Semester of Graduation
Spring 2022
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
This thesis examines how conservative German war veterans, in particular author Ernst Jünger, granted meaning to the First World War by affirming the technological encounter. Instead of succumbing to the feelings of powerlessness and inferiority engendered by the domination of machinery on the Front, Jünger and other conservative veterans elevated the Materialschlacht into a spiritual event, a battle between the spirit and the material in which the human spirit emerged victorious. Strengthened by their confrontation with the machine, humans gained the spiritual skills which would enable them to master the machine and, therefore, meet the demands of the technological world. Despite the German defeat, the war experience became not a sign of German weakness, but rather a source of national regeneration. Out of the crucible of the Materialschlacht, there would emerge a “new man” who would lead the German nation out of its degenerative state and into the future. By examining the ways in which conservative war veterans gave meaning to their battlefield experiences with technology, this thesis illuminates the complex ways in which war, technology, and nationalism intertwined in Weimar conservative thought.
Recommended Citation
Wisniewski, Andrea L., ""Man of the Machine": Ernst Jünger's Philosophy of Technology and the Spiritualization of the ��������������������������������" (2022). LSU Master's Theses. 5519.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/5519
Committee Chair
Marchand, Suzanne
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_theses.5519