__NOTOC__ Wilhelm Deist (1931–2003) was a German historian and author who specialised in the European history of 19th and 20th with an emphasis on the history of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Deist was senior historian at the Military History Research Office (MGFA) and honorary professor at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

. Deist was a widely published author and a chief editor of the seminal series ''

Germany and the Second World War ''Germany and the Second World War'' () is a 12,000-page, 13-volume work published by the Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt (DVA), that has taken academics from the military history centre of the German armed forces 30 years to finish. Contents ''German ...

'' from the MGFA. Deist's research focused on the history of the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

s. He had a long career at the MGFA, where he succeeded

Manfred Messerschmidt Manfred Messerschmidt (1 October 1926 – 19 December 2022) was a German historian who specialised in the history of Nazi Germany and World War II. He was the longtime research director at the Military History Research Office (MGFA) who concei ...

as chief historian and oversaw ''Germany and the Second World War''. Under Deist's direction, the series continued to emphasise multi-disciplinary approach to the war, integrating political, societal and economic research, in addition to providing the classic operational history. According to the historian and journalist

Sven Felix Kellerhoff Sven Felix Kellerhoff (born 1971) is a German historian, journalist and author who specialises in the history of the Nazi era. Education and career Kellerhoff was born in 1971 in Stuttgart, Germany. He was educated at the Free University of Berli ...

, the completed series shows that this goal has been met: of the 87 contributions, 44 are dealing with operations in a narrow sense, the others with their precursors and consequences. Deist was a founding member the

Military History Working Group The Military History Working Group (''Arbeitskreis Militärgeschichte'', AKM) is a German professional association and research network formed in 1995 in Freiburg. It focuses on the interdisciplinary war studies and military history. The Group's a ...

, a professional association of German military historians. From 1995 to 2002, he was the chairman of the association, and from 2002 to 2003, its honorary chairman. In 2006, the association established the Wilhelm Deist Prize for Military History in his honour.Wilhelm Deist
''

Works

In English

*''The Wehrmacht and German rearmament'',

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calendar. Its first s ...

, 1981, *''

, Volume I: The Build-up of German Aggression'', with

Hans-Erich Volkmann Hans-Erich Volkmann (born 15 March 1938) is a German historian, whose works primarily deal with the history of Germany from the 19th–20th century, and particularly how it relates to the East European states. He is one of the authors of the fir ...

and

Wolfram Wette Wolfram Wette (born 11 November 1940) is a German military historian and peace researcher. He is an author or editor of over 40 books on the history of Nazi Germany, including the seminal '' Germany and the Second World War'' series from the G ...

*''The Kaiser: New Research on Wilhelm II's Role in Imperial Germany'', with

Annika Mombauer Annika Mombauer (born 1967) is a historian best known for her work on General Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. She is a Senior Lecturer in Modern European History in the History Department at the Open University in Great Britain, and Associate Dea ...

(as editor),

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

, 2003

In German

*''Militär und Innenpolitik im Weltkrieg 1914–1918'' (Quellen zur Geschichte des Parlamentarismus und der politischen Parteien, Zweite Reihe: Militär und Politik, Bände 1 and 2), Düsseldorf 1970 *''Flottenpolitik und Flottenpropaganda: Das Nachrichtenbureau des Reichsmarineamtes 1897–1914'' (Beitrage zur Militar- und Kriegsgeschichte), , 1976, *''Rüstung im Zeichen der wilhelminischen Weltpolitik Grundlegende Dokumente 1890-1914,'' Wilhelm Deist und Volker R. Berghahn (Droste, Düsseldorf), 1988, ISBN 9783770007622 *''Militär, Staat und Gesellschaft. Studien zur preußisch-deutschen Militärgeschichte'', Munich, 1991, ISBN 9783486559194.

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Deist, Wilhelm 1931 births 2003 deaths German military historians German historians of World War II Historians of World War I German male non-fiction writers Military History Research Office (Germany) personnel 20th-century German historians