The outbreak of World War I: causes and responsibilities

497 Pages·1997·2.665 MB·English

by  Herwig, Holger H

The First
World War
Modern Wars
Series editor: Hew Strachan
Chichele Professor of the History of War, All Souls College,
University of Oxford (UK)
Advisory editor: Michael Howard
Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College, University of Oxford (UK)
Covering the period from 1792 to the present day, the Modern Wars series
explores the global development of modern war. Military history is increasingly
an integrated part of ‘total history’, and yet this is not always reflected in the
literature. The Modern Wars address this need, offering well-rounded and
balanced synoptic accounts of the major conflicts of the modern period. Each
volume recognizes not only the military, but also the diplomatic, political, social,
economic and ideological contexts of these wars. The result is a series that
ensures a genuine integration of the military history with history as a whole.
Published:
The First World War, Holger Herwig (1996)
The South African War, Bill Nasson (1999)
The Crimean War, Winfried Baumgart (1999)
The Wars of German Unification, Dennis Showalter (2004)
Thunder in the East, Evan Mawdsley (2005)
Allies in War, Mark A. Stoler (2005)
Forthcoming:
The Wars of German Unification (Second Edition), Dennis Showalter (2015)
Thunder in the East (Second Edition), Evan Mawdsley (2015)
New Order Diplomacy, Martin Folly (2015)
The First
World War
Germany and Austria-
Hungary 1914–1918
2nd Edition
Holger H. HerWig
LONDON • NEW DELHI • NEW YORK • SYDNEY
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway
London New York
WC1B 3DP NY 10018
UK USA
www.bloomsbury.com
Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published 2014
© Holger H. Herwig, 2014
Holger H. Herwig has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in
writing from the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining
from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by
Bloomsbury or the author.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-4725-1250-5
PB: 978-1-4725-1124-9
ePDF: 978-1-4725-0885-0
ePub: 978-1-4725-1081-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
For DOLLI
my beloved free spirit
And finally, Prussia-Germany can no longer fight any war but a world war;
and a world war of hitherto unknown dimensions and ferocity. Eight to
ten million soldiers will strangle each other and in the process decimate
Europe as no swarm of locusts ever did. The ravages of the Thirty Years’ War
telescoped into three or four years and extended to the entire Continent:
famine, pestilence, and the general barbarization of both armies and
peoples . . . ending in general bankruptcy; the collapse of the old state and
traditional statecraft . . . to such an extent that dozens of crowns will roll
in the streets and no one will want to pick them up.
Friedrich Engels, 1887
Contents
List of maps x
Series editor’s preface xi
Acknowledgements xvi
Names, places and dates xvii
Introduction 1
1 Origins: ‘Now or Never’ 7
Vienna: War as salvation 11
Berlin: The ‘calculated risk’ 20
The ‘leap into the dark’ 25
Questionable allies: Britain and Italy 30
The ‘mood of 1914’ 33
2 The plans of war 45
Almost allies: Conrad and Moltke to 1914 47
Conrad von Hötzendorf: War at any price 53
Moltke: The march to the Marne 57
Plan 19: The Russian ‘steamroller’ 62
Plan XVII: À Berlin 65
Britain: Continental commitment? 68
3 The great gamble, 1914 77
‘This war is great and wonderful’ 78
Tannenberg: Reality and myth 81
Conrad’s war 88
The Battle of the Marne 97
The last hurrah 106
viii Contents
4 Towards industrialized war, 1915 129
The German command system implodes 133
Wars of ‘limited means’ 136
The Italian ‘snake’ 152
‘The bones of a Pomeranian grenadier’ 156
Deadlock: The western front 164
5 Dual defeats: From the Meuse to the Siret, 1916 179
Verdun: ‘The heart of France’ 182
The Somme: ‘Battles of material’ 194
Lutsk: ‘Lack of luck’ 199
The Romanian detour 210
6 The long-war reality, 1915–16 225
Austria-Hungary: On the brink 227
Of men and machines: The third OHL 242
‘Total war’: Reality and myth 251
7 Survival 269
Hunger: Austria-Hungary 270
Beleaguered fortress: Germany 280
Death, disease and doctors 295
The politics of ‘total’ war 299
8 A sea change, 1917 307
U-boat warfare: Playing va banque 309
The Nivelle offensive: À Berlin once more 317
Triumph in the east 324
Caporetto: A cosmetic victory 326
9 The last levy, 1917–18 341
The hollow ally 342
Strikes and mutinies 350
The k.u.k. army disintegrates 356
Germany: Mutinies, strikes and megalomania 363
Contents ix
10 Operation Michael: The ‘last card’ 381
Tactical virtuosity 382
The battle 388
The turning point 403
11 Defeat, 1918–19 419
Finis austriae 419
Finis prussiae 426
Bibliography 439
Index 463