Holger Afflerbach

Nearly fourteen million people died during the First World War. But why, and for what reason? Already many contemporaries saw the Great War as a "pointless carnage" (Pope Benedict XV, 1917). Was there a point, at least in the eyes of the political and military decision makers? How did they justify the losses, and why did they not try to end the war earlier? In this volume twelve international specialists analyses and compares the hopes and expectations of the political and military leaders of the main belligerent countries and of their respective societies. It shows that the war aims adopted during the First World War were not, for the most part, the cause of the conflict, but a reaction to it, an attempt to give the tragedy a purpose - even if the consequence was to oblige the belligerents to go on fighting until victory. The volume tries to explain why - and for what - the contemporaries thought that they had to fight the Great War.

War Aims and Military Strategies

The Purpose of the First World War

die Geschichte des Atlantik

Das entfesselte Meer

Begründet vom Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamt, herausgegeben vom Zentrum für Militärgeschichte und Sozialwissenschaften der Bundeswehr.

Politisches Denken und Handeln im Kaiserreich

Falkenhayn

David Stevenson

Stevenson Professor of International History David Stevenson

The WWI has been described as the primordial catastrophe of the twentieth century. Arguably, Italian Fascism, German National Socialism and Soviet Leninism and Stalinism would not have emerged without the cultural and political shock of WWI. This volume focusses on the connection between the WWI and the short- and long-term causes of WWI.

The Outbreak of World War I and European Political Culture Before 1914

An Improbable War?

Ten million soldiers died during the First World War. But why, and for what reason? The Great War is widely seen as a “pointless carnage” (Pope Benedict XV). Was there a point, at least in the eyes of the political and military decision makers? International specialists analyse the hopes and expectations of the political and military leaders and try to explain why the contemporaries thought that they had to fight the Great War.

The First World War has been described as the "primordial catastrophe of the twentieth century." Arguably, Italian Fascism, German National Socialism and Soviet Leninism and Stalinism would not have emerged without the cultural and political shock of World War I. The question why this catastrophe happened therefore preoccupies historians to this day. The focus of this volume is not on the consequences, but rather on the connection between the Great War and the long 19th century, the short- and long-term causes of World War I. This approach results in the questioning of many received ideas about the war's causes, especially the notion of "inevitability."

Hew Strachan

The history of surrender is one of the most neglected in the history of war, and yet it is vital to understanding not only how wars end but also how they are contained. This is a book with a chronological sweep that runs from the Stone Age to the present day, written by a team of truly distinguished scholars.

Holger Afflerbach

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