How Germany Makes War

New York: George H. Doran Company, 1914. Presumed First U. S. Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Good. xv, [1], 263, [1] pages. Editor's Preface. Author's Introduction. Format is approximately 5.5 inches by 7.75 inches. Cover has some wear and soiling. Some pencil underlining/marks and commentary noted. Ex-library with usual markings. Friedrich Adam Julius von Bernhardi (November 22, 1849 - December 11, 1930) was a Prussian general and military historian. He was a best-selling author prior to World War I. A militarist, he is perhaps best known for his bellicose book Deutschland und der Nächste Krieg (Germany and the Next War), printed in 1911. He advocated a policy of ruthless aggression and of complete disregard of treaties and regarded war as a "divine business". From 1891 to 1894, he was German military attaché at Bern and was subsequently head of the military history department of the Grand General Staff in Berlin. In WWI, Bernhardi fought on the Eastern Front on the Stochod river, where he stormed Tsarecze, and on the Western Front, in particular at Armentières. Excerpt from How Germany Makes War General Von Bernhardi's book "On War of Today" is one of the most important military works that have appeared in recent years. It is of special interest at the present moment as an exposition of the ideas underlying the German plans for the war with the Allies, and the methods on which the German staff rely in their operations in the field. The book is an attempt to show how war can be successfully conducted with the enormous masses of men now thrown into a conflict between nations, the armies of millions that put the whole fighting power of a people into the battle line. General von Bernhardi insists that while certain fundamental principles of war must always hold good, their practical application has to be considerably modified now that these "armies of masses" are brought into action, and have to employ weapons and appliances more efficient than any which were used in earlier wars.