The First World War

The author is one of the better experts on the First World War and has a detailed but fluid writing style. Excellent book !Book store service was great too, book was as promised and speedy on delivery. Thank You All.

This one-volume history of the Great War differs from others I have read over the years. While most of them focus on the trench warfare of the Western Front, emphasizing battles like Ypres, Verdun, The Somme, and so on, this book gives far more space to action in the East, in the Balkans, in Africa, in the Middle East, and even in the Pacific. This change of focus, I can see, has been disconcerting to other reviewers. I find it welcome, interesting and refreshing, perhaps a useful corrective.So much of our consciousness of the Great War comes, of course, from icons of the West, whether it's Owen, Sassoon or Remarque or Junger. This, perhaps, has had something of a distorting effect on our understanding of this conflict, blinding us as to how events in Austria-Hungary, Poland, and Italy shaped what happened in the West and elsewhere. Strachan treats the Great War as truly a World War, and says much about the interrelationships of various theaters as well as local politics.I wouldn't call this, though, a military history. It's more a geopolitical history that provides some treatment of strategy and tactics. For instance, it discusses economics (to include stock and commodity prices), industrial development, and local agriculture in a way I've never seen in such a book before. It discusses diplomacy and national politics more than it does Petain's problems resupplying Verdun, or the German adoption of Hutier tactics in 1918. So if you are looking for a book on how the war was actually fought by the opposing forces, this isn't for you -- try Keegan's history instead.I also would never suggest that this be someone's first read as a World War I history. It's clear from the beginning that the author presupposes a lot of knowledge on the part of his reader about prewar Europe, particularly prewar diplomacy. Lots of names are dropped that would only be recognized by those already well read on the subject. It seems also that Strachan is comfortable not relaying in depth events in the West as he takes them to be well known (hence, Passchendale merits about a page or so, almost as if in passing).I enjoy Strachan's deft writing. He knows where and how to drop in the revealing statistic, the pregnant quote, the striking anecdote. He keeps the narrative going, and rarely wastes a word. And obviously he has magisterial knowledge of the War. I'm tempted now to take on his multivolume history (after I work down the current reading queue a bit).The book makes excellent use of pictures. It provides a generous section of color plates, most of which I had never seen before, and drops in many fascinating black and white pictures at relevant moments -- all are well selected to reveal the character of events.My main complaint -- and I complain about this often with histories -- is that the book has too few maps. The maps it provides at the beginning are helpful, of course, but when considering specific actions readers like me really beg for more local maps showing unit positions, objectives, and so on.

Hew Strachan’s The First World War reads like a collection of lecture notes—full of useful and interesting information, but lacking the needed professorial asides. Further, some of Strachan’s insights would be lost on a reader lacking in a basic understanding of the Great War.Those cautions considered, The First World War is a welcome addition to the literature of the first modern total war. Its ten chapters are more thematic than chronological, lending to a more complete appreciation for aspects of the World War I that are typically left unexamined by other authors.“Chapter 1- To Arms” explores the policy reasons that compelled the European powers to go to war. Austria-Hungary, a multi-ethnic empire, found its internal power structures profoundly threatened by the growing unrest on its southern border. Strachan lends his deep knowledge to helping today’s reader comprehend how such a devastating war could start when few at the time expected it:“For Austria-Hungary the situation in the Balkans was as much a matter of domestic politics as of foreign policy. The empire consisted of eleven different nationalities, and many of them had ethnic links to independent states that lay beyond its frontiers. Austria itself was largely German, but there were Italians in Tyrol, Slovenes in Styria, Czechs in Bohemia and Moravia, and Poles and Ruthenes in Galicia. In the Hungarian half of the so-called Dual Monarchy, the Magyars were politically dominant but numerically in a minority, hemmed in by Slovaks to the north, Romanians to the east, and Croats to the south.”Such geographical and ethnic realities greatly magnified the potential threat of local events, setting in motion what would become a massive conflict.Chapters seven and eight expound on parts of the war often glossed over: the effect of the blockade on Germany’s war production and the morale of the Central powers home front, and the revolutionary forces unleashed by total war’s privations.The First World War is a needed addition to any serious student’s library of contemporary war.Reviewer: A former California State Assemblyman and retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, Chuck DeVore is an executive with the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the author of three books, the most recent being, "The Crisis of the House Never United, A Novel of Early America."

Other reviewers have said this before; the author is without doubt a leading authority on the Great War but he’s never a writer. He has made a deeply interesting subject desperately dull. Unlike a wonderful book on Vietnam that I have just completed, there is no “human side” to his narrative. There is an abundance of why things happened but negligible commentary about how battles took place. He also fails to differentiate between injured and death. His statistics are very coldly presented and with little context.It’s detached and clinical but I suspect that’s intended. Were I one of his students, I’d have great difficulty in remaining engaged with one of his lectures.Also, it’s non-linear replete with grammatical errors; that’s puzzling. The editor has not covered himself in glory.Any redeeming factors? Yup! I now know to avoid this author in the future. Stick to lecturing, not writing! This is a very hard read, strictly for academics.

This is a another, albeit recent, volume in the already crowded range of books about the First World War. What marks it out from the rest is that Strachan takes something of a revisionist line on the conflict - the 'new' of the title - and also writes extremely openly for an academic historian making the text accessible and lively whilst being incisive and rigorous with his sources and arguments. One early example of the 'new' approach is that Strachan problematises the figures usually given for deaths during the 1WW, not to challenge the fact that very many people were of course killed, but to illustrate the ways in which historians and others have 'constructed' the history of the 1WW, including the mortality figures. I am enjoying reading this book but, as Strachan points out, our understanding of the 1WW will continue to develop and be disputed - there is no 'true' history of it.An added benefit in the Kindle version is that one can quickly move to and from maps and see the illustrations very clearly without excessive leafing through what is a large book

It's is usually difficult to teach and help someone grasp the complex political system between the empires of Europe in 1914. This book however does it perfectly. Very informative and goes into plenty of detail.My only critique is that occasionally, the statistics are very coldly presented and with little context.

Understanding the complex political system between the various empires of Europe in 1914 seemed boring and difficult and not clearly linked in my mind to the make up of today - this entertaining and well written book made it very clear for me and gets you away from the "overworked" western front to fully realize what a world war includes. Excellent framework for more detailed study of the various chapters.

Until recently my knowledge of the First World War was pretty minimal, but buoyed on by the various centenary commemorations and the knowledge that one of my relatives died fighting in Belgium, I decided to seek out a readable yet comprehensive history of the conflict. Compared to some of the longer tomes on WWI, Hew Strachan's account is a snip at just over 300 pages and is divided into 10 chapters that are almost self contained essays on different aspects of the war. Despite this relative brevity, the narrative is awash with detail. If this type comprehensive approach is what you are after, then look no further. If, like myself, you have little or no prior knowledge on the war, this can be overwhelming at times (not least due to the complex reasons that lead to the outbreak of war in 1914 and the conflicting agendas within the two alliances throughout). For my own purposes, I felt that this highbrow political narrative and military strategy was too far removed from the personal experiences of those affected by the war. I would have preferred more anecdotal evidence, personal accounts that would have fleshed out Strachan's thoroughly researched detail. In fairness to the author, it was probably not his intention to get side-tracked from the major events of the war and the men who dictated its path, but for me this resulted in a fairly aloof account that fails to touch the reader with the experiences of the millions who either died or were affected by this conflict.