Emergency powers and the home fronts in Britain and Germany during the first World War / André Keil.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Keil, André, author.

Series:

Studies in German history (Oxford University Press)

Studies in German history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1914-1918--Great Britain.

World War, 1914-1918.

World War, 1914-1918--Germany.

War and emergency powers--Great Britain.

War and emergency powers.

War and emergency powers--Germany.

Great Britain--Politics and government--1910-1936.

Great Britain.

Germany--Politics and government--1888-1918.

Germany.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom ; New York, NY, United States of America : Oxford University Press, [2025]

Summary:

"The First World War transformed modern politics. No example demonstrates this more powerfully than the enactment and use of emergency powers by all belligerents. Wartime governments passed extensive emergency legislation that allowed them to pursue their war efforts with little democratic scrutiny and legal restrictions. In Britain, the Defence of the Realm Act transferred law-making powers from Parliament to the government and suspended vital elements of the unwritten constitution. In Germany, the declaration of the state of siege meant that the military assumed executive powers on the home front. These powers were initially used to suppress dissent, establish censorship of the press, and combat espionage. Yet, by 1918, they had been extended to regulate almost any aspect of everyday life on the home front. Understanding the political and social dynamics on the home front is only possible when the crucial importance of these emergency powers is considered. The experience of life under a permanent state of exception during the war transformed the relationship between the state and its citizens. Yet it also marked the rise of the state of exception as a paradigm of rule. Using Britain and Germany as examples of the wartime state of exception, André Keil offers a detailed analysis of the use of emergency powers during the war. By drawing on a wide range of archival sources, he explains the rise of this new paradigm of government and how it shaped politics in Britain and Germany well beyond the First World War. The book offers a wealth of local examples that explain how ideologies and perceptions of the 'enemy within' shaped the use of repressive emergency powers by politicians, police, and military. It also traces how the critique and resistance against these measures helped to establish civil liberties as a new field of political activism. In essence, Keil offers a unique perspective on German and British politics during the First World War and tests the notion of the war being a 'laboratory for the state of exception'"-- Provided by publisher.

This text offers a wealth of local examples that explain how ideologies and perceptions of the 'enemy within' shaped the use of repressive emergency powers by politicians, police, and military.

Contents:

Introduction : historicizing the wartime state of exception

Preparing for the war at home : domestic policies in British and German war plans before 1914

Establishing the state of exception on the home fronts, 1914-1916

Guardians of the home front : military, police, and courts as agents of the state of exception

Enforced endurance : emergency powers and the coercive wartime state, 1916-1918

‘Enemies within’ : activists, emergency measures, and the struggle for civil liberties

The aftermath : the transition from war to peace and new emergency powers, 1918-1920

Conclusion : the First World War as a ‘laboratory’ for the state of exception.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from home page (Oxford Academic, viewed December 5, 2025).

Other Format:

Print version: Keil, André. Emergency powers and the home fronts in Britain and Germany during the first World War.

ISBN:

9780198917922

0198917929

9780198918561

0198918569

OCLC:

1498386589

Publisher Number:

CIPO000195478

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license