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

by Peter Hart

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190227357
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2015
Pages:	544
Sales rank:	263,459
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Peter Hart is Oral Historian of the Imperial War Museum in London. He is the author of The Somme: The Darkest Hour on the Western Front, 1918: A Very British Victory, Gallipoli, and Fire and Movement: The British Expeditionary Force and the Campaign of 1914.

Table of Contents

Preface
1 The Road to War
2 The Western Front, 1914
3 The Eastern Front, 1914
4 The Sea War, 1914-15
5 The Western Front, 1915
6 The Eastern Front, 1915
7 Gallipoli, 1915
8 Salonika, 1915-18
9 The Western Front, 1916
10 The Eastern Front, 1916
11 The Sea War, 1916
12 Mesopotamia, 1914-18
13 The Eastern Front, 1917-18
14 The Sea War, 1917-18
15 Western Front, 1917
16 Italy 1915-18
17 Palestine, 1915-18
18 The Western Front, 1918
19 A World Without War?

Editorial Reviews

"For a clear combat history of the war that represents current thinking and examines every major theatre, Peter Hart's The Great War is hard to beat." —The Economist

"In a subject of this size, the scope of the narrative can be intimidating. But Hart, the author of many previous military histories, is up to the task... The Great War is a perfect addition to the libraries of military buffs, especially those obsessed with the cataclysmic effects of 'the war to end all wars.'" —ForeWord

"Hart demonstrates an admirable command of the subject matter and offers a compelling case for the lasting impact of the 'unwaking nightmare that was WWI.'"
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Like Hart’s previous volumes on Gallipoli, The Somme, and the end of the First World War (1918), his newest is structured and defined by extensive illustrative quotations from contemporary sources. The work focuses on “the most dramatic battles and those that actually had the potential... to end the war,” thus readers will be familiar with many of the conflicts profiled here—the Marne, the Somme and Verdun, Passchendaele, the offensives of 1918, and several Anglocentric secondary theaters, including Gallipoli and Mesopotamia. In each case, the author synergizes institutional, technological, and tactical dynamics with personal accounts of commanding officers, and though the bulk of the latter is derived from familiar published material, Hart sheds fresh light on the perspectives of Joseph Joffre, Douglas Haig, Sir John Jellicoe, and their contemporaries. The more extensive first-person contributions from the soldiers themselves evoke the ground-level dimensions of a war whose story is too often told from up high or far afield. Throughout, Hart demonstrates an admirable command of the subject matter and offers a compelling case for the lasting impact of the “unwaking nightmare that was WWI.” 16 pages of b&w photos. Agent: George Lucas, Inkwell Management. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Just in time for the centennial of World War I, a look at the major campaigns and battles, with a heavy emphasis on the Western Front. Imperial War Museum oral historian Hart (Gallipoli, 2011, etc.) uses firsthand accounts of the action to give his narrative immediacy. The sources range from frontline enlisted troops to the commanders in chief and national leaders, primarily English, French and German, echoing the author's contention that the war was essentially decided on the Western Front. While he eyes the larger political agendas driving events on the battlefield, for the most part, Hart looks at the war through the views of those doing the fighting. So, for example, the Italian campaign features commentary by Rommel, a junior officer at the time. The book is broken into chapters looking at the action on a specific front, mostly organized chronologically. Campaigns Hart considers "sideshows"--Gallipoli, the Middle East, Italy, etc.--receive briefer chapters of their own. Hart does not minimize the courage or sacrifice of the troops in these actions, but he makes clear his view that they were distractions from the real work being done in France and Belgium. As a result, he is critical of the performance of the British in the early stages of the war, and he minimizes the impact of America's entry. Germany, he argues, had to start the war when it did or else abandon its imperial ambitions. As a result, it was weaker militarily than it might have been. Hart also suggests that the French were primarily responsible for holding the line until the British, and eventually the U.S., could help turn the tide. The Germans, on the other hand, recognized early that their only hope was for a knockout blow--one they were never able to deliver. A good history of the war that questions some widely held opinions. Probably not the first thing to read, but anyone interested in the war will find it a valuable supplement.

Kirkus Reviews