This book considers why the WWI returning soldiers' response to the revolution was so different from the rest of the German army and the implications this would have for the course of the German revolution and, ultimately, for the fate of the Weimar Republic itself.

1. Introduction : the divided army -- 2. The last ditch : German front-line soldiers in the final days of the First World War -- 3. Caesar without legions : the Field Army and the abdication of the Kaiser, November 8-9, 1918 -- 4. Legions without Caesar : the German Army's response to armistice and revolution, November 9-14, 1918 -- 5. The last march : the German Westheer's march to the Rhine, November-December, 1918 -- 6. Dissolution and conspiracy : the Army's homecoming and demobilization, December 1918 -- 7. The last parade : the Gaurds return to Berlin, December 10-22, 1918 -- 8. The last battle : "Bloody Christmas," December 23-24, 1918 -- 9. From debacle to civil war : the aftermath of "Bloody Christmas," December 1918-January 1919 -- 10. Conclusion : Frontschweine and revolution.