Enduring the Great War. Combat, Morale and Collapse in the German and British Armies, 1914–1918
by Alexander Watson, University of Cambridge
Published by Cambridge University Press
Description
An innovative comparative history of how German and British soldiers endured the horror of the First World War. Unlike existing literature, which emphasises the strength of societies or military institutions, this study argues that at the heart of armies’ robustness lay natural human resilience. Drawing widely on contemporary letters and diaries of British and German soldiers, psychiatric reports and official documentation, and interpreting these sources with modern psychological research, this unique account provides new insights into the soldiers’ fears, motivations and coping mechanisms. It explains why the British outlasted their opponents by examining and comparing the motives for fighting, the effectiveness with which armies and societies supported men and the combatants’ morale throughout the conflict on both sides. Finally it challenges the current consensus on the war’s end, arguing that not a ‘covert strike’ but rather an ‘ordered surrender’ led by junior officers brought about Germany’s defeat in 1918.
• The first English-language comparative study of Anglo-German morale during World War I • Provides an important new interpretation of the German army’s defeat • Draws on a wide range of English and German source material including soldiers’ letters and diaries, official military sources and psychiatric reports
Contents
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.
Prize Winner
In manuscript form, joint winner of the Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library’s Fraenkel Prize for 2006
Website: www.cambridge.org/9780521881012