The First World War (ISBN 0143035185)

Wish all histroy was presented like this...:
The presents histoy more like a soap opera or cinematic drama than a study in names, dates and locations (typical history). I'm looking forward to the WWI/WWII omnipedia begin worked on my Hew Strachman. Though I hear it may take a decade or more to finish.

Scholarly but flawed.:
This book is distinguished from many other tomes on the War by a broad knowledge of events outside the Western Front battlefields. The problems faced by Austria-Hungary, which both caused and to some extent ended the war, are here kept clearly in view. Strachan's analysis of the manner in which Germany's U-boat campaign backfired, reducing neutral shipping more than it affected British supplies, is insightful and fascinating. He also provides a subtle look at the real supply problems faced by the Germans and Austrians, a result not just of blockade but of inadequate transport, poorly managed currencies, black markets, and ineffective rationing. On the down side, the book has two serious flaws: - the author is something of an apologist for commanders whose record is objectively difficult to defend. His description of the battle of the Marne does not even mention General Gallieni, but ascribes to Joffre credit which is unlikely to be his. He makes the fatuous statement that armies must attack to win a war -- which is only true if you are trying to take the other guy's territory, not merely defend your own, and in the context of technology available in 1914 is preposterous. He considers the disastrously stupid battle of Passchendaele -- in which the high command never looked personally at the ground on which the men fought until 3 months after the battle started -- as "strategically sound", which it is if you live in General Haig's dream world. In order to understand the war, the reader needs to realize that the political strategies of armies and governments in 1910-1914 were decoupled from tactical reality, at least when the opponent was competent; you would not learn this fact from Strachan's book. - Descriptions of battles need maps, preferably lots of them and in good grayscale or color with contours. This book has a few broad maps of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East at the front, but no tactical maps at all within the text. The detailed discussions of who attacked whom when are thus bereft of foundation -- we have to accept Mr. Strachan's statments with no ability to understand what they mean and why they are right (or wrong).

Clunky writing....decent overall history:
Although this is a decent, concise history of the First World War, it suffers from exceedingly clunky writing. After finishing Barbara Tuchman's wonderful "Guns of August", I was inspired to continue reading about the war, so I bought Strachan's history. Suffice it to say, he is not nearly the writer Tuchman was, and a good editor would have had their hands full reshaping this into a more reader-friendly tome. The author jumps around chronologically in a confusing manner, and his careless usage of pronouns often makes it unclear who he is writing about.

A Good Introduction:
Hew Strachan has written an impressive, one-volume history of the First World War. When you consider the mounds of books on this topic over the last 90 years, that is a pretty impressive accomplishment in and of itself. We use this book as a text in the strategy course at the U.S. Naval War College, and it is easy to see why. It is comprehensive in its coverage and easy to read. Strachan emphasizes the western front and the British experience, but not to the exclusion of other theaters and combatants. He uses British, U.S., French and German sources to examin the war at sea, the eastern front, the fighting in the Middle East and Africa. The photos that litter the text are a nice addition. The ones are in color are a surprising extra. These photos are even literary in nature. A picture of Kaiser Wilhelm II set against the background of a windmill is reminiscent of Don Quixote, which given the Emperor's personality is appropriate. More important are Strachan's observations and analysis. He focuses his criticisms of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig not on strategy, but on Haig's operational control and failure to impose his will on his subordinates. Strachan notes that there was a good deal of innovation on both sides of the western front, which is actually what perpetuated the stalemate there. He explains that the Royal Navy's main military mission was deterrence and once war actually came, its strategic role was not to give battle to the Germans, which could only risk British dominance of the high seas. His judgments of Germany strike an American reader as sound. He observes that the Germany was hardly the main culprit in bringing about the conflict. Austria, actually, was the power most interested in using a war to advance its policy interests. When the fighting came, it was the battle of the Marne that proved to be decisive. That allied victory in 1914 saved France and ended any chance the Germans had of winning the war. (I am not sure about that conclusion, but it does give the reader something to ponder). Strachan's analysis of the German Spring offensive of 1918 is much stronger. General Erich Ludendorff squandered German resources, taking impressive chunks of territory that had little strategic impact on the outcome of the war. German troops advanced against British units, but these operations never had the potential of either driving the United Kingdom or the United States out of the war, and even though France was strategically more vulnerable, French soldiers gave less ground. While Germany was innovative, the Army and Navy never managed to coordinate their operations together, and that was deadly to their cause. In short, this book is a good introduction to World War I.

"The First World War" by HEW Strachan:
Mr. Strachan tells the story of WWI in a very compelling manner, and relates the events of the War and how those events are even now, 94 years later, still making themselves felt. The events he relates of the beginnings of the War in the Balkans can be directly related to present day events in Bosnia, Serbia, and Herzogovinia, where the War began with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife, Sofia. Mister Strachan also details the Turkish genocide against the Armenians, which also echoes to this day. He further tells the story of the collapse of the Ottoman Turk Empire in a way that was never presented during my school days and explains much of the turmoil in that region to this day. His explanation of the Australian withdrawal from Gallipoli clarifies the reasons the Australians clebrate Gallipoli Day as a National Holiday and further clarifies the coming of age of the Australian Nation. Would I recommend this book to a friend? Yes, definitely, to anyone who is interested in history and wants a good, clear, accurate version of the War to End All Wars.