Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I

812 Pages·2014·10.39 MB·English

by  Alexander Watson

Ring of Steel

Copyright © 2014 by Alexander Watson Published by Basic Books,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group Published in 2014 in the United Kingdom by Allen Lane, an
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LCCN: 2014943628
ISBN (ebook): 978-0-465-05687-3
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Ania
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Decisions for War
2. Mobilizing the People
3. War of Illusions
4. The War of Defence
5. Encirclement
6. Security for All Time
7. Crisis at the Front
8. Deprivation
9. Remobilization
10. U-Boats
11. Dangerous Ideas
12. The Bread Peace
13. Collapse
Epilogue
Notes
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Index
List of Illustrations
1. ‘I did not want this!’ Kaiser Wilhelm II denies responsibility for the war.
(Postcard, author’s collection)
2. Civil Railway Watchmen and war volunteers in Göttingen, 5 September
1914. (Postcard, author’s collection)
3. ‘Campaign of 1914. Marianne’s Punishment’. (Postcard, author’s collection)
4. ‘Beginning of August 1914. Deportation of francs tireurs’. (Photograph,
Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv Freiburg: MSg 200/2072)
5. Austro-Hungarian troops hang a civilian in Galicia, 1914. (Photograph from
T. A. Innes and I. Castle, Covenants with Death (London: Daily Express
Publications, 1934))
6. Ruthenes being forcibly deported westwards, autumn 1914 or early 1915.
(Photograph, Bildarchiv der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Vienna:
Pk 3002, 7833)
7. The Russian army parades in Insterburg, East Prussia, 3 September 1914.
(Postcard, author’s collection)
8. Refugees hurry to Allenstein’s railway station, summer 1914. (Photograph
from Die Russenherrschaft in Ostpreußen und ihr Ende (Munich: F.
Bruckmann, 1915), p. 239)
9. German civilians massacred by the Russian army, March 1915. (Photograph
from L. Stallings, The First World War. A Photographic History (London:
Daily Express Publications, 1933), p. 58)
10. ‘The Iron Hindenburg of Berlin’. (Postcard, author’s collection)
11. ‘The Iron Knight’ in Hermannstadt (Sibiu). (Photograph, Muzeul National
Brukenthal, Sibiu)
12. ‘The Column of the Legions’ in Cracow. (Painting by Stanisław Tondos,
1915, Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa: 3787/III)
13. Children express the German nation’s hatred of Britain. (Postcard, author’s
collection)
14. German soldiers receiving food from Red Cross helpers, 1914. (Postcard,
author’s collection)
15. The ‘Fortress Peace’. The Reich’s proletariat arrays behind Germania.
(Postcard, author’s collection)
16. Queuing to buy food in Cracow in 1916. (Painting by K. Bąkowski, 1916,
Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa: 2459/III)
17. Austro-Hungarian soldiers on the Eastern Front, June 1916. (Photograph,
Archive of Modern Conflict, London: 4464)
18. An Austro-Hungarian field service postcard. (Postcard, author’s collection)
19. German troops in training behind the Eastern Front, spring 1916.
(Photograph from the album of Alfred Hammer, a soldier in Magdeburg
Jäger Battalion Nr. 4, author’s collection)
20. A German military pun: discipline and battle (Postcard, author’s collection)
21. A German U-boat crew on the High Seas. (Photograph, Archive of Modern
Conflict, London: 14515)
22. Allied merchant seamen surrender in their lifeboats. (Photograph, Archive
of Modern Conflict, London: 14500)
23. A U-boat torpedoes an Allied merchant vessel. (Photograph, Archive of
Modern Conflict, London: 14515)
24. ‘Who is the Victor?’ (Poster, Archiwum Państwowe w Poznaniu: Polizei-
Präsidium 5024: fo. 196)
25. The German self-image as occupiers. (Postcard, author’s collection)
26. German prisoners taken at the Battle of St Quentin Canal, 2 October 1918.
(Photograph, Imperial War Museum, London: Q 9353)
27. Corpses on the Italian Front (Photograph, author’s collection)
28. Revolutionaries on the streets of Berlin, 9 or 10 November 1918.
(Photograph, Imperial War Museum, London: Q 52732)
29. A woman mourns her fallen husband. (Postcard, Author’s Collection)