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Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War
On 26 August 1914 the world-famous university library in the Belgian town of Louvain was looted and destroyed by German troops. The international community reacted in horror and the behavior of the Germans at Louvain came to be seen as the beginning of a different style of war, without the rules that had governed military conflict up to that point--a more total war, in which enemy civilians and their entire culture were now legitimate targets.
As award-winning historian Alan Kramer shows in this gripping and insightful volume, the destruction at Louvain was simply one symbolic moment in a vast wave of cultural destruction and mass killing that swept across the map of Europe at the time of the First World War. Using a wide range of examples and striking eye-witness accounts from England, France, Germany, and elsewhere, Kramer brings home the reality of the Great War, painting a picture of an entire continent plunging into a chilling new world of mass mobilization, total warfare, and the celebration of nationalist or ethnic violence--often directed expressly at the enemy's civilian population. Kramer examines the psychological impact of trench warfare, addresses the question of German atrocities (were the Germans particularly barbaric, or was savage behavior common on all sides?), and offers a disturbing summation of the war's impact on European culture.
From the Western Front to the Balkans, from Italy to the war in the East, the First World War was the most apocalyptic the world had ever known. This book tells you how and why the civilized nations of Europe descended into unprecedented orgy of destruction.
As award-winning historian Alan Kramer shows in this gripping and insightful volume, the destruction at Louvain was simply one symbolic moment in a vast wave of cultural destruction and mass killing that swept across the map of Europe at the time of the First World War. Using a wide range of examples and striking eye-witness accounts from England, France, Germany, and elsewhere, Kramer brings home the reality of the Great War, painting a picture of an entire continent plunging into a chilling new world of mass mobilization, total warfare, and the celebration of nationalist or ethnic violence--often directed expressly at the enemy's civilian population. Kramer examines the psychological impact of trench warfare, addresses the question of German atrocities (were the Germans particularly barbaric, or was savage behavior common on all sides?), and offers a disturbing summation of the war's impact on European culture.
From the Western Front to the Balkans, from Italy to the war in the East, the First World War was the most apocalyptic the world had ever known. This book tells you how and why the civilized nations of Europe descended into unprecedented orgy of destruction.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published July 12, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 8, 2013
A unique account of the First World War. Its’ focus is not only on the events on the Western Front, but also the killing fields of Central Europe, Russia and Italy. The author emphasizes certain aspects like the first weeks of the war where the Germans caused much cultural damage and destruction in Belgium and in the areas they occupied in France.
Mr. Kramer treats each countries experience of the war as distinct and does not merge this as a ‘unified war trauma’. Civilian deaths were much more common in Eastern Europe – the Balkans, Russia and present day Poland. Soldiers in Russia and Austria were treated as dispensable – ill-fed, poorly clothed – many more starved to death, froze to death or died of disease than on the Western front. The Germans came closest to waging total war – for example they recruited slave labour in both Western and Eastern Europe.
Mr. Kramer questions much retrospective thinking on the First World War – he lays the blame squarely on both Germany and Austria-Hungary for initiating and causing the war. Was the Treaty of Versailles so harsh on Germany – have we to swallowed Hitler’s myth of the stab in the back? The Weimar Republic suppressed files showing Germany’s aggressive intent before the war began. Even though the Somme and Passchendaele caused mass death on the Allied side they also caused a morale crisis for the Germans.
Mr. Kramer also discusses the aftermath of the war in Russia, the Balkans and Italy where war became internalized and Fascism triumphed under Mussolini. Each country experienced different after-effects of their struggle which are still felt to this day.
Mr. Kramer treats each countries experience of the war as distinct and does not merge this as a ‘unified war trauma’. Civilian deaths were much more common in Eastern Europe – the Balkans, Russia and present day Poland. Soldiers in Russia and Austria were treated as dispensable – ill-fed, poorly clothed – many more starved to death, froze to death or died of disease than on the Western front. The Germans came closest to waging total war – for example they recruited slave labour in both Western and Eastern Europe.
Mr. Kramer questions much retrospective thinking on the First World War – he lays the blame squarely on both Germany and Austria-Hungary for initiating and causing the war. Was the Treaty of Versailles so harsh on Germany – have we to swallowed Hitler’s myth of the stab in the back? The Weimar Republic suppressed files showing Germany’s aggressive intent before the war began. Even though the Somme and Passchendaele caused mass death on the Allied side they also caused a morale crisis for the Germans.
