Junior Officership in the German Army during the Great War, 1914-1918

• Autores: Alex Watson
• Localización: War in history, ISSN-e 1477-0385, ISSN 0968-3445, Vol. 14, Nº. 4, 2007, págs. 428-453
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This article reassesses German junior officers' performance in the First World War. Contrary to current historiography, it argues that the peacetime corps's social elitism was successful in ensuring a militarily effective, naturally paternalistic and conscientious leadership. The infamous wartime Offiziersha{szligbeta} (`officer hate') did not derive from social segregation between ranks but was rather a form of the `front-rear' tension common to all belligerent armies, aggravated by material shortage. Despite training and organizational difficulties, the successful dissemination of the corps's aristocratic values to wartime-recruited officers maintained good inter-rank relations within combat units, enabling the army to endure four years of gruelling warfare.