Killing in the German army : organising and surviving combat in the Great War
The following dissertation presents an integrated military history of combat and killing, as experienced and conducted by soldiers of the Imperial German army from 1914-1918. Its general argument is that the practice of killing in the German army was dominated by a 'Taylorisation' of the battlefield that placed killing and its attendant psychological trauma and risk disproportionately on picked troops, while assigning the vast majority of soldiers a supporting role in combat as labourers and defensive specialists. By emphasising the role of weapon and the numerous chance encounters that took place as German troops moved through the trenches and bunkers of positional war, this dissertation argues that peculiar organisational practices and specialised weapons managed individual risk while providing psychological and physical space between killers and killed. The consequences of the killing act were therefore subsumed within less traumatic actions. The specific argument of this dissertation is that violence was a constructive force within the Imperial German army. Shifting form a reliance on the combination of skill and motivation and the expectation that all soldiers share equally in all combat tasks, the German
Murphy, Brendan
Killing in the German army : organising and surviving combat in the Great War. The following dissertation presents an integrated military history of combat and killing, as experienced and conducted by soldiers of the Imperial German army from 1914-1918. Its general argument is that the practice of killing in the German army was dominated by a 'Taylorisation' of the battlefield that placed killing and its attendant psychological trauma and risk disproportionately on picked troops, while assigning the vast majority of soldiers a supporting role in combat as labourers and defensive specialists. By emphasising the role of weapon and the numerous chance encounters that took place as German troops moved through the trenches and bunkers of positional war, this dissertation argues that peculiar organisational practices and specialised weapons managed individual risk while providing psychological and physical space between killers and killed. The consequences of the killing act were therefore subsumed within less traumatic actions. The specific argument of this dissertation is that violence was a constructive force within the Imperial German army. Shifting form a reliance on the combination of skill and motivation and the expectation that all soldiers share equally in all combat tasks, the German
killing german army organise survive combat great_war follow present integrated military history combat killing experience conduct soldier imperial german army general argument practice kill german army dominate battlefield place kill attendant psychological trauma risk disproportionately pick troop assign vast_majority soldier support role combat labourer defensive specialist emphasise_role weapon numerous chance encounter take_place german troop move trench positional war argue peculiar organisational practice specialise weapon manage individual risk provide psychological physical_space killer kill consequence kill act therefore subsume within less traumatic action specific argument violence constructive force within imperial german army shifting form reliance combination skill motivation expectation soldier share equally combat task german