"Kein schönrer Tod...": Die Militarisierung der männlichen Jugend und ihr Einsatz im Ersten Weltkrieg 1890-1918

The militarization of male youth in Germany and its commitment to the First World War represents an exciting chapter in the history of youth and in the mentality history of the Wilhelminian empire. The political instrumentalization of male youth for nationalist and militaristic purposes spanned the period of a century. This study presents the beginnings in the 1890s and embeds them in the broader endeavors of youth policy and youth welfare since the turn of the century. This includes not only the military strength of the boy scouts, but also the paramilitary nature of the hiking movement—a fact which was consistently denied by the bourgeois youth movement in its self-portrayals after 1945. The implementation and the consequences of the militarization of consciousness and behavior among young men in the Kaiserreich and the First World War are a revealing chapter in research into historical socialization as well as in the history of political education in Germany. [Publisher]