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449 Results

Survey Articles (Regional)

Regional
Austria-Hungary
By Pieter M. Judson
The article surveys the social and military history of Austria-Hungary during th…
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Regional
Germany
By Gerhard Hirschfeld
When war broke out, in light of increasingly inflexible constellations and allia…
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Regional
Naval Blockade (of Germany)
By Alan Kramer
Blockades, part of economic warfare, had been employed throughout history. The A…
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Regional Thematic Articles

Regional Thematic
Bereavement and Mourning (Germany)
By Silke Fehlemann
Bereavement was a central element of Germany’s experience in World War One. The …
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Regional Thematic
Between Acceptance and Refusal - Soldiers' Attitudes Towards War (Austria-Hungary)
By Richard Lein
Since the end of World War One it has generally been accepted that the collapse …
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Regional Thematic
Between Acceptance and Refusal - Soldiers' Attitudes Towards War (Germany)
By Steffen Bruendel
German soldiers' attitudes toward the war neither were static nor did they devel…
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Regional Thematic
Centenary (Austria)
By Stefan Wedrac
While for the official Austrian state it was in some ways an uneasy task to comm…
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Regional Thematic
Centenary (Czech Republic)
By Jan Adamec
The article describes commemorative acts and festivities marking the centenary o…
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Regional Thematic
Centenary (Germany)
By Markus Pöhlmann
The paradox of the German centenary lies in the fact that this country played a …
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Regional Thematic
Centenary (Hungary)
By Peter Ferwagner
In Hungary, World War I commemorations have been mainly organized by the Centena…
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Regional Thematic
Centenary (Slovakia)
By Michal Kšiňan
Slovakia has a double memory of World War I: the one of former Austro-Hungarian …
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Regional Thematic
Civilian and Military Power (Austria-Hungary)
By Hermann Kuprian, Nicole-Melanie Goll
The relationship between civilian and military power in Austria-Hungary during t…
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Regional Thematic
Civilian and Military Power (Germany)
By Lukas Grawe
Armed conflicts provide fertile ground for the military’s ambitions to gain auth…
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Regional Thematic
Commemoration, Cult of the Fallen (Germany)
By Nadine Rossol
The First World War was commemorated in numerous ways in post-1918 Germany. Loca…
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Regional Thematic
Film/Cinema (Germany)
By Wolfgang Mühl-Benninghaus
Films about the First World War began to attract academic attention towards the …
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Regional Thematic
Food and Nutrition (Austria-Hungary)
By Ernst Langthaler
Food became a scarce – and thus decisive – resource for the Habsburg Empire’s wa…
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Regional Thematic
Food and Nutrition (Germany)
By Belinda Davis
“Manmade” food shortages arose early in the war on the front line and especially…
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Regional Thematic
Governments, Parliaments and Parties (Austria)
By John W. Boyer
The closing of the parliament in Vienna in spring 1914 led to the consolidation …
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Regional Thematic
Governments, Parliaments and Parties (Germany)
By Torsten Oppelland
At the beginning of World War I, Germany was a constitutional monarchy in which …
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Regional Thematic
Governments-Parliaments and Parties (Hungary)
By András Joó
Political life in the Hungarian part of the Dual Monarchy (particularly the cons…
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Regional Thematic
Historiography 1918-Today (Austria-Hungary)
By Hannes Leidinger
Apart from a few brief words regarding the relevant scientific work of internati…
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Regional Thematic
Labor (Germany)
By Thomas Welskopp
The German Reich fell short of integrating representatives of the workers into i…
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Regional Thematic
Labour, Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes (Austria-Hungary)
By Jakub Beneš
The First World War was a period of repression and severe privation in Austria-H…
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Regional Thematic
Labour Movements and Strikes, Social Conflict and Control, Protest and Repression (Germany)
By Klaus Weinhauer
The First World War and the subsequent years saw a plethora of strikes, protests…
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Regional Thematic
Literature (Austria-Hungary)
By Monika Szczepaniak
This article considers the links between Austrian literature and the First World…
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Regional Thematic
Literature (Germany)
By Bernd Hüppauf
World War I literature is a reflection of a collective crisis of confidence and …
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Regional Thematic
Making Sense of the War (Germany)
By Jürgen von Ungern-Sternberg
This article deals with the reactions of German scholars and artists to the Firs…
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Regional Thematic
Nationalities (Austria-Hungary)
By Rok Stergar
Recent research has questioned the view that that the population of Austria-Hung…
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Regional Thematic
Occupation during and after the War (Austria-Hungary)
By Wolfram Dornik
While on the Western Front there were only limited territorial movements, the Ea…
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Regional Thematic
Occupation during and after the War (Germany)
By Joachim Schröder, Alexander Watson
This article studies Germany’s experiences of occupation during and immediately …
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Regional Thematic
Organization of War Economies (Austria-Hungary)
By Felix Butschek
This article describes the structure and development of the Austro-Hungarian war…
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Regional Thematic
Organization of War Economies (Germany)
By Hans-Peter Ullmann
This article examines the transformation from a peace- to wartime economy in the…
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Regional Thematic
Post-war Economies (Austria-Hungary)
By Walter M. Iber
The Austrian economy went through several phases in the interwar period, beginni…
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Regional Thematic
Post-war Economies (Germany)
By Marcel Boldorf
Beginning with a discussion of whether the war led to a structural break, this a…
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Regional Thematic
Post-war Societies (Czechoslovakia)
By Ota Konrád
Although the Czechoslovak Republic experienced social breakdown and a wave of vi…
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Regional Thematic
Post-war Societies (Germany)
By Dirk Schumann
Identifying the three processes of “normalization”, liberalization, and militari…
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Regional Thematic
Post-war Turmoil and Violence (Hungary)
By Tamás Révész
In November 1918, massive popular unrest broke out in the Hungarian countryside,…
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Regional Thematic
Press/Journalism (Austria-Hungary)
By Petronilla Ehrenpreis
The undisputed superiority of the Western Powers, above all Great Britain in the…
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Regional Thematic
Press/Journalism (Germany)
By Florian Altenhöner
Germany entered the First World War without a sophisticated censorship or propag…
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Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Austria-Hungary)
By Günther Kronenbitter
Austria-Hungary’s General Staff enjoyed a monopoly on war planning. Its long-tim…
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Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Germany)
By Oliver Stein
With the Schlieffen Plan, the Great General Staff developed a detailed deploymen…
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Regional Thematic
Prisoners of War (Austria-Hungary)
By Verena Moritz, Julia Walleczek-Fritz
The following article offers an overview of the central fields of research conce…
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Regional Thematic
Prisoners of War (Germany)
By Heather Jones, Uta Hinz
Long overlooked, the prisoner of war experience of the estimated 2.4 million com…
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Regional Thematic
Propaganda at Home (Austria-Hungary)
By Mark Cornwall
In wartime Austria-Hungary, propaganda’s usefulness for manipulating public opin…
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Regional Thematic
Propaganda at Home (Germany)
By Vanessa Ther
This article introduces the changing sources, intentions and themes of war propa…
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Regional Thematic
Revolutions (Austria-Hungary)
By Hannes Leidinger
The following pages - focusing on the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and the in…
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Regional Thematic
Revolutions (Germany)
By Alexander Gallus
This article focuses on the upheaval between 1917 and 1923. These years were mar…
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Regional Thematic
Science and Technology (Austria-Hungary)
By Andreas Gottsmann
Thorough research has been carried out only on some subfields within the history…
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Regional Thematic
Science and Technology (Germany)
By Angela Schwarz
During the war years contemporaries already coined phrases like "machine warfare…
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Regional Thematic
Social Conflict and Control, Protest and Repression (Austria-Hungary)
By Maureen Healy, Dana Bronson, Musa Jemal
This essay traces the experience on the plural home fronts of the Habsburg Empir…
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Regional Thematic
Tactics, Army (Austria-Hungary)
By M. Christian Ortner
The development of Austria-Hungary’s combat doctrine started in 1914 at a typica…
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Regional Thematic
The Internment of Russophiles in Austria-Hungary
By Serhiy Choliy
The internment of “suspicious persons” became a widespread practice and an impor…
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Regional Thematic
War Aims and War Aims Discussions (Austria-Hungary)
By Samuel R. Williamson, Jr.
