Eine Kriegsgeschichte, die vom Tod spricht

In his study of the mass armies of the First and Second World Wars, Geyer refers to the shaping of modern images of the "man" and the "citizen". He calls for a history of war that transcends the horizons of general staffs and cabinets. Central for him is the question of the reasons for and the forms of "man-made" mass death in war and genocide. In doing so, he emphasizes how decisive it was for the participation of the many in killing that the idea of the man as warrior, nurtured in peacetime, allowed no alternative. The image of the autonomous citizen also followed this guiding figure. Only from this point of view, according to the author, can the "bellicose" underlining of modern civil society be revealed.