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
6 - The German collapse in 1918: strike, mutiny or an ordered surrender?
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
Morale and the Materialschlacht – 1918
After fifty-two months of fighting, blockade, near total mobilisation and 2 million deaths, the German army finally capitulated on 11 November 1918. Outgunned and outnumbered by its enemies, whose forces were rapidly increasing due to the massive influx of fresh American troops into France, the army stood little chance of significantly delaying, let alone permanently halting, the retreat towards its own borders. Stretched to the limit of its powers of endurance during the course of its own offensives earlier in the year, in the summer of 1918 it broke. Although some troops continued to fight bravely, the willingness and ability of most to resist the Allied offensive disappeared. While, in the estimation of no less a distinguished soldier than Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, the German army possessed enough material resources to prolong the war into 1919, its men lacked both the inclination and energy to do so. Matters of morale, which had been decisive in determining the conflict's longevity, were also pivotal in bringing about its termination. As Ludendorff himself acknowledged two and a half weeks before the armistice, at the end of the war it was not primarily the number (die Zahl) but rather the spirit of the troops (Geist der Truppe) which was decisive.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Enduring the Great WarCombat, Morale and Collapse in the German and British Armies, 1914–1918, pp. 184 - 231Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008