About the Book
For years, those who attempted to understand the devastation of World War I looked to the collections of diplomatic documents, the stirring speeches, and the partisan memoirs of the leading participants. However, those accounts offered little by way of the intimate history, or the individual experiences of those involved in the Great War. In Commitment and Sacrifice, Marilyn Shevin-Coetzee and Frans Coetzee provide just such an "intimate look" by bringing
together previously unpublished diaries of five participants in the First World War and restoring to publication the diary of a sixth that has long been out of print.The six diaries address
the war on the Western front and the Mediterranean, as well as behind the lines on the home front. Together, these diarists form a diverse group: John French, a British sapper who dug precarious tunnels beneath the trenches of the Western Front; Henri Desagneaux, a French infantry officer embroiled in years of bloody combat; Philip T. Cate, an idealistic American volunteer ambulance driver who sought to save lives rather than take them; Willy Wolff, a German businessman caught in England upon
the war's outbreak and interned there for the duration; James Douglas Hutchison, a New Zealand artilleryman fighting thousands of miles from home; and Felix Kaufmann, a German machine gunner, captured
and held as a prisoner of war. Through the personal reflections of these young men, we are transported into many of the iconic episodes of the war, from the upheaval of mobilization through the great battles of Gallipoli, Verdun, and the Somme, as well as the less familiar "other ordeal" of internment and captivity. As members of the so-called Generation of 1914 (each was between nineteen and twenty-four years old), they shared an unwavering commitment to their countries'
cause, and possessed a steadfast determination to persevere despite often appalling circumstances.Collectively, these diaries illuminate the sacrifices of war, whether willingly
volunteered or stoically endured. That the diarists had the desire and the ingenuity to record their experiences, whether for their families, posterity, or simply their own personal satisfaction, gives readers the ability to eavesdrop on horrors long past. A century later, we are fortunate that they were both willing and able to set pencil to paper.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
I. "It was like ten thousand devils let loose:" John French, British sapper
2. "Young men . . . helping this nation to save its soul:" Phillip T. Cate, American ambulance driver
3. "Behind barbed wire in . . . a stable for men:" Willy Wolff, German internee in Britain
4. "A year . . . such as I can never hope to have again:" James D. Hutchison, ANZAC artilleryman
5. "Life has been spent among the dead:" Henri Desagneaux, French infantry officer
6. "Hunger was stronger than all punishments:" Felix Kaufmann, German POW in France
Select Bibliography
About the Author :
Marilyn Shevin-Coetzee and Frans Coetzee have taught at Yale and George Washington Universities and have been the recipients of fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, American Philosophical Society, Alexander von Humboldt, Fulbright, and Mellon Foundations, Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), and the National Endowment for the Humanities. They are the authors of seven books, including The World in
Flames: A World War II Sourcebook (OUP, 2010).
Review :
"Commitment and Sacrifice offers casual readers, instructors, and students a diverse range of exceptional DL and readable DL wartime diaries, all of which would be valuable introductions to the First World War." -- Alex Nordlund, University of Georgia, H-War
"If you have ever wished that you could breach time and space to fully experience the trenches of World War I, this is your opportunity to do so. Commitment and Sacrifice is virtual reality at its best, and you need never leave the safety and comfort of your armchair....The Coetzees' rigorous research is clearly evidenced throughout this book as they effectively introduce and then contextualize each of these six voices with extensive but judiciously
placed, illuminating footnotes."--Journal of Military History
"Shevin-Coetzee and Coetzee have assembled a well-balanced collection of six riveting personal journals from WWI, including those of an American ambulance driver, a German internee on the Isle of Man, a French lawyer turned infantry officer, an English sapper, a German machine gunner captured and held in France, and an ANZAC artillery soldier who described the landings at Gallipoli....Generous commentary about each diarist, plus informative footnotes, makes
this collection especially valuable."--CHOICE