In July 1914 the Habsburg monarchy went to war with Serbia declaring it sought n…
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Regional Thematic
War Aims and War Aims Discussions (Germany)
By Nils Löffelbein
On 1 August 1914, the government of the German Reich declared war on Russia. Dir…
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Regional Thematic
Warfare 1914-1918 (Germany)
By Markus Pöhlmann
Germany entered the First World War as one of the era’s mightiest military power…
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Regional Thematic
War Finance (Austria-Hungary)
By Ágnes Pogány
The article presents a new estimate of the war costs and an overview of war fina…
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Regional Thematic
War Finance (Germany)
By Stephen Gross
German finance policy during the First World War has been described as ineffecti…
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Regional Thematic
War Losses (Austria-Hungary)
By Anatol Schmied-Kowarzik
Estimates of the total losses of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces range from 1.…
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Regional Thematic
War Losses (Germany)
By Robert Weldon Whalen
2,037,000 German soldiers were killed in World War I. These losses were a milita…
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Regional Thematic
Women's Mobilisation for War (Germany)
By Matthew Stibbe
This article argues that the mobilisation of women in the German empire between …
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Encyclopedic Entries

Entry
Abteilung III b
By Markus Pöhlmann
Founded in 1889, Sektion IIIb (1915-1918: Abteilung IIIb) was the military intel…
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Entry
Adler, Victor
By Jakub Beneš
Until his death in 1918, Victor Adler was the most prominent Austrian socialist …
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Entry
Aircraft, Fighter and Pursuit
By Mark Wells
The general trend in aircraft development during World War I was towards better-…
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Entry
Aircraft, Reconnaissance and Bomber
By Craig Morris
Much like fighter aircraft, World War I reconnaissance and bomber technology adv…
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Entry
Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg
By Wolfgang Mährle
Albrecht Duke of Württemberg was the commander-in-chief of the German 4th Army f…
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Entry
All Quiet on the Western Front (novel)
By Thomas Schneider
The anti-war novel Im Westen nichts Neues (All Quiet on the Western Front) by Er…
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Entry
Alsace-Lorraine
By Elizabeth Vlossak
Alsace-Lorraine was a border region located between the Rhine River and the Vosg…
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Entry
Amphibious Raids on Ostend and Zeebrugge
By Mark D. Karau
On the night of 22-23 April 1918, the Royal Navy attacked the German occupied to…
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Entry
Artillery
By Dieter Storz
Artillery consisted of the military’s heavy firearms. As a branch of the armed f…
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Entry
Atlantic U-boat Campaign
By John Abbatiello
Between February 1915 and the Armistice, Germany conducted three submarine campa…
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Entry
Attrition Warfare
By Nicholas Murray
Attrition warfare is the term used to describe the sustained process of wearing …
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Entry
Austro-Hungarian Enemy Aliens (USA)
By Nicole M. Phelps
Austrian and Hungarian citizens working in war-related industries were exempt fr…
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Entry
Automobile Industry (Austria-Hungary)
By Walter Blasi
The Austro-Hungarian automotive industry and the necessary equipment for militar…
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Entry
Ballhausplatz
By William D. Godsey
The Imperial and Royal Ministry of the Imperial and Royal House and of Foreign A…
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Entry
Ballin, Albert
By Tobias Brinkmann
Albert Ballin, chief executive of the Hamburg-America Line, was one of Imperial …
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Entry
Bauer, Max
By Mahon Murphy
Max Bauer was a German artillery expert and a key suborndinate in the German Sup…
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Entry
Bauer, Otto
By Jakub Beneš
Otto Bauer was a leading Austro-Marxist and socialist politician who served duri…
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Entry
Bäumer, Gertrud
By Angelika Schaser
Gertrud Bäumer was one of the most well known leaders of the German women’s move…
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Entry
Beckmann, Max
By Annette Becker
Initially fascinated by the front, the painter quickly understood that the war w…
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Entry
Beneš, Edvard
By René Küpper
Edvard Beneš was a Czech politician, diplomat, and close collaborator of Tomáš G…
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Entry
Berchtold, Leopold Graf
By Samuel R. Williamson, Jr.
Graf Leopold Berchtold, Habsburg foreign minister from 1912 to 1915, was confron…
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Entry
Berlin, 9 November 1918
By Florian Altenhöner
This article discusses the 9th of November 1918 in Berlin and its commemoration.…
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Entry
Berlin Indian Independence Committee
By Heike Liebau
During the First World War, Berlin became an organisational hub for Indian natio…
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Entry
Bernhardi, Friedrich von
By Markus Pöhlmann
Friedrich von Bernhardi was one of the most important and most controversial mil…
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Entry
Bernstorff, Johann Heinrich, Graf von
By Paul Hoser
Count Bernstorff was German ambassador to the United States from 1908 to 1917. H…
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Entry
Beseler, Hans von
By Jesse Kauffman
Hans Hartwig von Beseler was a German general and military engineer who oversaw …
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Entry
Bethmann Hollweg, Theobald von
By Katharine Anne Lerman
Bethmann was a career civil servant who became Imperial Germany’s fifth Reich Ch…
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Entry
Bild- und Filmamt (BUFA)
By Heidi J.S. Tworek
The German Supreme Army Command created Bild- und Filmamt (BUFA) in January 1917…
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Entry
Bissing, Moritz Ferdinand Freiherr von
By Christoph Roolf, Thomas L. Gertzen
Moritz von Bissing was born on 30 January 1844, in Bellmannsdorf, Silesia, then …
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Entry
Bosniak Regiments (Austria-Hungary)
By Christoph Neumayer
Following the decisions of the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Austria-Hungary occup…
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Entry
Bosnian Crisis
By Marc Stefan Peters
In the narrow sense, the so-called “Bosnian Crisis” (or “Annexation Crisis”) of …
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Entry
Brest-Litovsk, Treaty of
By Susanne Schattenberg
At Brest-Litovsk, from 22 December 1917 to 10 February 1918 (Julian calendar: 9 …
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Entry
Brockdorff-Rantzau, Ulrich Carl Christian, Graf
By Christiane Scheidemann
As an imperial diplomat, first Foreign Minister of the Weimar Republic, leader o…
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Entry
Bronsart von Schellendorf, Friedrich
By Oliver Stein
Friedrich Bronsart von Schellendorf was a Prussian-German lieutenant general. As…
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Entry
Bülow, Bernhard, Fürst von
By Norman Domeier
During his career as a diplomat and courtier (knighted count in 1899 and prince …
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Entry
Burián von Rajecz, István, Graf
By Marvin Benjamin Fried
István Burián was a leading Austro-Hungarian career diplomat and politician, ris…
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Entry
Camouflage
By Cécile Coutin
A technique of concealment and protection, a means to deceive but not kill, camo…
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Entry
Cattaro, Mutiny of
By Paul Lenormand
The mutiny of the sailors on Cattaro, the Austrian-Hungarian Navy Base, occurred…
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Entry
Cavalry
By Douglas Kennedy
By the beginning of the 20th century, field armies had integrated the combat arm…
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Entry
Charles I, Emperor of Austria
By Robert Rill
In his youth, the archduke was introduced to the idea of federalism by Archduke …
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Entry
Children's Literature
By Berenice Zunino
Extracurricular mobilization of children through literature took place between 1…
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Entry
Christmas Truce
By Alexandre Lafon
In December 1914, there were several truces between enemy soldiers along one par…
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Entry
Close Combat Weapons
By Markus Pöhlmann
The basic tactical question for all military powers prior to 1914 was how to app…
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Entry
Coffee
By Dorothee Wierling
Before World War I, coffee had become a popular drink in countries in the northe…
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Entry
Communication Technology
By Elizabeth Bruton
A selection of communication technologies, ancient and modern, was available at …
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Entry
Concept of Mitteleuropa
By Maciej Górny
Friedrich Naumann’s Mitteleuropa (1915) was a liberal voice in the largely illib…
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Entry
Conrad von Hötzendorf, Franz Xaver Josef Graf
By Claudia Reichl-Ham
Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf was an Austrian officer and Chief of the General Sta…
