Enzyklopadie Erster Weltkrieg (review)

The publication of the German-language "Encyclopaedia of the First World War" represents a major scholarly achievement. Richly illustrated with first-class maps and previously unpublished photos and propaganda material (from the archives of the Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte in Stuttgart), it has proved a popular success in Germany; a second edition appeared within a few months of the launch of the volume in 2003. Although it is not, as the publisher suggests, "the first work of this kind," the Enzyklopädie Erster Weltkriegis superior to similar single-volume compendia in English. Divided into two parts, it consists of 26 essays (pp. 15-319) and a dictionary comprising some 650 shorter entries arranged in alphabetical order (pp. 323-982). While the essays deal with the major belligerents, wartime society and culture, diplomatic and military events, and the historiography of the Great War, the dictionary entries cover a most diverse range of subjects from Aberglaube(superstition) to Zweite(Second) Internationale.

The dictionary in particular is a treasure trove. It provides solid information on international relations, domestic politics, military technology, and wartime propaganda as well as unexpected insights into aspects such as soldiers' humour or the nailing up of "war landmarks" at the home front. The selection of topics is by and large balanced. Of course, every expert will inevitably point out phenomena, events or persons that have been omitted. For instance, Venizelos has a separate entry, but not Balfour. Other aspects, by contrast, receive perhaps too much coverage. There is a certain overlap between the entries on the cult of the dead, hero worship, heroes' groves, war cemeteries, and war memorials. Arguably, the peculiarities and distinct emphases of this encyclopaedia represent a strength rather than a weakness. The Enzyklopädie Erster Weltkriegturns any preconceived ideas about "basic" knowledge upside-down. The editors' selection robustly refutes any notions of a hierarchy of historical methods and a canon of knowledge in First World War studies. Characteristically, the entry on theatrical performances at the front is slightly longer (three and a half columns) than the one on peace initiatives on the preceding page.

The new encyclopaedia is particularly strong on aspects an earlier generation of military historians would have considered trivial or irrelevant. In both Ian V. Hogg's Historical Dictionary of World War I(1998) and The Macmillan Dictionary of the First World Warby Stephen Pope and Elizabeth-Anne Wheal (1995), the cultural and social history of front and home front occupy a marginal place. The Enzyklopädie Erster Weltkriegillustrates the paradigm shift that has occurred in military history over the last two decades. By contrast, the cultural history of warfare is not adequately covered in the two English-language reference works, even though it has been a current of Anglo-American scholarship since the 1970s. In Germany, the cultural history of warfare only reached maturity during the 1990s. The new encyclopaedia brings together many of those scholars whose doctoral dissertations helped to revitalise military history in post-reunification Germany. While German historians predominate, the encyclopaedia also showcases the research undertaken by many internationally recognised historians. The list of contributors reads like the latest Who's Who of military history.

What truly distinguishes the German encyclopaedia from similar volumes is its international scope. The first part includes excellent essays on Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Italy, and the U.S.A. Yet differences in structure and emphasis between the national chapters hinder rather than facilitate comparisons. For example, Jay Winter's essay on Britain is divided into thematic sections, whereas Wolfgang J. Mommsen's chapter on Germany adopts a chronological approach. The editors should have imposed uniformity on the national chapters. After all, it is their explicit aim to encourage comparative history (p. 9). While some thematic chapters and shorter essays suffer from a too Germano-centric approach, other contributors try to locate German developments alongside...