University of Idaho - Fall 2022
History 149, Chapter 1 Guide
Professor Bailey, Section 5
May 24, 2022
Additionally, Hans Gottlieb Leopold Delbrück (German pronunciation: [hans ˈdɛl.bʁʏk] ; 11
November 1848 – 14 July 1929) was a German historian. Delbrück was one of the first
modern military historians, basing his method of research on the critical examination of
ancient sources, using auxiliary disciplines, like demography and economics, to complete
the analysis and the comparison between epochs, to trace the evolution of military
institutions.
Class Date: 12/3/2024
Teacher’s Remark: Excellent use of visuals to enhance understanding.
GENERIC CONTENT:
## Findings (List)
- Delbrück's writings are chiefly concerned with the history of the art of war, his most
ambitious work being Geschichte der Kriegskunst im Rahmen der politischen Geschichte
("History of Warfare in the Framework of Political History" in four volumes, third edition
published in 1920).
- Other works are Die Perserkriege und die Burgunderkriege (The Persian and Burgundian
Wars, 1887), Die Strategie des Perikles erläutert durch die Strategie Friedrichs des Grossen
(The Strategy of Pericles Described Through the Strategy of Frederick the Great, 1890) and
Das Leben des Feldmarschalls Grafen Neithardt von Gneisenau (Life of Marshal Count
Neithardt von Gneisenau, 1894).
- == Biography ==
Delbrück was born in Bergen on the island of Rügen; he studied at the universities of
Heidelberg and Bonn.
## Analysis (List)
- As a soldier, he fought in the Franco-Prussian War and in 1874, he became for some years
tutor to Prince Waldemar of Prussia (1868–1879) of the German imperial family, a brother
of Wilhelm II, heir to the imperial throne.
- He served in the Reichstag from 1882 to 1883 and in 1883, he became an editor of the
Preussische Jahrbücher, a noted political magazine.
- He assumed charge of this publication in 1889 and kept working on it in that capacity until
1920.
- In 1885, he became professor of modern history in the University of Berlin, where his
lectures were very popular.
- He was a member of the German Reichstag from 1884 to 1890.
## Conclusion
Delbrück vigorously opposed the policy of the Prussian government in dealing with the
Danes and the Poles, with the result that he was twice subjected to disciplinary penalties as
a professor and a civil servant in Prussia. One of his American students Arthur L. Conger
became a senior military historian at the United States Army Command and General Staff
College, where he modelled American military historiography after Delbrück's approaches.
His role as editor of Preussen Jahrbücher provided a platform for a growing interest in
Germany's diplomatic relationship with Russia.
## Discussion
This took the form of a roving commission to Herr Paul Rohrbacher to enquire about
German opinion. The findings from the 1890s tours formed a racial policy of
dismemberment of Russia by seizing Slavic territory that belonged to them.
## Background
The controversialist Fritz Fischer argued that they were socialists forcing extremists into
the hands of revolutionaries. At an early stage of the First World War, he became
pessimistic regarding the possibility of victory, except by a military and political strategy
and tactics of a purely defensive character. He was, on tactical rather than on moral
grounds, a strenuous opponent of intensified submarine warfare and did not conceal his
conviction that it would bring America into the war. He was a member of the German
Delegation during the Versailles Peace Conference that ended the war, where he mainly
endeavoured to prove that Germany could not be made solely responsible for the outbreak
of war.
## Findings
He died in Berlin. He was the father of Max Delbrück, who did pioneering work in physics
and also won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1969. His daughter Emmi was
married to German resistance fighter Klaus Bonhoeffer and thus she was the sister-in-law of
theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. == Hypotheses ==
Delbrück's works tried to place military history in the framework of general history.
## Analysis (List)
- He regarded warfare as a cultural feature of societies, subject to evolution and influenced
by the economy and the political system.
- His works were not translated into English for some time, hence his reputation among
professional military theorists in English-speaking countries is not held in the same esteem
or significance as Clausewitz.
- === Ancient warfare ===
Singular conclusions on ancient warfare challenged historiography in so far as he tried to
show that the figures for armies in antiquity were inflated in the original sources, and that,
contrary to what is stated in most writings, the winner in a battle usually had more troops
than the loser.
- Consequently, he gave completely different interpretations to some of the most famous
battles in history, like Marathon, Gaugamela, and Zama by concluding that Rome's vaunted
advantage over "barbarians" rested, not so much in their discipline and refined tactics, but
rather in their superior logistical support.
## Conclusion (List)
- The Romans were able to raise and maintain huge armies on the field, while the
"barbarians" were unable to match their numbers.
- === Medieval warfare ===
Regarding medieval warfare, Delbrück's findings were more controversial.
- He made a distinction between knights, mounted warriors, and cavalry, an organized mass
of mounted troops.
- He regarded the medieval warrior as an independent fighter, unable to join others and
form units with any decisive tactical significance.
- His conclusions were tested by later scholars, in particular the Belgian historian J. F.
Verbruggen.
## Discussion (List)
- === Modern warfare ===
About modern warfare, Delbrück showed his intellectual origins in Clausewitz by making a
distinction between two possible strategies respectively: exhausting the enemy and
throwing down the enemy (German: Ermattungsstrategie and Niederwerfungsstrategie,
often mistakenly translated as "attrition" and "annihilation").
References / Works Cited:
1. Wikipedia (n.d.). Retrieved from https://wikipedia.org/
2. Random Book Title (2022). Academic Publishing House.