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Entry
Coronel, Battle of
By Andreas Leipold
On 1 November 1914, the German East Asiatic Cruiser Squadron defeated the 4th Br…
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Entry
Czechoslovak-Hungarian Border Conflict
By Aliaksandr Piahanau
From 1918–1920, Czechoslovakia and Hungary claimed their rights over Slovakia an…
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Entry
Czernin, Ottokar Graf
By Robert Rill
Ottokar Graf Czernin was an Austrian politician and the minister of foreign affa…
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Entry
Dada
By Josepha Laroche
Dada, a transnational movement of artists, was founded in Zurich in 1916. It dis…
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Entry
Deimling, Berthold von
By Reinhold Lütgemeier-Davin
Berthold von Deimling was a controversial Prussian general known for both his mi…
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Entry
Dicke Bertha
By Dieter Storz
In the First World War, the German Empire had two models of 42-centimeter mortar…
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Entry
Dix, Otto
By Kirsten Fitzke
In his oeuvre, the German painter Otto Dix dealt more intensively with wartime e…
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Entry
Ebert, Friedrich
By Bernd Braun
Friedrich Ebert became the most important leader of the SPD during the First Wor…
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Entry
Emden, SMS
By Jarosław Suchoples, John R. Robertson
In the first months of World War I, a German raider, the light cruiser Emden bro…
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Entry
Empire
By Erez Manela
World War I was not simply a conflict among European states but a global war of …
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Entry
Erzberger, Matthias
By Christopher Dowe
As a Member of Parliament 1917, Erzberger, the former annexationist, played an i…
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Entry
Expanding Bullets
By Paul Cornish
During the First World War both sides accused each other of employing illegal sm…
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Entry
Expressionism
By Enrique Mallen
Expressionism is a movement that originated in Germany before World War I and ex…
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Entry
Falkenhausen, Ludwig Alexander Friedrich August Philipp Freiherr von
By Sebastian Rojek
Ludwig Freiherr von Falkenhausen was a German General and military writer who se…
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Entry
Falkenhayn, Erich von
By Holger Afflerbach
Falkenhayn was Prussian minister of War and Chief of Staff (1914-1916). He was o…
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Entry
Falklands, Battle of the
By Paul G. Halpern
During the Battle of the Falklands, the British naval force commanded by Admiral…
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Entry
Fear
By Jan Plamper
Of the two world wars, the First World War was special in that fear figured prom…
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Entry
Feminist Pacifism
By Annika Wilmers
A minority section of the women’s movements opposed World War I and organized th…
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Entry
Flamethrower
By Paul Cornish
The use of portable flamethrowers in combat was a First World War innovation. Th…
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Entry
Flex, Walter
By Nicolas Detering
Walter Flex was a nationalist war poet and author of The Wanderer Between Two Wo…
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Entry
Forts
By Miguel A. Lopez
European militaries considered fortifications before the First World War as vita…
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Entry
Francis Joseph I, Emperor of Austria
By Lothar Höbelt
Under the terms of the 1867 constitution, Francis Joseph retained his prerogativ…
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Entry
Frank, Ludwig
By Sarah Panter
Ludwig Frank was a member of the Reichstag for the Social Democratic Party. When…
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Entry
Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria-Este
By Paul Miller
This biographical overview of Archduke Franz Ferdinand examines the evolution of…
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Entry
Freiburg
By Roger Chickering
This article addresses the experience of Freiburg during the First World War, as…
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Entry
Freikorps
By Mattheis Bucholtz
Freikorps units were paramilitary formations which generally supported rightwin…
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Entry
Freud, Sigmund
By Maciej Górny
Sigmund Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis, expressed a war-weariness …
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Entry
Friedrich, Ernst
By Susanne Brandt
Ernst Friedrich was the founder of Germany’s only anti-war museum. When the muse…
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Entry
Gas Warfare
By Thomas I. Faith
Gas warfare is a method of war that employs weapons that are designed to cause c…
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Entry
Generalgouvernement Belgien
By Christoph Roolf
After the German Army had occupied wide areas of Belgium, the “Imperial Governme…
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Entry
Generalgouvernement Warschau
By Stephan Lehnstaedt
In 1915, Germany set up the “Generalgouvernement Warschau”, or General Governora…
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Entry
General Headquarters (Germany)
By Markus Pöhlmann
The Große Hauptquartier (Great Headquarters or GHQ) was the strategic command ce…
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Entry
German Fatherland Party
By Björn Hofmeister
The German Fatherland Party (1917-1918/1919) aspired to mobilize members of the …
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Entry
German Spring Offensives 1918
By Alexander Watson
The Spring Offensives of 1918 were Germany’s last attempt to defeat the British …
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Entry
Germany's Blank Cheque to Austria-Hungary
By William Mulligan
Germany’s offer of unconditional support to its Austro-Hungarian ally in July 19…
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Entry
Goltz, Colmar Freiherr von der
By Gerhard Grüßhaber
Colmar von der Goltz was one of pre-war Germany’s most outstanding and controver…
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Entry
Goltz, Rüdiger Graf von der
By Björn Hofmeister
Count Rüdiger von der Goltz was a German army general during the First World War…
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Entry
Göring, Hermann
By Jan-Philipp Pomplun
Hermann Göring was a highly decorated and well-known fighter pilot of the First …
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Entry
Groener, Wilhelm
By Peter Lieb
As head of the Railway Section at the General Staff, Groener was responsible for…
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Entry
Grosz, George
By Dagmar Schmengler
The artist George Grosz was a keen observer of post-war Germany and highly criti…
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Entry
Haase, Hugo
By Tara Windsor
Hugo Haase was a prominent social democrat in the Kaiserreich, who opposed Germa…
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Entry
Haber, Fritz
By Susanne Kiewitz
Haber was one of the most important German chemists. He won the Nobel Prize in C…
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Entry
Hand Grenade
By Nathan Watanabe
The hand grenade is a small hand-thrown bomb dating back to antiquity. Advances …
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Entry
Harden, Maximilian
By Norman Domeier
Maximilian Harden was one of the leading publicists and intellectuals both of th…
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Entry
Hertling, Georg, Graf von
By Paul Hoser
Georg von Hertling was the chancellor of Germany from 1 November 1917 to 3 Octob…
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Entry
High Seas Fleet
By Stephan Huck
In 1898, the German Reich began to build up a strong battle fleet. It was meant …
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Entry
Hindenburg, Paul von
By Anna von der Goltz
Paul von Hindenburg shot to fame after the Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914. …
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Entry
Hirschfeld, Magnus
By Norman Domeier
Magnus Hirschfeld was one of the most important sexual scientists and reformers …
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Entry
Hitler, Adolf
By Thomas Weber
After the First World War, Hitler created a mythical account of his war years fo…
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Entry
Hoff, Heinrich Leonhard Emanuel von
By Mustafa Gençer
This article is about the career of Heinrich Leonhard Emanuel von Hoff under the…
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Entry
Horthy, Miklós
By Catherine Horel
Horthy was a naval officer of Austria-Hungary. During the First World War he was…
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Entry
Humann, Hans
By Malte Fuhrmann
A champion of “peaceful imperialism” before the war, Humann served as an éminenc…
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Entry
Hundred Days Offensive
By Nicholas Lloyd
The Hundred Days was the final campaign on the Western Front during the Great Wa…
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Entry
Husen, Bayume Mohamed
By Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst
Husen was a child soldier in the “Schutztruppe” of German East Africa. He migrat…
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Entry
Ideologies of Sport
By Ansgar Molzberger, Stephan Wassong
At the beginning of the 20th century, two different systems of exercise and trai…
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Entry
Infantry
By Jeffrey LaMonica
The First World War precipitated a revolution in infantry tactics that changed t…
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Entry
Iron Cross
By Frank Wernitz
