The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918

Description

The Great War toppled four empires, cost the world 24 million dead and sowed some of the seeds of another conflagration 20 years later. This text provides a comprehensive treatment of how Germany and Austria-Hungary - two of the key belligerents - conducted the war and what defeat meant to them. How did the Hohenzollern and Habsburg empires conceive of and conduct "total war"? What impact did the prolonged fighting have on their societies? Drawing on his own archival research over the past decade, Holger Herwig analyzes why Vienna opted for war in 1914 and why Berlin took the calculated risk to back that decision. The war plans and military campaigns on both Eastern and Western fronts are examined in detail and key battles, some of the bloodiest and most wasteful in military history, are narrated and analyzed. On the home front, the mobilization of the civilian populations behind the war effort had profound social consequences. The militarization of the key war-related industries led to an industrial women's labour force emerging in both countries, deeply affecting the role of women in Germanic society.

Holger H. Herwig is Professor of History at the University of Calgary, Canada. Modern Wars series general editor Hew Strachan is Chichele Professor of the History of War, University of Oxford, UK. The advisory editor is Michael Howard.

Full of fascinating detail, strongly argued, and lucidly written, Herwig's study is certain to force a re-evaluation of the origins and course of World War One. Choice a comprehensive study we have needed for some time one cannot but admire the breathtaking scope of [Herwig's] scholarship. A brilliant work by one of the real giants in the field. An absolute must read for anyone with even a passing interest in the subject. New York Military Affairs Symposium In making extensive use of achive material in Germany and Austria [Herwig] is able to destroy effectively the myth of a well-run German war machine. The Times Literary Supplement the most thorough and readable one-volume history of the war so far available. History