Full name: The Great War: A Combat History of the First World War

Author: Peter Hart Year: 2013 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: History, Non Fiction, War/Military Purchase/reserch links: Amazon Goodreads LibraryThing ISBNs: 9780190227357 0190227354

Named one of the Ten Best Books of 2013 by The Economist 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. Similar books: 1914 by Lyn MacDonald The Road to Verdun by Ian Ousby The Somme by Martin Gilbert Somme by Lyn MacDonald The Myth of the Great War by John Mosier No Man's Land by John Toland They Called it Passchendaele by Lyn MacDonald Tommy by Richard Holmes Death's Men by Denis Winter Eye-Deep In Hell by John Ellis The Somme by Peter Hart To the Last Man by Lyn MacDonald 1915 by Lyn MacDonald In Flanders Fields by Leon Wolff With Our Backs to the Wall by David Stevenson 13 Hours by Mitchell Zuckoff WAR by Sebastian Junger Red Platoon by Clinton Romesha Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz Indianapolis by Lynn Vincent