Militärische Männlichkeiten in Deutschland und Österreich im Umfeld des Großen Krieges: Konstruktionen und Dekonstruktionen

The man as the fighting sex, as knight/warrior/soldier is an ideal that has had a lasting impact on the male repertoire of action in various epochs of the history of the Occident and established the attitude of militancy as a distinctly masculine habitus. The Great War-the first industrialized war in history involving the amalgamation of man and machine-produces different concepts of military masculinity that can only be understood in their historical context. This study offers a first comparison of German and Austrian military masculinity in the focus of masculinity research. Within the framework of the comparative approach, both the complex construction processes of military masculinities - in each context linked to national or ethnic discourses and traditions - and attempts at deconstruction are traced. The subject of the comprehensive analysis are the various configurations of the male-military habitus in numerous textual and visual artistic contributions from Germany and Austria in the environment of the Great War. The author Monika Szczepaniak is a professor of literature and cultural studies at the Institute of German Studies at Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz (Poland).