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Violence and the German Soldier in the Great War: Killing, Dying, Surviving
by Benjamin ZiemannTranslated into English as the Winner of the Geisteswissenschaften International Translation Prize for Work in the Humanities and Social Sciences 2015.During the Great War, mass killing took place on an unprecedented scale. Violence and the German Soldier in the Great War explores the practice of violence in the German army and demonstrates how he killing of enemy troops, the deaths of German soldiers and their survival were entwined. As the war reached its climax in 1918, German soldiers refused to continue killing in their droves, and thus made an active contribution to the German defeat and ensuing revolution. Examining the postwar period, the chapters of this book also discuss the contested issue of a 'brutalization' of German society as a prerequisite of the Nazi mass movement. Biographical case studies on key figures such as Ernst Jünger demonstrate how the killing of enemy troops by German soldiers followed a complex set of rules. Benjamin Ziemann makes a wealth of extensive archival work available to an Anglophone audience for the first time, enhancing our understanding of the German army and its practices of violence during the First World War as well as the implications of this brutalization in post-war Germany. This book provides new insights into a crucial topic for students of twentieth-century German history and the First World War.
War Experiences in Rural Germany: 1914-1923 (The Legacy of the Great War)
by Benjamin ZiemannWorld War I was a uniquely devastating total war that surpassed all previous conflicts for its destruction. But what was the reality like on the ground, for both the soldiers on the front-lines and the women on the homefront? Drawing on intimate firsthand accounts in diaries and letters, 'War Experiences in Rural Germany' examines this question in detail and challenges some strongly held assumptions about the Great War. The author makes the controversial case for the blurring of 'front' and 'homefront'. He shows that through the constant exchange of letters and frequent furloughs, rural soldiers maintained a high degree of contact with their home lives. In addition, the author provides a more nuanced interpretation of the alleged brutalizing effect of the war experience, suggesting that it was by far not as complete as has been previously understood. This pathbreaking book paints a vivid picture of the dynamics of total war on rural communities, from the calling up of troops to the reintegration of veterans into society.
War Experiences in Rural Germany: 1914-1923 (The Legacy of the Great War)
by Benjamin ZiemannWorld War I was a uniquely devastating total war that surpassed all previous conflicts for its destruction. But what was the reality like on the ground, for both the soldiers on the front-lines and the women on the homefront?Drawing on intimate firsthand accounts in diaries and letters, 'War Experiences in Rural Germany' examines this question in detail and challenges some strongly held assumptions about the Great War. The author makes the controversial case for the blurring of 'front' and 'homefront'. He shows that through the constant exchange of letters and frequent furloughs, rural soldiers maintained a high degree of contact with their home lives. In addition, the author provides a more nuanced interpretation of the alleged brutalizing effect of the war experience, suggesting that it was by far not as complete as has been previously understood. This pathbreaking book paints a vivid picture of the dynamics of total war on rural communities, from the calling up of troops to the reintegration of veterans into society.
Understanding the imaginary war: Culture, thought and nuclear conflict, 1945–90 (PDF) (Cultural History of Modern War)
by Benjamin Ziemann Matthew GrantThis collection offers a fresh interpretation of the Cold War as an imaginary war, a conflict that had imaginations of nuclear devastation as one of its main battlegrounds. The book includes survey chapters and case studies on Western Europe, the USSR, Japan and the USA. Looking at various strands of intellectual debate and at different media, from documentary film to fiction, the chapters demonstrate the difficulties to make the unthinkable and unimaginable - nuclear apocalypse - imaginable. The book will be required reading for everyone who wants to understand the cultural dynamics of the Cold War through the angle of its core ingredient, nuclear weapons.
Understanding the imaginary war: Culture, thought and nuclear conflict, 1945–90 (Cultural History of Modern War)
by Benjamin Ziemann Matthew GrantThis collection offers a fresh interpretation of the Cold War as an imaginary war, a conflict that had imaginations of nuclear devastation as one of its main battlegrounds. The book includes survey chapters and case studies on Western Europe, the USSR, Japan and the USA. Looking at various strands of intellectual debate and at different media, from documentary film to fiction, the chapters demonstrate the difficulties to make the unthinkable and unimaginable - nuclear apocalypse - imaginable. The book will be required reading for everyone who wants to understand the cultural dynamics of the Cold War through the angle of its core ingredient, nuclear weapons.
