Stephane Audoin-Rouzeau and Annette Becker, authors of 14-18: Understanding the Great War, are directors of the Historial de la Grande Guerre in Péronne, an international museum and research center near the Somme. Audoin-Rouzeau graduated from Jules Verne University of Picardy, and Becker graduated from the University of Paris, X-Nanterre. Both have completed a high volume of research and writings on World War I. Each has also published one book relating to World War I before writing 14-18: Understanding the Great War.
World War I is a commonly studied event in history. Many researchers have put considerable time and effort into researching and analyzing the causes, events, and effects of the war. There are countless books on the matter as well. Most of this is focused on the cause and effects of the war or the events of the war from a strategic and/or military standpoint. Stephane Audouin-Rouzeau and Annette Becker take a different approach in 14-18: Understanding the Great War. They offer a new way of understanding World War I with a focus on the three aspects of the war that they consider most often overlooked by other historians: the horrific violence of the war, the war as a crusade, and the overwhelming grief felt as a result of the war. They use these aspects to provide a complete understanding of the war and to show how it made subsequent conflicts possible. Their method of research and writing is different as well. They display an obvious awareness of over reliance on and lack of analysis of many primary sources used by historians. Audoin-Rouzeau and Becker not only use and analyze some of these primary sources in a in their context, but also provide some analysis and discussion of other historians writings as well.
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...olence seen in areas other than the front lines. These myths are often reinforced by historians. (46) The authors also use some primary sources to support their arguments such as their use of the scholars ‘Appeal to the Civilised World’ to show the Germans’ reaction to the accusations of barbarianism.
Audoin-Rouzeau and Becker describe World War I in great detail in 14-18: Understanding the Great War. They use three uncommonly analyzed aspects of the war to provide a clear understanding of the events of the war and the study of the war in the years since. They successfully prove their point demonstrating that other historians have often overlooked or misinterpreted areas that they cover in detail in their book. They strategically use primary and secondary sources that provide clear evidence. It is clear that their discussion is thoroughly researched and accurate.
German propaganda spread throughout Germany like wildfire. The glory and enthusiasm of going to war to fight for your country aims and ideals was the mood set. Everyone wanted to be a hero, and if you did not want to fight than you would be thought of as a coward,.. “ because at the time even one’s parents were ready with the word ‘Coward’..” (Remarque p.11). The elders glorified war by writing and talking about it, expressing that duty to one’s country is the greatest thing. The soldiers saw the hideous wounds and dying men and distinguishing the false from the true, realizing that there is nothing of their world left. That is how Paul Baumer felt when he was in the Catholic hospital with his friend and comrade Albert Kropp. Looking around at all the wounded solders he saw what a waste war was. Up until this war, nobody had ever seen such a destructive war, partly due to all the advanced technology, and therefore none of the great world powers knew what they were getting themselves into. “ To shed one’s blood for the fatherland is not difficult it is enveloped in romantic heroism” (McKay/Hill/Bucker 904) as explained by a German soldier who volunteered for the front. The fact that the whole country of Germany was patriotic, energetic, and unified towards the war effort glorified it even that much more. Who would not want to fight for their homeland at that time? “ We were still crammed full of vague ideas which gave to life, and to the war also an ideal and almost romantic character” (Remarque 21). Once these combatants experienced the real life threats such as poisonous gasses, rapid machine gun fire and a constant flurry of explosive shells, these were propelled into a New World of killing or being killed. They are fighting with animal like instincts and all their proper manners that they are raised with vanish.
Storm of Steel is a personal account of Ernst Jünger’s experiences during the First World War. In his account of the war, he depicted the war as both valiant and terrible. A patriot to the German cause, Jünger thought that the war was a call of duty to all German men and he was more than happy to join the cause. Storm of Steel is written in a unique style told from the perspective of a soldier in the trenches. He uses memories and diary entries to add to the material in the book. It is an excellent personal account of the experiences of the German soldier in many of the major events of the war including the battles of the Somme, Arras, Ypres, Cambrai, and the German Spring offensive in 1918.
World War I is marked by its extraordinary brutality and violence due to the technological advancement in the late 18th century and early 19th century that made killing easier, more methodical and inhumane. It was a war that saw a transition from traditional warfare to a “modern” warfare. Calvary charges were replaced with tanks; swords were replaced with machine guns; strategic and decisive battles were r...
The start of World War I was owed partly to the imperialism that was prominent throughout the world. A direct cause focused on the economical success of Germany. Its claims on colonies and territory such as Alsace-Lorraine proved to be decisive and matched those of Britain’s claims on its colonies, which included India and Burma….
The warfare before World War I was that of chivalry and heroic ideals, in which soldiers gave their lives for noble causes and, by doing so, went down in history as honourable heroes. The high recruitment rate at the beginning of the Great War shows that in 1914 a whole generation of young men wanted to fight because they believed in the just cause of it. However, the soldiers quickly discard and outgrow this simplistic view and become aware that “the War is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it” (Sassoon). The tragedy of World War I lies in the fact that so many people lost their lives, either as soldiers or as collateral damage, simply because of rival imperialism, which once more shows that humanity’s greatest enemy is man himself.
