Germany after the First World War
By: Richard Bessel.
Publisher: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press
Published: 1993
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 325
ISBN-13: 9780198219385
Subjects: Germany -- Social conditions -- 1918-1933; Germany -- History -- 1918-1933
Description: This is a social history of Germany in the years following the First World War. Germany's defeat and the subsequent demobilization of her armies had enormous economic, social, and psychological consequences for the nation, and it is these which Richard Bessel sets out to explore. Dr Bessel examines the changes brought by the War to Germany, by the return of the soldiers to civilian life and by the demobilization of the economy. He demonstrates how the postwar transition was viewed as a moral crusade by Germans desperately concerned about challenges to traditional authority; and he assesses the ways in which the experiences and memories of the War affected the politics of the Weimar Republic. This original and scholarly book offers important insights into the sense of dislocation, both personal and national, experienced by Germany and Germans after the First World War, and the damaging legacy of the War for German democracy.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [285]-313) and index.
Table of contents: title: German society during the First World War; title: Wartime planning for post-war demobilization; title: The return of the soldiers; title: The demobilization of the economy; title: Demobilization and labour; title: Demobilization and housing; title: Demobilization in the countryside; title: The post-war transition and the moral order; title: The legacy of the First World War and Weimar politics