War Experiences in Rural Germany: 1914-1923

This pathbreaking book paints a vivid picture of the dynamics of total war on rural communities, from the calling up of troops to the reintegration of veterans into society. Drawing on intimate firsthand accounts in diaries and letters, it challenges some strongly held assumptions about the Great War. The author shows that through the exchange of letters and frequent furloughs, rural soldiers maintained a high degree of contact to their home lives and suggests that the war's effects were perhaps not as completely devastating as previously suggested.

"The most thorough, nuanced, and gripping analysis of life in the German army during this war."--Roger Chickering, Georgetown University

"With this publication you get two books for the price of one. (...) This book is not only a richly documented 'military history from below', but a convincing, finely argued history of mentalities of a region in a crucial period."--Alan Kramer, Trinity College, Dublin

World War I was a uniquely devastating total war that surpassed all previous conflicts for its destruction. But what was the reality like on the ground, for both the soldiers on the front-lines and the women on the homefront?Drawing on intimate firsthand accounts in diaries and letters, War Experiences in Rural Germany examines this question in detail and challenges some strongly held assumptions about the Great War. The author makes the controversial case for the blurring of 'front' and 'homefront'. He shows that through the constant exchange of letters and frequent furloughs, rural soldiers maintained a high degree of contact with their home lives. In addition, the author provides a more nuanced interpretation of the alleged brutalizing effect of the war experience, suggesting that it was by far not as complete as has been previously understood. This pathbreaking book paints a vivid picture of the dynamics of total war on rural communities, from the calling up of troops to the reintegration of veterans into society.

Benjamin Ziemann is at the Department of History, University of Sheffield.

Introduction * Depression, August 1914 * Military Cohesion, 1914-1918 * Fluctuation * Routines of Everyday Life * Discipline and Ideology * War Weariness, 1914-1918 * Injustice * Expectations and Disappointments* Disobedience * Mentalities, 1914-1918 * Homesickness * Religious Stabilisation * National Identity?* Village Communities, 1914-1923 * Peasant Wifes, 1914-1918* Agrarian Economy and Inflation, 1914-1923 * Agrarian Mobilisation: Protests and Politics * Social Conflicts * Veterans, 1918-1923 * Demobilisation, 1918-1921 * Defensive Mobilisation: Paramilitary Groups, 1918-1921 * Veterans' Associations * War Memorials * Conclusion