Although the Iron Cross was originally created only for the duration of the Wars…
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Entry
Islam in Austria-Hungary
By Edin Hajdarpasic
During the First World War, mobilizing Muslim soldiers and Islamic institutions …
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Entry
Jagow, Gottlieb von
By Florian Altenhöner
Gottlieb von Jagow was a German diplomat. He served as the German Foreign Secret…
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Entry
Judenzählung (Jewish Census)
By Michael Geheran
In October 1916, the Prussian War Ministry conducted the Judenzählung, also refe…
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Entry
Jünger, Ernst
By Richard Kühl
Ernst Jünger was a German writer. His book Storm of Steel (In Stahlgewittern) is…
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Entry
Jutland, Battle of
By Michael Epkenhans
On 31 May/1 June 1916 the British Grand Fleet and the German High Sea Fleet clas…
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Entry
Kiel Mutiny
By Mark Jones
The sailors’ mutiny in Kiel quickly escalated into an open rebellion against the…
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Entry
Klabund
By Markus Pöhlmann
The German poet Klabund emerged as a lyrical war propagandist during the first t…
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Entry
Kollwitz, Käthe
By Brett M. Van Hoesen
The German artist Käthe Kollwitz became one of the most influential artists of h…
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Entry
Königsberg (ship)
By Mahon Murphy
The German light cruiser Königsberg made its name at the Battle of Zanzibar. Aft…
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Entry
Kraus, Karl
By Ari Linden
Karl Kraus was one of the 20th century’s most significant satirists. While his p…
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Entry
Kuhl, Hermann Joseph von
By Markus Pöhlmann
A classic representative of pre-1914 Prussian officer education, Kuhl was a risi…
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Entry
Kun, Béla
By Boldizsár Vörös
Béla Kun was a Hungarian communist politician. He began his career as a social d…
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Entry
Lamszus, Wilhelm
By Gerd Hankel
Wilhelm Lamszus was a progressive educator from Hamburg. He is known beyond the …
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Entry
Langemarck Myth
By Lukas Grawe
The Langemarck Myth refers to the transformation of a WWI battle, in which the G…
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Entry
Leipzig War Crimes Trials
By Gerd Hankel
In 1921 and 1922 the highest German court, the Reichsgericht in Leipzig, under p…
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Entry
Lemberg
By Claudia Reichl-Ham
In World War I Lemberg (German: Lemberg, Ukrainian: Lviv, Polish: Lwów) played a…
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Entry
Lettow-Vorbeck, Paul von
By Eckard Michels
Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck was commander of the German colonial troops in East Afri…
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Entry
Liebknecht, Karl Paul August Friedrich
By Mark Jones
Karl Liebknecht was the leading German socialist opponent of the First World War…
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Entry
Liman von Sanders, Otto Viktor Karl
By Thomas Gerhards
Liman von Sanders was the head of the German military mission in the Ottoman Emp…
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Entry
London, Bombing of
By Ian Castle
Germany’s aerial bombing campaign against Great Britain in the First World War, …
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Entry
Luckner, Felix, Graf von
By Michael Epkenhans
Felix Graf von Luckner, the so-called “sea-devil”, was a German naval officer. D…
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Entry
Ludendorff, Erich
By Roger Chickering
Erich Ludendorff was the effective commander of the German armed forces during t…
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Entry
Luxemburg, Rosa
By Ingrid Sharp
A Socialist and a vocal critic of the German Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) war…
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Entry
Machine Gun
By Paul Cornish
Between 1914 and 1918, the machine gun played an ever-increasing role on the bat…
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Entry
Mackensen, August von
By Friederike Höhn
August von Mackensen was one of the most famous and successful German commanders…
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Entry
Mann, Heinrich
By Jürgen Pelzer
As an early critic of the social and political conditions of the Wilheminian soc…
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Entry
Mann, Thomas
By Jürgen Pelzer
In contrast to his brother Heinrich Mann, Thomas Mann shared the widespread supp…
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Entry
Markl Internment Camp
By Reinhard Mundschütz
During the years 1915 to 1918 in the internment camp in Markl (Windigsteig), in …
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Entry
Martial Law
By Steven R. Welch
Martial law refers to the exercise of governmental power over the civilian popul…
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Entry
Masaryk, Tomáš Garrigue
By René Küpper
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was a Czech politician who started the Czechoslovak indep…
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Entry
Masculinities
By Sonja Levsen
The First World War represents the apex of the ideal of the male warrior hero. B…
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Entry
Maximilian, Prince of Baden
By Karina Urbach
For many years Prince Maximilian of Baden was portrayed as a positive figure in …
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Entry
Medals and Decorations
By Sofya Anisimova
The Great War unfolded on multiple fronts and saw millions of men and women call…
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Entry
Mediterranean Theater, Naval Operations
By Paul G. Halpern
The real naval war in the Mediterranean turned out to be a struggle against Germ…
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Entry
Michaelis, Georg
By Bert Becker
Georg Michaelis is usually portrayed as the politically failed chancellor of 191…
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Entry
Mine Warfare
By Nicholas Murray
Mine warfare or mining are the terms used to describe the digging of tunnels und…
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Entry
Moltke, Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von
By Christian Stachelbeck
Colonel General Helmuth von Moltke (the Younger), the Chief of the General Staff…
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Entry
Moroccan Crises 1905-1911
By Jean-Marc Delaunay
The two Moroccan crises represent the product of “rapacious joint imperialism.” …
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Entry
Music
By Akeo Okada
The First World War fundamentally changed the course of 20th century music. The …
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Entry
Musil, Robert
By Oliver Pfohlmann
The Austrian writer Robert Musil served as a soldier throughout the entire perio…
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Entry
Naumann, Friedrich
By Jürgen Frölich
Friedrich Naumann was a key figure in German liberalism in the late Kaiserreich,…
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Entry
Naval Race between Germany and Great Britain, 1898-1912
By Dirk Bönker
The Anglo-German naval race was the most spectacular strand of the general marit…
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Entry
Noske, Gustav
By Julian Aulke
Gustav Noske was a social democratic politician and the first politician to be a…
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Entry
Ober Ost
By Kai-Achim Klare
Over the entire course of German occupation in Eastern Europe during the First W…
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Entry
Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL)
By Markus Pöhlmann
The Oberste Heeresleitung (Supreme Army Command or OHL) was the mobile wartime f…
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Entry
Offensive, Gorlice-Tarnow
By Richard Lein
The Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive of May/June 1915 was a major military success for A…
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Entry
Olympic Games 1916
By Ansgar Molzberger
In 1912, the 1916 Olympic Games were awarded to Berlin. In consultation with the…
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Entry
Operation Alberich
By Dennis Showalter
Operation Alberich involved the systematic destruction of 1,500 square kilometre…
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Entry
Pan-German League
By Björn Hofmeister
The Pan-German League (Alldeutscher Verband) mobilized members of the Bildungsbü…
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Entry
Panslavism
By Rok Stergar
Panslavism was a movement based on the conviction that all speakers of Slavic la…
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Entry
Payer, Friedrich von
By Max Haberich
Friedrich von Payer was vice-chancellor of the German Empire from November 1917 …
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Entry
Petroleum
By Oliver Gliech
In World War I, the mobility of troops was of major strategic importance. New tr…
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Entry
Practice of Sports
By Ansgar Molzberger
During World War I, sport competitions became very popular amongst the soldiers …
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Entry
Pre-war Socialist Pacifism
By Elisa Marcobelli
The Socialists’ opposition to war in France, Germany and Italy during the period…
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Entry
Prochaska Affair
By Richard C. Hall
The Prochaska Affair was a diplomatic dispute between Austria-Hungary and Serbia…
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Entry
Prostitution
By Journey Steward
Prostitution was considered among the most important societal problems facing ci…
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Entry
