Commanded by Maximilian von Prittwitz, the German 8th Army was made up of a considerable number of reservist units and was massively outnumbered by the Russian 1st Army (Neman Army), led by Paul von Rennenkampf and advancing from the East, and the Russian 2nd Army (Narew Army) under the command of Alexander Samsonov, which was attacking from the South-East. Anticipating a slow mobilization of Tsarist troops and resources, it merely deployed one Army to protect East Prussia against a Russian invasion. According to the Schlieffen Plan, the German supreme command had committed its main military forces against Belgium and France. The Battle of Tannenberg (26–30 August 1914) was a pivotal moment in the initial stages of the First World War. 8 And although cultural historians and scholars of art history have written extensively about the impressive Tannenberg memorial that was built in the late 1920s, we are still lacking a comprehensive and thoroughly researched analysis of the role of the battle in German collective memory, its narrative articulation, and literary and mythical resonance. 7 Scholarly books on Paul von Hindenburg refer to the events in August 1914 as a major turning point in his life and the beginning of his rise to popularity, but while the Hindenburg cult and the Tannenberg myth are closely related, they are by no means identical.

6 Indeed, most studies on the myth and legacy of Tannenberg focus on the first Battle of Tannenberg in 1410 which resulted in the momentous defeat of the Teutonic Knights at the hands of Polish-Lithuanian forces.

5 It has certainly attracted much less scholarly attention. Stefan Goebel has described the Battle of Tannenberg in late August 1914 as ‘the most powerful German myth of the war’, but it seems that in the long term the victory in East Prussia never reached the same popularity and breadth of appeal as Langemarck (November 1914) and Verdun (February to December 1916) on the Western front.

4 Arguably, a similar tendency to favour narratives of tragic loss and heroic resistance over stories of complete and utter triumph can be detected in the case of the German battle myths of the First World War. While these battles have more recently come to exemplify the futility of war, originally they were often utilized to provide glorious examples of patriotism, loyalty and the readiness to make sacrifices in the name of the nation. In Canada, Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele are widely remembered – tactical victories, it is true, but like the French defensive success at Verdun achieved at a very high cost. With regard to the First World War, it also seems that failed campaigns have had a more powerful and enduring grip on the public imagination and national consciousness: Gallipoli, the Somme and Caporetto are some of the most important lieux de mémoire in Australia, Britain and Italy. In some cases, these works conveyed critical and pacifist messages: Arnold Zweig’s novel Erziehung vor Verdun and the Vietnam War film Hamburger Hill are typical examples. Lord Tennyson immortalized the ill-fated Battle of Balaclava in his ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’, while the Battles of the Alamo and of Dien Bien Phu were made into films. 3 Starting with Herodotus, the last stand of the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae has been dramatized by numerous eminent writers and poets, including Lord Byron, A.E. 2 This does not apply to victorious operations only: the tragedy of defeat and the self-denying heroism of the defenders against overwhelming forces have fascinated as well – and quite possibly even more. 1 From the Siege of Troy and the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest to Agincourt, Waterloo and D-Day, military campaigns have captured the imagination of subsequent generations, literary circles, artists and, more recently, filmmakers. Major wars and battles play an important role in national thought and collective memory.

Tannenberg battlefield today