Remembering the First World War (Remembering the Modern World)
by Bart ZiinoRemembering the First World War brings together a group of international scholars to understand how and why the past quarter of a century has witnessed such an extraordinary increase in global popular and academic interest in the First World War, both as an event and in the ways it is remembered. The book discusses this phenomenon across three key areas. The first section looks at family history, genealogy and the First World War, seeking to understand the power of family history in shaping and reshaping remembrance of the War at the smallest levels, as well as popular media and the continuing role of the state and its agencies. The second part discusses practices of remembering and the more public forms of representation and negotiation through film, literature, museums, monuments and heritage sites, focusing on agency in representing and remembering war. The third section covers the return of the War and the increasing determination among individuals to acknowledge and participate in public rituals of remembrance with their own contemporary politics. What, for instance, does it mean to wear a poppy on armistice/remembrance day? How do symbols like this operate today? These chapters will investigate these aspects through a series of case studies. Placing remembrance of the First World War in its longer historical and broader transnational context and including illustrations and an afterword by Professor David Reynolds, this is the ideal book for all those interested in the history of the Great War and its aftermath.
Remembering the First World War (Remembering the Modern World)
by Bart ZiinoRemembering the First World War brings together a group of international scholars to understand how and why the past quarter of a century has witnessed such an extraordinary increase in global popular and academic interest in the First World War, both as an event and in the ways it is remembered. The book discusses this phenomenon across three key areas. The first section looks at family history, genealogy and the First World War, seeking to understand the power of family history in shaping and reshaping remembrance of the War at the smallest levels, as well as popular media and the continuing role of the state and its agencies. The second part discusses practices of remembering and the more public forms of representation and negotiation through film, literature, museums, monuments and heritage sites, focusing on agency in representing and remembering war. The third section covers the return of the War and the increasing determination among individuals to acknowledge and participate in public rituals of remembrance with their own contemporary politics. What, for instance, does it mean to wear a poppy on armistice/remembrance day? How do symbols like this operate today? These chapters will investigate these aspects through a series of case studies. Placing remembrance of the First World War in its longer historical and broader transnational context and including illustrations and an afterword by Professor David Reynolds, this is the ideal book for all those interested in the history of the Great War and its aftermath.
From Confrontation to Cooperation: The Takeover of the National People's (East German) Army by the Bundeswehr (Praeger Studies in Diplomacy and Strategic Thought)
by Frederick ZilianAt midnight on October 2, 1990, the West German armed forces took over the approximately 90,000 men comprising the National People's (East German) Army (NVA) and assumed control of its substantial arsenal. This study is an analysis of that unification from its beginning in July 1990 to the end of summer of 1993 when all applications for future service of former NVA officers and non-commissioned officers had been processed. Using numerous un-published sources and interviews, the author addresses the following areas: the organization used by the Bundeswehr and the political control exerted in the Takeover, the key decisions reached and the explanation of these decisions, the relationship of the Takeover to the new Army Structure 5 being implemented at the time, and the effect of the Takeover on the Bundeswehr's operational readiness, especially its ability to perform its new tasks identified in the spring 1991.The first scholarly study of the Takeover, this study focuses on 11 key decisions, made not only for military reasons, but also for political, economic, social, and psychological purposes. Overall, the Takeover was a success in light of the numerous goals it achieved while avoiding the outbreak of violence. The Bundeswehr achieved this success mainly because it relied on liberal democratic principles, including those comprising the unique German concept of Innere F^Duhrung (civic education and moral leadership). This book also provides an overall evaluation of the Takeover and contributes to theory-building on army amalgamations.
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Photographic Card Deck: 100 Treasures from the World's Largest Collection of Air and Spacecraft
by Dwight Jon ZimmermanCreated in partnership with the world-renowned Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, this beautifully packaged, informative card deck captures, in words and stunning photographs, 100 of the museum's most important artifacts. The NASM is the world's largest, most-visited collection of historical aircraft and spacecraft, and commemorate major milestones in flight and space exploration. The 100 treasures in this deck, hand-selected by the curators, include the Spirit of St. Louis, flown by Charles Lindbergh on the first non-stop transatlantic flight; Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1, in which he broke the sound barrier; Buzz Aldrin's space suit, worn during the Apollo 11 mission, and the Space Shuttle Discovery, which flew 39 missions and spent 365 days in space. Each card includes a photograph of the object on the front and a 200-word description plus key data on the back.
