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History of Germany during World War I
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During World War I, the German Empire was one of the Central Powers that lost the war. It began participation in the conflict after the declaration of war against Serbia by its ally, Austria-Hungary. German forces fought the Allies on both the eastern and western fronts, although German territory itself remained relatively safe from widespread invasion for most of the war, except for a brief period in 1914 when East Prussia was invaded. A tight blockade imposed by the Royal Navy caused severe food shortages in the cities, especially in the winter of 1916–17, known as the Turnip Winter. At the end of the war, Germany's defeat and widespread popular discontent triggered the German Revolution of 1918–19 which overthrew the monarchy and established the Weimar Republic.
Contents
[hide]
1 Overview
2 1914–15
3 1916
4 1917
5 1918
6 Home front
6.1 War fever
6.2 Economy
7 Defeat and revolt
8 War deaths
9 Soldiers' experiences
10 Notes
11 Further reading
11.1 Military
11.2 Home front
11.3 Primary sources
12 External links
Overview[edit]
Main article: German Empire § World War I
World War I mobilization, 1 August 1914
The German population responded to the outbreak of war in 1914 with a complex mix of emotions, in a similar way to the populations in other countries of Europe; notions of overt enthusiasm known as the Spirit of 1914 have been challenged by more recent scholarship.[1] The German government, dominated by the Junkers, thought of the war as a way to end Germany's disputes with rivals France, Russia and Britain. The beginning of war was presented in Germany as the chance for the nation to secure "our place under the sun," as the Foreign Minister Bernhard von Bülow had put it, which was readily supported by prevalent nationalism among the public. The Kaiser and the German establishment hoped the war would unite the public behind the monarchy, and lessen the threat posed by the dramatic growth of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, which had been the most vocal critic of the Kaiser in the Reichstag before the war. Despite its membership in the Germany]] ended its differences with the Imperial government and abandoned its principles of internationalism to support the war effort.
It soon became apparent that Germany was not prepared for a war lasting more than a few months. At first, little was done to regulate the economy for a wartime footing, and the German war economy would remain badly organized throughout the war. Germany depended on imports of food and raw materials, which were stopped by the British blockade of Germany. Food prices were first limited, then rationing was introduced. In 1915 five million pigs were massacred in the so-called Schweinemord to both make food and preserve grain. The winter of 1916/17 was called "turnip winter" because the potato harvest was poor and people ate animal feed including vile-tasting turnips. During the war from August 1914 to mid-1919, the excess deaths over peacetime caused by malnutrition and high rates of exhaustion and disease and despair came to about 474,000 civilians.[2][3]
1914–15[edit]
German soldiers on the way to the front in 1914. A message on the freight car spells out "Trip to Paris"; early in the war, all sides expected the conflict to be a short one.
In this contemporary drawing by Heinrich Zille, the German soldiers bound westwards to France and those bound eastwards to Russia smilingly salute each other.
Main article: Western Front (World War I)
The German army opened the war on the Western Front with a modified version of the Schlieffen Plan, designed to quickly attack France through neutral Belgium before turning southwards to encircle the French army on the German border. The Belgians fought back, and sabotaged their rail system to delay the Germans. The Germans did not expect this and were delayed, and responded with systematic reprisals on civilians, killing nearly 6,000 Belgian noncombatants, including women and children, and burning 25,000 houses and buildings.[4] The plan called for the right flank of the German advance to converge on Paris and initially, the Germans were very successful, particularly in the Battle of the Frontiers (14–24 August). By 12 September, the French with assistance from the British forces halted the German advance east of Paris at the First Battle of the Marne (5–12 September). The last days of this battle signified the end of mobile warfare in the west. The French offensive into Germany launched on 7 August with the Battle of Mulhouse had limited success.[5]
In the east, only one Field Army defended East Prussia and when Russia attacked in this region it diverted German forces intended for the Western Front. Germany defeated Russia in a series of battles collectively known as the First Battle of Tannenberg (17 August – 2 September), but this diversion exacerbated problems of insufficient speed of advance from rail-heads not foreseen by the German General Staff. The Central Powers were thereby denied a quick victory and forced to fight a war on two fronts. The German army had fought its way into a good defensive position inside France and had permanently incapacitated 230,000 more French and British troops than it had lost itself. Despite this, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany the chance of obtaining an early victory.
1916[edit]
German soldiers digging trenches
1916 was characterized by two great battles on the Western front, at Verdun and Somme. They each lasted most of the year, achieved minimal gains, and drained away the best soldiers of both sides. Verdun became the iconic symbol of the murderous power of modern defensive weapons, with 280,000 German casualties, and 315,000 French. At Somme, there were over 400,000 German casualties, against over 600,000 Allied casualties. At Verdun, the Germans attacked what they considered to be a weak French salient which nevertheless the French would defend for reasons of national pride. The Somme was part of a multinational plan of the Allies to attack on different fronts simultaneously. German woes were also compounded by Russia's grand "Brusilov offensive", where although Germany suffered less than their allies with ~150,000 of the ~770,000 Central powers casualties, were simultaneous to the Somme offensive and with German already committed to the Verdun offensive. German experts are divided in their interpretation of the Somme. Some say it was a standoff, but most see it as a British victory and argue it marked the point at which German morale began a permanent decline and the strategic initiative was lost, along with irreplaceable veterans and confidence.[6]
1917[edit]
German soldiers operating a flamethrower in 1917
Enthusiasm faded with the enormous numbers of casualties, the dwindling supply of manpower, the mounting difficulties on the homefront, and the never-ending flow of casualty reports. A grimmer and grimmer attitude began to prevail amongst the general population. The highlight only was the first use of mustard gas in warfare, in the Battle of Ypres.
After, morale was helped by victories against Serbia, Greece, Italy, and Russia which made great gains for the Central Powers. Morale was at its greatest since 1914 at the end of 1917 and beginning of 1918 with the defeat of Russia following her rise into revolution, and the German people braced for what Ludendorff said would be the "Peace Offensive" in the west.[7][8]
1918[edit]
Further information: Spring Offensive
In spring 1918, Germany realized that time was running out. It prepared for the decisive strike with new armies and new tactics, hoping to win the war on the Western front before millions of American soldiers appeared in battle. General Erich Ludendorff and Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg had full control of the army, they had a large supply of reinforcements moved from the Eastern front, and they trained storm troopers with new tactics to race through the trenches and attack the enemy's command and communications centers. The new tactics would indeed restore mobility to the Western front, but the German army was too optimistic.
