''Whenever the airship flew over a village, or whenever she flew over a lonely field on which some peasants were working, a tremendous shout of joy rose up in the air towards Count Zeppelin's miracle ship which, in the imagination of all who saw her, suggested some supernatural creature.'' As this paean to the Zeppelin from an early-20th-century issue of the German newspaper Thüringer Zeitung makes clear, the airship inspired a unique sense of awe. These phenomenal rigid, lighter-than-air craftthe invention of Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin (1838-1917)approached the size of a small village. Although they moved slowly, there was no mistaking their excitingor ominouspotential. Friends of the machine believed that it would revolutionize commerce, carry scientists to otherwise inaccessible places, and deliver bombs with great accuracy. Before the airplane proved its reliability and superior practicalityand before the fiery crash of the Hindenburg in 1937Zeppelins made a deep impression on the minds of Europeans, especially in Germany. In Zeppelin! Guillaume de Syon offers a captivating history of this technological wonder, from development and production to its impact on German culture and society. De Syon chronicles the various ways in which the airships were usedtransport, war, exploration, and propagandaand details the attempts by successive German governmentsautocratic, democratic, fascist to co-opt Count Zeppelin's invention. Between 1900 and 1939, Germans saw the Zeppelin as a symbol of national progress, and de Syon uses the airship to better understand the dynamics of German society and the place of technology within it. Though few people actually flew in any of the 119 Zeppelins built, the rigid airship made one of the strongest impressions of any flying machine on Europe's collective memory. Six decades later, there is still a mystique surrounding these technological leviathans, one that Zeppelin! addresses with insight and wit.
Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction: Visions of the Sublime 1 Balloons into Dirigibles The Floating State From Enthusiasm to Obsession: The First Zeppelin Building a Zeppelin Culture Collapse and Recovery
2 The Machine above the Garden: Airship Culture in Imperial Germany Zeppelinism and Its Expressions How German Is It? Finding a Use for the Airship
3 Zeppelin Reality and Myth in the Great War Zeppelinitis Technology and War Planning Demonizing the Dirigible Fantasy and Fact of Zeppelin Operations
4 The Airship as a Business Tool in Weimar Culture Rescuing the Airship from Oblivion Nostalgia and Fund-raising Symbol in the Best and Worst of Times
5 Ideologies of Science and Adventure: The Artic Airship Polar Dreams Conflicting Projects Selling Science as Entertainment
6 Political Zeppelinism: Manipulating Airship Culture, 1933-1939 Nazifying the Airship Airship Travel Comes of Age Helium, Hydrogen, and Humble Endings
Conclusion List of Abbreviations Notes Essay on Sources and Methods Index
""Of value for anyone interested in aviation, the Great War, and the inter-war period.""
