Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War is an analysis of the causes and attitudes behind the cultural destruction and mass killings during World War I, which indiscriminately included large numbers of civilians. This book was written by Alan Kramer [de], a professor of history at Trinity College of Dublin. It was first published in 2007 by Oxford University Press. Additionally, this book focuses on and advances the literature pertaining to the Eastern front more than the Western front.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Synopsis
In the book, Kramer expresses the sentiment that the two World Wars can be viewed as a distinct event that produced four decades of agony and upheaval. World War I was not only a new industrial type of warfare. Violence, eradication and annihilation became military policy for most and perhaps all the warring powers. Additionally, Kramer expresses the sentiment of "hooliganism" as policy to be employed toward cultural icons, such as churches. One infamous example occurred in August 1914: "German forces in Louvain, Belgium, not only murdered 248 innocent civilians in cold blood, but burned the city's ancient library to the ground."[1] The author notes that the book "is a story of unremitting violence, destruction, hatred, and misery."[7]
About the book
Research for the book was initially conducted by the author during a 2002–2003 sabbatical leave in Rome, and at the library of the German Historical Institute there.[7] The book is organized by the following chapter titles:[8]
The Burning of Louvain
The Radicalization of Warfare
The Warriors
German Singularity?
Culture and War
Trench Warfare and its Consequences
War, Bodies, and Minds
Victory, Trauma, and Post-War disorder
The book opens with an introductory chapter. It also includes 33 illustrations, five maps, a concluding chapter, a historiographical note, a notes section, an appendix, and a bibliography section.[8]
^Naimark, Norman M. (2009). "Alan Kramer . Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War. (The Making of the Modern World.) New York: Oxford University Press. 2007 . Pp. Vi, 434. $34.00". The American Historical Review. 114 (4): 1145. doi:10.1086/ahr.114.4.1145. JSTOR23883081.
^Hull, Isabel V. (2008). "Reviewed work: Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War, Alan Kramer". Central European History. 41 (3): 524–526. doi:10.1017/S000893890800068X. JSTOR20457379. S2CID145088521.
Smith, Leonard V. (2009). "Reviewed work: Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War, Alan Kramer". Journal of Social History. 43 (1): 230–232. doi:10.1353/jsh.0.0237. JSTOR20685373. S2CID143349148.
Freedman, Lawrence D. (2008). "Reviewed work: Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War, Alan Kramer". Foreign Affairs. 87 (1): 181–182. JSTOR20020291.
Geyer, Michael (2010). "Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War. By Alan Kramer. The Making of the Modern World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Pp. Xii+434. $39.95 (Cloth); $22.95 (Paper)". The Journal of Modern History. 82: 169–171. doi:10.1086/649445.
Kramer, Alan (2014). "Dynamic of Destruction". Louvain Studies. 38 (3): 211–227. doi:10.2143/LS.38.3.3105905.