During the winter of 1917-18 it was "quiet" on the Western Front—British casualties averaged "only" 3,000 a week. Serious attacks were impossible in the winter because of the deep caramel-thick mud. Quietly the Germans brought in their best soldiers from the eastern front, selected elite storm troops, and trained them all winter in the new tactics. With stopwatch timing, the German artillery would lay down a sudden, fearsome barrage just ahead of its advancing infantry. Moving in small units, firing light machine guns, the storm troopers would bypass enemy strongpoints, and head directly for critical bridges, command posts, supply dumps and, above all, artillery batteries. By cutting enemy communications they would paralyze response in the critical first half hour. By silencing the artillery they would break the enemy's firepower. Rigid schedules sent in two more waves of infantry to mop up the strong points that had been bypassed. The shock troops frightened and disoriented the first line of defenders, who would flee in panic. In one instance an easy-going Allied regiment broke and fled; reinforcements rushed in on bicycles. The panicky men seized the bikes and beat an even faster retreat. The stormtrooper tactics provided mobility, but not increased firepower. Eventually—in 1939 and 1940—the formula would be perfected with the aid of dive bombers and tanks, but in 1918 the Germans lacked both.[9]
Ludendorff erred by attacking the British first in 1918, instead of the French. He mistakenly thought the British to be too uninspired to respond rapidly to the new tactics. The exhausted, dispirited French perhaps might have folded. The German assaults on the British were ferocious—the largest of the entire war. At the Somme River in March, 63 divisions attacked in a blinding fog. No matter, the German lieutenants had memorized their maps and their orders. The British lost 270,000 men, fell back 40 miles, and then held. They quickly learned how to handle the new German tactics: fall back, abandon the trenches, let the attackers overextend themselves, and then counterattack. They gained an advantage in firepower from their artillery and from tanks used as mobile pillboxes that could retreat and counterattack at will. In April Ludendorff hit the British again, inflicting 305,000 casualties—but he lacked the reserves to follow up. Ludendorff launched five great attacks between March and July, inflicting a million British and French casualties. The Western Front now had opened up—the trenches were still there but the importance of mobility now reasserted itself. The Allies held. The Germans suffered as many casualties as they inflicted, including most of their precious stormtroopers. The new German replacements were under-aged youth or embittered middle-aged family men in poor condition. They were not inspired by the elan of 1914, nor thrilled with battle—they hated it, and some began talking of revolution. Ludendorff could not replace his losses, nor could he devise a new brainstorm that might somehow snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The British likewise were bringing in boys and men aged 50, but since their home front was in good condition, and since they could see the Americans arriving steadily, their morale was higher. The great German spring offensive was a race against time, for everyone could see the Americans were training millions of fresh young men who would eventually arrive on the Western Front.[10][11]
German troops in Kiev, March 1918
The attrition warfare now caught up to both sides. Germany had used up all the best soldiers they had, and still had not conquered much territory. The British were out of fresh manpower, the French nearly so. Berlin had calculated it would take months for the Americans to ship all their men and supplies—but the U.S. troops arrived much sooner, as they left their supplies behind, and relied on British and French artillery, tanks, airplanes, trucks and equipment. Berlin also assumed that Americans were fat, undisciplined and unaccustomed to hardship and severe fighting. They soon realized their mistake. The Germans reported that "The qualities of the [Americans] individually may be described as remarkable. They are physically well set up, their attitude is good... They lack at present only training and experience to make formidable adversaries. The men are in fine spirits and are filled with naive assurance."[12]
By September 1918, the Central Powers were exhausted from fighting, and the American forces were pouring into France at a rate of 10,000 a day. The decisive Allied counteroffensive, known as the Hundred Days Offensive, began on 8 August 1918—what Ludendorff called the "Black Day of the German army." The Allied armies advanced steadily as German defenses faltered.[13]
Although German armies were still on enemy soil as the war ended, the generals, the civilian leadership—and indeed the soldiers and the people—knew all was hopeless. They started looking for scapegoats. The hunger and popular dissatisfaction with the war precipitated revolution throughout Germany. By 11 November Germany had virtually surrendered, the Kaiser and all the royal families had abdicated, and the Empire had been replaced by the Weimar Republic.
Home front[edit]
War fever[edit]
Military propaganda postcard: Wounded soldiers cheer to the German Emperor Wilhelm II, who is in a car.
The "spirit of 1914" was the overwhelming, enthusiastic support of all elements of the population for war in 1914. In the Reichstag, the vote for credits was unanimous, with all the Socialist joining in. One professor testified to a "great single feeling of moral elevation of soaring of religious sentiment, in short, the ascent of a whole people to the heights."[14] At the same time, there was a level of anxiety; most commentators predicted the short victorious war – but that hope was dashed in a matter of weeks, as the invasion of Belgium bogged down and the French Army held in front of Paris. The Western Front became a killing machine, as neither army moved more than a few hundred yards at a time. Industry in late 1914 was in chaos, unemployment soared while it took months to reconvert to munitions productions. In 1916, the Hindenburg Program called for the mobilization of all economic resources to produce artillery, shells, and machine guns. Church bells and copper roofs were ripped out and melted down.[15]
Economy[edit]
Germany had no plans for mobilizing its civilian economy for the war effort, and no stockpiles of food or critical supplies had been made. Germany had to improvise rapidly. All major political sectors initially supported the war, including the Socialists.
