Glossary entry (derived from question below)
German term or phrase:
Materialschlacht
English translation:
mechanized warfare
Added to glossary by
Susan Welsh
Jun 8, 2009 19:44
15 yrs ago
3 viewers *
German term
United Kingdom
For the Love of Language
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English
Materialschlacht
German to English
Art/Literary
Military / Defense
I'm sure this has been asked before, but I can't find it if so. dict.cc gives "battle of attrition" but this doesn't seem to quite fit the definitions I've seen.
It comes from a section on Czech-German relations in Kafka's Prague.
"Bei den Tschechen war viel die Rede von Freiheit und Selbstbestimmung, von demokratischer Erneuerung, Umbau des Reiches und schließlich auch von der Erneuerung der tschechischen Staatlichkeit - gewiß
große Worte und hehre Ziele. Dann der Weltkrieg:
In den **Materialschlachten** und Sturmangriffen verröchelten die letzten Kräfte des alten Österreich, und als es am Boden lag, bot sich die einmalige Gelegenheit - die Tschechen wußten die Gunst der Stunde zu nutzen."
It comes from a section on Czech-German relations in Kafka's Prague.
"Bei den Tschechen war viel die Rede von Freiheit und Selbstbestimmung, von demokratischer Erneuerung, Umbau des Reiches und schließlich auch von der Erneuerung der tschechischen Staatlichkeit - gewiß
große Worte und hehre Ziele. Dann der Weltkrieg:
In den **Materialschlachten** und Sturmangriffen verröchelten die letzten Kräfte des alten Österreich, und als es am Boden lag, bot sich die einmalige Gelegenheit - die Tschechen wußten die Gunst der Stunde zu nutzen."
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 | mechanized warfare |
Susan Welsh
|
| 4 +2 | battle of attrition |
Paul Dunne
|
| 3 | material warfare |
Stephen Gobin
|
References
| Nach |
hazmatgerman (X)
|
Change log
Jun 12, 2009 14:32: Susan Welsh Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
5 hrs
Susan Welsh
United States
United States
Native in English
United States
Psychology, economics, politics
Native in: English 
Works in: Russian to English, German to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
8
Selected
mechanized warfare
Looking at Linguee online dictionary and googling, I can see that this is translated in quite various ways, usually pertaining to the massive armed confrontations of World War I.
Cassels DE-EN-DE dictionary has "a battle in which superior equipment is decisive." See below for the Wikipedia entry.
The meaning is pretty clear, but the Cassels version is too wordy for your purposes. I think Stephen's proposal makes little sense--even warfare with bows and arrows is "material." Rather than suggest something rather generic like "massive battles," I decided to choose "mechanized warfare" (one of the Linguee entries, I believe), since that was the particular nature of warfare in World War I, for the first time in history, and therefore coheres with the idea in Cassels.
Hope this helps.
Cassels DE-EN-DE dictionary has "a battle in which superior equipment is decisive." See below for the Wikipedia entry.
The meaning is pretty clear, but the Cassels version is too wordy for your purposes. I think Stephen's proposal makes little sense--even warfare with bows and arrows is "material." Rather than suggest something rather generic like "massive battles," I decided to choose "mechanized warfare" (one of the Linguee entries, I believe), since that was the particular nature of warfare in World War I, for the first time in history, and therefore coheres with the idea in Cassels.
Hope this helps.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Combined this with hazmatgerman's comment to come up with "mechanised battles of attrition"."
20 mins
Stephen Gobin
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
United Kingdom
Soaring over the language barrier
Native in: English 
Works in: German to English, French to English
material warfare
AFAIK, this term seems to be particularly used with reference to WW1, but I'm not an historian. See whether any other contributors agree or disagree with "material warfare".
+2
6 days
battle of attrition
I've put "battle of attrition", but that isn't quite it. Literally, it's "battle of material". In fact, there is no English term for this -- specialist writers often just use "Materialschlacht". It isn't quite a battle of attrition, as that's more "Ermattung" as in e.g. "Ermattungsstrategie". Essentially, it's a battle where brawn counts more than brain. A head-on pitched battle between the mass of two opposing forces where numbers, weight of firepower, mass, rather than some clever piece of generalship, will be the decided elements, would be a typical "Materialschlacht".
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Note added at 6 days (2009-06-15 11:35:19 GMT) Post-grading
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"Mechanised warfare", by the way, is just plain wrong. Look at the original context -- mechanised warfare in the Great War? I think not.
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Note added at 6 days (2009-06-15 11:35:19 GMT) Post-grading
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"Mechanised warfare", by the way, is just plain wrong. Look at the original context -- mechanised warfare in the Great War? I think not.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
psteel
: The term Mechanized Warfare in military history refers to warfare in which the bulk of the combat units fight in mostly tracked vehicles. A war of attrition by defination implies a war where the side able to supply more men and material wins
719 days
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| agree |
Progressus
: Agreed. Mechanized warfare emerged only in WW2.
1830 days
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Reference comments
13 hrs
Reference:
Nach
meinem Verständnis ist speziell für den WW I der Begriff untrennbar mit dem extremen Materialverbrauch und den exorbitanten Menschenverlusten (= Menschenmaterial) verknüpft, so daß es letztendlich auf den größeren Vorrat an beidem ankam ohne taktische Überlegungen. Darum, und auch mit Blick auf die moderne Verwendung identischen Inhaltes (siehe ref) halte ich battle of attrition in Ihrem WKI-Kontext für den passenden Ausdruck. Gruß.
Die site hat meine Quelle im Feld nicht akzeptiert. http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57863
Die site hat meine Quelle im Feld nicht akzeptiert. http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57863
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