The Rise and Fall of the German War Machine, 1918-1945

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A riveting account of the origins and development of the German army that breaks through the distortions of conventional military history

Acclaimed for his revisionist history of the German Army in World War I, John Mosier continues his pioneering work in Cross of Iron, offering an intimate portrait of the twentieth-century German army from its inception, through World War I and the interwar years, to World War II and its climax in 1945.

World War I has inspired a vast mythology of bravery and carnage, told largely by the victors, that has fascinated readers for decades. Many have come to believe that the fast ascendancy of the Allied army, matched by the failure of a German army shackled by its rigidity, led to the war's outcome. Mosier demystifies the strategic and tactical realities to explain that it was Germany's military culture that provided it with the advantage in the first war. Likewise, Cross of Iron offers stunning revelations regarding the weapons of World War II, forcing a reevaluation of the reasons behind the French withdrawal, the Russian contribution, and Hitler as military thinker. Mosier lays to rest the notion that the army, as opposed to the SS, fought a clean and traditional war. Finally, he demonstrates how the German war machine succeeded against more powerful Allied armies until, in both wars, it was crushed by U.S. intervention.

The result of thirty years of primary research, Cross of Iron is a powerful and authoritative reinterpretation of Germany at war.

Reviews

"Cross of Iron is an important, superbly researched reappraisal of the fabled Wehrmacht in both world wars. From the battlefields of France during World War I, through history's most devastating war, John Mosier shatters a long-held mythology about the German Army, and reveals how its officers permitted one of the world's greatest armies to lose its honor and become the willing tool of Adolf Hitler. Those who believe that we have learned everything there is to know about World War II will view the legendary German war machine and its history in an entirely new light after reading this provocative book." --Carlo D'Este, author of Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life and Patton: A Genius For War

"This is a book that will confound almost everyone's assumptions about both world wars. The squawks will be loudest in London, Paris and Moscow. It also explains how and why the German army consistently outfought its enemies--and ultimately lost." --Thomas Fleming, author of The Illusion of Victory: America in World War I

Author Bio

A former film critic and member of the Camera d'Or jury at the Cannes Film Festival, John Mosier is currently a professor of English at Loyola University, New Orleans. His background as a military historian dates from his role in developing an interdisciplinary curriculum for the study of the two world wars, a program funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. He lives in Jefferson, Louisiana.