Mr. Kramer also discusses the aftermath of the war in Russia, the Balkans and Italy where war became internalized and Fascism triumphed under Mussolini. Each country experienced different after-effects of their struggle which are still felt to this day.
April 10, 2019
A very interesting comparative discussion by Dr. Kramer. Essential reading for anyone interested in the First World War. Particular chapters of note are: The Radicalization of Warfare; German Singularity; War, Bodies, and Mind.
While this was overall a very solid work, I feel that in much of his discussion Dr. Kramer focuses a lot on the educated and upper class when discussing reactions and feelings towards the war (especially when talking about artistic movements). The study would have benefitted to have more research on the lower-class and less educated.
Otherwise very solid!
While this was overall a very solid work, I feel that in much of his discussion Dr. Kramer focuses a lot on the educated and upper class when discussing reactions and feelings towards the war (especially when talking about artistic movements). The study would have benefitted to have more research on the lower-class and less educated.
Otherwise very solid!
April 24, 2025
[Spelling corrected in 2025]
I read this book as a natural follow on from the book Prof. Kramer wrote with John Horne 'German Atrocities 1914: A History of Denial', so he has covered some this ground before but what he has to say about the war in Italy and particularly in Eastern Europe (I would also recommend Timothy Snyder's excellent 'Bloodlands' which looks at this area in an even greater depth) and how it was conducted savagely and with disregard for the welfare of either their troops or civilian populations (either in their own territories or lands they conquered by Italy, Russia and Austria-Hungary. It is impossible not see these early (but largely unknown) horrors as forerunners of things to come but, Prof. Kramer handles this without attempting to make over simplified comparisons while showing that what happened in WWII was not new or unexpected.
A truly remarkable and important history book.
I read this book as a natural follow on from the book Prof. Kramer wrote with John Horne 'German Atrocities 1914: A History of Denial', so he has covered some this ground before but what he has to say about the war in Italy and particularly in Eastern Europe (I would also recommend Timothy Snyder's excellent 'Bloodlands' which looks at this area in an even greater depth) and how it was conducted savagely and with disregard for the welfare of either their troops or civilian populations (either in their own territories or lands they conquered by Italy, Russia and Austria-Hungary. It is impossible not see these early (but largely unknown) horrors as forerunners of things to come but, Prof. Kramer handles this without attempting to make over simplified comparisons while showing that what happened in WWII was not new or unexpected.
A truly remarkable and important history book.
September 14, 2023
From a Marxist standpoint, Kramer's history of World War I is unorthodox—he largely maintains the Anglo-French hypothesis that the war was ultimately a defensive one against German aggression, but is willing to critique the exaggerations of the Entente on their wartime actions, etc. Kramer misunderstands Lenin's argument concerning imperialism and the causes of World War I: simply because the Entente had the better half of the world in terms of economic prosperity does not invalidate Lenin's argument. Indeed, Kramer's understanding of the German imperial project as a reason for their entrance into the war is a key part of Lenin's ideas. The Germans had the worse part of the unevenly developed imperialist projects, and sought a new division of the world to compensate for this. That the Entente did not have similar war aims (and I am not sure about Kramer's argument on this front) disproves nothing.
Kramer main thesis is his understanding of the "dynamic of destruction," the new ways in which modern total war manifested itself among both the Entente and Central Powers, focusing mainly upon German conduct on the Western front and Ludendorff's "Ober Ost," alongside Austrian-Russian designs on the Balkans and Italian designs on their front. Kramer underscores the cultural aspects of the war as well as casualties and their development as trench warfare set in. Analyzing the postwar, Kramer makes important revisionist observations regarding Weimar's political stability as well as the German Revolution, taking a critical look at the actual strength of the KPD and radicals during the revolution and their futile efforts upon the pragmatic course of the Ebertian SPD (indeed, unlike left-communist critics, Kramer does not even mention the USSR or any possible role it could have played in the German Revolution, because a realistic role did not exist).
A book I did not expect to like, but certainly did.
Kramer main thesis is his understanding of the "dynamic of destruction," the new ways in which modern total war manifested itself among both the Entente and Central Powers, focusing mainly upon German conduct on the Western front and Ludendorff's "Ober Ost," alongside Austrian-Russian designs on the Balkans and Italian designs on their front. Kramer underscores the cultural aspects of the war as well as casualties and their development as trench warfare set in. Analyzing the postwar, Kramer makes important revisionist observations regarding Weimar's political stability as well as the German Revolution, taking a critical look at the actual strength of the KPD and radicals during the revolution and their futile efforts upon the pragmatic course of the Ebertian SPD (indeed, unlike left-communist critics, Kramer does not even mention the USSR or any possible role it could have played in the German Revolution, because a realistic role did not exist).
