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Summary Of Absolute Destruction And Storm Of Steel

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World War One was the war to end all wars. This was going to be a short and swiftly-fought war, with almost the entirety of the European continent under the control of the German Empire. The German plan was focused entirely on this war being swiftly fought, and as a result of the prolongued fighting that actually did take place, the plan was derailed and brought to its knees. Two bodies of literature written about this time period, “Absolute Destruction” by Isabel Hull and “Storm of Steel” by Ernst Junger, both take a look at the events surrounding the creation and destruction of this plan, as well as how it was executed throughout by the soldiers that fought it. Both of these books detail these events very differently; While Isabel…show more content…
The German Command, in planning for a short and swift war, found themselves in a bind when the war started to prolong itself. From the very beginning, their plan started to fall apart, as Belgium, who they assumed would just let them march through to France, took up arms in resisting their approaches (Hull, 2005). The war would get longer and longer and seemed farther away from its conclusion as the months grew colder. As a result of this as well as their Prussian roots, they resorted to dangerously risky and destructive tactics, trying to bring the war to a quicker end while putting more of their resources in jeopardy, a move that eventually did not pay off and ended up leading to the German Empire’s demise (Hull, 2005). Isabel Hull takes a very broad look at the demise of the German Empire and the culture that led to that. Taking a look at Ernst Junger’s book, “Storm of Steel”, gave a very different view from what his successor historians wrote. His account details first-hand his role in the German Empire’s army, as a lower-level officer on the front lines who saw what Hull later reported in her book first hand. In his book, he details a somewhat unorganized and under-motivated approach to the war. He dictates in one section of his book that his journey to the front from
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