Early in the war industrialist Walter Rathenau held senior posts in the Raw Materials Department of the War Ministry, while becoming chairman of AEG upon his father's death in 1915. Rathenau played the key role in convincing the War Ministry to set up the War Raw Materials Department (Kriegsrohstoffabteilung - 'KRA'); he was in charge of it from August 1914 to March 1915 and established the basic policies and procedures. His senior staff were on loan from industry. KRA focused on raw materials threatened by the British blockade, as well as supplies from occupied Belgium and France. It set prices and regulated the distribution to vital war industries. It began the development of ersatz raw materials. KRA suffered many inefficiencies caused by the complexity and selfishness KRA encountered from commerce, industry, and the government.[16][17]
Collecting scrap metal for the war effort, 1916
While the KRA handled critical raw materials, the crisis over food supplies grew worse. The mobilization of so many farmers and horses, and the shortages of fertilizer, steadily reduced the food supply. Prisoners of war were sent to work on farms, and many women and elderly men took on work roles. Supplies that had once come in from Russia and Austria were cut off.[18]
The concept of "total war" in World War I, meant that food supplies had to be redirected towards the armed forces and, with German commerce being stopped by the British blockade, German civilians were forced to live in increasingly meager conditions. Food prices were first controlled. Bread rationing was introduced in 1915 and worked well; the cost of bread fell. Allen says there were no signs of starvation and states, "the sense of domestic catastrophe one gains from most accounts of food rationing in Germany is exaggerated."[19] However Howard argues that hundreds of thousands of civilians died from malnutrition—usually from a typhus or a disease their weakened body could not resist. (Starvation itself rarely caused death.)[20] A 2014 study, derived from a recently discovered dataset on the heights and weights of German children between 1914-1924, found evidence that German children suffered from severe malnutrition during the blockade, with working-class children suffering the most.[21] The study furthermore found that German children quickly recovered after the war due to a massive international food aid program.[21]
Conditions deteriorated rapidly on the home front, with severe food shortages reported in all urban areas. The causes involved the transfer of so many farmers and food workers into the military, combined with the overburdened railroad system, shortages of coal, and the British blockade that cut off imports from abroad. The winter of 1916-1917 was known as the "turnip winter," because that hardly-edible vegetable, usually fed to livestock, was used by people as a substitute for potatoes and meat, which were increasingly scarce. Thousands of soup kitchens were opened to feed the hungry people, who grumbled that the farmers were keeping the food for themselves. Even the army had to cut the rations for soldiers.[22] Morale of both civilians and soldiers continued to sink.
Wartime ration stamps in Bavaria
The drafting of miners reduced the main energy source, coal. The textile factories produced Army uniforms, and warm clothing for civilians ran short. The device of using ersatz materials, such as paper and cardboard for cloth and leather proved unsatisfactory. Soap was in short supply, as was hot water. All the cities reduced tram services, cut back on street lighting, and close down theaters and cabarets.
The food supply increasingly focused on potatoes and bread, it was harder and harder to buy meat. The meat ration in late 1916 was only 31% of peacetime, and it fell to 12% in late 1918. The fish ration was 51% in 1916, and none at all by late 1917. The rations for cheese, butter, rice, cereals, eggs and lard were less than 20% of peacetime levels.[23] In 1917 the harvest was poor all across Europe, and the potato supply ran short, and Germans substituted almost inedible turnips; the "turnip winter" of 1916–17 was remembered with bitter distaste for generations.[24] Early in the war introduced bread rationing, and the system worked fairly well, albeit with shortfalls during the Turnip Winter and summer of 1918. White bread used imported flour and became unavailable, but there was enough rye or rye-potato flour to provide a minimal diet for all civilians.[25]
German women were not employed in the Army, but large numbers took paid employment in industry and factories, and even larger numbers engaged in volunteer services. Housewives were taught how to cook without milk, eggs or fat; agencies helped widows find work. Banks, insurance companies and government offices for the first time hired women for clerical positions. Factories hired them for unskilled labor – by December 1917, half the workers in chemicals, metals, and machine tools were women. Laws protecting women in the workplace were relaxed, and factories set up canteens to provide food for their workers, lest their productivity fall off. The food situation in 1918 was better, because the harvest was better, but serious shortages continued, with high prices, and a complete lack of condiments and fresh fruit. Many migrants had flocked into cities to work in industry, which made for overcrowded housing. Reduced coal supplies left everyone in the cold. Daily life involved long working hours, poor health, and little or no recreation, an increasing fears for the safety of loved ones in the Army and in prisoner of war camp. The men who returned from the front were those who had been permanently crippled; wounded soldiers who had recovered were sent back to the trenches.[26]
Defeat and revolt[edit]
Demobilization after World War I
Many Germans wanted an end to the war and increasing numbers of Germans began to associate with the political left, such as the Social Democratic Party and the more radical Independent Social Democratic Party which demanded an end to the war. The third reason was the entry of the United States into the war in April 1917, which changed the long-run balance of power in favor of the Allies.
The end of October 1918, in Kiel, in northern Germany, saw the beginning of the German Revolution of 1918–19. Civilian dock workers led a revolt and convinced many sailors to join them; the revolt quickly spread to other cities. Meanwhile, Hindenburg and the senior generals lost confidence in the Kaiser and his government.
