Ostfront: The Eastern Front of World War One and its Effects on Germany ​

Cian Riely

Co-Presenters: Individual Presentation

College: College of Liberal Arts

Major: BA.HISTORY

Faculty Research Mentor: Adara Goldberg  

Abstract:

The Western Front is by far the dominant front in the memory of World War One in the Anglophone and more generally Western World. Comparatively, there is far less focus on the Eastern Front. This is unfortunate, because from the perspective of understanding World History, and particularly World War Two, the Eastern Front is exceptionally important. The front provided the fall of the Russian, Habsburg, and German Empires, allowing for new nations to take shape across Europe, forging the landscape of the Eastern Front in the Second World War. In this research project, I will endeavor to show how Germany was affected by the conflict in the east. I will endeavor to find out what previous instincts and inclinations they had towards Slavs and Eastern Europe, how the war affected Germans and their worldview o f Eastern Europeans, and what Germany's intentions were over the course of the conflict. Finally, I shall seek to see how these effects trickled into the Nazi Era, if at all.