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    The First World War: A New History
    Unavailable
    The First World War: A New History
    Unavailable
    The First World War: A New History
    Ebook529 pages9 hours

    The First World War: A New History

    By Hew Strachan

    4/5

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    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    ‘Quite simply the best short history of the war in print . . . Strachan has emerged as the master of us all who write of war in English’ Dennis Showalter

    A brilliant and penetrating new history of the First World War by one of the world's foremost experts on the conflict. Reissued with a new introduction from the author.

    The popular view of the First World War is dominated by cliché: young British soldiers, many of them budding poets, led to early and ghastly deaths in muddy wastes by incompetent generals for reasons that were seemingly futile. As this magisterial new one volume history of the war illustrates, however, the cliché is only part of the truth. Hew Strachan argues that the war had become a ‘world war’ long before the involvement of the United States, and that for those liberal countries struggling to defend their freedoms, the war was far from futile. Accessible, compelling and utterly convincing, this is modern history writing at its finest.

    Accessible, compelling and utterly convincing, this is modern history writing at its finest.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster UK
    Release dateFeb 13, 2014
    ISBN9781471134364
    Unavailable
    The First World War: A New History
    Author

    Hew Strachan

    Hew Strachan is Chichele Professor of the History of War at the University of Oxford, UK

    Read more from Hew Strachan

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    Reviews for The First World War

    4/5

    115 ratings9 reviews

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    • 3/5
      An interesting, but somewhat unsatisfactory, book. It has some keen arguments and insights, though the (deliberate, as acknowledged in the acknowledgments) refusal to engage with other views about aspects of WWI is somewhat infuriating. Furthermore, this book is somewhat disjointed, and one would have to say that the chapters, and their various sub-sections, do not give the impression that they naturally follow on from each other. This is probably linked to the fact that the book is a companion piece to a TV documentary series. One would assume that that documentary itself could use other media aside from words (images, etc.), as well as repetition (there is generally a week between episodes after all), to link different sections. Here, repetition has been understandably eschewed. Yet, no compensating means of linking different sections has been employed.Despite these faults, there are notable merits. Hew Strachan clearly has great strategic and tactical insight, and can see the linkage between, to adapt the popular cliché for my purposes, both the big picture wood and the small detail trees. It is also a noticeably less anglo-centric history of the war than I am used to seeing in this part of the world, providing admirable insight into French, Balkan and German war experiences (though I have the nagging feeling that small countries and territories could be better served, even within the limits of a 1-volume treatment? For example, Belgium goes missing for 4 years between the war's beginning and end, while Ireland, despite being a large and difficult chunk of the UK at the time, and one greatly affected by the Great War to boot, goes unmentioned). The author also has both a remarkable breadth of knowledge and a gift for conveying it to the reader.Overall, the book is worth reading, but the casual historian should not use it as his/her sole guide to the Great War.
    • 5/5
      It's really great to read it
    • 4/5
      Great book. This is a good book if you don't really know how the first world war got started, who the players were, or how it ended. A very good introduction on the war to end all wars
    • 3/5
      A good concise short history of this monumental event. And it was an monument to man's futility of imposing his will, costing millions of lives in the process. Strachan covers the key points and strategies of the events and people behind them. One hundred years are passing now and it is hard to see at times what we learned.
    • 5/5
      If you only read one book about World War I, it needs to be this one. I think it should be required reading for all high school seniors- regardless of their academic track and barring that, at least all college freshmen. Highly recommend.
    • 5/5
      If you only read one book about World War I, it needs to be this one. I think it should be required reading for all high school seniors- regardless of their academic track and barring that, at least all college freshmen. Highly recommend.
    • 4/5
      Excellent explanation of what the belligerents were thinking as they fell into combat.
    • 4/5
      An excellent examination of the First World War. This book strikes a good balance between analysis of the sociopolitical causes and effects of the war, economic considerations, and personal accounts of the battles and aftermath of the Great War.
    • 4/5
      Companion to a TV documentary on the first world war. I found this book to be a great general overview of the first world war – not too detailed, not too scholarly but thoroughly researched and well written. The book is organized along themes, which mirror the structure of the documentary, and in this sense, the conflict is not treated in a strict chronological manner. Therein lies its strengths and weaknesses: for while it may lack clarity at times and jump ahead in the unfolding of events, the complexity and scale of the conflict perhaps calls for such a non-linear treatment. I was happy to see that the book did not exclusively focus on the western front and does show the worldwide dimension of the conflict. Color photos of the French colonial troops highlight that fact. The author also brings into play and adeptly illustrates some of the emerging trends: the clash of ideologies and civilizations, military strategies, the consolidation of nationalism in Europe and in its rise in the colonies, and the conflict’s consequences still reverberating to this day in the Balkans, Russia and the Middle East. Overall, an authoritative overview of the first world war, and a basis for further reading based on interests, perhaps time to tackle those histories the size of a telephone directory.