In November 1918, with internal revolution, a stalemated war, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire suing for peace, Austria-Hungary falling apart from multiple ethnic tensions, and pressure from the German high command, the Kaiser and all German ruling princes abdicated. On 9 November 1918, the Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed a Republic, in cooperation with the business and middle classes, not the revolting workers. The new government led by the German Social Democrats called for and received an armistice on 11 November 1918; in practice it was a surrender, and the Allies kept up the food blockade to guarantee an upper hand. The war was over; the history books closed on the German Empire. It was succeeded by the democratic, yet flawed, Weimar Republic.[27]
Seven million soldiers and sailors were quickly demobilized, and they became a conservative voice that drowned out the radical left in cities such as Kiel and Berlin. The radicals formed the Spartakusbund and later the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
Germany lost the war because it was decisively defeated by a stronger military power; it was out of soldiers and ideas, and was losing ground every day by October 1918. Nevertheless, it was still in France when the war ended on Nov. 11 giving die-hard nationalists the chance to blame the civilians back home for betraying the army and surrendering. This was the false "Stab-in-the-back legend" that soured German politics in the 1920s and caused a distrust of democracy and the Weimar government.[28]
War deaths[edit]
Main article: World War I casualties
Out of a population of 65 million, Germany suffered 1.7 million military deaths and 430,000 civilian deaths due to wartime causes (especially the food blockade), plus about 17,000 killed in Africa and the other overseas colonies.[29]
The Allied blockade continued until July 1919, causing severe additional hardships.[30]
Soldiers' experiences[edit]
Despite the often ruthless conduct of the German military machine, in the air and at sea as well as on land, individual German soldiers could view the enemy with respect and empathy and the war with contempt.[31] Some examples from letters home:
"A terrible picture presented itself to me. A French and a German soldier on their knees were leaning against each other. They had pierced each other with the bayonet and had dropped like this to the ground...Courage, heroism, does it really exist? I am about to doubt it, since I haven't seen anything else than fear, anxiety, and despair in every face during the battle. There was nothing at all like courage, bravery, or the like. In reality, there is nothing else than terrible discipline and coercion propelling the soldiers forward" Dominik Richert, 1914.[32]
"Our men have reached an agreement with the French to cease fire. They bring us bread, wine, sardines etc., we bring them schnapps. The masters make war, they have a quarrel, and the workers, the little men...have to stand there fighting against each other. Is that not a great stupidity?...If this were to be decided according to the number of votes, we would have been long home by now" Hermann Baur, 1915.[33]
"I have no idea what we are still fighting for anyway, maybe because the newspapers portray everything about the war in a false light which has nothing to do with the reality.....There could be no greater misery in the enemy country and at home. The people who still support the war haven't got a clue about anything...If I stay alive, I will make these things public...We all want peace...What is the point of conquering half of the world, when we have to sacrifice all our strength?..You out there, just champion peace! … We give away all our worldly possessions and even our freedom. Our only goal is to be with our wife and children again," Anonymous Bavarian soldier, 17 October 1914.[34]
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ Jeffrey Verhey, The Spirit of 1914: Militarism, Myth and Mobilization in Germany (Cambridge U.P., 2000).
Jump up ^ N.P. Howard, "The Social and Political Consequences of the Allied Food Blockade of Germany, 1918-19," German History (1993) 11#2 pp 161-88 online p 166, with 271,000 excess deaths in 1918 and 71,000 in 1919.
Jump up ^ Hew Strachan (1998). World War 1. Oxford University Press. p. 125.
Jump up ^ Jeff Lipkes, Rehearsals: The German Army in Belgium, August 1914 (2007)
Jump up ^ Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August (1962)
Jump up ^ Fred R. Van Hartesveldt, The Battles of the Somme, 1916: Historiography and Annotated Bibliography (1996) pp 26-27
Jump up ^ C.R.M.F. Cruttwell, A History of the Great War: 1914-1918 (1935) ch 15-29
Jump up ^ Holger H. Herwig, The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918 (1997) ch 4-6
Jump up ^ Bruce I. Gudmundsson, Stormtroop Tactics: Innovation in the German Army, 1914-1918 (1989) pp 155-70
Jump up ^ David Stevenson, With Our Backs to the Wall: Victory and Defeat in 1918 (2011) pp 30-111
Jump up ^ C.R.M.F. Cruttwell, A History of the Great War: 1914-1918 (1935) pp 505-35r
Jump up ^ Allan Millett (1991). Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps. Simon and Schuster. p. 304.
Jump up ^ Spencer C. Tucker (2005). World War I: A - D. ABC-CLIO. p. 1256.
Jump up ^ Roger Chickering, Imperial Germany and the Great War, 1914-1918 (1998) p. 14
Jump up ^ Richie, Faust's Metropolis pp 272-75
Jump up ^ D. G. Williamson, "Walther Rathenau and the K.R.A. August 1914-March 1915," Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte (1978) Issue 11, pp 118-136.
Jump up ^ Hew Strachan, The First World War: Volume I: To Arms (2001) pp 1014-49 on Rathenau and KRA
Jump up ^ Feldman, Gerald D. "The Political and Social Foundations of Germany's Economic Mobilization, 1914-1916," Armed Forces & Society (1976) 3#1 pp 121-145. online
Jump up ^ Keith Allen, "Sharing scarcity: Bread rationing and the First World War in Berlin, 1914-1923," Journal of Social History, (1998) 32#2 pp 371-93, quote p 380
Jump up ^ N. P. Howard, "The Social and Political Consequences of the Allied Food Blockade of Germany, 1918-19," German History, April 1993, Vol. 11 Issue 2, pp 161-188,
^ Jump up to: a b Cox, Mary Elisabeth (2015-05-01). "Hunger games: or how the Allied blockade in the First World War deprived German children of nutrition, and Allied food aid subsequently saved them". The Economic History Review. 68 (2): 600–631. ISSN 1468-0289. doi:10.1111/ehr.12070.
Jump up ^ Roger Chickering, Imperial Germany and the Great War, 1914-1918 (2004) p. 141-42
Jump up ^ David Welch, Germany, Propaganda and Total War, 1914-1918 (2000) p.122
Jump up ^ Chickering, Imperial Germany pp 140-145
Jump up ^ Keith Allen, "Sharing scarcity: Bread rationing and the First World War in Berlin, 1914-1923," Journal of Social History (1998) 32#2, 00224529, Winter98, Vol. 32, Issue 2
Jump up ^ Alexandra Richie, Faust's Metropolis (1998) pp 277-80
Jump up ^ A. J. Ryder, The German Revolution of 1918: A Study of German Socialism in War and Revolt (2008)
Jump up ^ Wilhelm Diest and E. J. Feuchtwanger, "The Military Collapse of the German Empire: the Reality Behind the Stab-in-the-Back Myth," War in History, April 1996, Vol. 3 Issue 2, pp 186-207
Jump up ^ Leo Grebler and Wilhelm Winkler, The Cost of the World War to Germany and Austria-Hungary (Yale University Press, 1940)
Jump up ^ N.P. Howard, N.P. "The Social and Political Consequences of the Allied Food Blockade of Germany, 1918-19," German History (1993) p 162
Jump up ^ Bernd Ulrich and Benjamin, ed., Ziemann, German Soldiers in the Great War: Letters and Eyewitness Accounts (Pen and Sword Military, 2010). This book is a compilation of German soldiers' letters and memoirs. All the references come from this book.
Jump up ^ German Soldiers in the Great War, 77.
Jump up ^ German Soldiers in the Great War, 64.
Jump up ^ German Soldiers in the Great War, 51.
