Although much has been written about the Western Front in World War I, little attention has been given to developments in the east, especially during the crucial period of 1914–1915. Not only did these events have a significant impact on the fighting and outcome of the battles in the west, but all the major combatants in the east ultimately suffered collapses of their political systems with enormous consequences for the future events.

Translation based on the original German edition published in 2006. Includes index. "The present translation is based on the original German edition published in 2006 and represents the state of research at that time."--title page verso.

The Eastern Front: geopolitics, geography, and operations / Hew Strachan -- Part 1. The battles on the Eastern Front, 1914-1915 -- Introductory remarks / Stig Förster -- In the shadow of the West: the German conduct of war on the Eastern Front up to the end of 1915 / Gerhard P. Gross -- Russia versus Germany: the Eastern Front of the First World War from 1914 to 1915 / Boris Khavkin -- Austria-Hungary's Northern Front, 1914-1915 / Lothar Höbelt -- Of bastards and brothers at arms: practical matters and resentments among the Central Powers in 1914-1915 / Günther Kronenbitter -- Part 2. The battlefields of concepts / concepts of the battlefields: The Eastern Front of the First World War and perceptions of the enemy -- Introductory remarks / Jörg Baberowski -- The creation of an identity for the modern Polish nation in the First World War, 1914-1915 / Piotr Szlanta -- The German people: Russia's self-concept and its concept of the enemy / Hubertus F. Jahn -- The Slavic peoples: the Central Powers' self-concept and concept of the enemy / Peter Hoeres -- Prisoners of war and casualties on the Eastern Front: an overview of the statistics and the problems facing the homeland fronts in 1914-1915 / Reinhard Nachtigal -- All quiet on the Eastern Front: German literature and the Eastern Front of the First World War / Eva Horn -- August 1914: Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Russian wartime literature in the early years of the war / Birgit Menzel -- The reality of war and the war experience of Russian soldiers on the Russian Western Front, 1914-1915 / Igor Narskij -- The war in the east of 1914-1915 and the experience of the German military / Hans-Erich Volkmann -- From Ober Ost to Ostland? / Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius -- The culture of remembrance of the First World War -- Introductory remarks / Rainer Rother -- War exhibitions: forms of presentation of the World War for the homeland front / Christine Beil -- Suppressed remembrances: on the history of the Moscow Brothers' (Soldiers') Cemetery / Kristiane Janeke -- The unknown soldier / Rainer Rother -- The First World War on the Internet / Gundula Bavendamm -- Prologue to the "War of Annihilation"? the Eastern Front of the First World War and the problem of continuities / Rüdiger Bergien.