Description
Since the end of World War II, Germans have struggled with the legacy of the Wehrmacht -- the unified armed forces mobilized by Adolf Hitler in 1935 to ensure the domination of the Third Reich in perpetuity. Historians have vigorously debated whether the Wehrmacht's atrocities represented a break with the past or a continuation of Germany's military traditions. Now available for the first time in English, this meticulously researched yet accessible overview by eminent historian Rolf-Dieter Muller provides the most comprehensive analysis of the organization to date, illuminating its role in a complex, horrific era.
Muller examines the Wehrmacht's leadership principles, organization, equipment, and training, as well as the front-line experiences of soldiers, airmen, Waffen SS, foreign legionnaires, and volunteers. He skillfully demonstrates how state-directed propaganda and terror influenced the extent to which the militarized Volksgemeinschaft (national community) was transformed under the pressure of total mobilization. Finally, he evaluates the army's conduct of the war, from blitzkrieg to the final surrender and charges of war crimes. Brief acts of resistance, such as an officers' "rebellion of conscience" in July 1944, embody the repressed, principled humanity of Germany's soldiers, but ultimately, Muller concludes, the Wehrmacht became the "steel guarantor" of the criminal Nazi regime.
About the Author
Rolf-Dieter Muler is former professor of military history at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. He served as scientific director in the German Armed Forces Center for Military History and Social Science in Potsdam, where he coordinated the German Reich and the Second World War project. Muller is the author of numerous books, including The Unknown Eastern Front: The Wehrmacht and Hitler's Foreign Soldiers and Enemy in the East: Hitler's Secret Plans to Invade the Soviet Union.
Reviews
This impressively comprehensive work contains a wealth of useful information. Rolf-Dieter Muller has long been one of the foremost historians of World War II in Germany and the world, and he is certainly knowledgeable in terms of content, new interpretations, emerging themes, and fresh areas of research."" - Stephen G. Fritz, author of Ostkrieg: Hitler's War of Extermination in the East
Book Information
ISBN 9780813167381
Author Rolf-Dieter Muller
Format Hardback
Page Count 248
Imprint The University Press of Kentucky
Publisher The University Press of Kentucky
Muller examines the Wehrmacht's leadership principles, organization, equipment, and training, as well as the front-line experiences of soldiers, airmen, Waffen SS, foreign legionnaires, and volunteers. He skillfully demonstrates how state-directed propaganda and terror influenced the extent to which the militarized Volksgemeinschaft (national community) was transformed under the pressure of total mobilization. Finally, he evaluates the army's conduct of the war, from blitzkrieg to the final surrender and charges of war crimes. Brief acts of resistance, such as an officers' "rebellion of conscience" in July 1944, embody the repressed, principled humanity of Germany's soldiers, but ultimately, Muller concludes, the Wehrmacht became the "steel guarantor" of the criminal Nazi regime.
About the Author
Rolf-Dieter Muler is former professor of military history at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. He served as scientific director in the German Armed Forces Center for Military History and Social Science in Potsdam, where he coordinated the German Reich and the Second World War project. Muller is the author of numerous books, including The Unknown Eastern Front: The Wehrmacht and Hitler's Foreign Soldiers and Enemy in the East: Hitler's Secret Plans to Invade the Soviet Union.
Reviews
This impressively comprehensive work contains a wealth of useful information. Rolf-Dieter Muller has long been one of the foremost historians of World War II in Germany and the world, and he is certainly knowledgeable in terms of content, new interpretations, emerging themes, and fresh areas of research."" - Stephen G. Fritz, author of Ostkrieg: Hitler's War of Extermination in the East
Book Information
ISBN 9780813167381
Author Rolf-Dieter Muller
Format Hardback
Page Count 248
Imprint The University Press of Kentucky
Publisher The University Press of Kentucky
