Abstract

The chapter focuses on the cultural history of martial violence in Europe in the age of the two World Wars. During the First World War, ‘shell shock’ became a catchword for the mental consequences of industrialized massacre. The chapter explores the question of war neurosis and its legacy. The problem of mentally surviving violence has remained a key impetus for cultural historical approaches to the Great War. The chapter analyses the different ramifications and cultural meanings of violence and concludes by discussing genocidal war, the Holocaust and the catastrophes of the Eastern Front in the Second World War.