Debating Cannae: Delbrück, Schlieffen, and the Great War provides the reader a view of the historical struggle between Alfred von Schlieffen and Hans Delbrück. They argued fiercely about the foundation of the German Empire and the use of history. The first chapter provides the context of the foundation of the German empire. The second chapter explores the debates between Schlieffen and Delbrück by investigating their writings. The third chapter surveys the effect that the Delbrück and Schlieffen culture war had upon the First World War. This work expands the current view of Schlieffen by demonstrating his commitment to his interpretation of history. The reader will gain an appreciation for the impact of the historical struggle between these two historians. Delbrück believed that nationalism needed to be controlled through objectivity and a contextual understanding; in contrast, Schlieffen believed that nationalism needed to direct one’s historical research as well as one’s life.

Cette thèse a pour objectif d’étudier les relations interalliées entre l’Italie et l’Entente avec rigueur et dans toutes ses dimensions : militaire, diplomatique, économique et sociale de 1914 à 1919. Nous avons établi des rapports de forces et des lignes stratégiques structurants les anciens et nouveaux équilibres stratégiques de la guerre à la paix de Versailles. L’Italie de l’indépendance stratégique en 1914-1916 à la subordination envers lesAlliés en 1917, pour finir par être vassalisée en 1918-1919 par l’Entente et les Etats-Unis. La Victoire Mutilée de1919 devient un résultat logique provenant du nouvel ordre mondial crée par la Première Guerre Mondiale.Ce résultat est obtenu par une nouvelle analyse stratégique globale fondée sur les déterminants de la puissance :l’économie, la cohésion nationale, l’effort de guerre et les victoires ou défaites qui en découlent, la diplomatie, les forces morales des nations. Cette analyse balaie tout le spectre du conflit armé : de la déclaration de guerre à la paix. Elle est fondée sur 3 piliers théoriques : la pensée stratégique de Sun Tzu, l’héritage de Clausewitz, et lathéorie des jeux. Les lignes stratégiques obtenues définissent des rapports de force internationaux et de nouveauxéquilibres. Cette thèse débouche au niveau de la recherche historique sur une nouvelle vision des relations interalliées durant la Grande Guerre. Elle revient au fondement de l’histoire : la politique et la guerre en sont le coeur. Il s’agit de rendre à l’histoire politico-militaire ses lettres de noblesse. Cependant 3 pistes de recherches restent à explorer : les rivalités culturelles entre nations, les différences entre modèles sociaux, et une analyse des mentalités. Le Fascisme est la conséquence ultime en Italie de la guerre en raison de la Victoire Mutilée et l’affaiblissement général du pays. En effet, la guerre a déstabilisé le pays en créant une crise politique, socio économique grave. La naissance de l’esprit Arditi, l’absence de réformes sociales en 1919 et l’expérience de la guerre sont-ils responsables de la Marche sur Rome par les fascistes ? / This thesis aims to study interallied relationships between Italy and the Entente with rigor and in all dimensions: military, diplomatic, economic and social from 1914 to 1919. We can establish force reports and strategic lines in order to structuring old and new balances from war to Versailles’ peace. The world war one beganby an independent Italy in 1914-1916. Then in 1917, Italy became an subordinate state toward Allies. Finaly, in1918-1919 Italy was a vassal state of Allies and Associates. The injured victory of 1919 became a logic result inreason of new global order created by the World War one.This result is obtained by a new strategic global analysis,founded on power determinants: economy, national cohesion, war effort, diplomacy and moral forces of nations.This analysis scans all the spectre of war: from breaking out to peace. It’s founded on three theoric schemes: thestategic think of Sun Tzu, the war meaning of Clauzewitz and the game theory. The obtained strategic lines giveinternational force reports and new balances.This thesis emerges on historic level on a new vision of interalliedrelationships during the World War one. It was back at historic foundation: policy and war are the history heart. It concerns to restore at politic and military history her nobility letters. Moreover it stays three research sectors todevelop: cultural rivalries between nations, differences between social models, and a psychologic analysis.Fascism is the last consequence in Italy from war and the injured victory. Italy was lower than before the WorldWar one. The World War one has destabilized Italy by creating a politic and economic crisis. The beginning of Arditi spirit, missing of social reforms in 1919 and the experience of war are they in charge of the March onRome by Fascists ?

