NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

1/16/2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES -A chaotic time in German history is the subject of a new book by Northwestern State University Associate Professor of History Dr. Jeffrey R. Smith.

The book, "A People's War: The Transformation of German Politics 1913-1918," was published by University Press of America. Smith started his research for his doctoral dissertation at the University of Illinois and expanded it for his book.

Smith was able to conduct extensive research for his book in Berlin, receiving support for his research from Northwestern's Council of University Research Institute Administrators. He also was named the Clyde Bostick Endowed Professor of Social Sciences in 2003-04, providing him with addition research funding.

Smith's book explores the manner in which one form of political legitimacy came to overtake another, the enfranchisement of the Volk at the expense of monarchy during World War I Germany.

"Germany entered the 20th century of modern industrial nation states with an antiquated political system seeking to maintain the monarchy," said Smith. "The monarchy had an archaic world view and viewed the people as subjects, a view that was not compatible with the modern world. World War I just accelerated the trend against the monarchy."

The book begins with the "festive year" 1913, when the Wilhelmine regime celebrated the centennial of the Wars of Liberation as well as Kaiser Wilhelm II's Silver Jubilee. In these ceremonies the monarchy attempted to legitimize itself before the German public but failed to achieve broad, popular participation.

Smith said he then examined the nationalist demonstrations of July-August 1914 and their problematic relationship to the police and the regime which ultimately came to fear these aggressive and spontaneous patriotic displays. Not only does the kaiser never engage the crowds, but he emerges as a distant and shadowy figure when juxtaposed to these vibrant throngs.

In the book, Smith also investigates the persistent translation of the war from an official to a popular version beginning in August 1914 that the government was unable to shape, direct, or control. These popular manifestations of the war included the interactions of rumors and crowds, celebrations of new wartime heroes independent of the kaiser, and new forms of popular mobilization that contributed to the ultimate collapse of the Wilhelmine monarchy in November 1918.

The book can be ordered through www.univpress.com.

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