Further reading[edit]
Watson, Alexander. Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I (2014), excerpt
Military[edit]
Cecil, Lamar (1996), Wilhelm II: Emperor and Exile, 1900-1941, II, Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, p. 176, ISBN 0-8078-2283-3, OCLC 186744003
Chickering, Roger, et al. eds. Great War, Total War: Combat and Mobilization on the Western Front, 1914-1918 (Publications of the German Historical Institute) (2000). ISBN 0-521-77352-0. 584 pgs.
Cowin, Hugh W. German and Austrian Aviation of World War I: A Pictorial Chronicle of the Airmen and Aircraft That Forged German Airpower (2000). Osprey Pub Co. ISBN 1-84176-069-2. 96 pgs.
Cruttwell, C.R.M.F. A History of the Great War: 1914-1918 (1935) ch 15-29 online free
Cross, Wilbur (1991), Zeppelins of World War I, ISBN 1-55778-382-9
Herwig, Holger H. The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918 (1996), mostly military
Horne, John, ed. A Companion to World War I (2012)
Hubatsch, Walther; Backus, Oswald P (1963), Germany and the Central Powers in the World War, 1914–1918, Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas, OCLC 250441891
Kitchen, Martin. The Silent Dictatorship: The Politics of the German High Command under Hindenburg and Ludendorff, 1916–1918 (London: Croom Helm, 1976)
Morrow, John. German Air Power in World War I (U. of Nebraska Press, 1982); Contains design and production figures, as well as economic influences.
Sheldon, Jack (2005). The German Army on the Somme: 1914 - 1916. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books Ltd. ISBN 1-84415-269-3.
Home front[edit]
Allen, Keith. "Sharing Scarcity: Bread Rationing and the First World War in Berlin, 1914– 1923," Journal of Social History (1998) 32#2 pp 371–96.
Armeson, Robert. Total Warfare and Compulsory Labor: A Study of the Military-Industrial Complex in Germany during World War I (The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1964)
Bailey, S. “The Berlin Strike of 1918," Central European History (1980) 13#2 pp 158–74.
Bell, Archibald. A History of the Blockade of Germany and the Countries Associated with Her in the Great War, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, 1914–1918 (London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1937)
Broadberry, Stephen and Mark Harrison, eds. The Economics of World War I (2005) ISBN 0-521-85212-9. Covers France, UK, USA, Russia, Italy, Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Netherlands
Burchardt, Lothar. “The Impact of the War Economy on the Civilian Population of Germany during the First and the Second World Wars," in The German Military in the Age of Total War, edited by Wilhelm Deist, 111–36. Leamington Spa: Berg, 1985.
Chickering, Roger. Imperial Germany and the Great War, 1914–1918 (1998), wide-ranging survey
Daniel, Ute. The War from Within: German Working-Class Women in the First World War (1997)
Dasey, Robyn. "Women's Work and the Family: Women Garment Workers in Berlin and Hamburg before the First World War," in The German Family: Essays on the Social History of the Family in Nineteenth-and Twentieth-Century Germany, edited by Richard J. Evans and W. R. Lee, (London: Croom Helm, 1981), pp 221–53.
Davis, Belinda J. Home Fires Burning: Food, Politics, and Everyday Life in World War I Berlin (2000) online edition
Dobson, Sean. Authority and Upheaval in Leipzig, 1910–1920 (2000).
Domansky, Elisabeth. "Militarization and Reproduction in World War I Germany," in Society, Culture, and the State in Germany, 1870–1930, edited by Geoff Eley, (University of Michigan Press, 1996), pp 427–64.
Donson, Andrew. "Why did German youth become fascists? Nationalist males born 1900 to 1908 in war and revolution," Social History, Aug2006, Vol. 31 Issue 3, pp 337–358
Feldman, Gerald D. "The Political and Social Foundations of Germany's Economic Mobilization, 1914-1916," Armed Forces & Society (1976) 3#1 pp 121–145. online
Feldman, Gerald. Army, Industry, and Labor in Germany, 1914–1918 (1966)
Ferguson, Niall The Pity of War (1999), cultural and economic themes, worldwide
Hardach, Gerd. The First World War 1914-1918 (1977), economics
Herwig, Holger H. The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918 (1996), one third on the homefront
Howard, N.P. "The Social and Political Consequences of the Allied Food Blockade of Germany, 1918-19," German History (1993) 11#2 pp 161–88 online
Kocka, Jürgen. Facing total war: German society, 1914-1918 (1984). online at ACLS e-books
Lee, Joe. "German Administrators and Agriculture during the First World War," in War and Economic Development, edited by Jay M. Winter. (Cambridge University Press, 1975)
Marquis, H. G. "Words as Weapons: Propaganda in Britain and Germany during the First World War." Journal of Contemporary History (1978) 12: 467–98.
McKibbin, David. War and Revolution in Leipzig, 1914–1918: Socialist Politics and Urban Evolution in a German City (University Press of America, 1998)
Moeller, Robert G. "Dimensions of Social Conflict in the Great War: A View from the Countryside," Central European History (1981) 14#2 pp 142–68
Moeller, Robert G. German Peasants and Agrarian Politics, 1914–1924: The Rhineland and Westphalia (1986). online edition
Offer, Avner. The First World War: An Agrarian Interpretation (1991), on food supply of Britain and Germany
Osborne, Eric. Britain's Economic Blockade of Germany, 1914-1919 (2004)
Richie, Alexandra. Faust's Metropolis: a History of Berlin (1998) pp 234–83
Ryder, A. J. The German Revolution of 1918 (Cambridge University Press, 1967)
Siney, Marion. The Allied Blockade of Germany, 1914–1916 (1957)
Steege, Paul. Black Market, Cold War: Everyday Life in Berlin, 1946-1949 (2008) excerpt and text search
Terraine, John. "'An Actual Revolutionary Situation': In 1917 there was little to sustain German morale at home," History Today (1978) 28#1 pp 14–22, online
Tobin, Elizabeth. "War and the Working Class: The Case of Düsseldorf, 1914–1918," Central European History (1985) 13#3 pp 257–98
Triebel, Armin. "Consumption in Wartime Germany," in The Upheaval of War: Family, Work, and Welfare in Europe, 1914–1918 edited by Richard Wall and Jay M. Winter, (Cambridge University Press, 1988), pp 159–96.