Prussian War Ministry
By Markus Pöhlmann
The Prussian War Ministry (Preußisches Kriegsministerium) was the highest admini…
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Entry
Public Kitchens (Germany)
By Jenny Sprenger-Seyffarth
During the first half of the war, many German cities tried to solve local food s…
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Entry
Rape
By Antoine Rivière
Although rape was not usually systematic, it occurred frequently on all fronts d…
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Entry
Rathenau, Walther
By Christian Schölzel
Walther Rathenau was one of the most influential entrepreneurs before the First …
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Entry
Rear Area on the Western Front
By Larissa Wegner
The rear area was the space behind the front, linking the operational zone with …
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Entry
Reconnaissance and Observation
By Charles Dusch
Reconnaissance was aviation’s most important mission in the Great War. When war …
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Entry
Redl, Alfred
By Günther Kronenbitter
On 25 May 1913 Colonel Alfred Redl, the former head of Austria-Hungary’s militar…
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Entry
Refugees (Austria-Hungary)
By Francesco Frizzera
During World War I, about 1.1 million refugees sought refuge in the interior of …
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Entry
Remarque, Erich Maria
By Thomas Schneider
Erich Maria Remarque was a German writer and pacifist who became world-famous fo…
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Entry
Renner, Karl
By Paul Dvorak
Karl Renner quickly became one of the main theoreticians of a policy of support …
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Entry
Richert, Dominik
By Carolyn Taratko
Dominik Richert was a German soldier who deserted during the First World War. He…
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Entry
Richthofen, Manfred, Freiherr von
By Robert Rennie
One of the most famous fighter pilots of the First World War, Manfred von Richth…
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Entry
Riezler, Kurt
By Bernd Sösemann
Riezler was a German politician, diplomat, journalist and philosopher, as well a…
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Entry
Rifles
By Dieter Storz
The rifle was by far the most common weapon used in the world war. When the majo…
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Entry
Roth, Joseph
By Ilse Josepha Lazaroms
Joseph Roth was a Jewish writer and journalist. His experiences at the Eastern F…
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Entry
Rubber
By Oliver Gliech
During World War I, motor vehicles took on a key role as transport facilities fo…
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Entry
Ruggera, Camillo
By Nicola Fontana
Camillo Ruggera was an officer of the General Staff in the Austro-Hungarian army…
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Entry
Ruhleben Internment Camp
By Mahon Murphy
The Ruhleben internment camp, situated on the outskirts of Berlin, held British …
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Entry
Ruhr Occupation
By Conan Fischer
The 1923-1925 Ruhr occupation by France and Belgium was triggered when Germany d…
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Entry
Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria
By Jonathan Boff
Crown Prince Rupprecht was the heir to the Bavarian throne and one of Germany's …
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Entry
Saint-Germain, Treaty of
By Peter Haslinger
The Treaty of Saint-Germain was signed by Austria and twenty-seven Allied and as…
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Entry
Sanjak of Novi Pazar
By Tamara Scheer
Although sanjak usually means any one of many Ottoman administrative units, one …
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Entry
Sarajevo Incident
By Samuel Foster
The Sarajevo incident refers to the events surrounding the assassination of Arch…
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Entry
Sarkotić von Lovćen, Stephan Freiherr
By Marc Stefan Peters
Stephan Baron von Sarkotić was an Austro-Hungarian general who had already made …
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Entry
Sarre, Friedrich Paul Theodor
By Malte Fuhrmann
The renowned archaeologist Friedrich Sarre used his local knowledge to support t…
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Entry
Schalek, Alice
By Christian Rapp
This article deals with the activities of journalist and photographer Alice Scha…
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Entry
Scheidemann, Philipp
By Bernd Braun
Philipp Scheidemann was a key figure in the German Social Democratic Party (SPD)…
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Entry
Scheler, Max Ferdinand
By Peter Hoeres
Max Scheler was a German philosopher and sociologist. The author of the widely k…
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Entry
Schlieffen, Alfred, Graf von
By Oliver Stein
Count Alfred Schlieffen was chief of the Great General Staff of the Prussian-Ger…
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Entry
Schnee, Heinrich
By Daniel Steinbach
Heinrich Schnee was the governor of German East Africa between 1912 and 1919. Du…
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Entry
Schwarze Schmach
By Julia Roos
Schwarze Schmach was a racist epithet for France’s colonial troops stationed in…
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Entry
Seeckt, Hans von
By Dennis Showalter
Seeckt became one of Germany’s best staff officers during the Great War. After 1…
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Entry
Shell
By Harold Allen Skinner Jr.
A shell is a streamlined steel metal projectile, filled with a variety of explos…
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Entry
Shells Crisis of 1915
By Hew Strachan
In 1914, quick-firing field artillery could fire more shells than domestic indus…
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Entry
Sixtus Affair
By Robert Rill
The Sixtus Affair was the failed attempt by Emperor Charles I. of Austria and hi…
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Entry
Smoking and Cigarette Consumption
By Michael Reeve
During the First World War, governments, civilians and soldiers alike prized smo…
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Entry
Social Darwinism
By Kathi Badertscher
Social Darwinism was an intellectual movement of the late 19th and early 20th ce…
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Entry
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
By Walter Mühlhausen
At the outbreak of the First World War, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (…
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Entry
Soldiers' Equipment
By Dieter Storz
The soldier’s personal equipment had a dual purpose: it was intended to enable h…
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Entry
Soldiers' Humour
By Alexander Watson
Soldier’s humour, as expressed in jokes, songs and slang, reflected a dark, iron…
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Entry
Soldiers on Leave
By Emmanuelle Cronier
Starting in 1915, periods of leave known as "permissionnaires" played a vital ro…
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Entry
Solf, Wilhelm Heinrich
By Daniel Steinbach
Wilhelm Solf, long-term governor of German Samoa, served as Colonial Secretary b…
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Entry
Sombart, Werner
By Erik Grimmer-Solem
Werner Sombart was a German political economist and pioneering sociologist who b…
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Entry
Spy Fever 1914
By Sebastian Bischoff
Spy Fever describes an anxiety or paranoia that enemy spies might be active with…
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Entry
Stab-in-the-back Myth
By Boris Barth
Upon their defeat in the First World War, German citizens developed strong consp…
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Entry
Steel Helmet
By Nathan Watanabe
The steel helmet was invented and fielded in response to increased lethality on …
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Entry
Štefánik, Milan Rastislav
By Michal Kšiňan
Milan Rastislav Štefánik was a Slovak astronomer, diplomat, politician, general,…
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Entry
Stellvertretendes Generalkommando
By Christoph Nübel
Deputy General Commands, also referred to as Home Military Commands, were German…
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Entry
Stereotypes
By Vanessa Ther
This article summarises the main wartime stereotypes that defined war propaganda…
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Entry
Stinnes, Hugo
By Moritz Föllmer
Hugo Stinnes was a highly successful and politically influential heavy industria…
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Entry
Stormtrooper
By Ralf Raths
Storm troopers were soldiers in specialized assault units, which emerged in the …
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Entry
Stresemann, Gustav
By Tara Windsor
Stresemann was a leading wartime annexationist and proponent of moderate domesti…
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Entry
Stürgkh, Karl Graf
By Martin Moll
Karl Graf von Stürgkh was an Austrian member of the Imperial Council, Minister f…
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Entry
Submarines and Submarine Warfare
By Mark D. Karau
During the First World War the German government made extensive use of submarine…
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Entry
Suttner, Bertha von
By Laurie Cohen
Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905. She wr…
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Entry
Tanks and Tank Warfare
By Michael David Kennedy
World War I introduced new technologies and doctrine in a quest to overcome the …
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Entry
Tannenberg, Battle of
By Oxana Sergeevna Nagornaja
The Battle of Tannenberg (26-30 August 1914), in which General Aleksandr Samsono…
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Entry
