Download or read book With the Kaiser s Army in 1914 written by Sven Hardin and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-05-25 with total page 646 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1914 Swedish professor, writer, illustrator and adventurer Sven Hedin was granted a car and escort and given a comprehensive tour of the German Armies fighting in Belgium and France during September and October 1914. Hedin was given unfettered access to German armies and leadership. The resulting book, With the German Armies in the West, was quickly finished and published, originally in Swedish, in 1914 then swiftly translated and printed in early 1915 by John Lane of The Bodley Head Press, London, at a time when the events described in the book were still fresh.During his battle-front tour, Hedin took the opportunity to roam around the Army's rear areas and to visit the frontline trench network. In the process he conducted many interviews, ranging from ordinary German privates to the most senior commanders and also with British and French POWs. He was an artist of great skill and was allowed to sketch many scenes depicting German infantry, cavalry, logistics and artillery batteries. He also documented the condition of post-August 1914 Belgium and described the situation in a very different light to the febrile tones of most neutral sources.This invaluable study of the Kaiser's Army in the early stages of the First World War is a great addition to the literature of the Great War providing a rare glimpse into the German Army of 1914.
Download or read book The Kaiser s Army written by David Stone and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-06-01 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this comprehensive book, David Stone describes and analyses every aspect of the German Army as it existed under Kaiser Wilhelm II, encompassing its development and antecedents, organisation, personnel, weapons and equipment, its inherent strengths and weaknesses, and its victories and defeats as it fought on many fronts throughout World War I. The book deals in considerable detail with the origins and creation of the German army, examining the structure of power in German politics and wider society, and the nation's imperial ambitions, along with the ways in which the high command and general staff functioned in terms of strategy and tactical doctrine. The nature, background, recruitment, training and military experiences of the officers, NCOs and soldiers are examined, while personal and collective values relating to honour, loyalty and conscience are also analysed. There is also an evaluation of all aspects of army life such as conscription, discipline, rest and recuperation and medical treatment. In addition the army's operations are set in context with an overview of the army at war, covering the key actions and outcomes of major campaigns from 1914 to 1918 up to the signature of the Armistice at Compiègne. For anyone seeking a definitive reference on the German Army of the period – whether scholar, historian, serving soldier or simply a general reader – this remarkable book will prove an invaluable work.
Download or read book All the Kaiser s Men written by Ian Passingham and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-10-21 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Convinced that both God and the Kaiser were on their side, the officers and men of the German Army went to war in 1914, confident that they were destined for a swift and crushing victory in the West. The vaunted Schlieffen Plan on which the anticipated German victory was based expected triumph in the West to be followed by an equally decisive success on the Eastern Front. It was not to be. From the winter of 1914 until the early months of 1918, the struggle on the Western Front was characterised by trench warfare. But our perception of the conflict takes little or no account of the realities of life 'across the wire' in the German trenches. This book redresses that imbalance and reminds us how similar these young German men were to our own Tommies. Drawing from diaries and letters, Ian Passingham charts the hopes and despair of the German soldiers, filling an important gap in the history of the Western Front.
Download or read book Dance of the Furies written by Michael S. Neiberg and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-25 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By training his eye on the ways that people outside the halls of power reacted to the rapid onset and escalation of the fighting in 1914, Neiberg dispels the notion that Europeans were rabid nationalists intent on mass slaughter. He reveals instead a complex set of allegiances that cut across national boundaries.
Download or read book July 1914 written by Sean McMeekin and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2014-04-29 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When a Serbian-backed assassin gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in late June 1914, the world seemed unmoved. Even Ferdinand's own uncle, Franz Josef I, was notably ambivalent about the death of the Hapsburg heir, saying simply, "It is God's will." Certainly, there was nothing to suggest that the episode would lead to conflict -- much less a world war of such massive and horrific proportions that it would fundamentally reshape the course of human events. As acclaimed historian Sean McMeekin reveals in July 1914, World War I might have been avoided entirely had it not been for a small group of statesmen who, in the month after the assassination, plotted to use Ferdinand's murder as the trigger for a long-awaited showdown in Europe. The primary culprits, moreover, have long escaped blame. While most accounts of the war's outbreak place the bulk of responsibility on German and Austro-Hungarian militarism, McMeekin draws on surprising new evidence from archives across Europe to show that the worst offenders were actually to be found in Russia and France, whose belligerence and duplicity ensured that war was inevitable. Whether they plotted for war or rode the whirlwind nearly blind, each of the men involved -- from Austrian Foreign Minister Leopold von Berchtold and German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov and French president Raymond Poincaré- sought to capitalize on the fallout from Ferdinand's murder, unwittingly leading Europe toward the greatest cataclysm it had ever seen. A revolutionary account of the genesis of World War I, July 1914 tells the gripping story of Europe's countdown to war from the bloody opening act on June 28th to Britain's final plunge on August 4th, showing how a single month -- and a handful of men -- changed the course of the twentieth century.
