第一次世界大战前,对现代社会和文化发展的忧虑便普遍存在———这一点在德国表现得尤为明显。德国、法国、英国及美国的历史学家都在期望战后的世界不要完全不同于战前的秩序。战前的迹象表明,人们同时也在作一些缓和紧张局势的尝试,在历史学家中,这种情况就更为显著。德国学界的国际交往在继续,并且呈扩大的趋势。然而,随着战争的爆发,友谊变成了仇恨,不仅针对敌对国家,也针对它们的历史学家。战争双方都认为,这是一场两种文化间的战争。一战期间,两大阵营的历史学家立场和行为有着很大的相似性,即不论战前他们在政治问题上分歧多么大,一旦战争爆发,他们都几乎无条件地支持战争,尽管这些分歧只是被暂时搁置在一边,这种情形在德国尤为突出。然而,毫无疑问也有一些不同之处。在支持与反对战争的双方之间,分歧与一致同时存在。值得注意的是,在德国,战争对历史编纂学的影响很小,历史学家都不愿接受战争带来的新的现实。一战后,德国的历史学家很少再与其他国家,特别是法国和美国历史研究的新潮流发生联系;由于抵制变迁,德国历史学变得越来越和国际学术界无关。 Before World War I, concerns about the development of modern society and culture prevailed - something that was particularly evident in Germany. Historians in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States are expecting that the post-war world should not be completely different from the pre-war order. The prewar signs show that people are also making some attempts to ease tensions, which is even more remarkable among historians. International exchanges in German academic circles are continuing and have been expanding. However, as the war broke out, friendship became animosity, not only against hostile nations but also against their historians. Both sides of the war think that this is a war between two cultures. During World War I, historians’ positions and behaviors in the two camps share a great similarity, that is, no matter how big their differences on political issues before the war, they all supported the war almost unconditionally when the war broke out. Although these disagreements were only Was temporarily put aside, this situation is particularly prominent in Germany. However, there are no doubt there are some differences. Disagreement and coexistence exist between the parties that support and oppose the war. It is worth noting that in Germany, the impact of the war on historiography is small and historians are reluctant to accept the new reality brought about by the war. After World War I, historians in Germany seldom connected with the new trend of historical research in other countries, especially France and the United States. Due to the boycott of changes, German history became more and more irrelevant to the international academic community.