Gerhard Hirschfeld, Gerd Krumeich, Irina Renz. Enzyklopädie Erster Weltkrieg. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh Verlag, 2004. 1002 S. EUR 58.00, cloth, ISBN 978-3-506-73913-1.
Reviewed by Matthew Stibbe
Published on H-German (January, 2005)
With 26 survey essays and over 650 individu‐ many by the late Wolfgang Mommsen, on France al entries, this is a substantial work of reference by Jean-Jacques Becker, on Belgium by Laurence and a valuable resource for all those interested in van Ypersele, on Britain by Jay Winter, on Aus‐ First World War studies. In terms of format it has tria-Hungary by Manfried Rauchensteiner, on something in common with the Enzyklopädie des Russia by Dittmar Dahlmann, on Italy by Mario Is‐ Nationalsozialismus, which appeared in 1997, al‐ nenghi, and on the United States by Ronald Schaf‐ though the subject matter is obviously diferent fer. Mommsen's essay traces the gradual break‐ and the scope is necessarily broader, especially as down of Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg's several of the essays are written from a compara‐ Burgfrieden strategy and the ensuing slide to‐ tive or transnational perspective.[1] The volume wards military rule which led, ultimately, to the also includes twenty-three maps and over one disastrous decision in favor of unrestricted sub‐ hundred photographs and illustrations from the marine warfare in January 1917. Bethmann's suc‐ period, many of which appear for the frst time. cessors after July 1917, Georg Michaelis and Georg The full range of contributions cannot be ade‐ von Hertling, were little more than puppets of the quately dealt with in a short review, making it German supreme command under Hindenburg necessary to select just a few items for more de‐ and Ludendorf whose "silent dictatorship" over tailed discussion below. all questions relating to strategy and war aims The survey essays are divided--not entirely (Martin Kitchen) continued until the fnal weeks satisfactorily--into four overlapping sections: of the war. Becker, on the other hand, demon‐ states at war, societies at war, the course of the strates that in France the army lost its battle with war, and the historiography of the war. The the civilian establishment for control over the "states at war" section mainly deals with ques‐ war efort, in spite of the personal popularity of tions of domestic politics and decision-making at military leaders like Jofre. By 1917 at the latest, the national level, and includes essays on Ger‐ the Senate and Chamber of Deputies had reassert‐ ed themselves as the supreme representatives of H-Net Reviews the French nation at war and parliamentary triotic and religious fervor that had been mobi‐ democracy had been strengthened vis-à-vis its lized between 1914 and 1918 ("man konnte nun critics on the left and right. Nonetheless, the atti‐ nicht mehr glauben, wovon man vordem tude of ordinary French men and women towards überzeugt gewesen war"), allowing new ideolo‐ their rulers also changed in various ways, most gies to develop, which glorifed the violence and notably in relation to what Becker describes as modernity of war but not its spiritual and idealis‐ the "withdrawal into the private sphere" and the tic side (p. 197). Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau "retreat from patriotism" after the disappointing records the intrusion of the war into the lives of peace settlement of 1919 (p. 42). Jay Winter, in his children and young people, including those who piece on Britain, moves beyond the question of fought (as conscripts or volunteers) and those civil-military relations and wartime politics to dis‐ who were afected indirectly, through absent fa‐ cuss social and economic issues, especially the de‐ thers, uncles, and elder brothers. Even those with‐ mographic impact of the war and its infuence on out relatives at the front felt the brutality of the the personal and cultural realms. Contrary to the war, especially those who lived under foreign oc‐ belief of some historians--and in spite of the huge cupation, as did the children of Belgium and number of war widows and orphans--he shows northern France, or under economic blockade, as that the war strengthened the institution of the did the children of Germany. Finally, Ute Daniel family and led to an increase in the popularity of considers the wide diversity of women's experi‐ marriage, especially among the young (pp. 53-54). ences of war, both at home and at the front, and Likewise, Ronald Schafer provides some interest‐ the ambivalent impact of the war on women's ing insights into the relationship between war emancipation. For instance, while the expansion and campaigns in America against alcoholism and of female employment and the practice of paying prostitution, two apparent threats to "respectable" separation allowances to soldiers' wives gave family life. White middle-class women in particu‐ women new powers over the household budget, lar found new public roles as the guardians of such measures were accompanied by the rise of moral values on the home front, helping to boost more negative images of women as irresponsible the case for female sufrage at state and federal and frivolous consumers or as unpatriotic rioters levels. African Americans, on the other hand, re‐ and strikers. The rationalization of industrial pro‐ mained marginalized from politics and society af‐ duction likewise tended to reinforce traditional ter 1918, in spite of their important contribution gender stereotypes, with women placed at the to the national war efort (p. 110). bottom of the skills and pay hierarchy; many were The "societies at war" section is devoted more fred from wartime jobs to make way for return‐ directly to comparative history. The essays by ing soldiers after 1918 (pp. 132-133). Dick Geary on workers and Benjamin Ziemann on In the third grouping of essays, on the course soldiers stand out in particular as excellent exam‐ of the war, Jost Dülfer gives a brief account of in‐ ples of this genre. Jürgen von Ungern-Sternberg ternational relations before 1914, and the late discusses the role of intellectuals on both sides, Wilhelm Deist provides an expert analysis of the and Michael Jeismann does the same for propa‐ military strategy of the Central Powers. Alan ganda (including flm) and censorship. Annette Kramer, in his detailed and perceptive essay, con‐ Becker draws mainly on France in her essay on siders the vexed question of war crimes and the the religious experience of war, but also includes problem of defnition in relation to international references to (Lutheran) Germany. Her conclusion law. As he makes clear, in spite of their adherence is stark and depressing: after the disappointing to the Geneva and The Hague conventions, the Al‐ peace settlement of 1919 Europeans forgot the pa‐ lied and German armies continued to interpret
