Product Description

Were thousands of unarmed Belgian civilians slaughtered by invading German troops in August, 1914, or are accounts of these deaths mere fabrications constructed by fanatically anti-German Allied propagandists? This pathbreaking book, based on meticulous research, uncovers the truth of the disputed atrocities and explains how the politics of propaganda and memory have shaped radically different versions of that truth. "Horne and Kramer argue their points impeccably and, I think, irrefutably."-Istvan Deak, New Republic

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #602921 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-11
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.91 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 624 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The German invasion of France and Belgium was from the beginning linked with stories of atrocities committed against civilians. These stories became grist for Allied propaganda, in turn were denounced as lies by Germany, and eventually were submerged in the far more hideous atrocities that accompanied WWII. But as Horne and Kramer, historians at Dublin's Trinity College, demonstrate in this seminal book, German behavior in the first weeks of the Great War was more than a passing episode. Using a remarkable range of printed and unpublished sources, many of the latter only recently available, the authors show that the German army killed over 6,500 French and Belgian civilians between August and November 1914. The atrocities began when poorly trained and poorly disciplined troops reacted to the shock and anxiety of battle by interpreting the rear-guard resistance of French and Belgian soldiers, and their own uncontrolled firing, as the acts of guerrillas. Instead of restoring order in their own ranks, junior officers themselves succumbed to delusion and authorized near-random large-scale shootings of civilians. Since German army policy imposed draconian collective penalties for insurgency, senior officers receiving reports of large-scale partisan activity responded by ordering its ruthless repression. The partisan myth thus took on a life of its own, independent of a reality that consisted of no more than a few isolated acts of civilian resistance. As time and rhetoric blurred memories, politics and the need to heal the wider wounds inflicted by the Great War were responsible for downplaying or dismissing charges of atrocities. The facts, however, remained stubborn. Brought to light here, stripped of their penumbras, they offer fresh perspectives on the German army, the First World War and, by extension, the nature of war itself: the province of horror, confusion and lies.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
From the outset of the German invasion of Belgium in 1914, there were reports of atrocities against civilians. While not denying that incidents occurred, recent historians have been skeptical of the extent of such events, crediting some reports to wartime propaganda. Horne and Kramer, history faculty members at Trinity College, Dublin, spent several years researching atrocities and conclude that they did indeed occur. As they explain, the Germans had a deep fear of francs-tireurs (snipers), a term from the Franco-Prussian War. As a result, a myth complex was generated in the German army that led to a mass delusion of civilian resistance when there was none. In fact, German units were more frequently the victims of friendly fire than of snipers. This, along with experiences in colonial wars, rumors of German wounded being mutilated, Prussian distaste for civilians, and anger at the impertinence of the Belgians in resisting, formed a deadly combination for the civilians caught in the German onslaught. This is the first English-language text to examine this issue so closely. While extensively detailed, it presents a compelling case and is highly recommended for graduate collections. Daniel Liestman, Kansas State Univ. Lib., Manhattan
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Publishers Weekly
[A] seminal book. . . The facts. . . offer fresh perspectives on. . . war itself: the province of horror, confusion and lies.