Hindenburg's soldiers, army and nation had reached the end of their mental resources.
Historians have adopted a number of approaches to account for the longevity and outcome of the war. Some, such as Gerald Feldman and Avner Offer, have focused on the Central Powers' material shortages and inefficiencies in order to explain the eventual collapse of their armies and economies. Other scholars, most notably Paddy Griffith, Tim Travers, Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, have examined the Allied success in breaking the German line at the end of the war, producing detailed studies of the development of strategy, tactics and technology on the Western Front.
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- Enduring the Great WarCombat, Morale and Collapse in the German and British Armies, 1914–1918, pp. 1 - 10Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
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