The Road to Total War, 1792–1945. Concepts – Interpretation – Discussions - Einzelansicht

The seminar will analyze the radicalization of warfare from the Napoleonic age to the Second World War. We discuss a variety of topics including the changing character of warfare and the interaction of radicalization and restriction of armed conflicts. The seminar is also intended to provide an overview of controversially discussed fields of research. Newer research aspects of military history such as gender and post-colonial approaches will be included. 

Joanna Bourke, An Intimate History of Killing: Face-to-Face Killing in 20th-Century Warfare, London, New York 1999,

Roger Chickering, Stig Förster, War in an Age of Revolution 1775-1815, Washington 2013, 

Stig Förster, Jörg Nagler, On the Road to Total War. The American Civil War and the German Wars of Unification 1861-1871, Washington 2002 
Roger Chickering, Stig Förster, Great War, Total War. Combat and Mobilization on the Western Front 1914-1918, Washington 2000 
Roger Chickering, Stig Förster, The Shadow of Total War. Europe, East Asia and the United States 1919-1939, Washington 2007 
Roger Chickering, Stig Förster, Bernd Greiner, A World at Total War. Global Conflict and the Politics of Destruction, 1937-1945, Washington 2010.

Oral presentation and end of term paper.