This thesis examines Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald’s writing published between 1920 and 1932. To date, biographers and scholars have largely failed to carefully examine and understand Zelda’s publications. During this period Zelda critiques the materialism and generational lack of respect she finds in the North in her articles, while using her imagination to discuss the possibilities of the South in her short stories. All of her works during these years culminate in her novel, Save Me the Waltz, in which much of her life and return to the South is mirrored by her heroine, Alabama Knight. This thesis examines Zelda’s publications in this 1920 to 1932 period in order to reveal her perception of the society she had become a part of when she married F. Scott Fitzgerald and to understand the transition in her desire to at first fit in to the Northern society that expected her to be the flapper and celebrity wife, and then later to find success and self-expression in a return to the South.

This thesis examines the origins and development of signals intelligence in the Royal Australian Navy, during the period 1914 to 1945, within the context of an Australian contribution to Imperial defence. In doing so it demonstrates how the development of this capability was shaped by national, Imperial and international forces and events. The thesis thus fills a gap in the historiography of imperial defence and of early twentieth century signals intelligence. It also constitutes a case study of the development of a niche military capability by a small to medium power in the context of great power alliances and major historical events. The thesis is based principally upon the investigation of documents in the Australian, US and UK national archives, some of which have been newly declassified for this purpose. During the First World War the RAN undertook a minor cryptographic effort focused on intercepting and breaking coded messages from the German Pacific Squadron. After the War, and at the request of the RN, the RAN began to develop a signals intelligence capability aimed at the Imperial Japanese Navy. This capability was seen as part of the RAN contribution to Imperial defence. The commitment, made without Australian political approval, would see the RAN conduct two covert intelligence collection operations against the Japanese Mandated Territories. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent defeat of the Western Powers in Asia, the RAN signals intelligence organisation became, as a consequence of agreements between Britain and the USN, part of the USN organisation in the Pacific. At no stage however, was the RAN involved in the discussions which accompanied these arrangements nor did it have any subsequent say in the strategic direction of this capability. As a consequence, when the Pacific War was drawing to a close the future of the RAN's cryptographic organisation came in to question. By the time the Japanese surrendered this issue had still not been resolved. Beyond the history of the origins and development of signals intelligence in the RAN, and of its involvement in the signals intelligence war against Japan, the thesis highlights the importance of committed individuals in small military organisations and how they can greatly influence the success or otherwise of these organisations. The ability of personnel from different nations to work together in signals intelligence is reflective of the functioning of the alliance as a whole. The development of such a niche capability by a small to medium power can have an effect on that nation's standing, in the context of alliance relationships, as it did in this case. As the RAN found however, such capabilities do not provide for automatic access to strategic decision making within an alliance.