Tannenberg Myth
By Oxana Sergeevna Nagornaja
The myth of Tannenberg emerged after the defeat of the Russian army on the Easte…
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Entry
Theater at the Front
By Emmanuelle Loubat
Whether on the Western or Eastern Front, by German, French, British, Canadian, A…
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Entry
The Good Soldier Švejk (novel)
By Maciej Górny
Osudy dobrého vojaka Švejka za světové války (The Good Soldier Švejk) by Jarosl…
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Entry
The Last Days of Mankind (play)
By Ari Linden
The Last Days of Mankind (Die letzten Tage der Menschheit) is the major work by …
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Entry
The Man without Qualities (novel)
By Walter Fanta
Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (The Man without Qualities) is a novel by Robert Mu…
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Entry
Tirpitz, Alfred von
By Michael Epkenhans
Grand Admiral Tirpitz was Secretary of State of the Imperial Naval Office from 1…
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Entry
Tisza, István, Gróf
By Zoltán Maruzsa
István Tisza was a Hungarian politician and minister. He served as Prime Ministe…
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Entry
Toller, Ernst
By Steven Schouten
Ernst Toller was one of Germany’s best-known playwrights and a leading left-wing…
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Entry
Trench Art
By Paul Cornish
"Trench Art" is a genre of folk art comprised of items created in wartime, or fr…
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Entry
Trentino
By Nicola Fontana, Mirko Saltori
Trentino is an Italian-speaking region which was the southernmost part of the Ty…
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Entry
Trialism
By Mateusz Drozdowski
Before and at the beginning of World War I, various proposals concerning the cre…
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Entry
Trianon, Treaty of
By Miklós Zeidler
The Treaty of Trianon is one of the Paris peace treaties that ended the First Wo…
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Entry
Udet, Ernst
By Richard Byers
Ernst Udet was the second-highest scoring German “ace” fighter pilot of the Firs…
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Entry
Unruh, Fritz von
By Nicolas Beaupré
Fritz von Unruh was a German cavalry officer and a pacifist writer who, in his w…
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Entry
Versailles, Treaty of
By Susanne Brandt
The Treaty of Versailles was the first peace treaty that the victorious powers s…
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Entry
Veterans' Organisations (Germany)
By Nadine Rossol
War veterans’ associations had a significant public voice in Weimar Germany as t…
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Entry
Viribus Unitis, SMS
By Walter Blasi
The Austro-Hungarian battleship Viribus Unitis was commissioned in reaction to t…
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Entry
Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge
By Florian Greiner
The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. (German War Graves Commission o…
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Entry
Vorarlberg Referendum
By Wolfgang Weber
The latter Austrian Land Vorarlberg saw the rise of a grass root movement for a …
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Entry
Wangenheim, Hans von
By Christos Bouris
Baron Hans von Wangenheim was the German ambassador to the Ottoman capital betwe…
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Entry
War Archives (Austria-Hungary)
By Christoph Tepperberg
The War Archives (Kriegsarchiv), centre of the official historiography of the Im…
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Entry
War Bonds
By Steffen Bruendel
The governments of all belligerent countries issued special loans to finance the…
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Entry
War Cemeteries (Germany)
By Susanne Brandt
During the interwar years, mourning and political exploitation were often closel…
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Entry
War Memorials (Germany)
By Stefan Goebel
German war memorials were sites of both political conflict and personal mourning…
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Entry
War Poetry
By Jane Potter
This article examines the concept of war poetry and considers the range of poeti…
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Entry
War Press Office (Austria-Hungary)
By Christoph Tepperberg
The War Press Office, or Kriegspressequartier (KPQ) was the central propaganda i…
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Entry
War Profiteers
By François Bouloc
As a long-lasting industrial war, the Great War led to the realization of consid…
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Entry
War Requirement Acts
By Ágnes Pogány
The War Requirements Acts were passed in Austria-Hungary in 1912. They placed mi…
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Entry
War Surveillance Office (Austria-Hungary)
By Tamara Scheer
During the First World War, Austria-Hungary implemented a state of emergency wit…
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Entry
War Toys
By Sonja Levsen
In the First World War, war toys were regarded as a means to strengthen children…
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Entry
War Widows
By Peggy Bette
One third of the 9.7 million soldiers killed or declared missing during the Grea…
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Entry
Weber, Alfred
By Eberhard Demm
As an adviser in the imperial office of the treasury (1916-1918), the Heidelberg…
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Entry
Weddigen, Otto Eduard
By Mark Jones
Otto Weddigen was among the best-known German submarine commanders in the First …
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Entry
Wiegand, Karl Henry von
By Norman Domeier
Karl Henry von Wiegand was the leading American foreign correspondent during the…
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Entry
Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra)
By Akeo Okada
The Vienna Philharmonic, a music institution typical of the high bourgeoisie bef…
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Entry
Wild von Hohenborn, Adolf
By Michael Geheran
Adolf Wild von Hohenborn served as Prussian war minister from January 1915 to Oc…
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Entry
Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Germany
By Martina Weinland
Wilhelm’s education was dominated by a strict regime focused on preparing him fo…
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Entry
Wilhelm II, German Emperor
By John C. G. Röhl
Kaiser Wilhelm II’s ambitious policies played a major part in bringing about the…
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Entry
Wireless Telegraphy
By Heidi J.S. Tworek
Wireless telegraphy became an integral part of warfare on the ground, in the air…
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Entry
Witkop, Philipp
By Manfred Hettling
Witkop was professor of German literature at the University of Freiburg. He was …
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Entry
Wolff Telegraph Bureau
By Heidi J.S. Tworek
Wolffs Telegraphisches Bureau was a news agency that was the central source for…
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Entry
Workers' or Revolutionary Councils
By Anthony McElligott
At the end of the First World War, Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils spread throug…
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Entry
Zeppelin (Airship)
By Charles Dusch
Zeppelins heralded the potential of strategic bombing. Although airships were or…
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Entry
Zetkin, Clara
By Christina Morina
Referred to as the “grandmother of German communism” at the time of her death in…
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See Also

Thematic
Air Warfare
By Ross Mahoney, James Pugh
This article considers the use and evolution of air power during the First World…
Read more
Thematic
Alliance System 1914
By Günther Kronenbitter
Alliances were an important feature of the international system on the eve of Wo…
Read more
Thematic
Animals
By Lucy Betteridge-Dyson
During the First World War millions of animals were utilised for war work, and c…
Read more
Thematic
Antisemitism
By Werner Bergmann, Ulrich Wyrwa
The First World War and its direct repercussions in the postwar period (revoluti…
Read more
Thematic
Arms Race prior to 1914, Armament Policy
By Eric Brose
New weapons produced during the Industrial Revolution in the late 1800s heighten…
Read more
Thematic
Art
By Sue Malvern
The nature of the First World War put an end to traditions for battle painting. …
Read more
Thematic
Atrocities
By Alan Kramer
The term "atrocity" describes an act of violence condemned by contemporaries as …
Read more
Thematic
Bereavement and Mourning
By Manfred Hettling, Tino Schölz
In the modern era, new forms of mourning and meaning-making for fallen soldiers …
Read more
Thematic
Between Acceptance and Refusal - Soldiers' Attitudes Towards War
By André Loez
Soldiers’ attitudes towards the Great War are a controversial issue, as they pro…
Read more
Thematic
Burgfrieden/Union sacrée
By Gerd Krumeich
France and Germany remained principal protagonists of the First World War. This …
Read more
Thematic
Caricatures
By Eberhard Demm
This article presents cartoonists as patriotic propagandists mobilizing their pe…
Read more
Thematic
Censorship
By Eberhard Demm
Censorship was an indispensable war weapon: its task was to keep the people in a…
Read more
Thematic
Centenary (Education, Pedagogy, Youth Programs)
By Catriona Pennell
The centenary of the First World War revealed palpable anxieties around a loss o…
Read more
Thematic
Centenary (Historiography)
By Jost Dülffer
Innovative historical scholarship played an important role in the shaping of mem…
Read more
Thematic
Centenary (Internet)
By Lorna M. Hughes, Ian G. Anderson
The centenary events surrounding the First World War have produced a significant…
