The Great Catastrophe: Germany and Austria-Hungary in the First World War

The class examines why these states' peoples followed their leaders to war in 1914 and why they endured over four years of conflict. It traces their extraordinary ordeal. From Lviv in the east to Lorraine in the west, societies underwent total mobilisation. They faced mortal threat. Terrifying Russian invasions ravaged their border provinces. A ruthless British naval 'starvation blockade' isolated them from the world and contributed to the deaths of a million Central European civilians.

The class explores how this ordeal set Central Europe on a ghastly path. At the front, mass death traumatised a generation. At home, deprivation shattered societies, inflaming class antagonisms and spawning vicious anti-Semitism. Radical plans for eastern empire and brutal exploitation techniques developed in the war would inspire the Nazis. Defeat fatefully bequeathed to the region a poisonous legacy of unredeemed sacrifice, suffering, race hatred and violence

Duration: Half day (10.30am - 12.30pm)

Subject area/s: History

Course Requirements: This taster course is open to year 12 students only.