Synopses & Reviews
World War I altered the landscape of the modern world in every conceivable arena. Millions died; empires collapsed; new ideologies and political movements arose; poison gas, warplanes, tanks, submarines, and other technologies appeared. "Total war" emerged as a grim, mature reality.
In The Great War, Peter Hart provides a masterful combat history of this global conflict. Focusing on the decisive engagements, Hart explores the immense challenges faced by the commanders on all sides. He surveys the belligerent nations, analyzing their strengths, weaknesses, and strategic imperatives. Russia, for example, was obsessed with securing an exit from the Black Sea, while France--having lost to Prussia in 1871, before Germany united--constructed a network of defensive alliances, even as it held a grudge over the loss of Alsace-Lorraine. Hart offers deft portraits of the commanders, the prewar plans, and the unexpected obstacles and setbacks that upended the initial operations. He concentrates on the Western and Eastern fronts, but also pays attention to important peripheral events, such as the war at sea, the fighting in Mesopotamia and Palestine, and the Italian front. In the Great War, for the first time, warfare ceased to consist of armies hunting for each other across the landscape and meeting in brief, decisive battles; now continuous lines stretched from the Channel to the Alps, from the Alps to the Adriatic. Hart also examines the changing weapons and tactics, from pioneering British tanks to Germany's devastating infiltration techniques. In the final analysis, Hart argues that France provided the bulwark of the forces and determination that defeated the Central Powers, but Britain tipped the balance, with the crucial help of American intervention.
Coming just in time for the centennial of 1914, The Great War provides the definitive one-volume account of the twentieth century's defining event.
Review
"Hart demonstrates an admirable command of the subject matter and offers a compelling case for the lasting impact of the 'unwaking nightmare that was WWI.'"
--Publishers Weekly
Review
"This is an exceptional history of WWI... The Great War is a 'must have' book for the scholar and historian of the first World War." --The Lone Star Book Review
"Hart demonstrates an admirable command of the subject matter and offers a compelling case for the lasting impact of the 'unwaking nightmare that was WWI.'"
--Publishers Weekly
"A good history of the war that questions some widely held opinions...anyone interested in the war will find it a valuable supplement." --Kirkus Reviews
"In a subject of this size, the scope of the narrative can be intimidating. But Hart, the author of many previous military histories, is up to the task... The Great War is a perfect addition to the libraries of military buffs, especially those obsessed with the cataclysmic effects of 'the war to end all wars.'" --ForeWord
Review
"For a clear combat history of the war that represents current thinking and examines every major theatre, Peter Hart's The Great War is hard to beat." --The Economist
"A valuable, timely, and highly readable overview of the Great War on all major fronts." --Peter Simkins MBE, President of the Western Front Association
"This is an exceptional history of WWI... The Great War is a 'must have' book for the scholar and historian of the first World War." --The Lone Star Book Review
"In a subject of this size, the scope of the narrative can be intimidating. But Hart, the author of many previous military histories, is up to the task... The Great War is a perfect addition to the libraries of military buffs, especially those obsessed with the cataclysmic effects of 'the war to end all wars.'" --ForeWord
"Hart cuts to the chase and goes straight to the major events and fronts that mattered...This is the only single volume Great War history you need." --Mark Barnes, War History Online
"Hart demonstrates an admirable command of the subject matter and offers a compelling case for the lasting impact of the 'unwaking nightmare that was WWI.'"
--Publishers Weekly
Review
andldquo;Among the recent books on the Great Warandrsquo;s long-neglected Eastern Front, this stands with the best. . . . Schindlerandrsquo;s comprehensive research and measured judgment combine in an admirably balanced account of the disaster that foreshadowed the end of the Habsburg Empire.andrdquo;andmdash;Dennis Showalter, professor of history at Colorado College and author of Hitlerandrsquo;s Panzers: The Lightning Attacks that Revolutionized Warfareand#160;and#160;and#160;
Review
andldquo;As both an academic and practitioner of intelligence and war, John Schindler is uniquely equipped to tell the fascinating story of Austria-Hungaryandrsquo;s equivalent to the Battles of Marne and Tannenbergandmdash;with the roles reversed. With a great deal of detail and even greater empathy, Schindler brings both the heroism and blunders of the Dual Monarchyandrsquo;s doomed war effort to life. Both amateur World War I enthusiasts and specialists are forever in his debt for restoring the Battle of Galicia to its proper place.andrdquo;andmdash;Avi Woolf, English editor of MIDA.org.il and blogger for the
Times of Israel and#160;and#160;and#160;
Review
andldquo;This excellent account of Austria-Hungaryandrsquo;s fateful role at the outset of the First World War highlights the insoluble dilemma of a two-front war against Serbia and Russia. The military proved unable to cope and suffered terrible losses from which it never recovered. John Schindler has done a superb job in reconstructing one of the least known military debacles of a century ago.andrdquo;andmdash;Gyandouml;rgy Schandouml;pflin, member of the European Parliament for Hungary and author of Politics, Illusions, Fallacies
Review
andldquo;Schindler has written a most exciting account not just of the Galician campaign of 1914 but of its significance for the collapse of Austria-Hungary during the First World War. . . . The unfolding tragedy of a million lives lost by 1918 due to military incompetence (not the nationality question) makes heartbreaking reading. Yet the reader comes away from this book astonished by the bravery of millions of men of a dozen nationalities, all betrayed by an ignorance of strategy, tactics and logistics at the very top of the imperial army.andrdquo;andmdash;Alan Sked, professor of international history at the London School of Economics and author of Radetzky: Imperial Victor and Military Geniusand#160;and#160;and#160;
Synopsis
World War I was the single most important event of the twentieth century, shaping the world that we live in today. A truly global conflict, it changed the course of world history: empires fell, powerful political forces were unleashed, dreadful post-war social and economic conditions left millions in a state of despair. Understanding the Great War, and the decisions that drove its progression, is imperative to understanding the history of the twentieth century and the present day.