Jozef Pilsudski: Founding Father of Modern Poland
by Joshua D. ZimmermanThe story of the enigmatic Jozef Pilsudski, the founding father of modern Poland: a brilliant military leader and high-minded statesman who betrayed his own democratic vision by seizing power in a military coup. In the story of modern Poland, no one stands taller than Jozef Pilsudski. From the age of sixteen he devoted his life to reestablishing the Polish state that had ceased to exist in 1795. Ahead of World War I, he created a clandestine military corps to fight Russia, which held most Polish territory. After the war, his dream of an independent Poland realized, he took the helm of its newly democratic political order. When he died in 1935, he was buried alongside Polish kings. Yet Pilsudski was a complicated figure. Passionately devoted to the idea of democracy, he ceded power on constitutional terms, only to retake it a few years later in a coup when he believed his opponents aimed to dismantle the democratic system. Joshua Zimmerman’s authoritative biography examines a national hero in the thick of a changing Europe, and the legacy that still divides supporters and detractors. The Poland that Pilsudski envisioned was modern, democratic, and pluralistic. Domestically, he championed equality for Jews. Internationally, he positioned Poland as a bulwark against Bolshevism. But in 1926 he seized power violently, then ruled as a strongman for nearly a decade, imprisoning opponents and eroding legislative power. In Zimmerman’s telling, Pilsudski’s faith in the young democracy was shattered after its first elected president was assassinated. Unnerved by Poles brutally turning on one another, the father of the nation came to doubt his fellow citizens’ democratic commitments and thereby betrayed his own. It is a legacy that dogs today’s Poland, caught on the tortured edge between self-government and authoritarianism.
Black Jade: Book Three Of The Ea Cycle (The Ea Cycle #3)
by David ZindellThe third book in the Ea Cycle, BLACK JADE is as rich as Tolkien and as magical as the Arthurian myths
Lord of Lies: Book Two Of The Ea Cycle (The Ea Cycle #2)
by David ZindellDeath and destruction surround the Lightstone in the second book of this magnificent and deeply moving fantasy epic.
War in Heaven (Requiem Of Homo Sapiens Ser. #04)
by David ZindellA triumphant close to The Requiem for Homo Sapiens – an epic tour de force that began with The Broken God and was followed by The Wild.
A People's History of the United States: 1492-present (P. S. Series #1)
by Howard ZinnAs seen in the award-winning feature film, Lady Bird.There is an underside to every age about which history does not often speak, because history is written from records left by the privileged.A classic since its original landmark publication in 1980, Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States is the first scholarly work to tell America's story from the bottom up-from the point of view.Howard Zinn relays history in the words of America's women, factory workers, African Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant labourers. From Columbus to the Revolution to slavery and the Civil War – from World War II to the election of George W. Bush and the "War on Terror" – A People's History of the United States is an important and necessary contribution to a complete and balanced understanding of American history.
The Confident Mind: A Battle-Tested Guide to Unshakable Performance
by Nathaniel ZinsserYou don't have to be born confident. You can learn to be confident. Here's how.Dr Nate Zinsser works with the cream of the US military to prepare them mentally for leadership and for action. He also trains top sportsmen and women to develop the self-belief essential for world-class performance. Now he shares the tried and tested techniques he has perfected over many years to help anyone who wants to acquire the confidence that will enable them to perform at their very best, whatever the environment, however stressful the situation. In the process he shows how to make positive use of nervousness, what acquiring a 'success cycle' involves, and why self-assurance, like all skills, requires constant practice.Drawing on the latest research, and packed with real-life examples, this is a supremely practical - and inspirational - guide to achieving bullet-proof confidence.
