The Great War and the Twentieth Century

by Edited by Jay Winter, Geoffrey Parker, and Mary Habeck; Contributors to this volume: Modris Eksteins, Gerald Feldman, William C. Fuller, Jr., Mary R. Habeck, Holger H. Herwig, John Horne, Michael Howard, A.S. Kanya-Forstner, Leonard V. Smith, Zara Steiner

• ISBN13: 9780300081541
• ISBN10: 0300081545
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2000-11-10
• Publisher: Yale University Press
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Summary

World War I, the first "total war" in history, set in motion profound changes in the economics, demographics, and philosophies of the warring states. In this book, leading experts on the Great War discuss its causes, character, and legacy. Their writings show that to study World War I is to encounter not only the dissolution of the four defeated empires -- Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey -- but also the collapse of the optimistic assumption of progress that had defined the nineteenth century. The analysis of the Great War, in fact, provides an essential framework for our understanding of the entire twentieth century. The book draws together military history, international history, and cultural history to offer a wide-ranging summary of current knowledge and debate regarding the First World War.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction	p. 1
The First World War Reconsidered	p. 13
The Eastern Front	p. 30
The Politics of the Two Alliances	p. 69
Technology in the First World War: The View from Below	p. 99
Narrative and Identity at the Front: "Theory and the Poor Bloody Infantry"	p. 132
Mobilizing Economies for War	p. 166
Labor and Labor Movements in World War I	p. 187
The War, Imperialism, and Decolonization	p. 231
The War, the Peace, and the International State System	p. 263
Of Men and Myths: The Use and Abuse of History and the Great War	p. 299
The Cultural Legacy of the Great War	p. 331
Index	p. 351
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