The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of the First World War

Several years ago I wanted to tour independently some of the WWI battlefields in France with a focus on those where American units were involved. I had some general knowledge of WWI - like I had heard of Verdun, Belleau Woods and the Somme - but like many Americans I had a poor grasp of the chronology and how the various battles related to each other. This book does a great job in laying out the different campaigns and showing how the frontlines shifted as the war progressed. Previously, I had understood that the front was fairly static throughout the war; this book shows that was not true (although periodically when the lines stabilized there was the trench warfare that WWI is noted for). I took this book with me and found it very helpful to supplement the information on site which was of varying quality but generally not as good as the National Park Service monuments marking the Civil War battlefields. (For example, I was unable to locate any sort sign indicating where Sergeant York had his triumph near Chatel-Chehery in the Meuse-Argonne.) It is helpful to supplement this book with the Michelin France Tourist and Motoring Atlas, 1:200,000 - 1 cm + 2 km which provides a detailed map for the "little picture". I had the paper back version so it did not add much to my luggage. I would recommend this book to persons even if they are taking a guided tour of the battlefields since it can rapidly get you up to speed.

This isn't a precise history, nor does it claim to be. This is a book that will give you a concise history with some good maps. The major battles and aftermath of the war are covered, as well as some interesting facts and figures about the war. My only complaint is that they only wanted to use a few colors in the maps. It would be nice if future additions would bring out more colors to help us better view the maps.