Unlikely History: The Changing German-Jewish Symbiosis,1945-2000
by J. Zipes L. MorrisIn the English-speaking world, it is generally believed that there are very few Jews living and thriving in Germany. Yet, there has been an unlikely postwar history 1945-2001 that has been somewhat repressed in North America and the United Kingdom. While most people are well-informed about the Holocaust and the consequences that this tragic event has had for the world, very few people know that there has been a steady increase in the population of Jews in Germany since 1945 and that there is a flourishing 'Jewish' culture, certainly a relatively strong Jewish presence, in Germany today. Does this development mean that Jews are playing a significant role in German social life? Does this mean that the great German-Jewish relationship, often referred to as a kind of symbiosis, has re-emerged despite the odds against it? The sixteen essays in this book written by the leading critics in the field cover the fascinating changes that have been made in German society since 1945 in the Jewish communities, literature, theater, film, architecture, and other areas of interest including an examination of the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Austria. For anyone interested in reading about the unpredictable transformations in German-Jewish relations since 1945, Unlikely History will provide information and insights into a history that needs to be told to bring about greater understanding of Jews and Germans in contemporary Germany.
The Idealist: Wendell Willkie’s Wartime Quest to Build One World
by Samuel Zipp“The Idealist is a powerful book, gorgeously written and consistently insightful. Samuel Zipp uses the 1942 world tour of Wendell Willkie to examine American attitudes toward internationalism, decolonization, and race in the febrile atmosphere of the world’s first truly global conflict.” —Andrew Preston, author of Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith A dramatic account of the plane journey undertaken by businessman-turned-maverick-internationalist Wendell Willkie to rally US allies to the war effort. Willkie’s tour of a planet shrunk by aviation and war inspired him to challenge Americans to fight a rising tide of nationalism at home. In August 1942, as the threat of fascism swept the world, a charismatic Republican presidential contender boarded the Gulliver at Mitchel Airfield for a seven-week journey around the world. Wendell Willkie covered 31,000 miles as President Roosevelt’s unofficial envoy. He visited the battlefront in North Africa with General Montgomery, debated a frosty de Gaulle in Beirut, almost failed to deliver a letter to Stalin in Moscow, and allowed himself to be seduced by Chiang Kai-shek in China. Through it all, he was struck by the insistent demands for freedom across the world. In One World, the runaway bestseller he published on his return, Willkie challenged Americans to resist the “America first” doctrine espoused by the war’s domestic opponents and warned of the dangers of “narrow nationalism.” He urged his fellow citizens to end colonialism and embrace “equality of opportunity for every race and every nation.” With his radio broadcasts regularly drawing over 30 million listeners, he was able to reach Americans directly in their homes. His call for a more equitable and interconnected world electrified the nation, until he was silenced abruptly by a series of heart attacks in 1944. With his death, America lost its most effective globalist, the man FDR referred to as “Private Citizen Number One.” At a time when “America first” is again a rallying cry, Willkie’s message is at once chastening and inspiring, a reminder that “one world” is more than a matter of supply chains and economics, and that racism and nationalism have long been intertwined.
Survivor of Nam: P. O. W. (Survivor of Nam #2)
by Donald E. ZlotnikThe second exciting book in this authentic series about Vietnam involves a 17-year-old corporal who is imprisoned by the Viet Cong and must endure the horrors of his capture until the U.S. Special Forces can rescue him. A super-heroic series, focusing on the grim realities of war.
Survivor of Nam: Baptism - Book #1 (Survivor of Nam #1)
by Donald E. ZlotnikPrivate David Woods, newly arrived in Vietnam, faces his first bloody firefight and a deadly mission into Laos. Book 1 of Survivor of Nam.
Survivor of Nam: Black Market - Book #3 (Survivor of Nam #3)
by Donald E. ZlotnikBook 3 of this exciting Vietnam adventure series involves the military Black Market, where everything is for sale: contraband military supplies, drugs, booze, and even women. Now the time has come for the payoffs to stop and this chapter of the Black Market to be closed down for good.
Survivor of Nam: Court Martial - Book #4 (Survivor of Nam #4)
by Donald E. ZlotnikYou fought the enemy in Vietnam--and came home to another kind of war. Book 4 of Survivor of Nam by Donald E. Zlotnik.
