History Professor's Article Published in Military History Journal

William J. Astore, associate professor of history in the School of Integrated Studies at Pennsylvania College of Technology, recently published an article in MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History (Autumn 2007).

Astore's article, "The Tragic Pursuit of Total Victory," examines the efforts of Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and Gen. Erich Ludendorff to obtain victory for Germany in World War I.

Astore argues that Hindenburg and Ludendorff's quest for total military victory ultimately exhausted the German Army as well as the German people. Instead of taking responsibility for Germany's defeat, they deflected the blame by promoting a malicious myth that the army had been "stabbed in the back" by disloyal elements at home, setting the stage for the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in the 1930s.

The article suggests what can happen when military leaders, and not elected officials, gain mastery over national strategy and policy.

Astore holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford. He earned a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor's degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

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