Usborne, Cornelie. "Pregnancy Is a Woman's Active Service," in The Upheaval of War: Family, Work, and Welfare in Europe, 1914–1918 edited by Richard Wall and Jay M. Winter, (Cambridge University Press, 1988) pp 289–416.
Verhey, Jeffrey. The Spirit of 1914. Militarism, Myth and Mobilization in Germany (Cambridge University Press 2000)
Welch, David. Germany and Propaganda in World War I: Pacifism, Mobilization and Total War (IB Tauris, 2014)
Winter, Jay, and Jean-Louis Robert, eds. Capital Cities at War: Paris, London, Berlin 1914-1919 (2 vol. 1999, 2007), 30 chapters 1200pp; comprehensive coverage by scholars vol 1 excerpt; vol 2 excerpt and text search
Winter, Jay. Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History (1995)
Ziemann, Benjamin. War Experiences in Rural Germany, 1914-1923 (Berg, 2007) online edition
Primary sources[edit]
Gooch, P. G. Recent Revelations Of European Diplomacy (1940). pp3–100
Lutz, Ralph Haswell, ed. Fall of the German Empire, 1914–1918 (2 vol 1932). 868pp online review, primary sources
External links[edit]
(in German) "Der Erste Weltkrieg" ("The First World War", in German (use Chrome for English translation)
(in German) WWI at German Historic Museum online
Posters of the German Military Government in the Generalgouvernement Warshau (German occupied Poland) from World War I, 1915-1916 From the Collections at the Library of Congress
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text:
Thoracic diaphragm
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Diaphragm
Respiratory system
Details
Precursor
Septum transversum, pleuroperitoneal folds, body wall[1]
Artery
Pericardiacophrenic artery, musculophrenic artery, inferior phrenic arteries
Vein
Superior phrenic vein, inferior phrenic vein
Nerve
Phrenic and lower intercostal nerves
Identifiers
Latin
Diaphragma
Greek
διάφραγμα
MeSH
A02.633.567.900.300
Dorlands
/Elsevier
12293509
TA
A04.4.02.001
FMA
13295
Anatomical terminology
[edit on Wikidata]
In human anatomy, the thoracic diaphragm, or simply the diaphragm (Ancient Greek: διάφραγμα diáphragma "partition"), is a sheet of internal skeletal muscle[2] that extends across the bottom of the thoracic cavity. The diaphragm separates the thoracic cavity, containing the heart and lungs, from the abdominal cavity and performs an important function in respiration: as the diaphragm contracts, the volume of the thoracic cavity increases and air is drawn into the lungs.
The term diaphragm in anatomy can refer to other flat structures such as the urogenital diaphragm or pelvic diaphragm, but "the diaphragm" generally refers to the thoracic diaphragm. In humans, the diaphragm is slightly asymmetric—its right half is higher up (superior) to the left half, since the large liver rests beneath the right half of the diaphragm.There is also a theory that the diaphragm is lower on the other side due to the presence of the heart.
Other mammals have diaphragms, and other vertebrates such as amphibians and reptiles have diaphragm-like structures, but important details of the anatomy vary, such as the position of the lungs in the abdominal cavity.
Contents
[hide]
1 Structure
1.1 Crura and central tendon
1.2 Openings
1.3 Innervation
1.4 Blood supply
1.5 Variation
1.6 Development
2 Function
3 Clinical significance
3.1 Paralysis
3.2 Herniation
3.3 Imaging
4 Other animals
5 Additional images
6 See also
7 References
Structure[edit]
The diaphragm is a C -shaped structure of muscle and fibrous tissue that separates the thoracic cavity from the abdomen. The dome curves upwards. The superior surface of the dome forms the floor of the thoracic cavity, and the inferior surface the roof of the abdominal cavity.[3]
As a dome, the diaphragm has peripheral attachments to structures that make up the abdominal and chest walls. The muscle fibres from these attachments converge in a central tendon, which forms the crest of the dome.[3] Its peripheral part consists of muscular fibers that take origin from the circumference of the inferior thoracic aperture and converge to be inserted into a central tendon.
The muscle fibres of the diaphragm emerge from many surrounding structures. At the front, fibres insert into the xiphoid process and along the costal margin. Laterally, muscle fibers insert into ribs 6-12. In the back, muscle fibres insert into the vertebra at T12 and two appendages, the right and left crus, descend and insert into the lumbar vertebrae at L1 & L2.[3][4]
There are two lumbocostal arches, a medial and a lateral, on either side.
Crura and central tendon[edit]
The left and right crura are tendons that blend of the anterior longitudinal ligament of the vertebral column.
The central tendon of the diaphragm is a thin but strong aponeurosis near the center of the vault formed by the muscle, closer to the front than to the back of the thorax, so that the posterior muscular fibers are the longer.
Openings[edit]
There are a number of openings in the diaphragm through which structures pass between the thorax and abdomen. There are three large openings—the aortic, the esophageal, and the caval opening—plus a series of smaller ones.
Human diaphragm, frontal view from below, showing openings
The inferior vena cava passes through the caval opening, a quadrilateral opening at the junction of the right and middle leaflets of the central tendon, so that its margins are tendinous. Surrounded by tendons, the opening is stretched open every time inspiration occurs. However, there has been argument that the caval opening actually constricts during inspiration. Since thoracic pressure decreases upon inspiration and draws the caval blood upwards toward the right atrium, increasing the size of the opening allows more blood to return to the heart, maximizing the efficacy of lowered thoracic pressure returning blood to the heart. The aorta does not pierce the diaphragm but rather passes behind it in between the left and right crus.
The thoracic spinal levels at which the three major structures pass through the diaphragm can be remembered by the number of letters contained in each structure:
Vena Cava (8 letters) – Passes through the diaphragm at T8.
Oesophagus (10 letters) – Passes through the diaphragm at T10.
Aortic Hiatus (12 letters) – Passes through the diaphragm at T12.
Table documenting openings through the diaphragm and their contents.[3]
Description Vertebral level Contents
caval opening T8 The caval opening passes through the central tendon of the diaphragm. It contains the inferior vena cava,[3] and some branches of the right phrenic nerve[citation needed].
esophageal hiatus T10 The esophageal hiatus is situated in the posterior part of the diaphragm, located slightly left of the central tendon through the muscular sling of the right crus of the diaphragm.