Download or read book Poles in Kaiser s Army on the Front of the First World War written by Ryszard Kaczmarek and published by Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften. This book was released on 2020-04-28 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book deals with the fate of Poles from Poznań, Upper Silesia, Masuria, and Eastern Pomerania, who served in the German Imperial Army during the First World War. In regiments recruited on the Polish soil, it was common to use the Polish language, and from 1917 Poles deserted to the Polish Army in France
Download or read book African Kaiser written by Robert Gaudi and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-01-31 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The incredible true account of World War I in Africa and General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, the last undefeated German commander. “Let me say straight out that if all military histories were as thrilling and well written as Robert Gaudi’s African Kaiser, I might give up reading fiction and literary biography… Gaudi writes with the flair of a latter-day Macaulay. He sets his scenes carefully and describes naval and military action like a novelist.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post As World War I ravaged the European continent, a completely different theater of war was being contested in Africa. And from this very different kind of war, there emerged a very different kind of military leader.... At the beginning of the twentieth century, the continent of Africa was a hotbed of international trade, colonialism, and political gamesmanship. So when World War I broke out, the European powers were forced to contend with one another not just in the bloody trenches, but in the treacherous jungle. And it was in that unforgiving land that General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck would make history. With the now-legendary Schutztruppe (Defensive Force), von Lettow-Vorbeck and a small cadre of hardened German officers fought alongside their fanatically devoted native African allies as equals, creating the first truly integrated army of the modern age. African Kaiser is the fascinating story of a forgotten guerrilla campaign in a remote corner of Equatorial Africa in World War I; of a small army of ultraloyal African troops led by a smaller cadre of rugged German officers—of white men and black who fought side by side. But mostly it is the story of von Lettow-Vorbeck—the only undefeated German commmander in the field during World War I and the last to surrender his arms.
Download or read book Instrument of War written by Dennis Showalter and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-11-17 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on more than a half-century of research and teaching, Dennis Showalter presents a fresh perspective on the German Army during World War I. Showalter surveys an army at the heart of a national identity, driven by – yet also defeated by – warfare in the modern age, which struggled to capitalize on its victories and ultimately forgot the lessons of its defeat. Exploring the internal dynamics of the German Army and detailing how the soldiers coped with the many new forms of warfare, Showalter shows how the army's institutions responded to, and how Germany itself was changed by war. Detailing the major campaigns on the Western and Eastern fronts and the forgotten war fought in the Middle East and Africa, this comprehensive volume examines the army's operational strategy, the complexities of campaigns of movement versus static trench warfare, and the effects of changes in warfare.
Download or read book The Kaiser s Army written by Eric Dorn Brose and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2001-01 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In detail, Brose describes the slow and arduous process of overcoming entrenched traditions. In August 1914, as the army strove for western victory, its shortcomings became obvious. The campaign planned by military leaders had a reasonable chance of success despite the risky provocation of Belgium and England. It failed, however, due largely to the residual effects of decades of pride and stubborn adherence to the old ways." "Combining military, social, and political history, The Kaiser's Army provides a fascinating look at the modern German army and its evolution. It is a book for anyone interested in German history, military history, and World War I."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book The Kaiser s Battle written by Martin Middlebrook and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At 9.30am on 21 March 1918, the last great battle of World War I commenced when three german armies struck a massive blow against the weak divisions of the British Third and Fifth armies. It was the first day of what the Germans called the kaiserschlact (the kaiser's battle), the series of attacks that were planned to break the deadlock on the western front, knock the British Army out of the war and finally bring victory to imperial Germany. Through first-hand accounts by survivors of the battle, Martin Middlebrook discusses the battle.
Download or read book How America Won World War I written by Alan Axelrod and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-09-01 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Immediately after the armistice was signed in November, 1918, an American journalist asked Paul von Hindenburg who won the war against Germany. He was the chief of the German General Staff, co-architect with Erich Ludendorff of Germany’s Eastern Front victories and its nearly war-winning Western Front offensives, and he did not hesitate in his answer. “The American infantry,” he said. He made it even more specific, telling the reporter that the final death blow for Germany was delivered by “the American infantry in the Argonne.” The British and the French often denigrated the American contribution to the war, but they had begged for US entry into the conflict, and their stake in America’s victory was, if anything, even greater than that of the United States itself. But How America Won WWI will not litigate the points of view of Britain and France. The book will accepts as gospel the assessment of the top German leader whose job it had been to oppose the Americans directly - that the American infantry won the war - and this book will tell how the American infantry did it.