2 H-Net Reviews their obligations in a radically diferent way, par‐ well as to the role of soldiers as participants in ticularly when it came to respecting the rights of acts of brutality against enemy populations.[5] non-combatants. The German air attacks on The fnal section contains two essays on the British coastal cities, which deliberately targeted historiography of the First World War. Gerd civilians, are a case in point. The Geneva conven‐ Krumeich and Gerhard Hirschfeld survey devel‐ tions regarding the treatment of wounded and opments in western historical writing from the captured soldiers presented fewer problems, but 1920s to the present day, paying particular atten‐ legal experts were divided in their reading of The tion to the recent move towards the study of "war Hague agreements, especially Hague IV concern‐ cultures" and "mentalities" as exemplifed by ing the laws and customs of war on land. The is‐ George Mosse's Fallen Soldiers (1990) and the con‐ sue featured heavily in propaganda too, as both troversial work of French historians Stéphane Au‐ sides sought to highlight the alleged atrocities of doin-Rouzeau and Annette Becker, 14-18. Retrou‐ the other while presenting their own actions as a ver la guerre (2000).[6] Meanwhile, Fritz Klein, legitimate form of retaliation or as a necessary one of the few remaining members of his genera‐ means of self-defense ("Not kennt kein Gebot"). In tion of GDR historians, gives a concise overview of this sense, the war had become total from a very the achievements of East German research in the early stage. area of First World War studies. In so doing, he Meanwhile, both Kramer and Laurence van shows that it was possible, even within the con‐ Ypersele provide detailed evidence of the particu‐ fnes of a communist dictatorship, to challenge lar sufering of Belgian and French civilians un‐ conceived wisdom and make a lasting contribu‐ der German occupation. This is an important area tion to historical knowledge. The work of the of research, which has attracted a great deal of in‐ Marxist labor historian Jürgen Kuczynski is par‐ terest in recent years.[2] Roughly 5,500 Belgians ticularly well known, but Klein too has achieved and 900 French men and women were killed by international recognition for his publications, pre- German troops in the frst weeks of the war, and and post-1989, in this feld.[7] tens of thousands were deported to work in the The essays are followed by a dictionary of key German war economy between November 1916 terms and issues, including references to the most and November 1918. The Russians deported even important battles, weapons, treaties, politicians, larger numbers of non-combatants from the war military leaders, and cultural/intellectual fgures zones on the eastern front, including many Rus‐ of the day. As with any encyclopedia, individual sian subjects whose ethnic background made readers will inevitably identify subjects that are them suspect to the military authorities. This was either left out entirely or not covered in sufcient part of a broader nationalization campaign car‐ depth for their liking. It is noticeable, for instance, ried out by the tsarist regime under cover of war that there is barely any information on the in‐ which no international law had foreseen or, for volvement of Latin American countries such as that matter, was able to prevent.[3] In Serbia Brazil, in the First World War, and even Stig proper and Macedonia, under Habsburg and Bul‐ Förster, in his overview essay Vom europäischen garian occupation from 1915 to 1918, thousands Krieg zum Weltkrieg, deals with this issue in just a more civilians were massacred or expelled.[4] In‐ couple of sentences (p. 247). In some of the com‐ deed, it is one of the great strengths of the ency‐ parative pieces, moreover, the emphasis is very clopedia that it is able to devote so much attention much on France, Germany, and Britain, to the ex‐ to the "forgotten" civilian victims of the war, as clusion of other participants in the war. However, these are minor criticisms. In general, this is a su‐
3 H-Net Reviews perbly edited volume and includes a wealth of up- net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi? to-date information, even on relatively neglected path=187231093955271>. or obscure topics such as civilian internment, [7]. Jürgen Kuczynski, Der Ausbruch des Er‐ prisoners of war, photography, military desertion, sten Weltkrieges und die deutsche front theater, soldiers' humor, and so forth. An Sozialdemokratie. Chronik und Analyse (Berlin English-language edition must surely follow. (GDR): Akademie Verlag, 1957); idem, Die Notes Geschichte der Lage der Arbeiter unter dem Kapi‐ [1]. Wolfgang Benz, Hermann Graml, and Her‐ talismus. Vol. 4: Darstellung der Lage der Arbeiter mann Weiss, eds. Enzyklopaedie des National‐ in Deutschland von 1900 bis 1917/18 (Berlin sozialismus (Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuchver‐ (GDR): Akademie Verlag, 1967); Fritz Klein et al., lag, 1997). Deutschland im Ersten Weltkrieg. 3 vols. (Berlin (GDR): Akademie Verlag, 1968-9). See also Fritz [2]. See in particular Annette Becker, Oubliés Klein, Drinnen und Draussen. Ein Historiker in de la grande guerre. Humanitaire et culture de der DDR. Erinnerungen (Frankfurt am Main: S. guerre. Populations occupées, déportés civils, Fischer Verlag, 2000). prisonniers de guerre (Paris: Éditions Noêsis, 1998); Helen McPhail, The Long Silence. Civilian Life Under the German Occupation of Northern France, 1914-1918 (London: I. B. Tauris, 1999); John Horne and Alan Kramer, German Atrocities, 1914. A History of Denial (New Haven: Yale Uni‐ versity Press, 2001); see H-German review at 4 H-Net Reviews If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-german Citation: Matthew Stibbe. Review of Hirschfeld, Gerhard; Krumeich, Gerd; Renz, Irina. Enzyklopädie Erster Weltkrieg. H-German, H-Net Reviews. January, 2005. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10114 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 5