Read more
Thematic
Centenary (Libraries)
By Matthew Shaw
Libraries (local, specialist, and national) contributed in numerous and importan…
Read more
Thematic
Centenary (Museums)
By Andrea Brait
This article discusses how European museums – in particular, national war museum…
Read more
Thematic
Centenary (Visual Arts)
By Paul Gough
The commemorative period between 2014 and 2018 was marked globally by numerous e…
Read more
Thematic
Children and Youth
By Andrew Donson
Mass conscription recast relationships in families, raised minors’ potential as …
Read more
Thematic
Civilian and Military Power
By Lawrence Sondhaus
By 1914 the leading states had succumbed to varying degrees of militarism, subor…
Read more
Thematic
Civilian Morale
By Matteo Ermacora
This article deals with civilian morale during the First World War. Between 1915…
Read more
Thematic
Commemoration, Cult of the Fallen
By Stéphane Tison
The First World War ushered in an unprecedented wave of commemorations. Mass dea…
Read more
Thematic
Controversy: The Media's Responsibility for Crises and Conflicts in the Age of Imperialism
By Peter Geiss
The article discusses the role of the media in the complex international process…
Read more
Thematic
Controversy: Total War
By Daniel Marc Segesser
Total war is a controversial term used in the past by politicians, publicists an…
Read more
Thematic
Controversy: War-related Changes in Gender Relations: The Issue of Women’s Citizenship
By Birgitta Bader-Zaar
The idea that World War I was a watershed in gender relations has pervaded both …
Read more
Thematic
Crumbling of Empires and Emerging States: Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia as (Multi)national Countries
By Katrin Boeckh
During the First World War, Czechoslovakia and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats,…
Read more
Thematic
Demobilization
By Gearóid Barry
The end of fighting in 1918 raised hopes for swift and equitable military demobi…
Read more
Thematic
Destruction of the Ecosystem
By Tait Keller
This article examines the First World War’s ecological impact and shows that pro…
Read more
Thematic
Drugs
By Łukasz Kamieński
Throughout history, intoxicants were an important part of the war experience. Th…
Read more
Thematic
Economic Planning before 1914
By Martin Horn
This article surveys the financial and economic planning for war before 1914 in …
Read more
Thematic
Enemy Aliens and Internment
By Matthew Stibbe
The internment of enemy aliens in the First World War was a global phenomenon. C…
Read more
Thematic
Espionage
By Emmanuel Debruyne
During the entire war, warring powers used the “secret war” to try to break the …
Read more
Thematic
Fascism and the Radical Right
By Gustavo Corni
The First World War was not only the precondition of the rise of fascist movemen…
Read more
Thematic
Film/Cinema
By Roger Smither
The First World War played a significant role in the evolution of film both as a…
Read more
Thematic
Food and Nutrition
By Emmanuelle Cronier
During the First World War, food became a major issue for military and civilian …
Read more
Thematic
Forced Labour
By Jens Thiel, Christian Westerhoff
This article examines the conditions, forms and consequences of forced labor and…
Read more
Thematic
Governments, Parliaments and Parties
By Torsten Oppelland
One sees a wide range of political regimes from a democratic republic with unive…
Read more
Thematic
Graphic Arts and Advertising as War Propaganda
By James Aulich
This article discusses the close relationships between national governments, adv…
Read more
Thematic
Health, Disease, Mortality; Demographic Effects
By Doina Anca Cretu
The rapid spread of epidemics ravaged military personnel and civilians in and ou…
Read more
Thematic
Historiography 1918-Today
By Jay Winter
There have been four generations of historical writing about the 1914-1918 war. …
Read more
Thematic
Hospitals
By Alina Enzensberger
Hospitals framed and configured the convalescence of wounded and sick soldiers d…
Read more
Thematic
Imperialism
By Boris Barth
This article focuses on the extent to which imperialism contributed to the outbr…
Read more
Thematic
Influenza Pandemic
By Howard Phillips
By examining the origins, pathways, demographic impact and consequences for the …
Read more
Thematic
International Labour Organization
By Anita Ziegerhofer
The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919, establishing both the Leagu…
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Thematic
International Law and the Laws of War
By Jean H. Quataert
The article examines international efforts to curb states’ war-making prerogativ…
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Thematic
July Crisis 1914
By Annika Mombauer
The international crisis that began with the assassination of Archduke Franz Fer…
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Thematic
Labor
By Steven E. Rowe
Across the major belligerent powers, industrial production and the mobilization …
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Thematic
Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes
By James Thompson
This article compares the history of labour movements during the war across a ra…
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Thematic
League of Nations
By Anita Ziegerhofer
The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919, the same day on which the L…
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Thematic
Life and Death of Soldiers
By Jessica Meyer, Chris Kempshall, Markus Pöhlmann
While public memory of the First World War in Europe often focusses on the death…
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Thematic
Literature
By David Budgen
This article seeks to present an overview of First World War literature across m…
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Thematic
Making Sense of the War
By Jo Fox
Claims to “just war” formed the basis for the propaganda campaigns of the First …
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Thematic
Maps, Geography and the Representation of Space
By Ute Schneider
After the First World War, the general staffs and military geographers of all th…
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Thematic
Media Discourse after the War
By André Keil
The discourse about the Great War during the interwar period was shaped by numer…
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Thematic
Medicine and Medical Service
By Leo van Bergen
It is impossible to talk about “the” medical care or “the” medical service of Wo…
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Thematic
Memory of the War: Popular Memory 1918-1945, 1945 to the Present
By Susanne Brandt
What role do representations of the First World War play in media that reach a w…
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Thematic
Migration and Mobility
By Marlou Schrover
There is an ongoing debate among historians whether the First World War did in f…
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Thematic
Militarism
By Christian K. Melby
Militarism is a vague term that has meant different things to different people a…
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Thematic
Military Developments of World War I
By David T. Zabecki
Despite World War I’s reputation as a senseless bloodbath whose military operati…
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Thematic
Military Justice
By Steven R. Welch
This essay offers a comparative survey of the practice of military justice among…
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Thematic
Military Lessons of the First World War
By Nikolas Gardner
This article examines the lessons derived by the military organizations that par…
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Thematic
Moral Norms and Values
By Gearóid Barry
Change and continuity marked belligerent societies’ norms and values during the …
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Thematic
Museums
By Jennifer Wellington, Aaron Cohen, Anne Hertzog, Susanne Brandt
This article describes the lives and afterlives of the First World War museums i…
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Thematic
Mutilation and Disfiguration
By Julie Anderson
The First World War created disfigured and mutilated bodies on a grand scale. Ne…
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Thematic
Nationalism
By John Paul Newman
This article offers an overview of the progress of nationalism and the national …
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Thematic
Naval Warfare
By Eric W. Osborne
All of the great belligerent states of World War I were naval powers and engaged…
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Thematic
Negotiating and Mediating Conduct of War
By Matthew Stibbe
Many issues surrounding the conduct of war in the years 1914-1918 were imperviou…
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Thematic
Occupation during the War
By Gustavo Corni
After an initial wave of interest in 1914 and the immediate post-war period, int…
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Thematic
On the Road to Modern War
By Dennis Showalter
The Great War was never considered the “war to end all wars” by the states and a…
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Thematic
Organization of War Economies
By Matthias Blum, Jari Eloranta, Pavel Osinsky
The First World War was a global conflict that caught most of the participants i…
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Thematic
Othering/Atrocity Propaganda
By Steffen Bruendel
In August 1914, a targeted and systematic manipulation of opinion by the media, …
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Thematic
Pacifism
By David S. Patterson
The idea of peace in total war may seem irrelevant, but pacifism, or peace activ…
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Thematic
Paramilitary Violence
By Annemarie Sammartino
While World War I featured the largest armies ever assembled, it was also fought…
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Thematic
Peace Initiatives
By Ross Kennedy
This paper examines major peace initiatives during World War I. It describes eff…
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Thematic
Photography
By Hilary Roberts
