Hans Wilhelm Gatzke

This book is based on a doctoral dissertation by the author. It is however an expansion of the dissertation. Great work, well written and apparently well documented. I found it fascinating how a relatively small group of middle/upper class industrialists, militarists and intellectuals were able to steer Imperial Germany's war aims in WWI despite a great deal of resistance to their expansionist goals. It is unbelievable to see how grand their goals were, and continued to be, given the direction the war was taking toward the final half.

This book was very scholarly, but at the same time very readable. It may be a bit hard to find since it was not widely distributed. I found it by requesting the reference librarian to search for it via the state library system. It came from a rather small, private university.

I highly recommend this work. Read it in conjunction with French and British war aims for a great overall view of how each country operated in the area.… (plus d'informations)