Germany's Fighting Machine

Ernest Flagg HendersonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 140K words
Chapters: 15

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Germany's Fighting Machine by Ernest F. HendersonAuthor: Henderson, Ernest F. (Ernest Flagg), 1861-1928,Language: English, Class: UA: Military science: Armies: Organization, distribution, military situation, Release Date: Jan 24, 2016

Editor's review

This book is Ernest F. Henderson's systematic examination of the German military machine during World War I, falling under the category of military science concerned with army organization, distribution, and military posture. The author examines thematically the structure of the German army, its mobilization mechanisms, and the logic of its operational deployment, offering readers a relatively complete framework for understanding the early-twentieth-century European military system. As a free Project Gutenberg ebook, its value lies first in the accessibility of the historical material and text: readers can access, at no cost, an English-language discussion of German military organization from over a century ago, making it suitable as supplementary reading for courses in military history, war studies, or modern European history. When reading, note the limitations of perspective imposed by its era of writing: it reflects the author's observations and judgments about German military power at the time, not the conclusions of contemporary scholarship, and is therefore better read in comparison with later research. Overall, this is a thematic military work focused on institutional description, suited to consultation and comparison with specific questions in mind rather than to being read straight through as a narrative history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

History students studying World War I military institutions and army organization
Military history enthusiasts interested in the modern German military system
Teachers who need English primary sources as supplementary course material
Ebook readers who want free public-domain military texts

Not a good fit for

General history readers who prefer plot-driven narratives and stories about people
Readers expecting cutting-edge contemporary scholarship and critical analysis

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and chapter introductions first to grasp the book's framework for discussing military organization before moving into details.
Keep a sheet of paper to record German army organizational levels and terminology for easy cross-reference.
Read alternately with general histories of World War I, using background knowledge to compensate for the text's period limitations.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a military study?

It is a military science work on the organization, distribution, and military posture of the German army; it is not a novel or a memoir. The author discusses army structure and deployment thematically, and it should be read as an institutional, analytical text rather than a narrative work.

Can I understand it without a background in military science?

You can, but it requires some patience. The book involves concepts such as organization, mobilization, and deployment, and readers without a foundation may find the terminology dense. It is advisable to first acquire a basic background in the European theater of World War I; the book will then be much easier to follow.

What should I note when reading the electronic edition?

This is a public-domain English ebook released by Project Gutenberg and can be obtained free of charge. When reading, use a reader that supports table-of-contents navigation and full-text search so you can move back and forth between institutional chapters; also note that the text was written long ago, and its views should be judged in light of later research.

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About the author

Ernest Flagg Henderson Author · American · 1861–1928

Ernest Flagg Henderson (1861–1928) was an American historian. One of his works is held in this collection, namely Germany's Fighting Machine. Public information about him is limited, and the details of his life are difficult to verify; still, the available information and his works show that he long studied German history and the Napoleonic era, and that his writing combines the examination of historical sources with institutional analysis. Germany's Fighting Machine takes military organization and wartime mobilization as its point of entry, introducing Germany's military strength and mode of operation to English-speaking readers. This reflects his approach of writing for general readers with an emphasis on clarity and readability. His works offered a reference for the English-speaking world of his time in understanding Germany's military and political conditions, and have a certain value within popular historical writing on related subjects.