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.
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