The First World War

[Ethelred Unread]

There's a tendency, in the UK at least to regard ww1 as a futile, terrible war that was fought by poorly qualified generals and a living hell for all troops involved. It's almost a folk memory really.

I've been reading a lot of revisionist texts on ww1 recently that debunk some of these myths, so I'd try to avoid these cliches in your work if you're going to talk about the rest of the allies' war prior to 1917.

Out of interest have you got an idea about chapter headings yet?

[Beirut]

There's a tendency, in the UK at least to regard ww1 as a futile, terrible war that was fought by poorly qualified generals and a living hell for all troops involved. It's almost a folk memory really.

I've been reading a lot of revisionist texts on ww1 recently that debunk some of these myths, so I'd try to avoid these cliches in your work if you're going to talk about the rest of the allies' war prior to 1917.

What have you been reading? Sounds interesting.

Out of interest have you got an idea about chapter headings yet?

That's where I am right now. There's an initial opening chapter outlying the purpose of the book and a very general view of the war as a whole. After that - right now actually - I'm trying to merge pre-war European history, say from the Franco-Prussian war, up to the initial declarations of war in 1914, and do it in a way that's both accurate and interesting for the lay person to read. No small task. At least not for me.

After that it would be how the initial confrontations in the west muddled into trench warfare. Then it gets busy and tougher for me to focus. There's explaining the industrial nature of the war, the new technologies, and an overview of the "classic" big battles of attrition that everyone associates with The Great War. Then there's the blockade of Germany, the Russians, the US involvement. And of course the Renault FT-17 tank hmy grandfather served in. The effort could go on well past my death if I don't focus.

My target audience is people who know little to nothing of the war and whose only interest in it would be that our grandfather was there, so I have to be careful not to go on any tangents about minutia. Mind you, at fifteen-thousanbd words there's not a lot of room for minutia.

[InsaneApache]

The final German offensive in 1918 is fascinating. I'd love to hear more info on that.

[Ethelred Unread]

What have you been reading? Sounds interesting.

Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front, Richard Holmes 978-0007137527

Looks at contemporary accounts of ww1 and looks at how the war was percieved from the twenties onwards as badly run, in contrast to contemporay accounts. Mainly from a British POV but some US, French & German viewpoints.

Mud, Blood and Poppycock: Britain and the Great War, Gordan Corrigan 978-0304366590
Sets about tackling each "myth" of the Great War from soldiers drowning in mud, to innocents being shot at dawn. (both of which happened but not to the extent you'd think)

Both are unashamedly revisionist and tackle ww1 from different (and arguably more historically accurate) perspectives.

Your chapter headings sound good - to be honest the best layman accesible descriptions of the causes leading up to the war (and summaries of each year) can be found in:-

The Frightful First World War, Terry Deary, 978-1407103020

which is for high school kids but has this little gem to explain it all:-

Why did the Great War start?
Lots of big, thick history books have been written to answer that question. But, to put it simply, by 1914 the countries of Europe had formed themselves into two big gangs.......like street gangs.
The gang called the `Central Powers' were led by the Germans and
the gang we call the `Allies' were led by the French and British.
The two gangs started collecting weapons, making threats and swapping insults, the way gangs do.
All it needed was for one gang member to throw the first stone and a huge punch-up would follow.....'
So exactly HOW did the First World War start?
It's never one of the gang leaders that starts the fight, is it?
It's always one of the scruffy little kids that hangs around the edge.
In this case the scruffy little kid was called Bosnia in the Allies' gang.....'

Genious.

[A Very Super Market]

Although really, a German-British alliance was more likely than the one encountered in real life.

[Lord Winter]

Although really, a German-British alliance was more likely than the one encountered in real life.

Yeah, before the naval build up. After that and a misguided German forigen policy, it was almost impossible.

[Oleander Ardens]

What I would be aware of is the danger of determinism - the first world war was not a natural consequence of the (changable) geopolitical situation.

[Beirut]

What I would be aware of is the danger of determinism - the first world war was not a natural consequence of the (changable) geopolitical situation.

It was certainly the natural consequence of human nature.

[Sarmatian]

What I would be aware of is the danger of determinism - the first world war was not a natural consequence of the (changable) geopolitical situation.

Would you mind expanding on that?

[Beirut]

Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front, Richard Holmes 978-0007137527

Looks at contemporary accounts of ww1 and looks at how the war was percieved from the twenties onwards as badly run, in contrast to contemporay accounts. Mainly from a British POV but some US, French & German viewpoints.

Mud, Blood and Poppycock: Britain and the Great War, Gordan Corrigan 978-0304366590
Sets about tackling each "myth" of the Great War from soldiers drowning in mud, to innocents being shot at dawn. (both of which happened but not to the extent you'd think)

Both are unashamedly revisionist and tackle ww1 from different (and arguably more historically accurate) perspectives.

Your chapter headings sound good - to be honest the best layman accesible descriptions of the causes leading up to the war (and summaries of each year) can be found in:-

The Frightful First World War, Terry Deary, 978-1407103020

Nice list. I'm going to look at those books on Amazon.

These are some of what I've read over the last few months. (They're all the shelf two-feet from me.)

The Guns of August - Tuchman
The Zimmermann Telegram - Tuchman (This is a great little book!)
They Called it Pashendaele - MacDonald
Storm of Steel - Ernst Junger
The World Crisis 1911-1918 - Churchill
Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment - various authours
The Battle of the Somme - Gilbert

Some others on my shelf specific to WWI that I read before:

The First World War - Keegan
The Real War 1914 - 1919 - Liddell Hart
Lawrence of Arabia - Hart
Paris 1919 - Macmillan
Vimy - Pierre Berton

The Arms of Krupp - It isn't limited to WWI, but it's a goldmine of information, and a helluva good book.

I just started The Influence of Sea Power Upon History. It's said the Kaiser read it over and over prior to the war. Looking forward to reading a book called 11 VCs Before Breakfast about the Zeebrugge raid. I just saw a short clip on video about that raid and it looks fascinating.

There are about a dozen other books I'd like to get over the summer. One about the first tanks, another about Second Ypres, a set of two books about the Canadian Army in WWI, one about Verdun, and... and... and... Yep, Amazon loves me.