__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 (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Deist was senior historian at the Military History Research Office (MGFA) and honorary professor at the University of Freiburg. Deist was a widely published author and a chief editor of the seminal series '' Germany and the Second World War'' from the MGFA. Deist's research focused on the history of the First and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

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 conce ...

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, 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, 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
'' Military History Working Group''

Works

In English

*''The Wehrmacht and German rearmament'', University of Toronto Press, 1981, *'' Germany and the Second World War, Volume I: The Build-up of German Aggression'', with

Hans-Erich Volkmann Professor 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 most notable for be ...

and Wolfram Wette *''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 D ...

(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 became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univers ...

, 2003

In German

*''Militär und Innenpolitik im Weltkrieg 1914–1918'' (Quellen zur Geschichte des Parlamentarismus und der politischen Parteien, Zweite Reihe: Militär und Politik, Volume 1), Düsseldorf 1970 *''Flottenpolitik und Flottenpropaganda: Das Nachrichtenbureau des Reichsmarineamtes 1897–1914'' (Beitrage zur Militar- und Kriegsgeschichte), , 1976, *''Militär, Staat und Gesellschaft. Studien zur preußisch-deutschen Militärgeschichte'', Munich, 1991.

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Deist, Wilhelm 1931 births 2003 deaths German military historians 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