Siebrecht, Claudia (2012) The image of the soldier: portrayals and concepts of martial masculinity from the Wars of Liberation to the First World War in Germany. Journal of War and Culture Studies, 5 (3). p. 261. ISSN 1752-6272

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Abstract

Heroic soldiers represented the masculine ideal throughout nineteenth-century Germany. The Wars of Liberation and Unification reinforced the political and cultural construction of martial masculinity and were influential in securing enthusiastic support for the outbreak of war in 1914. Drawing on wartime self-portraits produced by German soldier-artists during World War I, this article argues that the war experience led men to challenge and redefine traditional male identities based on heroic soldiering. The confrontation with violent mass death engendered an existential crisis that invalidated old notions of wartime bravery and heroism. For mobilized German artists, self-portraiture represented a means of defining alternative wartime roles and presenting the soldier as survivor.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	DOI 10.1386/jwcs.5.3.261_1 from the publisher's website non functional.
Schools and Departments:	School of History, Art History and Philosophy > History
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D501 World War I D History General and Old World > DD History of Germany
Depositing User:	Claudia Siebrecht
Date Deposited:	06 Mar 2013 15:38
Last Modified:	08 Mar 2017 07:43
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/41080

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