Shell Shock, described as the ‘emblematic psychiatric disorder’ of the First World War has long been synonymous with its soldiers. Its association with close proximity to exploding shells and thus the front lines, leading to the various symptoms of ‘shock’, has both facilitated and ensured its existence throughout the twentieth and twenty first centuries as a masculine affliction. Of the many shell shock studies that have been produced over the last few decades all have focused purely on the experience of the male combatant, predominantly because of this long held preoccupation with ‘front-line’ warfare and its consequences apparently being the preserve of men. Despite the prolonged interest and analysis of shell shock by medical and social historians along with a significant amount of work by feminist and, more recently, revisionist historians, detailing the involvement of women in the First World War, there is stHl no comprehensive study of the psychological problems encountered and suffered by the women who served alongside the British Expeditionary Forces (BEE). However, this study of the roles and duties of a specific group of women, namely nurses, voluntary aid detachments, and ambulance drivers, reveals they frequently endured a variety of traumatic experiences, involving injuries and fatalities, through the vicarious witnessing and dealing with horrific sights and sounds, all compounded by extremes of conditions and privations. Many, if not all, of these factors were given as antecedents for war neurosis in soldiers. Yet, while the nurse has been idolised for her role in the Great War, her experience of psychological ‘breakdown’ has not been examined. This thesis, through the analysis of professional medical literature, of medical case notes, personal testimonies, diaries and autobiographies, is a contribution to the areas of women’s history, medical history and, more specifically, to the history of psychological war trauma. Following a review of the literature in chapter one, chapter two is a re-examination of the proximity of nurses to the fighting zones and therefore of their exposure to danger. Chapter three analyses the nurses’ experience and subsequent symptoms of war trauma, including, importantly, how contemporary medical authorities understood the disorder, and then cared for and managed their female sufferers. These two chapters fundamentally argue that the notion of war-induced traumatic neurosis being the preserve of men is essentially pretence, and that this ‘focus’ on male sufferers means the history of the condition is incomplete. Chapter four essentially examines the issues of repatriation faced by these nurses, specifically examining the evolution of war disability pensions process of which they were excluded until 1920. It also looks at how the nurse, as female war veteran, coped with the consequences of her war experience. In conclusion, this thesis asserts that these nurses did indeed suffer psychologically for their involvement in this war and not because their symptoms and disorders ‘resembled’ those experienced by men, but were in fact, indistinguishable to the extent that some nurses were classed as ‘shellshocked’

Military Service Tribunals were established following the passing of the first Military Service Act, 1916, to consider applications for exemption from men deemed thereby to have enlisted. Given that conscription itself was an entirely novel mechanism to early twentieth century Britons, there existed no criteria or known models against which the function of these bodies might have been measured or standardized. Gifted a marked degree of independence by Government, even to the point of determining the nature and quality of evidence they should consider in adjudicating cases, they represented a uniquely autonomous stage in the processes that took men from civilian to military life. Being comprised entirely of civilians, drawn from the communities upon which this new coercion fell, the Tribunals were also the visible, accessible face of Government policy. Their sittings became in effect the sole ‘official’ forums in which the human cost of industrial-scale warfare might be rehearsed without circumspection. Though charged with keeping the national interests of the country foremost in mind, many tribunalists appreciated, or discovered, that local issues and concerns represented no less fundamental a part of those interests than did the maintenance of the New Armies. This thesis, utilizing a rare, near-complete body of Appeals Tribunal records, examines the minutiae of the exemption process. It considers to what extent the contradictions inherent in a ‘system’ staffed by volunteers, implementing legislation that aimed towards an as-yet undefined manpower policy were, or could be, resolved. It also tests largely negative assumptions regarding the attitudes, motives and preconceptions of tribunalists in discharging their role. Finally, it assesses the validity of two prevalent, though conflicting, judgements upon the Tribunals collectively: that either they were too receptive to localist pressures in exempting far more men than had been anticipated by the architects of conscription, or, that in demonstrating an unswervingly middle-class empathy with militarist values, they fell far short of the judicial impartiality required of them by legislation

No description available.

This thesis charts the development of area bombing in British theory and practice before its formal adoption in the Second World War, and seeks to discover where its earliest origins can be located. Area bombing was the official policy of Royal Air Force Bomber Command between 1942 and 1945 in its strategic air offensive against Germany, and involved the bombing of industrial cities with the purpose of breaking down civilian morale and disrupting the German war economy. Most historical accounts present area bombing as a gradual development in bombing policy during 1940 and 1941, forced by a lack of success in destroying precise industrial targets from the air. This was the Air Force’s stated policy during the previous two decades, but it proved impossible to implement under wartime conditions. Area bombing was thus gradually adopted by progressively broadening the definition of targets from individual installations to entire towns and cities. This thesis rejects the traditional view, arguing instead that area bombing was at the heart of British bombing policy as early as the First World War. The legacy of this saw an ‘area bombing mentality’ cemented in the strategy of the Royal Air Force during the interwar period. As it was not possible to openly advocate the bombing of civilians during the 1920s and 1930s, this was shrouded in ambiguous language and kept hidden. However, the roots of area bombing come to the surface several times between the wars, and the speed with which area bombing was adopted in 1940 and 1941 shows that they were never deeply buried. While many historians have uncovered individual details that collectively support this contention, none have traced the development of this thought across the period 1917-42. Using a selection of contemporary documents and a thorough review of the secondary literature, this work shows that far from being an improvisation forced by necessity, the adoption of area bombing was unsurprising and can be traced back to 1917.