Grayzel, Susan R. The First World War: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. Print.
SUMMARY OF CONTENTS: The subject matter of this book was a soldier’s personal experience in World War I. William’s involvement was from May 1915 to January 1920. The title of the book refers to a Holocaust, not that of Hitler, but of the aspirations of being a decorated was hero and glory for Germany to the horrors of poison gas, trench warfare, and war’s irreparable disruption of everyday life. He spent one year in the trenches of the Argonne Forest, two months in the sector of Verdun, and forty months in French captivity and then finally a full year rebuilding the destroyed area around Verdun after the war was over. He established many relationships, self-epiphanies, not so favorable treatment, and many other first hand occurrences throughout his servitude that provide a very vivid image of life as a soldier.
...ings by then, whose memories, fears, and enthusiasms should not be remembered." Thus, unlike the title suggests, this remarkable war memoir is not about one soldier. Instead it refers to the entire German army who were defeated by the Allies. Although the German cause was very controversial, these gentlemen bravely fought for their country. Many men died, many were mutilated, and many more had to forever live with the atrocities they encountered. At war's end, however, they were merely "forgotten" for their failure of success. And although The Forgotten Soldier is an astonishing account of the horrors of infantry warfare, it serves a much greater purpose. It allows the historian to glance into the German experience and realize they too were young men fighting because their nation called upon them, and they deserve to be remembered for such a courageous act.
During W.W.I the Austrian wore the pike gray 1909 pattern tunic and trousers. They have three white stars on the collar which indicate Sergeants rank. Some have leather gaiters worn by mountain troops; others wore the ordinary trousers with the integral gaiter which fastened around the ankle with two buttons. Men and women wore tunics made of khaki serge flannel or cord. Most men, and some women, also wore leather cartridge pouches and a slouched hat. Women were seen wearing long, more fuller skirts. Blouses usually had a high neck line and the sleeves were full length. Women also wore their hair longer but usually pulled it back into a bun or pony tail. Fashions were very conservative. On the Eastern Front, German infantry wore white coats with fur on the inside. They did this for warmth and camouflage. They wore the field gray cap with black/white and red at the top, and state blockade on the band. The band was red for infantry, black for rifles and artillery, and brown for machine gun battalions. The German Army uniform began to change in 1915. They went from buttoned cuffs to a simple turned back cuff. During W.W.I. tobacco was not frequently used, but drinking tea and whisky was used more for entertainment and relaxation. During W.W.II. materials were scarce. Skirt hems were much shorter and skirts were more form fitting. The clothes could not have any cuff, ruffles or flap pockets. Pants could be no more than 19 inches wide. There were also shortages of fabric such as silk, rayon and nylon. American women were starting to become fashionable by wearing military hats, men's pants, and patches. Women also stopped wearing large jewelry such as bangles and beads. Short haircuts were considered much safer at work and less trouble. The short hairstyles became popular during the war. Men's suits were rationed and each man was only allowed one suit per year. Men were allowed to only have four cigarettes per day. The styles during W.W.I were not as conservative as the styles during W.W.II. The styles during W.W.II. indicate a shortage of products which mandated the fashion industry during that era for both men and women. The changing of the fashions from W.W.I. to W.W.II. show that men and women were becoming more in tune with fashion. Styles were not as conservative as they used to be.
Often times the Second World War over shadows the First World War when it comes to discussing a total war because the First World War may be considered a limited war. A limited war has specific goals while a total war involves the entire nation and its destruction. An examination of pre-1914 events and events that occurred from 1914 to1918 reveal the ways in which the First World War was a total war.
Zieger, Robert H. (2000). America’s Great War: World War I and the American Experience. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.
McCullough Edward E. How The First World War Began: The Triple Entente and the Coming of the Great War of 1914-1918. North America: Black Rose Books, 1999. Print.
details the causes of the first World war and describes the first month of the war. The book clearly illustrates how a local war became an entire European struggle by a call to war against Russia. Soon after the war became a world issue.
World War I was a conflict that claimed over 10 million peoples’ lives, ravaged all of Europe and engineered modern warfare, as it is know today. The Great War has been scrutinized and examined through many complex theories in order to understand how such a conflict escalated to one of the most epic wars in history. This essay, like many works before it, looks to examine WWI and determine its causes through two distinct levels of analysis, individual and systemic. The individual level of analysis locates the cause of conflicts in individual leaders or decision makers within a particular country, focusing on the characteristics of human decision-making. The systemic level of analysis explains the causation of a conflict from a system wide level that includes all states, taking in to account the distribution of power and the interaction of states in the international system.
As students of history in the 21st century, we have many comprehensive resources pertaining to the First World War that are readily available for study purposes. The origin of these primary, secondary and fictional sources affect the credibility, perspective and factual information resulting in varying strengths and weaknesses of these sources. These sources include propaganda, photographs, newspapers, journals, books, magazine articles and letters. These compilations allow individuals to better understand the facts, feeling and context of the home front and battlefield of World War One.