It contains the esophagus, and anterior and posterior vagal trunks.[3]
aortic hiatus T12 The aortic hiatus is in the posterior part of the diaphragm, between the left and right crus.
It contains the aorta, the azygos vein, and the thoracic duct.
two lesser apertures of right crus greater and lesser right splanchnic nerves
two lesser apertures of left crus greater and lesser left splanchnic nerves and the hemiazygos vein
behind the diaphragm, under the medial lumbocostal arch sympathetic trunk
areolar tissue between the sternal and costal parts (see also foramina of Morgagni) the superior epigastric branch of the internal thoracic artery and some lymphatics from the abdominal wall and convex surface of the liver
areolar tissue between the fibers springing from the medial and lateral lumbocostal arches This interval is less constant; when this interval exists, the upper and back part of the kidney is separated from the pleura by areolar tissue only.
Innervation[edit]
The diaphragm is primarily innervated by the phrenic nerve which is formed from the cervical nerves C3, C4 and C5.[3] While the central portion of the diaphragm sends sensory afferents via the phrenic nerve, the peripheral portions of the diaphragm send sensory afferents via the intercostal (T5–T11) and subcostal nerves (T12).
Blood supply[edit]
Arteries and veins above and below the diaphragm supply and drain blood.
From above, the diaphragm receives blood from branches of the internal thoracic arteries, namely the pericardiophrenic artery and musculophrenic artery; from the superior phrenic arteries, which arise directly from the thoracic aorta; and from the lower internal intercostal arteries. From below, the inferior phrenic arteries supply the diaphragm.[3]
The diaphragm drains blood into the brachiocephalic veins, azygos veins, and veins that drain into the inferior vena cava and left suprarenal vein.[3]
Variation[edit]
The sternal portion of the muscle is sometimes wanting and more rarely defects occur in the lateral part of the central tendon or adjoining muscle fibers.
Development[edit]
The thoracic diaphragm develops during embryogenesis, beginning in the third week after fertilization with two processes known as transverse folding and longitudinal folding. The septum transversum, the primitive central tendon of the diaphragm, originates at the rostral pole of the embryo and is relocated during longitudinal folding to the ventral thoracic region. Transverse folding brings the body wall anteriorly to enclose the gut and body cavities. The pleuroperitoneal membrane and body wall myoblasts, from somatic lateral plate mesoderm, meet the septum transversum to close off the pericardio-peritoneal canals on either side of the presumptive esophagus, forming a barrier that separates the peritoneal and pleuropericardial cavities. Furthermore, dorsal mesenchyme surrounding the presumptive esophagus form the muscular crura of the diaphragm.
Because the earliest element of the embryological diaphragm, the septum transversum, forms in the cervical region, the phrenic nerve that innervates the diaphragm originates from the cervical spinal cord (C3,4, and 5). As the septum transversum descends inferiorly, the phrenic nerve follows, accounting for its circuitous route from the upper cervical vertebrae, around the pericardium, finally to innervate the diaphragm.
Function[edit]
Play media
Real-time magnetic resonance imaging showing effects of diaphragm movement during breathing
The diaphragm is the main muscle of respiration and functions in breathing. During inhalation, the diaphragm contracts and moves in the inferior direction, enlarging the volume of the thoracic cavity and reducing intra-thoracic pressure (the external intercostal muscles also participate in this enlargement), forcing the lungs to expand. In other words, the diaphragm's movement downwards creates a partial vacuum in the thoracic cavity, which forces the lungs to expand to fill the void, drawing air in the process.
Cavity expansion happens in two extremes, along with intermediary forms. When the lower ribs are stabilized and the central tendon of the diaphragm is mobile, a contraction brings the insertion (central tendon) towards the origins and pushes the lower cavity towards the pelvis, allowing the thoracic cavity to expand downward. This is often called belly breathing. When the central tendon is stabilized and the lower ribs are mobile, a contraction lifts the origins (ribs) up towards the insertion (central tendon) which works in conjunction with other muscles to allow the ribs to slide and the thoracic cavity to expand laterally and upwards.
When the diaphragm relaxes, air is exhaled by elastic recoil process of the lung and the tissues lining the thoracic cavity. Assisting this function with muscular effort (called forced exhalation) involves the internal intercostal muscles used in conjunction with the abdominal muscles, which act as an antagonist paired with the diaphragm's contraction.
The diaphragm is also involved in non-respiratory functions, helping to expel vomit, feces, and urine from the body by increasing intra-abdominal pressure, aiding in childbirth,[5] and preventing acid reflux by exerting pressure on the esophagus as it passes through the esophageal hiatus.
In some non-human animals, the diaphragm is not crucial for breathing; a cow, for instance, can survive fairly asymptomatically with diaphragmatic paralysis as long as no massive aerobic metabolic demands are made of it.
Clinical significance[edit]
Paralysis[edit]
If either the phrenic nerve, cervical spine or brainstem is damaged, this will sever the nervous supply to the diaphragm. The most common damage to the phrenic nerve is by bronchial cancer, which usually only affects one side of the diaphragm. Other causes include Guillain–Barré syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosis.[6]
Herniation[edit]
Main articles: Hiatus hernia and Congenital diaphragmatic hernia
A hiatus hernia is a hernia common in adults in which parts of the lower esophagus or stomach that are normally in the abdomen pass bulge abnormally through the diaphragm and are present in the thorax. Hernias are described as rolling, in which the hernia is beside the oesophagus, or sliding, in which the hernia directly involves the esophagus. These hernias are implicated in the development of reflux, as the different pressures between the thorax and abdomen normally act to keep pressure on the esophageal hiatus. With herniation, this pressure is no longer present, and the angle between the cardia of the stomach and the oesophagus disappear. Not all hiatus hernias cause symptoms however, although almost all people with Barrett's oesophagus or oesophagitis have a hiatus hernia.[6]
Hernias may also occur as a result of congenital malformation, a congenital diaphragmatic hernia. When the pleuroperitoneal membranes fail to fuse, the diaphragm does not act as an effective barrier between the abdomen and thorax. Herniation is usually of the left, and commonly through the posterior lumbocostal triangle, although rarely through the anterior foramen of Morgagni. The contents of the abdomen, including the intestines, may be present in the thorax, which may impact development of the growing lungs and lead to hypoplasia.[7] This condition is present in 1 out of 2,000 births. A large herniation has a mortality rate of three out of four, and requires immediate surgical repair.[citation needed]
Imaging[edit]
X-ray of chest, showing top of diaphragm.
