DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

The Final Battle

Soldiers of the Western Front and the German Revolution of 1918

Scott Stephenson author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:27th Aug '09

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

This hardback is available in another edition too:

The Final Battle cover

A study of the army's role in the early German republic and its legacy for Weimar and Nazism.

Examining the role of front-line soldiers in the German revolution of 1918, in this book Scott Stephenson considers why their response to the revolution was so different from the rest of the army and the implications this would have for the course of the German Revolution and for the Weimar Republic itself.In many ways the German soldiers who marched back from the Western Front at the end of World War I held the key to the future of the newly-created republic that replaced the Kaiser's collapsed monarchy. To the radical Left, the orderly columns of front-line troops appeared to be the forces of the counterrevolution while to the conservative elements of society they seemed to be the Fatherland's salvation. However, in their efforts to get home as soon as possible, most soldiers were indifferent to the political struggles within the Reich, while the remnant that remained under arms proved powerless to defend the republic from its enemies. This book considers why these soldiers' response to the revolution was so different from the rest of the army and the implications this would have for the course of the German Revolution and, ultimately, for the fate of the Weimar Republic itself.

Review of the hardback: 'Scholars will find much to engage with in this powerful book. Stephenson's descriptions of the German retreat following 11 November and his analysis of the soldiers' councils are among the book's strengths. His investigation of the conduct of German soldiers has implications beyond the rather unusual environment of 1918 and will speak to those interested in the behavior of veterans of all wars. The Final Battle is a worthy contribution to Cambridge University Press's prestigious Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare series and a valuable addition to our understanding of the critical year of 1918.' Michael Neiberg, Michigan War Studies Review
Review of the hardback: '… a moving and often brilliant book that should serve as a model for the so-called 'new military history'.' Parameters
Review of the hardback: 'No historian of the Imperial army or the Weimar Republic can afford to ignore this thought-provoking and, in many ways, provocative study.' English Historical Review
Review of the hardback: 'This well crafted and thoroughly researched monograph is the first in many years to explore the return home of the defeated Imperial Army.' Stand To! The Journal of the Western Front Association

ISBN: 9780521519465

Dimensions: 235mm x 160mm x 25mm

Weight: 730g

372 pages