"The Spirit of 1914": A Redefinition and a Defense
(2018) 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)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- 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:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/b4532100-fffd-44e1-ae95-02a0e45a9c7c
- author
- Ringmar, Erik LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2018-01-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- First World War, enthusiasm, revisionism, outbreak of war
- in
- War in History
- volume
- 25
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 22 pages
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85041017782
- ISSN
- 0968-3445
- DOI
- 10.1177/0968344516650476
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- b4532100-fffd-44e1-ae95-02a0e45a9c7c
- date added to LUP
- 2017-06-07 10:43:54
- date last changed
- 2022-04-01 17:16:31
@article{b4532100-fffd-44e1-ae95-02a0e45a9c7c, 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; enthusiasm; revisionism; outbreak of war}}, language = {{eng}}, month = {{01}}, 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/26539831/Ringmar_2017_The_Spirit_of_1914_A_Redefinition_and_a_Defense.pdf}}, doi = {{10.1177/0968344516650476}}, volume = {{25}}, year = {{2018}}, }