A book I did not expect to like, but certainly did.
June 19, 2024
4.5/5 being generous rounding up for Goodreads.
The book is very good if you're are interest in WWI atrocities (Belgian suffering at the beginning of the war, the violence inflicted by and suffered by the soldiers, ethnic conflict in the Balkans during the Balkan Wars as well as WWI and on the Eastern Front), the mentalities of the time that led to an intensification of violence over the course of the war (the blurring of the distinction between combatant and non-combatant, harsher treatment of civilians etc) and the impact of the war on how people thought.
The book also has quite a bit about intellectuals and how they felt about the war. Generally speaking supporting the war effort of their countries either out of a belief that they were defending civilisation or that the war would solve the perceived decline of values and morals of the pre-war world. On the intellectual/cultural side of things there is also a lot of info about Italian Futurism due to its support for violence and its link to post-war Italian fascism.
The book covers a lot of topics. I would say German violence towards the Belgians in 1914 (as well as using Belgian civilians as forced labour later in the war) and Italian Futurism are by the most in-depth of the topics covered. Other topics tend to be in broader strokes and less detailed, still done well though.
If you're specifically interested in WWI I would definitely recommend it, mainly if you've already read a bit on the war. Maybe a bit too focused of a topic for it to be a starter book.
The book is very good if you're are interest in WWI atrocities (Belgian suffering at the beginning of the war, the violence inflicted by and suffered by the soldiers, ethnic conflict in the Balkans during the Balkan Wars as well as WWI and on the Eastern Front), the mentalities of the time that led to an intensification of violence over the course of the war (the blurring of the distinction between combatant and non-combatant, harsher treatment of civilians etc) and the impact of the war on how people thought.
The book also has quite a bit about intellectuals and how they felt about the war. Generally speaking supporting the war effort of their countries either out of a belief that they were defending civilisation or that the war would solve the perceived decline of values and morals of the pre-war world. On the intellectual/cultural side of things there is also a lot of info about Italian Futurism due to its support for violence and its link to post-war Italian fascism.
The book covers a lot of topics. I would say German violence towards the Belgians in 1914 (as well as using Belgian civilians as forced labour later in the war) and Italian Futurism are by the most in-depth of the topics covered. Other topics tend to be in broader strokes and less detailed, still done well though.
If you're specifically interested in WWI I would definitely recommend it, mainly if you've already read a bit on the war. Maybe a bit too focused of a topic for it to be a starter book.
January 23, 2024
I was intrigued with this book in part because it dealt with the subject of mass killing and how that was a tool wielded against civilian populations and the impact this had on culture in the various European participants of WWI as a prelude to WWII. This book does discuss that but it’s one of many subjects the author analyses. This volume also covers the impact on European society the war had and the underlying culture at the beginning of the war, how those cultures supported what began as a popular war where most participants did not understand the cost of the war. There is some discussion of artists and philosophers’ enthusiasm at the beginning of the war and how that changed as the tragedy (the mass killing of their people mostly as armed combatants) became more and more apparent.
July 4, 2023
in order to come to some of the conclusions the author comes to he conveniently leaves out blatant war crimes on behalf of the Brits and their allies, especially over the last 40 pages or so, but ultimately provides a good amount of new information.
December 19, 2016
Scholarly, deep detail on certain episodes like German atrocities in Belgium get a thorough treatment. On the other hand Kramer tries to cover too much, too many disparate topics, jumping from Germany in Belgium, to Turkey and the Armenians, to Italy and Abyssinia, but then to an examination of the July Crises, and The Treaty of Versailles, but then also Hitler and Mein Kempf. In an effort to cover so much, Kramer gets lost in the weeds. I was fascinated by his analysis of the culture of violence, art and philosophy, especially Italy. Generally, a great read, with many insights, informed by a profound understanding of the period. Well worth the read, for people well versed in WWI scholarship. I do wish Kramer had narrowed his thesis. And in his conclusion, I wish he had done a better job of pulling the many strands of the book together into a more focused and coherent conclusion. Instead, his conclusion drifted off into a discussion of WWII leaving me unsure of what it was exactly he wanted to say.
April 1, 2016
Every history student of WWI should add this book to their "must read" shelves.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews