Storm of Steel had an amazing analogy for what being shelled is like: "Imagine you are securely tied to a post, being menaced by a man swinging a heavy hammer. Now the hammer has been taken back over his head, ready to be swung, now it's cleaving through the air towards you, on the point of touching your skull, then it's struck the post, and the splinters are flying"

Fun fact: Jünger was also the last living recipient of the military Pour le Merite.

Anyone who says Storm of Steel is war mongering has never read it. It is brutally realistic, neither pro- or anti- war, just the facts.

@brucetucker4847

6 жыл бұрын

It's seen as war mongering because he describes the war as a positive experience for those who survived and especially for himself.

@TheGreatWar

6 жыл бұрын

Just the facts except the ones he left out or didn't include from his diaries in the 8 or so versions of this book.

@stevesb97

6 жыл бұрын

Such as?

@danielkuddes6050

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheGreatWar wow, give this guy reddit gold! /s

@gronizherz3603

4 жыл бұрын

Exactly, it mostly literally just describes what happens, often without much comment! Like describing a view, or what happens to someone who gets wounded etc. Only rarely does he mentions comments from himself like "Making me see this prisoner made me think 'What a pity to shoot at such people'".

One of the most fascinating part of the books is during the Kaiserschlact, when he talks about taking a break after taking a several trenches, and then ‘By popular requests, we continued the advance.’

@IchabodvanTassel98

9 ай бұрын

Kaiserschlacht

In one of the later chapters of Storm of Steel Jünger is wounded and thinks he's dying. Here's what he wrote about that experience: 'It had got me at last. At the same time as feeling I had been hit, I felt the bullet taking away my life. I had felt Death's hand once before, on the road at Mory - but this time his grip was firmer and more determined. As I came down heavily on the bottom of the trench, I was convinced it was all over. Strangely, that moment is one of very few in my life of which I am able to say they were utterly happy. I understood, as in a flash of lightning, the true inner purpose and form of my life. I felt surprise and disbelief that it was to end there and then, but this surprise had something untroubled and almost merry about it. Then I heard the firing grow less, as if I were a stone sinking under the surface of some turbulent water. Where I was going, there was neither war nor enmity.'

@thegadflygang5381

2 жыл бұрын

@@sigvardbjorkman quite remarkable how far Western man has fallen. The so called "worst students" and even what was quantified as "barely literate farmboys" produced some of the most vibrant and moving writings we have from almost every conflict of the past few hundred years

@greysnake2903

Жыл бұрын

👍

@VVeltanschauung187

Жыл бұрын

@@thegadflygang5381 I don't think Ernst Junger would qualify as either a "worst student" or "barely literate". He was German, which means he came from a highly literate nation like Germany

@thegadflygang5381

Жыл бұрын

@@VVeltanschauung187 you misunderstand me friend, it was a generalized statement not directly focussed on Mr Junger. I was thinking beyond Germany and on most European stock in general. Some of the most beautiful well thought out letters I have ever read come from random soldiers during the American Civil War. My point was despite being "more educated" in modernity the populace Is notably dumber in everything from math to grammar and lit. For generations men who might not have made it past early schooling somehow managed to grow into provocative and thoughtful adults

@vagusmaximus3711

Жыл бұрын

@@thegadflygang5381 because we live in the world of overstimulation which prevents any deep thought or struggle. I know it myself being 19 years old guy.

Remarque: spends only two weeks at war, writes a novel about the horrors of war Junger: Fights the war from beginning to end, writes about the excitement and fascination of war.

@Tx290

6 жыл бұрын

EdSkywalker just finished the book and I am just perplexed at how he survived it. The number of close shaves he had, one wrong step and he'd have died

@fanta4897

6 жыл бұрын

Some troops were just unbelievably lucky. A.Hitler also survived mostly because of luck(moving from one place in trench into another just moments before it gets hit by artillery, I even heard that one artillery shell landed just before his feet and didn't explode because of malfunction).

@arnekrug939

6 жыл бұрын

Niall Horan The luck of one man is the demise of another. For every soldier who evaded one of those close hits, one or more that were behind him got killed. We are always fascinated by people that survived the entirety of WW1 or WW2 but what about the ones who managed to come through for years only to be hit by a shell or get a deadly infection months or weeks before the end?

@MandalorV7

6 жыл бұрын

Or how some soldiers will die in an accident after returning home from the war a week later or so. It, sadly, is still quite a common thing today.

@rostislavsvoboda7013

6 жыл бұрын

Jaroslav Hašek: Joins the Austro-Hungarian army gets decorated, gets captured, changes sides, joins czechoslovak legion, changes opinion, joins communists and red army, loses interests in communism and writes a satirical dark comedy.

This book was insane, half the book was basically him talking about being shelled

@kommissarvalkyre2054

Жыл бұрын

He spend 3 Years like this. I know he made "vacations" from the front, but he was 50 to 75% of his Time in a trench or in his hideout waiting for a shell to hit him.

When you're so hardcore they still need trigger warnings 100 years later

@Mrkiller836

6 жыл бұрын

It's quite telling about our current world order that a video about the slaughter of millions of people in trenches doesn't give "trigger warnings" but a little bit of German illiberal sentiment mixed with anti-British/French propaganda does.

@sandran17

6 жыл бұрын

Having a weird fetish for war doesnt make you hardcore.

@Timon-IrishFolk

6 жыл бұрын

2uyhgf5 I think it's more of a thing with the network that is, I believe, still hosting them. Their network is located in Germany and Jünger is very controversial and could be harmfull for that network.

@varana

6 жыл бұрын

Err... the warning at the start was about the more graphic images than usual in this episode and the blunt descriptions, not about any of Jünger's sentiment towards the War.

@taan1424

6 жыл бұрын

ᅚᅚ I would not describe his book as "anti-british" or "anti-french". He often remarks on bravery of his enemy. There are also passages mentioning his encounter with a french girl, at least in the edition I read.

My favorite part is when they're walking into a bombardment, and one of the newer guys says something along the lines of, "That Lieutenant isn't afraid of anything!" and someone informs him, "That Lieutenant knows what's what. If there's one headed for us, he's the first one to take cover."

@BrickCreations930

26 күн бұрын

Just read that part last night!

After reading Storm of Steel about a year ago, I'm convinced it needs to be added as an additional pairing to school curriculum who usually give "All Quiet in the Western Front" only to read about WW1. Whilst Ernst Junger definitely has a very singular nationalistic view to his experiences in the war. His matter of fact observations of of pure carnage of what he went through, can very well make Storm of Steel a far stronger anti-war novel than All Quiet. It really gets to the core about how artillery just constantly annihilates everyone more than anything else, but also the little things such as boredom, the constant threat of rats consuming everything, and how all the while technology of war keeps advancing. Highlights of his book involve him during the early war playing around with a device in a captured trench he had never seen before only realizing years later that it was a grenade, or how when digging into the trenches he and his men had to dig through corpses trapped from the dirt of arty fire covering them in Verdun, or an especially poignant moment during the Spring Offensive how after killing countless men in the assaults. Junger is about to kill a British officer but the officer pulls out a picture of his own family. Junger decides to spare him and move on and that moment stuck with him years later. It's also clear to anyone who reads Storm of Steel that while Junger may say that the war years were highlights, he's constantly struggling to reconcile his nationalistic viewpoints of the war and excitement with battle itself; with the cold distant ways his friends and homeland is being swept aside through the events of the war. It's an absolutely fascinating alternative depiction of the same events and highly recommended reading that I feel you get what you put in it. You can certainly find the super nationalistic anti-Remarque stuff if you wanted to, but I would say you can equally find a similar amount of basic observation of horrendous wartime conditions that strongly puts forward an anti-war message inadvertent to Junger's actual intent.

@lekal6247

4 жыл бұрын

Not sure how you can make his book ''anti-war''

@danielkuddes6050

4 жыл бұрын

Does everything have to be read in the context of being anti-war? Honor, duty, and a sense of adventure are still virtues today though they are no longer much encouraged. The book and man are complex. They are much more interesting than simply being pro or anti war.

@rhodesianwojak2095

4 жыл бұрын

@@danielkuddes6050 those are banned under the American Empire sorry bro

@danielkuddes6050

4 жыл бұрын

@@rhodesianwojak2095 I made so many effort posts under this vid most of them got deleted. I know the feels wojak.

@rhodesianwojak2095

4 жыл бұрын

@@danielkuddes6050oof

Loved this book. I don’t see how people think this is a pro-war book. It’s just a born warrior describing his time throughout one of the worlds most deadliest conflict. Doesn’t sugarcoat it or push a nations agenda. Describes death and carnage as if you were right beside him on the battlefield.

@laisphinto6372

Жыл бұрын

it is neither like most soldiers it is telling how it is

@THEBIGGAME683

Жыл бұрын

You a right but at the same time, the book glorifies war. But that's okay. He's a soldier afterall

@imnotyourfriendbuddy1883

Жыл бұрын

​​@@THEBIGGAME683Not exactly glorifies war. There are plenty of sections concerning the horror. It does kind of celebrate his personal formative experience of war. It is war as a personal experience and I found the overall outlook to be similar to that of Australian Frederic Manning's "The Middle Parts of Fortune". Cause is irrelevent, the big picture is irrelevent. The focus is simply what the individual experienced. Morality and purpose don't come into play.

@kingkoi6542

Жыл бұрын

​@@THEBIGGAME683War is the steel mill that purifies man of his small inconveniences. It was literally a baptism in fire. It's one of the realest and most metal books...

@sabas7549

10 ай бұрын

@@kingkoi6542he even notices that himself near the end when him and some of his veteran comrades are casually discussing the day in the midst of an offensive and he notices a green recruit looking at them just utterly awe struck by the situation they’re in

Most memorable of moments were when he was in the somme offensive and he was prone with some soldiers, among others running to the enemy lines while being machine gunned and artillery exploded. There, among all chaos a rabbit passed the front and the soldiers beside them started shooting at the rabbit and warcrying, it was so absurd he had to burst a laugh or when in Cambrai, it was so cold, but he began feeling hot, under enemy fire, he shouts "NOW THE LIEUTENANT JUNGER TAKES HIS COAT OFF, BEWARE", his unit laughed so hard after the assault that portrayed that experience of war that makes a true man. Everyone should read this awesome book.

No matter how jung you are, ernst was jünger

@laurenhulbert4410

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks dad... *facepalm*

@dl4350

6 жыл бұрын

lol, man

@MFvanBylandt

6 жыл бұрын

And probably he became older too!

@gflex3505

6 жыл бұрын

Obi Wan Kenobi shouldnt you be busy watching pokemon streams? lmfao

@canicheenrage

6 жыл бұрын

Tsss

Fun Fact: He was also among the first persons that tried LSD

@slymandrake

6 жыл бұрын

And his book about his experience 'A Visit to Godenholm' actually predates Aldous Huxley's more famous drug-taking account 'The Doors of Perception'.

@DissentingDogLevi

6 жыл бұрын

I knew he was cool.

@abyssalknight4081

6 жыл бұрын

noice

@timwodzynski7234

6 жыл бұрын

Trippy man 😂🙃

@zoperxplex

6 жыл бұрын

How old was he?

Junger is honestly hilarious. Like the way this book was described people don’t mention his super dry sense of humor. Also I think it’s interesting that he also had an enlisted perspective along with an officer’s perspective seeing how he was both

Obviously, Death got tired after trying to take him several times, just said "nah, whatever" somewhere in the middle of the war and forgot about him for another 90 years.

@eze2576

2 жыл бұрын

Probably when he decided to take a nap in the middle of a bombardment and woke up in a house that exploded on him

@cameron4562

2 жыл бұрын

@@eze2576 Its crazy how many times he escaped certain death. Like when he bent to tie his shoe and artillery exploded ahead of him. Or how he was taken out of action from a piece of shrapnel that went through a little hole in the wall past a group of soldiers just to hit his leg, and while he was recovering, his entire platoon was wiped out. Or mortars that landed right between his legs, but was a dud. Its insane. I think it was either luck or some kind of divine intervention.

@eze2576

2 жыл бұрын

@@cameron4562 It has to be both. I've found in many war accounts of men talking about having a premonition, a feeling that something isn't right. Louis Barthas mentions the same thing in Poilu, and he too has several occasions where a dud lands at his feet. There's also an occasion when he and another corporal agree to switch lookout times. Last minute, the other corporal changes his mind so they don't do it after all, and as you guessed it, the other corporal gets it.

@12345678927164

27 күн бұрын

No, death was scared of him.

I grew up on the World War I viewpoint of "Silly, pointless war. Trenches, going over the top, getting mowed down. Battle of the Somme, Battle of Verdun, Gallipoli campaign, poppies, All Quiet on the Western Front. Ernest Hemingway and the rest of the 1920's Paris literary crowd making peace with the recent past." For a military history junkie, the only relief where the struggle seemed to "matter" was the few sea battles fought in the North Sea and the war in the air above the trenches. If you read "Storm of Steel" by Ernst Junger, it's a completely different perspective. Instead of just - "We fought for a silly cause and all our friends died to achieve nothing", Junger sees war as bringing out the best and worst in human beings. It is the ultimate challenge and surviving the storm of steel leaves one cleansed of minor concerns. You see his never ending faith in ultimate victory as the Spring 1918 offensives begin. You also see the Allies of WWII over the horizon as the Germans of Spring 1918 find themselves facing ground strafing aircraft, tanks, and an overwhelming disparity in supplies. "Storm of Steel" is an amazing personal account of life in the trenches, written by a daredevil with a very keen eye for detail. His truth is much more improbable than fiction.

@danielkuddes6050

4 жыл бұрын

So many people just whinge "well, he wasn't anti-war enough". I don't think they read the book or if they have their just a bit too modern to get. These people are the embodiment of Nietzsche's slave morality. Pearls before swine...

Plenty of men survived the Great War and went on to reflect on their memoirs the horror, the carnage, the desperation and the senselessness of it. And then there's this guy.

@onlinecommentator2616

6 жыл бұрын

ArkadiBolschek A new perspective, a pro-war one ;)

@onlinecommentator2616

5 жыл бұрын

@GoldenEagle "War is the ultimate fight for existence on this earth" ~Jünger

@TheIfifi

5 жыл бұрын

@@onlinecommentator2616 that isnt pro war man... its just fact.

@onlinecommentator2616

5 жыл бұрын

@@TheIfifi You can look it up tho, he loved war.

@TheIfifi

5 жыл бұрын

@@onlinecommentator2616 That does not make him a sociopath. There are many reason one might love war. Look up Sebastian Junger(ironically unrelated) "why veterans might miss war"

I just wanna recommended the documentary ''102 Years in the Heart of Europe: A Portrait of Ernst Jünger'' (You can see it here on youtube) if you wanna hear more from the man, It was made a year before he died.

@codygranrud6212

6 жыл бұрын

Northland, have a link?

@northland7885

6 жыл бұрын

Here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/Yn6pl6p_n6eYYLg.html Otherwise just search for ''102 Years in the Heart of Europe: A Portrait of Ernst Jünger''' on youtube

@codygranrud6212

6 жыл бұрын

Northland thanks

@BigBoss-sm9xj

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@saralester3741

6 жыл бұрын

Northland Seen it and it's great Ernst Junger's life during both World Wars and after is very interesting, I recommend his work on LSD. It's a new perspective on the drug for research, he was the first to drop acid with it's creator Albert Hoffman.

I remember he said that every man has their own way of dealing with the stress of trench warfare and that his way of dealing with it was a mixture of red wine and cognac. What a beast i have nothing but respect for this man so what if he left some stuff out the fact that he survived the somme, arras, ypre, the kaiserschlact etc means he is nothing short of a legend. One of my heros!

Storm Of Steel is also unintentionally hilarious in parts. When he talks about stopping to watch shrapnel fall or his lackadaisical attitude towards his close encounters with death or injury is amusing

When you told about the fatal hit on his company I tought you would also talk about his breakdown. I am fascinated about Jünger, both his Kriegstagebuch and the Stahlgewitter. But especially his honesty about just sitting there crying after so many of his man ceased to exist has to be one of the defining parts of his book...next to the quote "I found myself at the most dangerous place imagineable...but also on that of utmost authority". Thank you for not going for the "Jünger glorified war" theme!

@dabtican4953

3 жыл бұрын

What is the difference between those? I'm looking to read about his experiences

That wasn't much more disturbing than any other of the Great War's videos.

@SonicsniperV7

6 жыл бұрын

Now granted I have yet to read "Storm of Steel", but the way Indy describes him and the excerpts shown makes me wonder if he wasn't a sociopath.

@edwardcamp3376

6 жыл бұрын

They had way more dead bodies than usual. I think that's all it was.

@genericpersonx333

6 жыл бұрын

Glorifying war is something that most Europeans are taught to avoid doing for various reasons. It is only logical for a show based in Germany with a very large European audience to qualify such content. Unfortunate but logical.

@Max_Kraft

6 жыл бұрын

@Pyro Bob Perhaps you will unterstand him more, when you not only read Storm of Steel but "The Adventurous Heart: Figures and Capriccios", "Copse 125: A Chronicle from the Trench Warfare of 1918", "On Pain" and "Storm" too. In fact this war books are his early works and he was a militant nihilist and expressionist at that time. He's not glorifying the war but the front warrior as a new "figure", who is like an Übermensch forged in the fire of a new terrefic world, rising from the ruins of the old world. There is vision of Jünger (and others like his brother Friedrich Georg Jünger, Ernst von Salomon, Gottfried Benn and other frontsoldiers) that this warriors will crush the weak and decadent bourgeois state to establish a new hierarchy. It's not national socialism but more pure new nationalism and nietzscheanism with a spartan ideology, many former german front soldiers & freikorps soldiers shared this masculinist views...

@TheIfifi

5 жыл бұрын

@@SonicsniperV7 narh. Pre-ww1 seeking glory in war wasnt odd. Junger seems more and adrenaline junkie than anything.

I assign my students Jünger's 1922 essay "Feuer" whenever I teach WWI. It's always a hit, and his comments about living at the edge of death, not to mention the romance of machine warfare, are deeply thought-provoking. "We have reached the most advanced line and are seeing the final preparations. We are eager and precise, for we sense a pressure to be active, to fill the time, to escape from ourselves. Time, which had racked us so in the trenches, a concept that comprehends all conceivable torment, a chain that only death can break. Perhaps in the coming minutes. I know it to be a conscious experience, the quiet flow of an ebbing life into the sea of eternity; I have already stood at times on the border. It is a slow, deep sinking with a ringing in the ear, peaceful and familiar like the sound of Easter bells at home. One should avoid such ponderings, such a readiness to pounce upon mysteries that will never be explained. Everything comes in its own time. Head high, let the thoughts scatter to the winds. Die with dignity-that we can do; we can stride into the ominous dark with a warrior’s cunning and bold vitality. Do not be shaken, smile to the last, even if the smile is only a mask to hide from yourself: that itself is something. A human is incapable of anything greater than mastering oneself in death. Even the immortal gods must envy him that."

@user-se1wz7ss1c

2 жыл бұрын

thank you for posting this

@frederickstudenheimer3378

Жыл бұрын

@brandovlogs you get to see the way war affects people and the reasons why people would glorify war yes glorifying war is unusual but it does happen. My grandpa fought in ww1 and was injured and always somewhat glorified it. He fought in the beginning of the war when he was only 15 going on 16 and pretended to be older and later he fought in the end of the war when he was almost 20. He did all of this and ended up abandoning his education (he started university at 14 somehow). I want to see into the minds of those who somehow glorify war as they tend to be the exceptions to the rule.

Chad Storm of Steel vs virgin all quiet on western front

@dylanrodrigues

4 ай бұрын

Ah yes, the virgin anti-war novel. Nothing says virgin like “war is bad maybe and perhaps we should do less of it”… especially the guy himself was wounded in the war.

I had read Storm of Stell ( Stahlgewittern in German) last year (english translation by Michael Hofmann). I must say it is a well written memoir. It is one of the best accounts of the Great War. After reading it I had a lot more respect about the German Army and the people of German Empire.

@Sniper_Cat_71

6 жыл бұрын

It's one of my favorite books of all time. You can listen to the audio version on youtube, it's amazing.

@TheGreatWar

6 жыл бұрын

extrapolating one man's edited experience of war to a whole nation of tens of million is pretty bold.

@cigolsimons1768

6 жыл бұрын

The Great War ^ This

@thomasemond2173

6 жыл бұрын

The Great War It’s not like the german empire and army were some of the greatest at that time.

@fishyjoes4615

6 жыл бұрын

Home Of The Brave greatest of that time? Yet they lost the war didn't they?

Storm of Steel really deserves a movie

@notmenotme614

Жыл бұрын

99z of the movie would literally be Jünger relocating from position to position under an artillery barrage. It was quite a boring repetitive book.

@Ryuell-gz9to

Жыл бұрын

@@notmenotme614 all quite on western front made it into a movie. I don't see why a proper book can't defeat a cringe pacifist propaganda fan fictions

@notmenotme614

Жыл бұрын

@@Ryuell-gz9to My point is, there’s no interesting storyline to Storm of Steel. Even as a fan of military history, I found it repetitive and tedious towards the end.

Been waiting for this video since you guys started this series.

@TheGreatWar

6 жыл бұрын

wouldn't have felt right to do it earlier

@quinnc.2710

6 жыл бұрын

The Great War I knew you'd get to it when it was time. His account shook me far more than almost any other. Thanks guys you seriously do incredible work

@nuclearjanitors

6 жыл бұрын

Same here and thank you for the quality content,Indy, Flo and company.

@fuzzydunlop7928

6 жыл бұрын

Such a strange condition we humans possess, how we can acknowledge the barbarity of war and wish for its speedy end in one respect - while in another wish it could go on forever. I made a similar comment, an old flame bought me a copy of "Storm of Steel" around the same time I discovered this channel so naturally I couldn't wait to see if they included his experiences somewhere down the line. I was born 100 years after him, almost to the year - one year before, technically, 94. I think about the life he lived and how in 1918 he occupied his place in the world while in 2018 I occupy my own and hope to have as enriching a life as him.

When you’ve clicked on every Great War Vid you’ve ever seen, videos that detail horrific events, BUT this video starts with “Viewer Discretion is Advised” Oh boy

@TheGreatWar

6 жыл бұрын

did you also click on the other two videos we made before that have this in the beginning?

@-et37-

6 жыл бұрын

The Great War Oh god, there’s 2 others? Cover me, I’m going in

@claudegreengrass9174

6 жыл бұрын

The Great War why do you put trigger warning on the video. The video is about ww1, disturbing comes with the territory

@killer25014

6 жыл бұрын

Could say that about war in general.

@MerlijnDingemanse

6 жыл бұрын

Its not about the topic but about the overusage of pictures of dead people in this episode

Indy is the best history teacher. EVER.

@turkosicsaba

6 жыл бұрын

Dan Carlin fans might disagree with you there.

@JuiceStainded

6 жыл бұрын

rashida begum It''s a great time to be interested in history. Theres so much cool stuff out there for we fans of history.

@brandonkirk5357

6 жыл бұрын

^^ ha was just going to say, don't forget Dan Carlin! I was re-listening to blueprint for Armageddon and many Junger quotes came up, then I got 'Storm of Steel' in the mail last week, and now this video notification, so getting my history dose for sure!

@eze2576

2 жыл бұрын

Dan Carlin is peerless

Storm of Steel was the first WW1 book I ever read. My Bulgarian Grandpa was the one who recommended it to me when I was 14. Years later, I'm still just as obsessed as I was then.

Thank you for that. I finished Storm of Steel this past fall and was blown away by his account of how the war was a terrible roulette game in heavy favor of the house. There was no rhyme or reason or skill in who died or who lived. Even within the closing pages where he was nearly killed for the last time. Insanity! And in the those last few pages, Junger still managed to conjure the maelstrom of dread and impending death. Despite knowing he lived to be well over 100, I still expected him to be struck down. In some terribly sorrowful moment like Winston in the finality of 1984.

I've read this fantastic book a month ago but I still can't stop thinking about it as it is a masterpiece. He describes every situation in a very gruesome way with the most fitting adjectives one can think of.

Storm of Steel gives me a strange solace. I work an awful factory job, and I keep a copy on my phone to read on those really crappy, suicidal days when I just feel like running away. It imbues a stoic perseverance, to stay and fulfill my duty.

@pumitriii6160

2 күн бұрын

For real. In addition to being an outstanding work of military history, the book really changes your perspectives on war, hardship, masculinity, leadership and just life in general tbh lol

I loved his book. How he learned to adapt to his situation and how he led his men honorably into combat was truly a great thing in such a horrible war.

@re1010

2 жыл бұрын

He was definitely one of those old school "mannno-on-manno" types that has died.

@kingkoi6542

2 жыл бұрын

@@re1010 nah not dead just no longer celebrated unfortunately

So that's where the name of the first bf1 mission came from

@TheIfifi

5 жыл бұрын

Yup!

If you can read Jünger in German. This mans writing is a rare treat which you shouldn't miss.

@pumitriii6160

2 күн бұрын

Did u also read Hofman's translation?

Just read through this one for like the third time. It's amazing how this book/memoir _puts_ you there.

Amazing book written by one courageous stormtrooper-soldier. Thank you for this post!

Finally the episode on Ernst Jünger. I read the book in my late teens... it is of course important to remain critical with Mr. Jünger but it's still one of the most important books about WW1 IMHO

@lekal6247

6 жыл бұрын

Why should one remain critical abot Mr. Jünger?

@dabtican4953

3 жыл бұрын

@@lekal6247 One should remain critical about everyone

@lekal6247

3 жыл бұрын

@@dabtican4953 sure, just wondering if there was anything in paticular

@dabtican4953

3 жыл бұрын

@@lekal6247 yeah i know was just adding that on, maybe that's what he meant too actually or perhaps he said that cause he doesn't fully agree with junger or maybe both idk

Book on the way by mail. Cant wait to read it. Just finished All quiet on the western front and it was brilliant

Such a great man. War truly is the ultimate fight for existence

George Orwell once said something along the the lines of ‘No true nationalist has ever made it to the front line and stayed that way’ Clearly he never met Ernst.

This is a must read if you’re interested in the Great War. His descriptions of violence are so sharp and brutal, it’s heart breaking.

I love this channel. I read Storm of steel 30 years ago. Your comparison with All Quiet was spot on. Keep up with your excellent work

Guy sounds like a certifiable badass.. I'll have to give his diary a read, thanks for informing of this man

I was re-listening to blueprint for Armageddon podcast by Dan Carlin and many Junger quotes came up, then I got 'Storm of Steel' in the mail last week, and now this video notification, so getting my history dose for sure! Thanks Mr. Neidell!!

Hello Indy and team. I have been watching since your cross over with alternate history hub and I would like to say that I love your work and efforts to spread knowledge Also could you do a What did Mongolia do during WW1 I can help with what I learned in school and the library if you want some Mongolian sources

@palandium__597

6 жыл бұрын

Woud love this

@ieuanhunt552

6 жыл бұрын

Turmunhk Ganba you are more likely to get heard if you support them on Patrion. I won't begrudge if you can't afford it or don't want to it's just a suggestion.

@turmunhkganba1705

6 жыл бұрын

Ieuan Hunt Thanks for letting me now, I don’t have much money right now. But I hope someone will be interested enough to suggest it there

@albertofrankdiaz6664

6 жыл бұрын

Pay patreon and they will do it.

@x999uuu1

6 жыл бұрын

Contact them in Facebook. They respond fast

storm of steel is the best war memoir i have ever read

@pumitriii6160

2 күн бұрын

I agree, along with The Glass Castle

FINALLY ERNST JÜNGER TIME! Thank you guys!!!

Reading this makes you realise just how much survival was about sheer luck. He was wounded 14 times (shot 7 times, hit by shrapnel the rest and that doesn't include the ricochets and grazing wounds) and made a full recovery while hundreds of men all around him were blown to pieces by shells or killed instantly by headshots. His survivor's guilt must have been unbearable.

Ernst's memoir finishes up at Rossignol wood. Where my great grand dad was a company CO with the New Zealanders

I finished a course on German War literature this Semester, and my prof (I believe he holds a PHD from Berlin) had a heavy emphasis on "A Storm of Steel". I'm happy to see that this episode touched on the validity of Juenger's memoirs, in the sense that it is important to recognize that Juenger published 8 total editions of his memoir, meaning that Juenger certainly had a particular and evolving way he wanted to tell his experiences of the war. The English translator, Michael Hoffmann notes these differences in the translator's foreword of the English version, particularly how Juenger tempered the memoir's blood lust in later versions. Purely in my opinion after reading A Storm of Steel three times, I think it's apparent that Juenger was conflicted with trying to describe the war as it occurred, but also simultaneously injects what could now seen today as 'anti-Remarque' themes of masculinity, honour and the 'positive merits of war' (I hesitate to call these proto-fascist themes outright). All in all, A Storm of Steel is one of THE WWI works that anyone interested in the war should read, but I think you get the most out of it if you read it critically, and maybe while reading or having read Louis Barthas' "Poilu" for a sense of contrast. Also, this was a great biographical episode of Juenger's early life; Juenger's entire life, and the evolution of his literature and beliefs goes through such roller-coaster, that he later ended up being a fan of Arno Schmidt's work!

Ernst Junger's Storm of Steel ranks right up there with Leon Degrelle's WWII memoir Campaign in Russia: The Waffen SS on the Eastern Front. Both are great books written from first person perspective on the front lines during war, and not many writers can do both.

6:35 - 7:00 I like how you raise your voice like that. I literally got a small adrenaline rush from that.

Excellent book on World War One, the best book I have read in some time.

Long time for a Literature/cultural episode! 👍

@TheGreatWar

6 жыл бұрын

we will squeeze in a few more this year

I came across this title on a random video of the battle of the Somme. I looked into it and of course found Indy and his crew already having it covered. This is a must have book for not only my collection but for my own personal consumption. Looking forward to reading it this winter by the fire with a Brandy. Or two.

YOOOOOOOO I've waited the entire series for this. I think the very first comment I ever made on this channel was "will you guys do a profile on Ernst Junger?" EDIT: Oh, also - the morbid fascination with the dead and maimed as well as the sense of isolation and smallness as a toothless cog in the machine of modern war are two important themes of James Jones' work a generation later, particularly "The Thin Red Line"

I read "In Stahlgewittern" a few months ago. Its a really well-written book.

I will read his account. He had a beautiful way of speaking and never withheld the truth of what happened

I read Storm of Steel last year and looked to see if The Great War had done a episode about Ernst Junger and thanks for doing this! I hope this makes people go and read this book.

Best personal account story from any war I have ever read.

One of the most interesting books I have ever read. Everyone should read it

I didn't find Jünger all that warmongering. I expected him to be, but honestly, for each passage that describes the "thrill of the hunt" and so forth, there is a passage that describes his courage failing or some friend being senselessly mutilated or killed out of nowhere with a cold and detailed realistic prose, that does not come away as glorifying war at all. We are not comfortable with the thought, that we as humans could enjoy something as horrible as war. But the truth is that we can and do, back in WWI, back in antiquity, in WWII, in Vietnam... Watch a documentary on the war in Afghanistan like 'Armadillo'. I thought Jünger was simply being brutally honest about all aspects of being at war as a soldier.

@TheGreatWar

6 жыл бұрын

Which of the 8 editions of the book did you read?

@Gjerstad

6 жыл бұрын

Hmm... It says copyright 1920, 1961 Klett-Cotta on the inside. Is this one of the more "pacifist" editions?

@TheGreatWar

6 жыл бұрын

Hard to tell: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_of_Steel#Publication_history

Yes Yes all of my yes. Finally a special about Jünger. Thank you very much. I read Storm of Steel in more or less one sitting and the diaries as soon as they came out. Great stuff!

I read his book storm of steel it was one of the best and most horrific books I’ve read

The thought amazes me that a man who was 19-23 years old could've been killed so many times, but managed to somehow survive and live on for more than 80 years. It could've all just ended in those 4 years and he'd likely be forgotten right there and then and become a statistic like so many others, but his life had just begun and he only experienced 1/5th of it. Imagine how many people he was going to meet in the next 80 years and how many memories he was going to make, only a slight twist of faith was needed to instantly erase those to be memories and relations from our timeline. Dying young in unfair

My favorite part of the book is during the 1918 Spring Offensive when he sees the assault troops. He talks of the young boys with shocks of hair fighting because one called the other a rabbit

One of the best and most inspiring german writers.

