Jeffrey Verhey

This apparently well researched book is an analysis of the so called 'Spirit of 1914' in Germany. This refers to the percieved elation, enthusiasm and unity in Germany during the July, 1914 crisis and continuing through the declarations of war beginning WWI. The author reviews numerous German and other nation's related documents including newspapers, government reports, post-WWI studies, etc. His goal is to explain if there in fact had been such a thing or movement as the 'Spirit of 1914'. If so, what segments of the population were involved, to what extent did this spirit effect the course of the war, how was it used militarily and politically in Germany, and so on. Mr. Verhey even contiues his analysis into the post war years dealing with the Weimar Republic through Nazism and WWII.

Very interesting book. The author comes to sound conclusions. I gave the work only 4 stars because virtually all the source data came from German documents and sources in the German language. This prohibited any further reading on my part since I do not read or understand German. Be that as it may, I still found the book enlightening. It dealt with a little published aspect of WWI.… (meer)