La création officielle du musée de l’Armée au sein de l’Hôtel des Invalides se fait en 1905 du regroupement de deux établissements préexistants, le musée historique de l’Armée et le musée d’Artillerie. Ce faisant, ce sont deux conceptions des collections d’objets militaires qui se regroupent sous une même tutelle. Alors que l’un est avant tout un musée des techniques, soucieux de retranscrire les évolutions de l’armement au fil du temps, l’autre cherche à transmettre au visiteur un sentiment de grandeur nationale intemporelle dont l’armée est le ciment et le reflet. Cette double ascendance va être au cœur des questionnements sur la muséographie et les choix relatifs à la collection durant toute la vie de l’établissement. La place de la mémoire va notamment être un enjeu permanent. Les premiers temps de mise en place de ce grand musée s’arrêtent avec la Grande Guerre qui voit à la fois le musée ralentir son activité et connaître une grande affluence avec l’exposition des trophées et des peintures réalisées sur le front. Cet épisode si particulier de la vie de l’établissement va initier la création de nouvelles salles dès 1915 et donner au musée l’ambition d’être un lieu phare de la mémoire du premier conflit mondial. Cette aspiration se heurte à la fois aux moyens limités du musée alloués par le ministère de la Guerre et à l’expression même de ces commémorations. L’obtention de l’autonomie financière du musée en 1928 va transformer l’établissement qui s’inspire alors des collections privées. Séparant nettement les parties consacrées à la mémoire de celles montrant la collection, l’établissement se donne alors une politique qui perdure au-delà du second conflit mondial. / The official creation of the French Army Museum in the Hotel des Invalides occured in 1905, gathering two pre-existent establishments, the Army historic museum and the artillery museum. In so doing it is two conceptions of the collections of military objects that group together under the same administration. One was a museum of techniques, eager to retranscribe the evolutions of the armament over time, the other one tried to transmit to the visitor a feeling of timeless greatness of the french nation symbolized by its Army. This double ancestry is going to be the core of questionings on the museography and the choices relative to the collection during all the life of the establishment. The place of the memory is going to be a permanent stake. The first stages of implementation stopped with the Great War, which saw at the same time the museum slowing down its activity and knowing a big influx with the exhibition of trophies and paintings realized on the battlefield. This episode, so peculiar in the life of the establishment, is going to impulse the creation of new rooms from 1915 onward. Then the Army museum had the ambition to be a key place of the memory of the first world conflict. However this will had to cope with two major difficulties. First, the war ministry didn’t provide enough fees and furthermore the expression of these remembrances after 1918 left the Invalides for other places. In 1928, while the museum obtained its financial autonomy, all the display were changed in a way close to the private collections. Separating the parts dedicated to the memory of those showing the collection, the establishment gave itself a policy which continued beyond the second world conflict.

The aim of this paper is to outline the share of airmen from the Czech lands in the formation, organizational and personnel construction, technical development and operational deployment of the Austro-Hungarian Air Force in the pre-war period and especially during World War 1. Simultaneously, this work will also try to determine their percentage share in the entire Austro-Hungarian Army and Naval Air Forces. The national (or provincial) origin of the personel of the Austro-Hungarian Air Force has not yet been the subject of historical research in any of the successor states. The reason was the fact that this young weapon was not statistically monitored - unlike other weapons. For Austrian historiography, the ethnic composition of the Austro-Hungarian aviation was not a subject of adequate attention. In Czech and Czechoslovakian historiography, for a long time, it was stated that number of the Czech airmen in the Austro-Hungarian Air Force was "insignificant". However, this age-old thesis, which has never been credibly proven, is subject to criticism in this work, leading to its re-evaluation. In particular, the reconstruction and analysis of statistically relevant samples of people revealed that in fact the representation of airmen from the Czech lands was above average and the Czechs had a solid...