Due to its position separating the thorax and abdomen, fluid abnormally present in the thorax, or air abnormally present in the abdomen, may collect on one side of the diaphragm. An X-ray may reveal this. Pleural effusion, in which there is fluid abnormally present between the two pleurae of the lungs, is detected by an X-ray of the chest, showing fluid collecting in the angle between the ribs and diaphragm.[6] An X-ray may also be used to reveal a pneumoperitoneum, in which there is gas in the abdomen.
An X-ray may also be used to check for herniation.[7]
Other animals[edit]
Diaphragm and pleural cavities in amphibian (left), bird (center), mammal (right). a, mandible; b, genio-hyoid; c, hyoid; d, sterno-hyoid; e, sternum; f, pericardium; g, septum transversum; h, rectus abdominis; i, abdominal cavity; j, pubis; k, esophagus; l, trachea; m, cervical limiting membrane of abdominal cavity; n, dorsal wall of body; o, lung; o', air-sac.[8]
This section's factual accuracy is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on Talk:Thoracic diaphragm. Please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced. (August 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
The existence of a membrane separating the pharynx from the stomach can be traced widely among the chordates. Thus the model organism, the marine chordate lancelet, possesses an atriopore by which water exits the pharynx, which has been claimed (and disputed) to be homologous to structures in ascidians and hagfishes.[9] The tunicate epicardium separates digestive organs from the pharynx and heart, but the anus returns to the upper compartment to discharge wastes through an outgoing siphon.
Thus the diaphragm emerges in the context of a body plan that separated an upper feeding compartment from a lower digestive tract, but the point at which it originates is a matter of definition. Structures in fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds have been called diaphragms, but it has been argued that these structures are not homologous. For instance, the alligator diaphragmaticus muscle does not insert on the esophagus and does not affect pressure of the lower esophageal sphincter.[10] The lungs are located in the abdominal compartment of amphibians and reptiles, so that contraction of the diaphragm expels air from the lungs rather than drawing it into them. In birds and mammals, lungs are located above the diaphragm. The presence of an exceptionally well-preserved fossil of Sinosauropteryx, with lungs located beneath the diaphragm as in crocodiles, has been used to argue that dinosaurs could not have sustained an active warm-blooded physiology, or that birds could not have evolved from dinosaurs.[citation needed] An explanation for this (put forward in 1905), is that lungs originated beneath the diaphragm, but as the demands for respiration increased in warm-blooded birds and mammals, natural selection came to favor the parallel evolution of the herniation of the lungs from the abdominal cavity in both lineages.[8] However, birds do not have diaphragms. They do not breathe in the same way as mammals, and do not rely on creating a negative pressure in the thoracic cavity, at least not to the same extent. They rely on a rocking motion of the keel of the sternum to create local areas of reduced pressure to supply thin, membranous airsacs cranially and caudally to the fixed-volume, non-expansive lungs. A complicated system of valves and air sacs cycles air constantly over the absorption surfaces of the lungs so allowing maximal efficiency of gaseous exchange. Thus, birds do not have the reciprocal tidal breathing flow of mammals. On careful dissection, around eight air sacs can be clearly seen. They extend quite far caudally into the abdomen.[11]
Additional images[edit]
Peritoneopericardial diaphragmatic hernia in a cat.
See also[edit]
This article uses anatomical terminology; for an overview, see Anatomical terminology.
Diaphragmatic breathing
List of medical mnemonics
Rapping (Which includes essential use of the diaphragm)
References[edit]
This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)
Jump up ^ mslimb-012—Embryo Images at University of North Carolina
Jump up ^ Campbell, Neil A. (2009). Biology: Australian Version (8th ed.). Sydney: Pearson/Benjamin Cummings. p. 334. ISBN 978-1-4425-0221-5.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Drake, Richard L.; Vogl, Wayne; Tibbitts, Adam W.M. Mitchell; illustrations by Richard; Richardson, Paul (2005). Gray's anatomy for students. Philadelphia: Elsevier/Churchill Livingstone. pp. 134–135. ISBN 978-0-8089-2306-0.
Jump up ^ Moore, Keith (2014). Clinically Oriented Anatomy (7 ed.). Baltimore: Walters Kluwer. p. 306.
Jump up ^ http://gynaeonline.com/second_stage_of_labor.htm. Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ Jump up to: a b c Nicki R. Colledge, Brian R. Walker, Stuart H. Ralston, eds. (2010). Davidson's principles and practice of medicine (21st ed.). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier. pp. 644, 658–659, 864. ISBN 978-0-7020-3085-7. CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
^ Jump up to: a b Hay, William W., ed. (2011). Current diagnosis & treatment : pediatrics (20th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Medical. p. 602. ISBN 978-0-07-166444-8.
^ Jump up to: a b Arthur Keith, M.D. (1905). The nature of the mammalian diaphragm and pleural cavities. Journal of Anatomy and Physiology.
Jump up ^ Zbynek Kozmik (1999). "Characterization of an amphioxus paired box gene, AmphiPax2/5/8" (PDF). Development. 126 (6): 1295–1304. PMID 10021347.
Jump up ^ T. J. Uriona (2005). "Structure and function of the esophagus of the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)". Journal of Experimental Biology. 208 (Pt 16): 3047–3053. PMID 16081603. doi:10.1242/jeb.01746.
Jump up ^ Dyce, Sack and Wensing in Textbook of Veterinary Anatomy; 2002 (3rd Edn); Saunders, Philiadelphia
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "article name needed". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (first ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.

[hide]
v
t
e
Thoracic diaphragm
General
Central tendon
Crus of diaphragm
arcuate ligaments
Lateral
Medial
Median
Openings
major:
Caval opening
Esophageal hiatus
Aortic hiatus
minor:
Sternocostal triangle
Lumbocostal triangle
Authority control
GND: 4079574-3
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