The First World War represents a watershed in the history of war photography. It…
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Thematic
Post-war Economies
By Dietmar Rothermund
Post-war economies were beset with problems, ultimately leading to the Great Dep…
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Thematic
Post-war Societies
By Richard Bessel
The First World War caused unprecedented disruption to societies across the glob…
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Thematic
Post-war Welfare Policies
By Pierluigi Pironti
The Great War gave new impulses to the further development of public welfare sys…
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Thematic
Press/Journalism
By Florian Keisinger
Word War I had a significant impact on the evolution of the European media scene…
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Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning
By Matthew S. Seligmann
German and British war planning has attracted a great deal of attention, but als…
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Thematic
Prisoners of War
By Heather Jones
The First World War marked the shift from a 19th century, relatively ad hoc mana…
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Thematic
Propaganda at Home and Abroad
By Eberhard Demm
This article summarizes and compares the principal arguments and strategies of p…
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Thematic
Propaganda: Media in War Politics
By Stephen Badsey
Propaganda played an important part in the politics of the war, but was only suc…
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Thematic
Property Rights and Economic Nationalism
By Daniela L. Caglioti
This article explores the policies adopted and implemented against enemy propert…
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Thematic
Raw Materials
By Pierre Chancerel
Raw materials were vital during the First World War. Due to the armaments produc…
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Thematic
Red Cross
By Cédric Cotter
National Red Cross societies played a very important role in the First World War…
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Thematic
Refugees
By Peter Gatrell
This article addresses the scale of wartime population displacement in continent…
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Thematic
Religious Mobilization and Popular Belief
By Patrick J. Houlihan
From the cradle to the grave, popular religion formed a necessary and vital, if …
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Thematic
Resettlement
By Peter Gatrell
The conduct of warfare in 1914-1918 included extensive population resettlement i…
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Thematic
Revolutions
By Chad R. Fulwider
This article surveys the various movements toward social, national, and politica…
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Thematic
Rural Society
By Matteo Ermacora
The paper describes the impact of war on peasantry and its mobilisation in the w…
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Thematic
Schools and Universities
By Andrew Donson
The military service of teachers and the mobilization of schoolchildren for volu…
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Thematic
Science and Technology
By Jeffrey Johnson
Wartime science and technology developed in the context of the Second Industrial…
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Thematic
Sea Transport and Supply
By Michael B. Miller
Allied capacity at sea to sustain global transport and supply determined their a…
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Thematic
Sexuality, Sexual Relations, Homosexuality
By Jason Crouthamel
This article provides an international overview of the history of sexuality in t…
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Thematic
Shifts and Tensions in Ethnic/National Groups
By Borislav Chernev
This article examines the changing dynamics of national tensions in the Habsburg…
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Thematic
Social Conflict
By Claire Morelon
This article deals with the nature of social conflict during the war. The length…
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Thematic
Social Costs of War
By Kimberly A. Redding
This article explores how the anticipation, reality, and memory of sacrifice inf…
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Thematic
Soldier Newspapers
By Robert L. Nelson
Soldier newspapers are a massive, yet little used primary source of the First Wo…
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Thematic
Staging War. Theatre 1914-1918
By Eva Krivanec
From 1914 to 1918, theatres in all major European cities staged plays – comedies…
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Thematic
State, Civil Society and Relief Organizations for War
By Branden Little
A vast array of initiatives designed to counteract the destructiveness of the Fi…
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Thematic
The Churches
By Patrick J. Houlihan
Reflecting current historiography, this article focuses primarily on Christian c…
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Thematic
The Everyday as Involved in War
By Tammy M. Proctor
This essay examines how the "everyday" functions in war, not only for those on t…
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Thematic
The Historiography of the Origins of the First World War
By William Mulligan
The debate about the origins of the war remains a vibrant area of historical res…
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Thematic
The Military at Home
By Odile Roynette
Regardless of whether it was based on volunteer enlistment or conscription, mass…
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Thematic
The Military Collapse of the Central Powers
By Graydon A. Tunstall
October 1918 witnessed the collapse of the German and Austro-Hungarian armies, b…
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Thematic
The Paris Peace Conference and its Consequences
By Alan Sharp
This article offers an overview of peacemaking after the First World War from th…
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Thematic
The Way to War
By Samuel R. Williamson, Jr.
Imperialism shaped almost every facet of international politics from 1898 to 191…
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Thematic
Transportation and Logistics
By Ian M. Brown
The Great War witnessed mass armies battling with modern, quick-firing weapons s…
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Thematic
Urban Societies and Cities
By Andrew Lees
Cities — with their comparatively large and dense but also vulnerable population…
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Thematic
Venereal Diseases
By Journey Steward, Nancy M. Wingfield
This essay traces belligerent policies toward venereal disease (VD) on the fight…
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Thematic
Veterans' Associations
By Julia Eichenberg
Veterans’ associations formed an influential social movement during the interwar…
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Thematic
Visualization of Violence
By Mark Connelly
This piece explores the visualisation of violence for home front audiences and s…
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Thematic
War Aims and War Aims Discussions
By Georges-Henri Soutou
Despite what some believe, there is still a lot to say and learn about the First…
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Thematic
War Correspondents
By Tim Luckhurst
At its outbreak, newspapers in the Allied and neutral democracies hoped to prese…
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Thematic
Warfare 1914-1918
By William Philpott
Static “trench warfare” belied a dynamic transformation in warfare between 1914 …
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Thematic
War Finance
By Nicholas Mulder
The Great War required war-making states to mobilize and sustain the financial r…
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Thematic
War Finance and Monetary Consequences: The German Case Revisited
By Gerd Hardach
There are in the literature on the economic history of the Great War different a…
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Thematic
War Letters: Communication between Front and Home Front
By Martha Hanna
In nations where literacy was well-established by 1914, letter-writing was criti…
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Thematic
War Losses
By Antoine Prost
Military sources provide the primary statistics of war losses and casualties dur…
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Thematic
War Psychiatry and Shell Shock
By Fiona Reid
During the First World War soldiers from all combatant nations suffered from a w…
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Thematic
Wartime Emotions: Honour, Shame, and the Ecstasy of Sacrifice
By Ute Frevert
Through investigating the pivotal role of honour in private and public matters, …
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Thematic
Weapons
By Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau
To understand the Great War, one has to understand weapons. Weapons are linked t…
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Thematic
Western Front
By Jonathan Krause
The Western Front, a 400-plus mile stretch of land weaving through France and Be…
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Thematic
Willingly to War. Public Response to the Outbreak of War
By Jean-Jacques Becker
It may surprise us to learn that some sectors of the European public were in fav…
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Thematic
Women’s Mobilization for War
By Susan R. Grayzel
This article explores women’s economic, social, and political responses to the F…
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Thematic
Women War Reporters
By Stephanie Seul
Female war reporters from belligerent and neutral countries were present in the …
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Thematic
Xenophobia
By Thomas Brodie
This article provides an overview of xenophobia during the First World War - nam…
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