Product Description

This important new 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 industrial mobilization of wartime Germany. Unlike other existing surveys, Roger Chickering also offers a rich portrait of life on the home front: the war’s pervasive effects 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 will be essential reading for all students of German and European history, as well as for those interested in the history of war and society.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1403075 in Books
• Published on: 1998-05-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 244 pages

Review
‘ … should be a boon to every student of European history in the twentieth century … it combines an overview of extraordinary range with a succession of frequently original insights.’ The Journal of Military History

‘ … meaty argument and rich detail … it deserves to be read widely among sixth-form and university students … a clear narrative style, enlivened by frequent quotations and anecdotes’. History Review

Customer Reviews

The War Germany Lost in 1914
Roger Chickering's book is essential reading for students of the war which, as Chickering points out, cast a shadow over Europe until the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989.

He shows that, for Germany, the failure of the opening offensive in France signalled a long war which, due to the British Navy's blockade, meant that shortages developed almost immediately, and attempts to cope with this situation led to layers of clumsy bureaucracy being imposed which fell hardest on the least well-off.

As the war continued, discontent grew, and with it support for the Social Democrats and their allies. The response of the military, with Ludendorff de facto in control, was to tighten controls. The political divide within Germany increased, and when Ludendorff realised the war could not be won, he was able to shift the blame for defeat onto his opponents, a fact which was fatally to undermine the chances of the Weimar Republic gaining long-term acceptance.

Thus, Chickering is able to show that the roots of Hitler's rise to power were much deeper than the recession of 1929.