The Final Battle

Scott Stephenson is Associate Professor of Military History at the Department of Military History, US Army Command and General Staff College.

• Preface; 1. The divided army; 2. The last ditch: German front-line soldiers in the last days of the First World War; 3. Caesar without legions: the field army and the abdication of the Kaiser, November 8–9, 1918; 4. Legions without Caesar: the German army's response to armistice and revolution, November 9–14, 1918; 5. The last march: the German Westheer's march to the Rhine, November–December, 1918; 6. Dissolution and conspiracy: the army's homecoming and demobilization, December 1918; 7. The last parade: the Guards return to Berlin, December 10–22, 1918; 8. The last battle: 'Bloody Christmas,' December 23–24, 1918; 9. From debacle to civil war: the aftermath of 'Bloody Christmas,' December 1918–January 1919; 10. Conclusion: Frontschweine and revolution.

Review of the hardback: 'Scholars will find much to engage with in this powerful book. Stephenson's descriptions of the German retreat following 11 November and his analysis of the soldiers' councils are among the book's strengths. His investigation of the conduct of German soldiers has implications beyond the rather unusual environment of 1918 and will speak to those interested in the behavior of veterans of all wars. The Final Battle is a worthy contribution to Cambridge University Press's prestigious Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare series and a valuable addition to our understanding of the critical year of 1918.' Michael Neiberg, Michigan War Studies Review