The Image of the Soldier in German Culture, 1871-1933

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This study examines the force of tradition in conservative German visual culture, exploring thematic continuities in the post-conflict representation of battlefield identities from the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71 to the demise of the Weimar Republic in 1933. Using over 40 representative images sampled from both high and popular culture, Paul Fox discusses complex and interdependent visual responses to a wide spectrum of historical events, spanning world war, regional conflict, internal security operations, and border skirmishes. The book demonstrates how all the artists, illustrators and photographers whose work is addressed here were motivated to affirm German moral superiority on the battlefield. They produced images that advanced dominant notions of how the ideal German man should behave when at war even when the outcome was defeat. Their construction of an imagined martial masculinity based on aggressive moral superiority became so deeply rooted in German culture that it eventually provided the basis for a programmatic imagining of how Germany might again recover its standing as a great military power in Central Europe in the wake of defeat in 1918. The Image of the Soldier in German Culture, 18711933 is an important volume for any historian interested cultural history, the representation of armed conflict in European culture, the history of modern Germany, the Franco-Prussian War, and the First World War.

Reviews

The Image of the Soldier in German Culture is a well-crafted, extensively researched study. Fundamentally reversing a dominant strand in the historiography of military art and cultures of memory through the persistence of continuation, not rupture, Foxs study provides a valuable contribution to both fields that should interest students and scholars alike. * H-War *
A substantial contribution to a visual history of the twentieth century and, especially, of modern conflict. * German Historical Institute London Bulletin *
[Presents] some interesting interdisciplinary notions that would interest military historians and modern German historians more generally. Summing Up: Recommended. Most academic levels/libraries. * CHOICE *
The author is very adept at reading his subjects for meaning not readily apparent to a lay audience ... offers readers an opportunity to identify motifs of German militarism within the visual arts of the Wilhelmine and Weimar periods. * European History Quarterly *
This is an impeccably researched and original approach to the study of armed conflict and its mediation in visual culture. Paul Fox has constructed a fascinating exploration of how warring soldiers were represented in German cultural production between 1871 and 1933. Drawing on a mass of evidence and some remarkable visual material, the book reveals how conservative attitudes were shaped in Germany after defeat in the First World War and draws some compelling conclusions on the link between martial might and the visualisation of national identity. * Paul Gough, Pro Vice-Chancellor & Vice-President, RMIT University, Australia *
The first major study of the patriotic imagery of war in modern Germany, this book is a substantial addition to war and conflict studies, art history and visual culture. Through close analysis of a fascinating and largely neglected visual archive, Fox explores the ideological investments, rhetorical forms, and bodily/perceptual habits of German militarism. In the process, he makes a compelling case for the value of art historical methods and skills to military and social histories of war. * Suzannah Biernoff, Senior Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Visual Culture, Birkbeck, University of London, UK *

Author Bio

Paul Fox is Principal Research Associate in Cultural Property Protection at Newcastle University, UK, and is Secretary of the UK Committee of the Blue Shield, committed to the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict. He has extensive military experience delivering intelligence support to operational activities across the spectrum of conflict.