Imperial Germany and the Great War, 1914-1918

242 Pages·2004·6.618 MB·English

by  Roger Chickering

Imperial Germany and the Great War,
1914-1918
This important contribution to the successful textbook series New
Approaches to European History explores the comprehensive impact of
the First World War on Imperial Germany. It examines military aspects
of the conflict, as well as the diplomacy, government, politics, and indus­
trial mobilization of wartime Germany. Unlike other existing surveys,
however, Roger Chickering’s also offers a rich portrait of life on the
home front: the pervasive effects of “total war” on wealthy and poor,
men and women, young and old, farmers and city-dwellers, Protestants,
Catholics, and Jews. At the same time, Roger Chickering analyzes the
growing burdens of war and discusses the translation of the hardship
of war into political opposition. This excellent, well-illustrated study
of the military, political, and socio-economic effects of the First World
War is essential reading for all students of German and European his­
tory, as well as for those interested in the history of war and society.
Now appearing in a second edition, this accessible book reflects impor­
tant new scholarship in the field and boasts an expanded and revised
bibliography.
Roger Chickering is Professor of History in the BMW Cen­
ter for German and European Studies, Georgetown University. He is
an established scholar of modern Germany and is the author of Das
Deutsche Reich und der Erste Weltkrieg (2002); Karl Lamprecht: A German
Academic Life, 1856-1915 (1993); We Men Who Feel Most German:
A Cultural Study of the Pan-German League, 1886-1914 (1984); and
Imperial Germany and a W>rld Without War: The Peace Movement and
German Society 1892-1914 (1975).

NEW APPROACHES TO EUROPEAN HISTORY
Series editors
WILLIAM BEIK Emory University
T. c. w. B L A N NIN G Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
New Approaches to European History is an important textbook series,
which provides concise but authoritative surveys of major themes and
problems in European history since the Renaissance. Written at a level
and length accessible to advanced school students and undergraduates,
each book in the series addresses topics or themes that students of
European history encounter daily: the series embraces both some of the
more traditional subjects of study, and those cultural and social issues to
which increasing numbers of school and college courses are devoted. A
particular effort made to consider the wider international implications
of the subject under scrutiny.
To aid the student reader, scholarly apparatus and annotation is
light, but each work has full supplementary bibliographies and notes
for further reading: where appropriate chronologies, maps, diagrams,
and other illustrative material are also provided.
For a list of titles published in the series, please see end of book.

Imperial Germany and the
Great War, 1914-1918
Second Edition
Roger C hickering
ggi
C a m br id g e
UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Säo Paulo, Delhi
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge, CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521839082
© Cambridge University Press 1998, 2004
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1998
Second edition 2004
Sixth printing 2008
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-0-521-83908-2 hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-54780-2 paperback
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of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
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Cambridge University Press does not guarantee the accuracy of such
information thereafter.
For Kyle
When I view the radiant valleys of our fatherland which spread
out here at our feet, I can only wish: May the day never come
when the hordes of war rage through them. And may the day
also never come when we are forced to carry war to the valleys of
a foreign people.
Gustav Wyneken
October 1913

Contents
List of plates page xi
List of figures xii
List of maps xiii
List of tables xiv
Preface XV
List of abbreviations xvi
Prologue: Imperial Germany 1
1 The war begins 10
The “spirit of 1914” 13
The plan 17
Tannenberg and the Marne 23
2 The war continues 32
Bureaucratic foundations 32
Mobilizing industrial resources 35
Feeding soldiers and civilians 40
The mobilization of morale 46
The campaigns of 1915 50
Falkenhayn and Bethmann Hollweg 59
3 The war grows total 65
The land campaigns of 1916 66
Hindenburg and Ludendorff 71
The Hindenburg Program 76
Occupied Europe 82
The war at sea 87
4 The war embraces all 94
Warriors 95
Homefront and battlefront 98
Paying for war 102
War and social class 107
Gender 112
Generations young and old 119
Confession 124
Contents
5 The war breeds discord 130
The war and “culture” 132
Cold and hungry 138
Criminality and war 144
Early opposition 148
Industrial unrest: the labor movement splits 153
War aims and constitutional change 158
6 The war ends 166
“Peace feelers” 166
The enduring face of warfare 170
The Ludendorff Offensive 175
The end 180
The “stab in the back” 186
Epilogue: A great war 189
Suggestions for further reading 203
Index 223