The World Crisis, 1911-1918

This is an excellent look at WWI, as told by one of its foremost participants. As with all things Churchill, it has the great man himself at the center of many events, giving the book a unique perspective.

The World Crisis is as much a project to be undertaken as a book to read. Churchill approached his writing in much the same manner as his paintings, attempting to include as much color as possible. He once noted that he felt sorry for the color brown. This book strikes out to chronicle a complex and rapidly shifting period of time, and Churchill packs history with as much color and description as possible. Not a book for the casual reader, you need to both enjoy history and thoughtful prose.

I have read many of Sir Winston's many writings, and aftercoming across the fact that a World War One hitorical commentary by Sir Winston was extant, I proceeded to aquire the same for my library, and found it was a perfect addition to my collection. It brings to life the various members of the British Government and traces the attempts to attain a peaceful solution to the growing problems, were being rebuffed by the local interests of other countries, eventually leading to WW I, many due to diplomatic miscalculation, and errors in judgement of some national leaders. Altho, it is a bit biased in favor of the strategy proposed as First Lord of the Admiralty, (which was tried in a half-hearted manner by others of the War Council). Mr Churchill definately put the British navy on a superior war footing for the conflict. The handling of the land war was excellent, showing how a misquided leadership actually threw away countless lives with their futile stratigies. This book takes us into the midst of the War leadership on the diplomatic as well as strategic fronts. A very worth-while read for an student of recent history.

Sir Winston has a wonderfull dominion of the English language and, with the simplest words, conveys the action, or completes a description, in way that you feel part of the story. On this particular opus the style is vintage Churchill and the book is quite a delight to read. Having said all that, and to go to the point, this is not a book you want to read as your first on WW I. His is a personal narrative, of all the episodes on which he played a part, with insights that only a witness to the events can give. Large parts of the events of this war are skimmed over or simply not mentioned, the descriptions of battles are succint and to the point, etc. His coverage of the Turkish front, specially the infamous Galiopoli campaign, is an attemt to come clean on that dark episode and, this section is worth the rice of the book by itself.It honestly narrates it from the inside and lais the blame evenly and with great sincerity. If you have a working knoledge of the war, if you have read a general history of it or, for an example of a great starting book "The Guns of August", then this book will be gem on your library's history section

This magnificent abridgement, published eight years before Hitler invaded Poland, clearly illustrates the fatal miscalculations with which the European nations entered and waged The Great War of 1914-18, and presages the dreadful and continuing consequences of having pursed them to the end. The final pages are as moving a condemnation of war as is found in English, made all the more poignant by our foreknowledge of Churchill's subsequent achievements. If you want to know how our world got to be the way it is today, start with this book.