Island on Fire: The Revolt That Ended Slavery in the British Empire
by Tom ZoellnerFrom a New York Times bestselling author, a gripping account of the slave rebellion that led to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. For five horrific weeks after Christmas in 1831, Jamaica was convulsed by an uprising of its enslaved people. What started as a peaceful labor strike quickly turned into a full-blown revolt, leaving hundreds of plantation houses in smoking ruins. By the time British troops had put down the rebels, more than a thousand Jamaicans lay dead from summary executions and extrajudicial murder. While the rebels lost their military gamble, their sacrifice accelerated the larger struggle for freedom in the British Atlantic. The daring and suffering of the Jamaicans galvanized public opinion throughout the empire, triggering a decisive turn against slavery. For centuries bondage had fed Britain’s appetite for sugar. Within two years of the Christmas rebellion, slavery was formally abolished. Island on Fire is a dramatic day-by-day account of this transformative uprising. A skillful storyteller, Tom Zoellner goes back to the primary sources to tell the intimate story of the men and women who rose up and tasted liberty for a few brief weeks. He provides the first full portrait of the rebellion's enigmatic leader, Samuel Sharpe, and gives us a poignant glimpse of the struggles and dreams of the many Jamaicans who died for liberty.
Innovation and Empire in Turkey: Sultan Selim III and the Modernisation of the Ottoman Navy
by Tuncay ZorluOttoman naval technology underwent a transformation under the rule of Sultan Selim III. New types of sailing warships such as two- and three-decked galleons, frigates and corvettes began to dominate the Ottoman fleet, rendering the galley-type oared ships obsolete. This period saw technological innovations such as the adoption of the systematic copper sheathing of the hulls and bottoms of Ottoman warships from 1792-93 onwards and the construction of the first dry dock in the Golden Horn.The changing face of the Ottoman Navy was facilitated by the influence of the British, Swedish and French in modernising both the shipbuilding sector and the conduct of naval warfare. Through such measures as training Ottoman shipbuilders, heavy reliance on help from foreign powers gave way to a new trajectory of modernization. Using this evidence Zorlu argues that although the Ottoman Empire was a major and modern independent power in this period, some technological dependence on Europe remained.
Innovation and Empire in Turkey: Sultan Selim III and the Modernisation of the Ottoman Navy (Library Of Ottoman Studies)
by Tuncay ZorluOttoman naval technology underwent a transformation under the rule of Sultan Selim III. New types of sailing warships such as two- and three-decked galleons, frigates and corvettes began to dominate the Ottoman fleet, rendering the galley-type oared ships obsolete. This period saw technological innovations such as the adoption of the systematic copper sheathing of the hulls and bottoms of Ottoman warships from 1792-93 onwards and the construction of the first dry dock in the Golden Horn. The changing face of the Ottoman Navy was facilitated by the influence of the British, Swedish and French in modernising both the shipbuilding sector and the conduct of naval warfare. Through such measures as training Ottoman shipbuilders, heavy reliance on help from foreign powers gave way to a new trajectory of modernization. Using this evidence Zorlu argues that although the Ottoman Empire was a major and modern independent power in this period, some technological dependence on Europe remained.'A valuable and well researched study… Zorlu ably surveys and analyses the developments which took place in Ottoman shipbuilding technology in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.' - Colin Heywood, University of Hull
The Chosen Few: A Company of Paratroopers and Its Heroic Struggle to Survive in the Mountains of Afghanistan
by Gregg ZoroyaThe never-before-told story of one of the most decorated units in the war in Afghanistan and its fifteen-month ordeal that culminated in the 2008 Battle of Wanat, the war's deadliestA single company of US paratroopers--calling themselves the "Chosen Few"--arrived in eastern Afghanistan in late 2007 hoping to win the hearts and minds of the remote mountain people and extend the Afghan government's reach into this wilderness. Instead, they spent the next fifteen months in a desperate struggle, living under almost continuous attack, forced into a slow and grinding withdrawal, and always outnumbered by Taliban fighters descending on them from all sides.Month after month, rocket-propelled grenades, rockets, and machine-gun fire poured down on the isolated and exposed paratroopers as America's focus and military resources shifted to Iraq. Just weeks before the paratroopers were to go home, they faced their last--and toughest--fight. Near the village of Wanat in Nuristan province, an estimated three hundred enemy fighters surrounded about fifty of the Chosen Few and others defending a partially finished combat base. Nine died and more than two dozen were wounded that day in July 2008, making it arguably the bloodiest battle of the war in Afghanistan.The Chosen Few would return home tempered by war. Two among them would receive the Medal of Honor. All of them would be forever changed.