Finally!! Thank you, I have been waiting for years already @thegreatwar.

I've waited so long and patiently for this episode after requesting it via the comments three years ago. THANK YOU GREAT WAR FOR NOT FORGETTING! Also, the storm is steel is an incredible book to read if you find the great war interesting.

Thanks again GW crew, im imressed with all your effort into putting all these out so often, much appreciated. Have a great Monday ,take care.

I really liked that video. My father gave me that book when I was twelve and really marked me about the horrors of war. But I can also recommend some books written by french soldiers. For example, Maurice Genevoix with "Ceux de 14" (Those of 1914) or Louis Ferdinand Céline "Voyage au bout de la nuit" (Journey to the end of the night). Both depicts really interesting sides of the war. And the story of those writers can be interesting to cover in one of your episodes ! Keep doing these !

Love the show! Gonna miss you guys when its over! Do another war anniversary documentary!!!!

I am a bit puzzled why the German title is not properly translated. in Stahlgewittern is: in thunderstorms of steel where thunderstorms is plural, to me more dramatic than storm of steel.

Just got done reading Storm of steel. Great book

Amazing! I'm reading storm of steel right now, much thanks to your channel! :)

Honestly, as someone training and about to finish selection to join the British army, it definitely makes me think and appreciate that type of warfare is behind us. Anyway I love the vids Indie and crew! Keep it up!

This book is by far the best book I’ve read to date!

One of the best books on war ever written. Storm Of Steel and Goodbye To All That are must reads for anyone with any interest in WW1

Found a copy of "the storm of steel" in a local secondhand book store. Bought it and really looking forward to reading it when I have time. Thanks for the suggestion.

Glad the algorithm offered this. I was unaware of Junger.

I found it strange to read the of the jubilance and success of the Spring offensive before it became a road to nowhere. Very powerful description of momentum then stagnation.

I have been waiting a very long time for this. Thank you!!

I remember this book; my history professor got the entire class to read it and write a 15 page essay, totally worth it.

I've read both Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front and Jünger's Storm of Steel, and both are amazing books. Of course, they are polar opposites as far as their take on war is, but i see that as two sides of the same coin. Although, i have to admit that Jünger's war exploits are way more impressive

Finally a who did what on Ernst Junger

Ww1 Teacher: A guy got shot and a month later 1 million people would be dead Me: boy that escalated quickly

@eldorados_lost_searcher

6 жыл бұрын

Osiris It's downright criminal how the lead-up to the war, and the war itself, are glossed over in classes.

@peterpepa3041

6 жыл бұрын

Garret LeBuis yea especially when compared to ww2

@Corey_Brandt

6 жыл бұрын

Garret LeBuis well you’ve got to understand how much the teachers have to cover in the school year. You can’t go over everything and have meaningful lessons, but at the same time you can’t gloss over everything and expect your students to learn. So they have to teach what is most important only. Not the extra details.

I seem to recall that Junger states that the greatest level of human experience ever is a couple of stormtroop units- one German and one British in action against one another. I will have to dig the book out and find it. Epic craziness from the last living holder of the Blue Max.

Storm of Steel was required reading for a "Soldiering through time" class I took as a grad student. I's a great read. I find "Poilu", written by Louis Barthas as the French answer to Junger.

Are you guys going to do a bigger segment on "anti-Remarque" literature? "Sieben vor Verdun" by Josef Magnus Wehner comes to mind.

@TheGreatWar

6 жыл бұрын

probably not enough time for more this year. we rather want to cover authors that wrote about other fronts too.

@julianfitz806

6 жыл бұрын

Will you discontinue the chanel "when the war is over"? :-(

@andreastiefenthaler3811

6 жыл бұрын

@julian fritz "this is only an armistice for 20 years"

@julianfitz806

6 жыл бұрын

If you want toll tell history, lurn history.

@gabewood983

6 жыл бұрын

Steve Kaczynski iuhas g. B Br

Ive been waiting for this episode for years! Great work guys!

Great book and a real hero. This guy had real courage

junger and sledge wrote the two best books on the great wars imo. real gut punch with those two.

I love you guys. Was waiting for this episode for like, forever

6:33 sends chills down my spine

Ive read this book, it effected me in a way i did not expect. I recommend it ,their is such colour in his descriptions.

Juhu, Thenk you, I´m waiting for this since ever

@TheGreatWar

6 жыл бұрын

juhu

Thanks Indy, great summary of a compelling, if at times troubling, memoir from the war.