Command Culture

Officer Education in the U.S. Army and the German Armed Forces, 1901-1940, and the Consequences for World War II

Nonfiction, History, Military, World War II
Cover of the book Command Culture by Jorg Muth, University of North Texas Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jorg Muth ISBN: 9781574413649
Publisher: University of North Texas Press Publication: June 15, 2011
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Jorg Muth
ISBN: 9781574413649
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Publication: June 15, 2011
Imprint:
Language: English
In Command Culture, Joerg Muth examines the different paths the United States Army and the German Armed Forces traveled to select, educate, and promote their officers in the crucial time before World War II. Muth demonstrates that the military education system in Germany represented an organized effort where each school and examination provided the stepping stone for the next. But in the United States, there existed no communication about teaching contents or didactical matters among the various schools and academies, and they existed in a self chosen insular environment. American officers who finally made their way through an erratic selection process and past West Point to the important Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, found themselves usually deeply disappointed, because they were faced again with a rather below average faculty who forced them after every exercise to accept the approved "school solution." Command Culture explores the paradox that in Germany officers came from a closed authoritarian society but received an extremely open minded military education, whereas their counterparts in the United States came from one of the most democratic societies but received an outdated military education that harnessed their minds and limited their initiative. On the other hand, German officer candidates learned that in war everything is possible and a war of extermination acceptable. For American officers, raised in a democracy, certain boundaries could never be crossed. This work for the first time clearly explains the lack of audacity of many high ranking American officers during World War II, as well as the reason why so many German officers became perpetrators or accomplices of war crimes and atrocities or remained bystanders without speaking up. Those American officers who became outstanding leaders in World War II did so not so much because of their military education, but despite it.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
In Command Culture, Joerg Muth examines the different paths the United States Army and the German Armed Forces traveled to select, educate, and promote their officers in the crucial time before World War II. Muth demonstrates that the military education system in Germany represented an organized effort where each school and examination provided the stepping stone for the next. But in the United States, there existed no communication about teaching contents or didactical matters among the various schools and academies, and they existed in a self chosen insular environment. American officers who finally made their way through an erratic selection process and past West Point to the important Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, found themselves usually deeply disappointed, because they were faced again with a rather below average faculty who forced them after every exercise to accept the approved "school solution." Command Culture explores the paradox that in Germany officers came from a closed authoritarian society but received an extremely open minded military education, whereas their counterparts in the United States came from one of the most democratic societies but received an outdated military education that harnessed their minds and limited their initiative. On the other hand, German officer candidates learned that in war everything is possible and a war of extermination acceptable. For American officers, raised in a democracy, certain boundaries could never be crossed. This work for the first time clearly explains the lack of audacity of many high ranking American officers during World War II, as well as the reason why so many German officers became perpetrators or accomplices of war crimes and atrocities or remained bystanders without speaking up. Those American officers who became outstanding leaders in World War II did so not so much because of their military education, but despite it.

More books from University of North Texas Press

Cover of the book The Peppers Cookbook by Jorg Muth
Cover of the book Katherine Anne Porter's Ship of Fools by Jorg Muth
Cover of the book Circles Where the Head Should Be by Jorg Muth
Cover of the book Dennis Brain: A Life in Music by Jorg Muth
Cover of the book In Hostile Skies by Jorg Muth
Cover of the book Captain J. A. Brooks, Texas Ranger by Jorg Muth
Cover of the book Six-Shooters and Shifting Sands by Jorg Muth
Cover of the book Written in Blood Vol. 1 by Jorg Muth
Cover of the book Captain Jack Helm by Jorg Muth
Cover of the book A Lawless Breed by Jorg Muth
Cover of the book Saving Ben: A Father's Story of Autism by Jorg Muth
Cover of the book The Seventh Star of the Confederacy by Jorg Muth
Cover of the book Last Stop Carnegie Hall: New York Philharmonic Trumpeter William Vacchiano by Jorg Muth
Cover of the book Contested Policy by Jorg Muth
Cover of the book Tales of Texas Cooking by Jorg Muth
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy