UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO “If Only This War Would End:” German Soldiers in the Last Year of the First World War A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by Ryan Edward Zroka Committee in charge: Professor Frank Biess, Chair Professor Richard Biernacki Professor Deborah Hertz Professor Hasan Kayali Professor Patrick Patterson 2013 Copyright Ryan Edward Zroka, 2013 All rights reserved. The dissertation of Ryan Edward Zroka is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ (Chair) University of California, San Diego 2013 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page............................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents....................................................................................................... iv List of Tables.............................................................................................................. v List of Graphs............................................................................................................. vi Acknowledgements.................................................................................................... vii Vita............................................................................................................................. ix Abstract...................................................................................................................... x Introduction................................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1: The Campaign of 1918............................................................................. 20 Chapter 2: The End of the German Army.................................................................. 56 Chapter 3: Sticks and Carrots..................................................................................... 88 Chapter 4: Disintegration............................................................................................ 129 Chapter 5: Conflict and Kameradschaft...................................................................... 170 Chapter 6: Family Men............................................................................................... 221 Chapter 7: Communities of Suffering......................................................................... 258 Conclusion: Revolutions............................................................................................. 294 Appendices................................................................................................................. 307 Bibliography................................................................................................................ 318 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1 -- Allied and German Casualties on the Western Front, 1918…………….. 79 Table 2 -- The First Company, Manpower Summary……………………………… 164 Table 3 -- Breakdown of the German Field Army by Service Branch, 1914 and 1918 ……………………………………………………………………………………… 270 v LIST OF GRAPHS Graph 1 -- Total Casualties in the German Army on the Western Front, by Month, 1914- 1918………………………………………………………………………………… 31 Graph 2 – Charges for Desertion/AWOL in the Württemberg Contingent, per Month, per Division…………………………………………………………………………….. 73 Graph 3 – Charges for Desertion/AWOL in the 27th Reserve Division, 1914-1918.. 74 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While writing this dissertation, I was often tempted to immerse myself completely in the work – to the detriment of my relationships with family, friends, and colleagues. Such an approach is ultimately self-defeating, however. I can say with absolute sincerity that this work could never have been attempted, much less completed, without the support of many, many others. I will do my best to give credit where it is due. I must first of all thank all of the members of my dissertation committee, for their countless words of advice and encouragement over many years. Special thanks must go to Frank Biess, who showed remarkable patience with an idea that took years even to articulate, and who suffered through all of its many forms and iterations. I must also mention Hasan Kayali, who was willing to help on such short notice, and Armin Owzar, who always made time to discuss ideas. I thank the Institute for European Studies and the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst. Without their support for my research, I would have accomplished nothing at all. Likewise indispensable were the staffs of the archives and libraries where I worked. I especially thank the staff of the Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte, which was my home for over a year. Gerhard Hirschfeld and Irina Renz were instrumental in every phase of my research, pointing me towards new sources and suggesting new lines of inquiry. I owe an enormous debt to my colleagues at UCSD and elsewhere. This project took shape over a thousand different conversations with them, and it was enriched by their countless insights and suggestions. I especially thank Susanne Hillman, William Skyles, and David Livingstone. vii Many, many others made important contributions to this project – assisting with translations, pointing me towards new books and sources, offering aid and comfort, and helping me to navigate foreign lands. Let me express my particular gratitude to Barbara Schäfer, Ivo Lücker, Crystal Contreras, Sebastian Schöne, Santos Cordon, Joe Neves, Charlyn Ortal, Vincent Artman, Eric Medefesser and the Medefesser family, John Lee, Pam Clark and the Humanities staff, Carol Larkin, Maureen McCormack, Nick and Lynda Zroka, Darren and Allison Zroka, Tom Parker, Larry and Ellen Edwards, and Iris and Hans Bölter. Finally I would thank Amy Edwards, whose contributions throughout have been immeasurable. Without her this project would never have come to anything, and I would have no joy in completing it. viii VITA EDUCATION 2004 Bachelor of Arts, University of California, Los Angeles 2007 Masters of Arts, University of California, San Diego 2013 Doctor of Philosophy, University of California, San Diego PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS 2005-2013 Teaching Assistant, Revelle College Humanities Program, University of California, San Diego 2008-2009 Lecturer, University of San Diego 2012-2013 Lecturer, University of California, San Diegp PUBLICATIONS “To the Bitter End: A Social History of the German Army in Defeat” in Didczuneit, Veit, Jens Ebert and Thomas Jander eds. Schreiben im Krieg, Schreiben vom Krieg: Feldpost im Zeitalter der Weltkriege (Essen: Klartext, 2011) “Veteran’s Movements in Inter-War Europe” in Merriman, John and Jay Winter eds. Europe Since 1914 - Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. (Detroit: Scribner’s, 2006) ix ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION “If Only This War Would End:” German Soldiers in the Last Year of the First World War by Ryan Edward Zroka Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, 2013 Professor Frank Biess, Chair This dissertation is concerned with questions of combat motivation in the First World War. Why did soldiers fight for so long, under such difficult and dangerous circumstances? Existing work on this subject understands the decision to fight primarily at the individual level; it attempts to reconstruct the soldiers’ attitudes and motivations. This approach has proven increasingly problematic, however. As a means of advancing the debate on this topic, I have examined a case which the existing approaches cannot explain – the case of the German army in the last year of the war. In the first part of the dissertation, I argue that individual-centered arguments cannot explain the behavior of these soldiers. After three years of difficult and costly warfare, they were profoundly weary of the war. They no longer cared about seeing the war through to a successful conclusion, and in any case, they increasingly realized that victory was impossible. These men had no discernible “motive” for continuing to fight. x And yet they did continue to fight, even through the last and most terrible phases of the war. In the second part of the dissertation, I develop a new approach to the study of combat motivation. Drawing upon the methods of labor history, I argue that any understanding of soldiers’ behavior must account for the social processes that mediate between attitudes and actions. A soldier who was weary of the war could not simply stop fighting. Purely individual forms of resistance would be easily suppressed. Resistance could be effective only when it is collective. And collective action requires some level of social cohesion – mutual trust and shared goals. Such cohesion was increasingly absent from the ranks of the German army. Partly, this was due to the nature of industrial warfare. Heavy casualties caused enormous turnover, and material shortages exacerbated pre-existing social conflicts. Subjective factors also played a role. The energy needed to sustain social connections was drawn off by family commitments. At the same time, soldiers had fewer common experiences with which to fashion a sense of group identity, as the army