Soldiers

The soldiers of the First World War, in all nations involved, have been since 1914 an important object of historical presentation. At the same time, they have served, albeit with varying intensity, as a foil for historiographical views. In this process, historians have particularly argued about the appropriate sociological placing of that broad swathe of physical violence that is distinctive for 20th-century German and European history, and the soldiers of 1914–1918 symbolized their poin…