In The Great War, acclaimed historian Peter Hart explores World War I in arenas across the globe, combining historical scholarship with vivid and unfamiliar eye-witness accounts from generals, kings, and ordinary soldiers. He focuses in particular on the military conduct of the Great War, explaining how technology and tactics developed over the course of the engagement, and considers the strategic imperatives that drove commanders into battle. With an enthralling narrative that follows the most significant battles and illuminates key players in every arena, The Great War is a masterful history of the devastating conflict whose 100th anniversary is fast approaching.
Synopsis
Named one of the Ten Best Books of 2013 by The EconomistWorld War I altered the landscape of the modern world in every conceivable arena. Millions died; empires collapsed; new ideologies and political movements arose; poison gas, warplanes, tanks, submarines, and other technologies appeared. "Total war" emerged as a grim, mature reality.
In The Great War, Peter Hart provides a masterful combat history of this global conflict. Focusing on the decisive engagements, Hart explores the immense challenges faced by the commanders on all sides. He surveys the belligerent nations, analyzing their strengths, weaknesses, and strategic imperatives. Russia, for example, was obsessed with securing an exit from the Black Sea, while France--having lost to Prussia in 1871, before Germany united--constructed a network of defensive alliances, even as it held a grudge over the loss of Alsace-Lorraine. Hart offers deft portraits of the commanders, the prewar plans, and the unexpected obstacles and setbacks that upended the initial operations.
Synopsis
Although southern Poland and western Ukraine are not often thought of in terms of decisive battles in World War I, the impulses that precipitated the Battle for Galicia in August 1914andmdash;and the unprecedented carnage that resultedandmdash;effectively doomed the Austro-Hungarian Empire just six weeks into the war.
In Fall of the Double Eagle, John R. Schindler explains how Austria-Hungary, despite military weakness and the foreseeable ill consequences, consciously chose war in that fateful summer of 1914. Through close examination of the Austro-Hungarian military, especially its elite general staff, Schindler shows how even a war that Vienna would likely lose appeared preferable to the andldquo;foul peaceandrdquo; the senior generals loathed. After Serbia outgunned the polyglot empire in a humiliating defeat, and the offensive into Russian Poland ended in the massacre of more than four hundred thousand Austro-Hungarians in just three weeks, the empire never recovered. While Austria-Hungaryandrsquo;s ultimate defeat and dissolution were postponed until the autumn of 1918, the late summer of 1914 on the plains and hills of Galicia sealed its fate.
About the Author
John R. Schindler is a strategist, military historian, and security consultant whose work focuses on strategy, intelligence, and terrorism. Previously he was an intelligence analyst with the National Security Agency and a professor at the U.S. Naval War College. He is the author of Isonzo: The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War and Unholy Terror: Bosnia, Al-Qaandrsquo;ida, and the Rise of Global Jihad and the coauthor of The Terrorist Perspectives Project: Strategic and Operational Views of Al-Qaida and Associated Movements.
Table of Contents
Preface
1 The Road to War
2 The Western Front, 1914
3 The Eastern Front, 1914
4 The Sea War, 1914-15
5 The Western Front, 1915
6 The Eastern Front, 1915
7 Gallipoli, 1915
8 Salonika, 1915-18
9 The Western Front, 1916
10 The Eastern Front, 1916
11 The Sea War, 1916
12 Mesopotamia, 1914-18
13 The Eastern Front, 1917-18
14 The Sea War, 1917-18
15 Western Front, 1917
16 Italy 1915-18
17 Palestine, 1915-18
18 The Western Front, 1918
19 A World Without War?