The Image of the Soldier in German Culture, 1871-1933 (A Modern History of Politics and Violence)

This study examines the force of tradition in conservative German visual culture, exploring thematic continuities in the post-conflict representation of battlefield identities from the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71 to the demise of the Weimar Republic in 1933. Using over 40 representative images sampled from both high and popular culture, Paul Fox discusses complex and interdependent visual responses to a wide spectrum of historical events, spanning world war, regional conflict, internal security operations, and border skirmishes. The book demonstrates how all the artists, illustrators and photographers whose work is addressed here were motivated to affirm German moral superiority on the battlefield. They produced images that advanced dominant notions of how the ideal German man should behave when at war - even when the outcome was defeat. Their construction of an imagined martial masculinity based on aggressive moral superiority became so deeply rooted in German culture that it eventually provided the basis for a programmatic imagining of how Germany might again recover its standing as a great military power in Central Europe in the wake of defeat in 1918. The Image of the Soldier in German Culture, 1871-1933 is an important volume for any historian interested cultural history, the representation of armed conflict in European culture, the history of modern Germany, the Franco-Prussian War, and the First World War. "This study examines the force of tradition in conservative German visual culture. It explores thematic continuities in the post-conflict representation of battlefield identities, from the 25th anniversary of the Franco-Prussian War in 1895 to the demise of the Weimar Republic in 1933. Using 40 carefully chosen images from both high and low culture, Paul Fox discusses complex and interdependent responses in German visual culture to a wide spectrum of operational military experience. These include regional conflict, total war, internal security operations and border skirmishes during the period. The book demonstrates how conservative artists, illustrators, photographers, and sculptors engaged in representing this full spectrum of conflict were preoccupied with the inequalities of battlefield encounters and the consequential quest for moral advantage. They furnished material that exemplified everything positive the ideal German male could hope to be when at war - even when the outcome was defeat. Their construction of an imagined martial masculinity based on an aggressive moral superiority was so deeply rooted that the continuities taken forward eventually provided a basis for a programmatic imagining of how Germany might again exert its political presence as a great military power in Central Europe after 1918. The Image of the Soldier in German Culture, 1871--1933 is an important volume for any historian interested in cultural history, the history of modern Germany or the First World War."--Provided by publisher. "This study examines the force of tradition in conservative German visual culture. It explores thematic continuities in the post-conflict representation of battlefield identities, from the 25th anniversary of the Franco-Prussian War in 1895 to the demise of the Weimar Republic in 1933. Using 40 carefully chosen images from both high and low culture, Paul Fox discusses complex and interdependent responses in German visual culture to a wide spectrum of operational military experience. These include regional conflict, total war, internal security operations and border skirmishes during the period. The book demonstrates how conservative artists, illustrators, photographers, and sculptors engaged in representing this full spectrum of conflict were preoccupied with the inequalities of battlefield encounters and the consequential quest for moral advantage. They furnished material that exemplified everything positive the ideal German male could hope to be when at war - even when the outcome was defeat. Their construction of an imagined martial masculinity based on an aggressive moral superiority was so deeply rooted that the continuities taken forward eventually provided a basis for a programmatic imagining of how Germany might again exert its political presence as a great military power in Central Europe after 1918. The Image of the Soldier in German Culture, 1871--1933 is an important volume for any historian interested in cultural history, the history of modern Germany or the First World War."--Site web de l'éditeur Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements 1 Representing Armed Conflict in the Industrial Age Visual culture and its intersections The history of art and its disciplinary conceits Being German: The will to battle Nietzschean will Truth telling and the ethics of attention Romanticism Myth and identity formation Photomechanical reproduction Part One 2 Adolph Menzel and the Rhetoric of Command Anton von Werner and the command decision The life of Frederick Werner outside Paris Part Two 3 Combat and the Politics of Border Landscapes: Soldier-Farmers Alsace-Lorraine Otto Taubert’s landscape prints War graves 4 Combat and the Politics of Landscape: Trench Warfare 5 Combat and the Politics of Landscape: Aerial Photography, Maps and the Cold Gaze Mapping Part Three 6 Technology and Combat in the Franco-Prussian War 7 Technology and Combat in the First World War Jünger’s vision of Machine Age society Conclusion Notes References Index