The War Book of the German General Staff / Being "The Usages of War on Land" Issued by the Great General Staff of the German Army

Transcriber’s Note: In some versions of this eBook, sidenotes are shown in boldface, above the paragraphs, rather than next to them.
THE WAR BOOK OF THE GERMAN GENERAL STAFF
BEING “THE USAGES OF WAR ON LAND” ISSUED BY THE GREAT GENERAL STAFF OF THE GERMAN ARMY
TRANSLATED WITH A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION
BY J. H. MORGAN, M.A. PROFESSOR OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON, LATE SCHOLAR OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD; JOINT AUTHOR OF “WAR: ITS CONDUCT AND ITS LEGAL RESULTS”
NEW YORK McBRIDE, NAST & COMPANY 1915
Copyright, 1915, by McBride, Nast & Co.
Published March, 1915

TO THE LORD FITZMAURICE IN TOKEN OF FOURTEEN YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP AND OF MUCH WISE COUNSEL IN THE STUDY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The text of this book is a literal and integral translation of the Kriegsbrauch im Landkriege issued and re-issued by the German General Staff for the instruction of German officers. It is the most authoritative work of its kind in Germany and takes precedence over all other publications whether military or legal, alike over the works of Bernhardi the soldier and of Holtzendorff the jurist. As will be shown in detail in the critical introduction, The Hague Conventions are treated by the authors as little more than “scraps of paper”—the only “laws” recognized by the German Staff are the military usages laid down in the pages of the Manual, and resting upon “a calculating egotism” and injudicious “form of reprisals.”