History of the First World War

This is an excellent history of WWI, giving insight into the causes, the people, and the battles.

I have recently inherited some family papers that include records of two relatives that died in the First World War. In an effort to discover more I have been researching their regimental histories and other sources of official records. Having found out the details of the actions in which they died, I wanted to read a general history of the war to get a better sense of perspective. Liddell Harts’ book was recommended to me by my Father. I was expecting a dry military history. What I found was a vibrant, in some cases, damning history of what must be one of the most horrific wars of all time. Liddell Harts style is grand and literary. His portraits of the key characters are rich and balanced. His deep knowledge of military strategy and first hand experience of the war makes his account credible. Add to this his impartial professional military eye and his compelling style and you have the best book of military history I have read. His willingness to point the finger of blame was startling and really drove home the horror of the war. His claim that the British command in charge or the second battle of Ypres should stand charges before the national for manslaughter was shocking both in the abstract and personally. For it was in this unsustainable defense of a weak position that one of my relatives died at Hill 60.

B. Liddell Hart is one of the history (not only military) thinkers whose fertile works will be fully appreciated only when time has passed on. As usually, human being reckon others merits too much time later. The whole Liddell Hart work it's an example. Had military staffs read him carefully before WWII, perhaps the output would has been otherwise, or at least different. So may be said about the further wars. "The Real War 1914-1918" is a veritable good analysis of the entanglement that led to war. But not only on military factors, as often happens. He included political, economical and even psycological considerations. Instead of a narrative reconstruction, his abarcative and reflexive study is a pretty good proof about what a writer can do if he possess knowledge, patience, and vocation to teach. As reader can verify by himself with "Real War" on his hands ("Strategy", "Germans Generals Talk" or the others Liddell Hart's books as well), with a such kind of master, every book becomes sadly too much short. Thus, among the books I have had opportunity to read about WWI, I deem "The Real War 1914-1918" simply the best one. You won't be disappointed by your choice.

I picked this book up somewhat on a whim. I was looking for a book that would give me good overview of WWI, filling in the details left out in the brief mentions found in our high school history books. And this after reading an abridged version of Winston Churchill's "The Great War". Captain Hart's account is not for someone looking for an "easy read". I don't know of any substaintial account of this war that could be written as an "easy read". Of course Captian Hart is writing with 20-20 hindsight, so he is able to see and give account of the miscalculations and errors. Would we have done any better then Foch and the other allied Generals under the times and circumstances? I have my doubts, but we are in the "now" and can learn from the tragic mistakes of the past. If ever war was "hell", it was so in the trenches of France. Somewhere in France near the Argonne Forest rests the mortal remains of Pvt. George Britton, my great-uncle, killed exactly 4 weeks before the Armistice. In Hart's account, I at least find some facts to help me understand what happened there, and come to grips somewhat with why my Uncle died at a young age, far from home and family. RIP

Hart gives a blistering critique of Allied strategy and tactics in WW I. The story can be tidious for the reader after the intial campaign of 1914 degenerates into the grotesque trench warfare that symbolizes the conflict. Hart repeatedly points out specific tactical mistakes, and grand strategic shortcomings in the allied command. Allenby's campaign in the Middle East is presented as the best allied action of the war. Hart concentrates on the actual fighting, but still brings in the political and social aspects of the Great War. In one of the book's sharpest comments the author insinuates the English government and the English people could be accused of "infanticide" for being so ill prepared for war when they sent a generation of men to die in trenches on the continent. Hart shows what a close ran affair the war was until German miscalculations and allied diplomacy brought the United States into the war. A somber subject brought to life with gripping insights.