Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Germany's invasion of France in August 1914 represented a threat to the great power status of both Britain and France. The countries had no history of cooperation, yet the entente they had created in 1904 proceeded to win a war of unprecedented scale and ferocity. Elizabeth Greenhalgh here examines the huge problem of finding a suitable command relationship. Although it was not until 1918 that many of the war-winning expedients were adopted, Dr Greenhalgh shows that victory was ultimately achieved because of, rather than in spite of, coalition.
Table of Contents
Introduction; 1. Coalition warfare and the Franco-British alliance; 2. Command 1914-1915; 3. The Battle of the Somme, 1916; 4. The liaison services, 1914-1916; 5. The allied response to the German submarine; 6. Command 1917; 7. The creation of the supreme war council; 8. The German offensives of 1918 and the crisis in command; 9. The allies counter-attack; 10. Politics and bureaucracy of supply; 11. Coalition: a defective mechanism?
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