Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

History World War I

Germany’s Western Front: 1914

Translations from the German Official History of the Great War, Part 1

edited by Mark Humphries, John Maker & Mark Osborne Humphries

Publisher
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Initial publish date
Feb 2014
Category
World War I, Germany, Strategy
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781554583959
    Publish Date
    Oct 2013
    List Price
    $49.99
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781554583737
    Publish Date
    Oct 2013
    List Price
    $89.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781554585007
    Publish Date
    Feb 2014
    List Price
    $52.99

Add it to your shelf

Where to buy it

Description

The first English-language translation of Der Weltkrieg, the German official history of the First World War.
Originally produced between 1925 and 1944 using classified archival records that were destroyed in the aftermath of the Second World War, Der Weltkrieg is the inside story of Germany’s experience on the Western front. Recorded in the words of its official historians, this account is vital to the study of the war and official memory in Weimar and Nazi Germany. Although exciting new sources have been uncovered in former Soviet archives, this work remains the basis of future scholarship. It is essential reading for any scholar, graduate student, or enthusiast of the Great War.
This volume covers the outbreak of war in July–August 1914, the German invasion of Belgium, the Battles of the Frontiers, and the pursuit to the Marne in early September 1914. The first month of war was a critical period for the German army and, as the official history makes clear, the German war plan was a gamble that seemed to present the only solution to the riddle of the two-front war. But as the Moltke-Schlieffen Plan was gradually jettisoned through a combination of intentional command decisions and confused communications, Germany’s hopes for a quick and victorious campaign evaporated.

About the authors

Mark Humphries is an assistant professor of history at Memorial University of Newfoundland where he teaches war and society and military history. His books include The Last Plague: Spanish Influenza and the Politics of Public Health (forthcoming) and The Selected Papers of Sir Arthur Currie (2008). His article “War’s Long Shadow: Masculinity, Medicine, and the Gendered Politics of Trauma, 1914—1939” won the 2010 Canadian Historical Review Prize.

Mark Humphries' profile page

John Maker is a PhD candidate at The University of Ottawa who is completing his dissertation, “Shiners, Shindigs, and Shenanigans: Canadian Soldiers in Britain during the Second World War.” His work has been published in Canadian Military History and Histoire Sociale.

John Maker's profile page

Mark Humphries is an assistant professor of history at Memorial University of Newfoundland where he teaches war and society and military history. His books include The Last Plague: Spanish Influenza and the Politics of Public Health (forthcoming) and The Selected Papers of Sir Arthur Currie (2008). His article “War’s Long Shadow: Masculinity, Medicine, and the Gendered Politics of Trauma, 1914–1939” won the 2010 Canadian Historical Review Prize.

John Maker received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Ottawa in 2010. He currently teaches for the Royal Military College and is a professional researcher in Ottawa, Ontario.

Wilhelm J. Kiesselbach (translator) was born in Hamburg, Germany, where he completed a B.A. in English and journalism. After emigrating to the United States he was immediately drafted into the U.S. Army and spent seven years with Seventh Army Headquarters in Germany as translator and interpreter. For his service in Vietnam, he was decorated with the Army Commendation Medal and the Bronze Star.

Mark Osborne Humphries' profile page

Awards

  • Winner, Choice - Outstanding Academic Title

Editorial Reviews

This is history from the command level; the book contains an amazing amount of information.... With skillfully translated documents, italicized summaries tying the documentation together, enormously informative footnotes and citations, appendixes, and maps, this scholarly endeavor is not for general readers, but is a major contribution to WWI historiography. Professional and popular historians will ignore it and future volumes at their own risk. Summing Up: Essential.

C.L. Egan, formerly, University of Houston, CHOICE, May 2014, 2014 June

Other titles by

Other titles by

Other titles by

The Frontier of Patriotism

Alberta and the First World War

edited by Adriana A. Davies & Jeff Keshen
contributions by David Borys, Juliette Champagne, Brett Clifton, Catherine C. Cole, Rory Cory, Duff Crerar, Michael Dawe, L. James Dempsey, Antonella Fanella, Alvin Finkel, Ryan Flavelle, David Gallant, Stephen Greenhalgh, Jarett Henderson, Mark Osborne Humphries, Chris Hyland, Kathryn Ivany, Allan Kerr, Norman Knowles, J. Whitney Lackenbauer, Robert Lampard, Michale Lang, Kassandra Luciuk, Rod McLeod, John Matthews, Peter McKenzie-Brown, Sean Moir, Patricia Myers, Allan Rowe, Robert Rutherdale, Amy Shaw, Donald J. Smith, Paul Stortz, Doug Styles, Ken Tingley, Aritha Van Herk, Donald G. Wetherell & Anthony Worman

Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919

Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War

by (author) G.W.L. Nicholson
introduction by Mark Osborne Humphries

Canadian Battlefields of the First World War

A Visitor's Guide

by (author) Terry Copp, Nick Lachance, Caitlin McWilliams & Matt Symes
edited by Mark Humphries & Mark Osborne Humphries

War's Lingering Touch

Shell Shocked Veterans of Canada's Great War, 1914-1918

by (author) Mark Osborne Humphries

The Last Plague

Spanish Influenza and the Politics of Public Health in Canada

by (author) Mark Osborne Humphries

Germany’s Western Front: 1915

Translations from the German Official History of the Great War

edited by Mark Humphries, John Maker & Mark Osborne Humphries

The Selected Papers of Sir Arthur Currie

Diaries, Letters, and Report to the Ministry, 1917-1933

edited by Mark Humphries & Mark Osborne Humphries