The Politics of the Prussian Army, 1640-1945 PDF Download

Author: Gordon Alexander Craig
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Germany
Languages : en
Pages : 572

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Author: Jonathan Randall White
Publisher: University Press of Amer
ISBN: 9780761802068
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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This text focuses on the history of the Prussian army from the Thirty Years War to the unification of Germany in the Franco-Prussian War. The author uses an entertaining, readable format to describe the rise of militarism in Prussia. The book focuses on Frederick William's role in Prussian military history, providing special attention to descriptions of land battles and combat for non-technical readers. It concludes with a brief analysis of militarism in Germany and a comment on the fate of common Prussian soldiers in peace and in war. This book serves as an introductory text. It will be highly appropriate for a variety of disciplines, including history, political science, and sociology. More specifically, it will provide beneficial reading in ROTC programs and education programs on military or peace studies.

Author: Gordon Alexander Craig
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN: 0195094999
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Craig shows how Goethe, Schiller, Heinrich von Kleist, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Holderlin, and Heine were fascinated by the political issues of their day and - by focusing on their political views and activities - urges that they were not representatives of the genre of the "unpolitical German." On the contrary, Craig argues, the writers studied here were all interested in and in various ways engaged in political life.

Author: Robert B. Kane
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786437448
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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This work examines, among other topics, the personal oath of loyalty that the officers of the German army swore to Adolf Hitler on August 2, 1934. It discusses how the majority of officers--those who did not become conspirators against him--complied with Hitler's orders until May 1945 despite his cruel treatment of soldiers, militarily unsound strategy and tactics, and the widespread destruction and crimes he and his forces committed. The oath taken by the officers had a strong psychological effect among a proud corps with a long history of obedience and honor. They followed Hitler to the end even though they knew they were fighting a losing battle. The author also examines why and how only a few officers, the conspirators, began to break away, lose trust in Hitler, oppose him and finally stage an assassination attempt. This history traces the development within the German army from 1918 of the philosophies of loyalty and disloyalty--and obedience and disobedience--as challenged by the Hitlerian oath of loyalty.

Author: Gordon A. Craig
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 9780812218442
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Königgrätz, a city overlooking the river Elbe, was a western strongpoint of the Austrian Empire. On the morning of July 3, 1866, Prussia attacked the city against high odds and defeated the Austrian army in a single day, despite the Austrian advantage in heavy artillery and command of the high ground. The fall of Königgrätz transferred power over the German states from Austria to Prussia, marking the beginning of the German nation, a political consequence considered to be among the most important of any conflict in modern history. The battle for the city of Königgrätz—now called Hradec Králové, located in the Czech Republic—was the largest of its time, with nearly half a million troops involved. It was also the first battle where the outcome was directly determined by the availability of new technologies, including the railroad, telegraph, cast steel rifled cannon, and breech-loading rifle. It also marked a lesson in the fallacy of dependence on technology at the expense of sound strategy. In this full account, distinguished historian Gordon A. Craig discusses the state of political affairs surrounding the battle, the personalities involved, the weaponry, and the tactics in order to recreate the battlefield in all its complexity.

Author: Sir John Wheeler Wheeler-Bennett
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Germany
Languages : en
Pages : 831

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Author: Lt.-Col. Alexander B. Bitter
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 178625235X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 109

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This monograph assesses the adequacy of current United States joint campaign planning doctrine within the context of conventional operations between similar forces within a theater of war. The study focuses on five key doctrinal planning concepts— center of gravity, decisive points, operational reach, balance, and branches and sequels. Joint planning doctrine directly influences the national security of the United States. The foundation of effective and rigorous military planning is the body of professional doctrine that shapes and animates the planning process. The use of poor or insufficient planning doctrine may result in flawed campaign plans which unnecessarily risk the resources and prestige of the United States as well as the lives of America’s servicemen and women. Successful campaigns, developed from intellectually sound and militarily thorough planning doctrine, are the building blocks of national victory in war. A case study of Japanese campaign planning efforts at the beginning of 1942 and the retroactive application of selected joint doctrine planning concepts to these efforts is the method and medium of inquiry. Japanese operational planning in 1942 contained a number of complex and difficult challenges. These challenges present a rigorous test for current doctrine. Historically, this process resulted in the disastrous attempt to invade Midway Island. Joint doctrine is assessed as adequate if its application to 1942 Japanese planning would have resulted in the development of a campaign plan potentially more successful than the historical Midway operation. This paper concludes that the rigorous application of current joint doctrine by the Japanese to the planning for the 1942 campaign would have resulted in the production of a more thorough, resilient, and potentially more successful plan. Joint campaign planning doctrine, a way to think about warfare, would have overcome the challenges involved in planning this campaign.

Author: Beatrice Heuser
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1448113954
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Clausewitz's On War, first published in 1832, remains the most famous study of the nature and conditions of warfare. Contemporaries found him 'endearing' or 'totally unpalatable', while later generations called him 'the father of modern strategical study', whose tenets have 'eternal relevance', or dismissed him as outdated. Was it really he who made the discovery that warfare is a continuation of politics? Was he the 'Mahdi of mass and mutual massacre', in part responsible for the mass slaughter of the First World War, as Liddell Hart contended? Can the idea of total war be traced back to him? Complex and often misunderstood, Clausewitz has fascinated and influenced generations of politicians and strategic thinkers. Beatrice Heuser's study is the first book, not only on how to read Clausewitz, but also on how others have read him - from the Prussian and German masters of warfare of the late nineteenth century through to the military commanders of the First World War, through Lenin and Mao Zedong to strategists in the nuclear age and of guerrilla warfare. The result is an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the work and influence of the greatest classic on the art of war.

Author: Philipp Stelzel
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812250656
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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A comprehensive account of how German and American historians after World War II tackled the question of the roots of National Socialism, History After Hitler traces the development of a transatlantic scholarly community as a key part of the intellectual history of the Federal Republic and of Cold War German-American relations.

Author: Army Library (U.S.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Military art and science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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