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“The Spirit of 1914” : A Redefinition and a Defense

Ringmar, Erik LU (2017) In War in History 25(1). p.26-47
Abstract
The received wisdom has long been that people in Europe reacted with great enthusiasm as war was approaching in August, 1914. However, scholars who have investigated the matter have found little evidence of enthusiasm. There was no unique “spirit of 1914,” and people in general were not happy about the prospect of war. This revisionist thesis is now the new orthodoxy and should as such be subject to scrutiny. In this article I focus on the notion of an “experience.” Experiences are felt and gone through, the argument will be, not rationalized after the fact. As such they will always leave only faint traces in the historical sources. It is very difficult to say what people in August 1914 actually felt. As a way around this problem I suggest... (More)
The received wisdom has long been that people in Europe reacted with great enthusiasm as war was approaching in August, 1914. However, scholars who have investigated the matter have found little evidence of enthusiasm. There was no unique “spirit of 1914,” and people in general were not happy about the prospect of war. This revisionist thesis is now the new orthodoxy and should as such be subject to scrutiny. In this article I focus on the notion of an “experience.” Experiences are felt and gone through, the argument will be, not rationalized after the fact. As such they will always leave only faint traces in the historical sources. It is very difficult to say what people in August 1914 actually felt. As a way around this problem I suggest we should focus on a study of public moods. It is in a public mood that felt experiences arise and public moods are in principle open to historical investigation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
First World War, historiography
in
War in History
volume
25
issue
1
pages
26 - 47
publisher
SAGE Publications
ISSN
0968-3445
DOI
10.1177/0968344516650476
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f2aa2637-412c-482a-96c0-1e15779d60e8 (old id 7869635)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 13:09:49
date last changed
2021-09-27 11:12:01
@article{f2aa2637-412c-482a-96c0-1e15779d60e8,
  abstract     = {{The received wisdom has long been that people in Europe reacted with great enthusiasm as war was approaching in August, 1914. However, scholars who have investigated the matter have found little evidence of enthusiasm. There was no unique “spirit of 1914,” and people in general were not happy about the prospect of war. This revisionist thesis is now the new orthodoxy and should as such be subject to scrutiny. In this article I focus on the notion of an “experience.” Experiences are felt and gone through, the argument will be, not rationalized after the fact. As such they will always leave only faint traces in the historical sources. It is very difficult to say what people in August 1914 actually felt. As a way around this problem I suggest we should focus on a study of public moods. It is in a public mood that felt experiences arise and public moods are in principle open to historical investigation.}},
  author       = {{Ringmar, Erik}},
  issn         = {{0968-3445}},
  keywords     = {{First World War; historiography}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{26--47}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{War in History}},
  title        = {{“The Spirit of 1914” : A Redefinition and a Defense}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/95797731/8832036.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/0968344516650476}},
  volume       = {{25}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}