The Imperial German Army Between Kaiser And King

This book provides a reappraisal of Germany’s military between the mid-nineteenth century and the end of the First World War. At its core is the following question: how 'German' was the imperial German army? This army, which emerged from the Wars of Unification in 1871, has commonly been seen as the 'school of the nation'. After all – so this argument goes – tens of thousands of young men passed through its ranks each year, with conscripts undergoing an intense program of patriotic education and returning to civilian life as fervent German nationalists and ardent supporters of the German emperor, or Kaiser. This book reexamines this assumption. It does not deny that devotion to the Fatherland and loyalty to the Kaiser were widespread among German soldiers in the decades following unification. It nevertheless shows that the imperial German army was far less homogenous and far more faction-ridden than has hitherto been acknowledged.

The purpose of this book is to provide a one-volume resource for collectors and historians with an Imperial German army interest. The more we researched, the more we found there were more stories, myths and misunderstandings about Imperial Germany than there were facts. Different authors addressed different aspects: collectors, historians and educators all had their own area of expertise, but there was no readily available resource to give a general overview of Imperial Germany. Though it is convenient to call it "Germany," at the start of the First World War, there was still no united Germany, no German army, and no German officer corps. At 333 pages with 183 pictures and over 670 footnotes, this is an attempt to explain the intricacies of how the country worked -- militarily, politically and socially.

*Includes pictures *Includes soldiers' accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading World War I, also known in its time as the "Great War" or the "War to End all Wars," was an unprecedented holocaust in terms of its sheer scale. Fought by men who hailed from all corners of the globe, it saw millions of soldiers do battle in brutal assaults of attrition which dragged on for months with little to no respite. Tens of millions of artillery shells and untold hundreds of millions of rifle and machine gun bullets were fired in a conflict that demonstrated man's capacity to kill each other on a heretofore unprecedented scale, and as always, such a war brought about technological innovation at a rate that made the boom of the Industrial Revolution seem stagnant. Naturally, as one of the main belligerents of the war, and arguably the most powerful, Germany led the way in many respects. Between innovation, the scale of manpower, and cutting edge tactics and technology, the Imperial German Army would inflict devastating losses on the enemy, but the war would also prove to be its undoing, even as the seeds of that conflict would lead to far worse a generation later. The Imperial German Army had developed a formidable reputation decades earlier, almost immediately upon the unification of the German Empire under Kaiser Wilhelm I and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in 1871. Prussia dominated the new Germany, and with that came a strong military tradition and hierarchy. Not surprisingly, German leaders who had such power at their disposal were more than willing to use it, and when Kaiser Wilhelm II was crowned, a monarch with a thirst for foreign adventurism took control of Germany. In the decades before 1914, German politics became increasingly authoritarian and its society militarized. In conjunction with that, as the German Empire wanted to become a Great Power, it induced distrust amongst its rivals. Berlin was arguably the most enthusiastic European capital for a war in 1914, and German leaders enacted the long prepared "Schlieffen Plan" almost immediately. Although the German army advanced rapidly in the early weeks of the First World War, it would meet unexpected resistance from the British and French. Bogged down in the trenches of Flanders, the Germans had more success on the Eastern Front against the Russians, and eventually, after the Tsarist regime was overthrown, they emerged victorious there. By early 1918 though, German society was exhausted by war and starving due to a naval embargo. After a last-ditch offensive in early 1918, the British and French forces, now supported by the Americans, finally achieved some success against the weakening German army. November 1918 brought an armistice, and the punitive victor's justice of the Treaty of Versailles left many former German soldiers angry and resentful moving forward. The legacy of the German army's indecisive defeat would resonate for many when these grievances were stoked by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis less than a generation later. The Imperial German Army: The History and Legacy of Germany's Armed Forces during World War I chronicles the German military in the years after the German Empire's formation and World War I. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Germany's army in World War I like never before.

In 1871, after defeating the French, the King of Prussia declared Germany an Empire and crowned himself Kaiser Wilhelm in the Versailles Palace Hall of Mirrors. This began a period of ostentation in society and the arts?La Belle Époque or the Beautiful Age. It would end with the outbreak of 1914?s Great War. In that period Germany greatly expanded its military and in keeping with the ?beautiful age? created a fabulous array of colorful uniforms and equipment for its military. Significantly, the adoption of individual military units by Europe's royalty, led to an ever evolving richness in the insignia used to identify individuals and units in the Prussian and other states and principalities of aristocratic Germany. The armies of the Imperial era were flamboyant in uniforms of every color imaginable. None more so than the armies of the German Empire. Whether they were Prussian, Bavarian, Saxon or Wurttemberg regiments it could not be denied each regiment was impressive looking on maneuvers and especially on parade. One of the ways to identify regiments and their branch were by the particular uniforms worn including the all-important insignia attached to each man's shoulder. One can be sure that every soldier wearing a royal cypher or number was proud of his regiment and its history'past and future. Under Arms for the Kaiser is written for both the collector and historian who are interested in the Imperial German army and the regiments which comprised it. The book covers the shoulder insignia of all regiments with a focus on those which were honored with a royal honorary ?Chef,? or chief, including the wear of their monogram (cypher) on their shoulder straps. The book with over 1800 photos includes regimental information, Chefs, and hundreds of shoulder insignia including descriptions by branch and regiment. This is a reference, which should be in the library of every military insignia collector, especially those with an interest in Imperial Germany.

As assessment of the Kaiser's character and its implications on Imperial German history.

"Wilhelm II or William II (German: Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albrecht; English: Frederick William Victor Albert) (27 January 1859? 4 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. He was a grandson of the British Queen Victoria and related to many monarchs and princes of Europe. Crowned in 1888, he dismissed the Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, in 1890 and launched Germany on a bellicose "New Course" in foreign affairs that culminated in his support for Austria-Hungary in the crisis of July 1914 that led to World War I. Bombastic and impetuous, he sometimes made tactless pronouncements on sensitive topics without consulting his ministers, culminating in a disastrous Daily Telegraph interview that cost him most of his power in 1908. His generals dictated policy during World War I with little regard for the civilian government. An ineffective war leader, he lost the support of the army, abdicated in November 1918, and fled to exile in the Netherlands."--Wikipedia.