German Anglophobia and the Great War, 1914-1918

Military Review, March-April, 2003 by David Schepp

Matthew Stibbe, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2001, 267 pages, $59.95.

This book examines the German mentality toward the English during World War I. Matthew Stibbe draws from archives, personal correspondence, and newspapers. The primary arrangement is chronological, but various topics are addressed in each chapter. After introductory information, the focus is developed into the debate surrounding German war aims vis-a-vis annexations and unrestricted submarine warfare.

The book is well written and moves at a fair pace. One important note is that if the reader is not knowledgeable in German, it would be a good idea to have a reference handy because of German terms and newspaper names. This book has value for the defense community as a tool to understanding the mentality of a people and how they were affected and influenced by propaganda and the popular media.

One side note: Stibbe refers to the British people as English. The explanation for doing this is that he sees referring to them as English as derogatory. He equates the use with his view that the British were imperial mercantilists. This also leads to the word anglophobia rather than something like "Britophobia."

Overall, the theoretical framework seems logically formulated. The only major problem is the conclusion. The book purports to deal with anglophobia during World War I, but the lion's share of the conclusion discusses anglophobia and the Nazi party during the interwar period; it never seems to make its point about German anglophobia.

SPC David Schepp, USA,

Fort Benning, Georgia