Psychology of the Great War

The First World War and Its Origins

Gustave Le Bon, Gustav Le Bon

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781351307703
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

The outbreak of World War I saw the collapse of socialist notions of class solidarity and reaffirmed the enduring strength of nationalism. The workers of the world did not unite, but turned on one another and slaughtered their fellows in what was then the bloodiest war in history. There have been many efforts to explain the outbreak of war in 1914, but few from so intimate a perspective as LeBon's. He examines such questions as why German scholars tried to deny Germany's obvious guilt in the war, and what explained the remarkable resolve of the French army to persevere in the face of unprecedented adversity.

To such questions, LeBon proposes answers built upon principles well articulated in the larger body of his work. He transforms the character of the debate by demonstrating how psychological principles explain more persuasively both the causes of German academic ignominy and the origins of French valor. Convinced as he was that only psychology could illuminate collective behavior, LeBon dismisses purely economic or political interpretations as ill-conceived and inadequate precisely because they fail to appreciate the role of psychology in the collective behavior of national statesmen, prominent scholars, and ordinary soldiers.

The Psychology of the Great War provides a bridge to study both crowd behavior and battlefield behavior by illustrating how ordinary people are transformed into savages by great events. This element in LeBon's thinking influenced Georges Sorel's thinking, as he had seen the same phenomenon in those who participated in general strikes and revolutions. And in a later period and different context, Hannah Arendt gave this strange capacity of the ordinary to be transformed into the extraordinary the name "banality of evil." The book will be of interest to social theorists, psychologists concerned with group behavior, and historians of the period.

Index

Absolutism of force, theory of the, 19

Académie des Sciences, the, 468 n

Actium, 293

Adaptation, law of, 121

Adrianople, capture of, 360

Aerschott, 401

Affective, the, respective functions of the rational and, 29

Affective factors of conflict, 39

Affective forces, the, 28

Affective influences in history, 29

Affective life, the, cycle of, 28

Affective logic, 27

Agadir, 265

Aisne, the, 352, 413, 430

Algeçiras, 265

Allied fleets, the, services rendered by, 358

Alsace, French expectation of an attack via, 287, 353–4

German view of the fate of, 451

opposition of Bismarck to annexation of, 156

Alsace-Lorraine, the problem of, as a cause of the War, 157

America, impression produced by German methods of warfare in, 401–3

American Civil War, 300, 448–9

costly and sanguinary character of, 423

length of, 423

Andenne, the sack of, 374

Andler, Professor C., on the principles of the German General Staff, 369

on the sack of Andenne, 374

Andrassy, Count, on the Russian peril, 455–6

Antwerp, 393

German designs on, 137–8

Aphorismes du Temps présent, 27 n

Arab invasion of Europe, the, 39

Arbitration, Bernhardi on international, 59

Arcis-sur-Aube, 441 n

Argonne, the, 352, 431

Armenia, losses in, 416–17

Armies of France, Prussia, and Austria in 1739, 54

Arras, 389

battle of, 417

siege of, 294

Artillery and munitions, importance in modern warfare, 298

Asiatic problems, 452

Asquith, Mr., speech, 206

Assemblies, mental characteristics of large, 34

Astoria, the Hôtel, 69

Atrocities, German prisoners’ accounts of, 382–4

August 1914, present situation compared with that of, 432

Austerlitz, 293

Austria, declares war against Serbia, 186

feeling with regard to the War, 235–6

general mobilization, 249

grievances, 183

intervention declined, 186

justification of uncompromising attitude, 185

mobilizes all her able-bodied men, 187

no desire for European war, 241

psychological factors which influenced, 170

reasons f...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction to The Transaction Edition
• Foreword to The Transaction Edition
• Preface to The English Edition
• Book I Psychological Principles Necessary for The Interpretation of The Present Work
• Book II Germany’s Evolution in Modern Times
• Book III The Remote Causes of The War
• Book IV The Immediate Causes of The War
• Book V Psychological Forces Involved in Battles
• Book VI Psychological Elements in German Methods of Warfare
• Book VII Unknown Quantities in Warfare
• Index