The Final Battle
Soldiers of the Western Front and the German Revolution of 1918

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

Scott Stephenson (Author)

9781107632363, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 August 2013

374 pages, 30 b/w illus. 4 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.5 kg

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

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.

Preface
1. The divided army
2. The last ditch: German front-line soldiers in the last days of the First World War
3. Caesar without legions: the field army and the abdication of the Kaiser, November 8–9, 1918
4. Legions without Caesar: the German army's response to armistice and revolution, November 9–14, 1918
5. The last march: the German Westheer's march to the Rhine, November–December, 1918
6. Dissolution and conspiracy: the army's homecoming and demobilization, December 1918
7. The last parade: the Guards return to Berlin, December 10–22, 1918
8. The last battle: 'Bloody Christmas,' December 23–24, 1918
9. From debacle to civil war: the aftermath of 'Bloody Christmas,' December 1918–January 1919
10. Conclusion: Frontschweine and revolution.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], Social & cultural history [HBTB], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], European history [HBJD]