The current study analyses the ideas and ideals of Ernst Jünger (1895-1998) in his original war diary from the First World War (1914-1918). The more general aim is to shed light on the intellectual history of the soldiers on the Western Front through a case study, not by generalising, but by interpreting diary writing as an activity that supports an individual’s intellectual survival. Jünger’s original diaries were chosen as the case, as they have been subject to relatively little research this far, despite the general attention Jünger and his novel version of the diary In Stahlgewittern ([In] Storms of Steel) have received.

The research questions of the current study can be separated to three interlinked groups. The first group of research questions asks what kind of ideas of war, of being a soldier and of leadership are present in Jünger’s writing, what kind of ideals relate to them and how do they change along the years. The term ‘ideas’ refers here to the way of understanding certain concepts and notions central in the diary, such as war, duty or masculinity. The term ‘ideals’, in turn refers here to things that are appreciated or found worth striving for.

The second set of research questions deals with the dynamic of Jünger’s writing in relation to his ideas and ideals. How does Jünger express his ideas and ideals by writing? How does he interpret his surrounding realities of trench warfare in terms of his dominant ideas and ideals and how does he react in his diary to the challenges that these realities pose to his thinking? How do continuity and omissions serve maintaining his ideas and ideals as well as his positive attitude towards war?

The last set of research questions asks how the dynamics of Jünger’s writing can be understood in the context of the First World War and what kind of wider implications does the analysis offer. How do his ideas and ideals correspond with their more widely shared contemporary counterparts? Further, how does interpreting diary writing as an activity supporting intellectual survival contribute to understanding wider phenomena, such as the complexity of the constitution of combat motivation in the First World War? The term ‘intellectual survival’ refers to the necessity of upholding sustainable understandings of the surrounding reality in order to survive under adverse conditions.

The most important primary source of the current study is Jünger’s original war diary that was published as a complete edition in 2010. The analysis is complemented with his wartime letters to his family. All Jünger’s letters that have survived were published in 2014 with a selection of answer letters. As the letters support the conclusions made on the basis of the diary, they are not analysed extensively but used to shed light on central points of analysis on the diary. The material was approached with traditional historical methodology of critical reading of the sources in relation to their relevant contexts. On a practical level, the analysis was completed in three main phases. First, the relevant diary entries were coded to the different idea and ideal groups that presented themselves, after which the material was analysed in relation to how Jünger dealt with them in writing. Last, the analysis was detached from Jünger’s actual writing and his diary writing was conceptualised as an activity serving his intellectual survival, and attention was paid to how this interpretation sheds light on wider phenomena, such as the coping and the combat motivation of soldiers of the First World War.

The analysis resulted in recognising that initially Jünger understood war as an adventure. Moreover, his initial idea of warfare was one of direct engagement with the enemy, supported by contemporary emphasis on offensive tactics and similar ideas present in literature. Jünger’s idea of an ideal soldier furthermore corresponded to a significant extent with the contemporary military masculine ideals, central features of which were courage and self-control.

Jünger adapted his ideas and ideals in his writing during the time of the war. He served as an officer from late 1915 onwards and consequently a new ideal of leadership emerged. This ideal corresponded with his earlier ideals of courage and self-control, and aspiring to be a skilful and courageous leader provided Jünger with a chance to fulfil many of his initial ideals and to a significant extent interpret the life of a front officer in terms similar to those of his initial search for adventure.

Further, Jünger’s writing was characterised by continuity on multiple levels, as he constantly interpreted the surrounding realities according to his ideas and ideals. Dismissing, omitting or censoring thoughts that did not correspond with his dominant ideas and ideals was also typical of his diary. These traits revealed that Jünger actively reacted to the challenges the surrounding realities of trench warfare posed to his thinking. When this central feature of Jünger’s writing was analysed as a phenomenon of intellectual survival, wider implications of this study suggested themselves. Jünger’s writing exemplified both how writing could support coping in the First World War and how ideas, ideals and combat motivation are interlinked.