Download or read book The German Failure in Belgium August 1914 written by Dennis Showalter and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2019-05-21 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If wars were wagered on like pro sports or horse races, the Germany military in August 1914 would have been a clear front-runner, with a century-long record of impressive victories and a general staff the envy of its rivals. Germany's overall failure in the first year of World War I was surprising and remains a frequent subject of analysis, mostly focused on deficiencies in strategy and policy. But there were institutional weaknesses as well. This book examines the structural failures that frustrated the Germans in the war's crucial initial campaign, the invasion of Belgium. Too much routine in planning, command and execution led to groupthink, inflexibility and to an overconfident belief that nothing could go too terribly wrong. As a result, decisive operation became dicey, with consequences that Germany's military could not overcome in four long years.
Download or read book The Month that Changed the World written by Gordon Martel and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 28 June 1914 the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in the Balkans. Five fateful weeks later the Great Powers of Europe were at war. Much time and ink has been spent ever since trying to identify the "guilty" person or state responsible, or alternatively attempting to explain the underlying forces that 'inevitably' led to war in 1914. Unsatisfied with these explanations, Gordon Martel now goes back to the contemporary diplomatic, military, and political records to investigate the twists and turns of the crisis afresh, with the aim of establishing just how the catastrophe really unfurled. What emerges is the story of a terrible, unnecessary tragedy - one that can be understood only by retracing the steps taken by those who went down the road to war. With each passing day, we see how the personalities of leading figures such as Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Emperor Franz Joseph, Tsar Nicholas II, Sir Edward Grey, and Raymond Poincare were central to the unfolding crisis, how their hopes and fears intersected as events unfolded, and how each new decision produced a response that complicated or escalated matters to the point where they became almost impossible to contain. Devoting a chapter to each day of the infamous "July Crisis," this gripping step by step account of the descent to war makes clear just how little the conflict was in fact premeditated, preordained, or even predictable. Almost every day it seemed possible that the crisis could be settled as so many had been over the previous decade; almost every day there was a new suggestion that gave statesmen hope that war could be avoided without abandoning vital interests. And yet, as the last month of peace ebbed away, the actions and reactions of the Great Powers disastrously escalated the situation. So much so that, by the beginning of August, what might have remained a minor Balkan problem had turned into the cataclysm of the First World War.
Download or read book Fighting the Kaiser s War written by Andrew Lucas and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2015-04-30 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Personal accounts of the Great War experiences of British soldiers are well known and plentiful, but similar accounts from the German side of no man's land are rare. This highly original book vividly describes the wartime lives and ultimate fates of ten Saxon soldiers facing the British in Flanders, revealed through their intimate diaries and correspondence. The stories of these men, from front-line trench fighters to a brigade commander, are in turn used to illustrate the wider story of thousands more who fought and died in Flanders 'for King and Country, Kaiser and Reich' with the Royal Saxon Army. This ground-breaking work is illustrated with over 300 mostly unseen wartime photographs and other images, recording the German experience of the war in human detail and giving a rounded picture of how the Saxons lived and died in Flanders.
Download or read book The Kaiser s Reluctant Conscript written by Dominik Richert and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a conscript from Alsace, Dominik Richert realized from the outset of the First World War that his family was likely to be at or near the front line. He was a reluctant soldier who was willing to stand up to authority - and to avoid risks - in order to survive. His honest account of his part in the conflict, which saw him serving on both the Western and Eastern Front over the duration of the War, gives a lively picture of major events. He took part in fighting French and Indian troops in 1914, in the battle on Mount Zwinin in the Carpartians in 1915 and in the subsequent invasion of the western parts of the Ukraine and Poland. Later he was involved in the capture of Riga in 1917, before returning to the Western Front in 1918, where he witnessed German tanks in action at the Battle of Villers-Brettoneux. As he could see no point in the war, he subsequently crossed no-man's-land and surrendered to the French, becoming a 'deserteur Alsacienne'. The book ends with Richert's return home early in 1919. A fascinating aspect of the book is the character author himself. He is increasingly willing to act independently as the narrative progresses, and he refuses to accept the propaganda that he encounters. He fights to survive, but feels little respect for his own army or the society that sent him to war.
Download or read book The Marne 15 July 6 August 1918 written by Stephen C. McGeorge and Mason W. Watson and published by . This book was released on with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Enduring the Great War written by Alexander Watson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-04-17 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is 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 fresh 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 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.
