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Title: The First World War: To Arms by Hew Strachan ISBN: 0-19-926191-1 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.64 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Good...But Not "Definitive" ...not yet.
Comment: Hew Strachan was commissioned to write this book to replace C. R. M. F. Cruttwell's 1934 A History of the Great War and it has been anxiously anticipated by scholars. Most reviewers have called it definitive but this is difficult to claim with still two volumes to follow. Given that this book took 15 years to complete, it is doubtful that Strachan himself will ever complete the work. Nevertheless this is a monumental achivement but flawed.
To Arms is an enormous achievment in scholarship. Strachan has utilized all the most recent resources as well as the older material in several different languages. The sythesis of this overwhelming and diverse amount of information into a coherent, pleasurable, and largely unbiased prose is perhaps Strachan's greatest achievment. Strachan covers the year 1914 including the events preceding the war, Anglo-German antagonisms, war plans for all the belligerents, Socialist parties in each country, leaders, and ecnomies. The roles of the leaders, the maneuvers of the armies and navies, and the tangling alliances all receive ample treatment. The virtually unprecedented depth of treatment of the African theater is worth the purchase alone. Both the Eastern and Western Front are covered in some depth as far as the armies and generals are concerned. Strachan has also impressively mangaed to paint the war as a truly global war, and not just a European war. Japan and her war aims are expertly explained. Strachan manages to cover political, economic, social, and military issues while revealing the lack of planning and preparation for war, especially the war aims of the different countries.
There are weaknesses. The typographical eras are numerous enough to become irritating. Expect major revisions on the reissue. The maps that accompmany the book have already been a chief criticism of most reviewers but I must state that they are simply useless and abominable. The importance of operations and command strategy are the chief focus while the individual trials of combat for the soldiers are invisible but these may be covered in the later volumes. Strachan also tends to skim over extremely important areas giving passing treatment to the crucial battle of the Marne and its intricacies preferring to explain it from the generals' views and focusing on the cooperation problems with Sir John French and the BEF with Foch, Joffre, and other French generals. Factual errors are few the only one I can remember is Hitler celebrating the coming war in Vienna when it was actually Munich(also pointed out in the Economist Review).
Despite these problems this book is deserving of the high praise it has received and a worthy read for any First World War scholar. Casual readers and those with only a marginal understanding of the First World War would do well to avoid this book. Strachan assumes a competent level of knowledge of the War from his readers and tends to skim things of standard knowledge.
Rating: 5
Summary: Outstanding
Comment: This is the first volume of what will be the standard history of WWI. The depth and breadth of scholarship is tremendous. Strachan has mastered the extensive literature in English, German, and French supplemented by appropriate reading of work in other languages. Strachan's essential point is to demonstrate that WWI was indeed a world war involving virtually the whole globe. His perspective is the result of a determined effort to avoid the excessive concentration on the Western Front found in most of the English language and French literature. In this volume, for example, Strachan devotes considerable effort to describing and analyzing the war in sub-saharan Africa. The topic is treated usually as a minor sideshow. Strachan makes the essential point that the labor demands of these campaigns were enormous and affected a large percentage of the population of Africa, justifying easily his extensive treatment of this topic. The book is organized into a hybrid chronological/thematic scheme. Chronological presentation of the prologue to the war and the events of 1914 in Western and Eastern Europe is alternated with thematic presentation of topics like the war in the North Sea, financing of the war, and industrial mobilization for war. The method of organization works well. Strachan is a good writer and this thick book proceeds smoothly. I agree with other reviewers that the maps are inadequate. I wish also that the bibliography was annotated. Regardless, this book is and its successors will be remarkable works of scholarship.
Rating: 4
Summary: Incredible scholarhip but the trees do get in the way..
Comment: If you are looking for a book that gives a broad overview of the First World War, this is not the book for you. This is the first of a three volume work that will probably become the definitive study of the war. It's over 1100 pages are so full of detail and information that one can only stand in awe of the author's breadth and depth of knowledge on the subject. This volume, in general covers the origins and early phases of the war, except in certain chapters, e.g. on Africa, where he may cover a longer period or the whole war.
He brings out, in depth, aspects of the war that are often forgotten; from the African campaigns to the critical issues around financing and supplying the war. He has drawn on sources from many countries that allow him to give one of the most balanced accounts of this or other conflicts.
However, sometimes in his desire to deliver or show off his incredibly detailed knowledge, there is a tendency to lose track of the forest because of all the trees. Particularly in the financial and industrial mobilization chapters, the sheer weight of information can numb the brain (at least this brain) and important general points can be missed.
A lot of this is made worse by the way data is presented. Other reviewers have commented on the poor quality of the maps. They are of limited value but at least there are some. In the 125 page chapter on "Financing the War" and the over 50 page chapter on "Industrial Mobilization" there is not a single chart or graph, although much of the information would have been appropriately and more clearly presented in graphic form.
Having said that, this is truly a great piece of work. Perhaps in later volumes Strachan can get some more editorial/graphical support to ensure the book the 5 stars it really deserves.
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Title: The First World War by Hew Strachan ISBN: 0670032956 Publisher: Viking Books Pub. Date: 22 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War by Hew Strachan ISBN: 0192893254 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Europe's Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914 by David Fromkin ISBN: 0375411569 Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Imperial Germany and the Great War, 1914-1918 by Roger Chickering ISBN: 0521567548 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: A Military Atlas of the First World War by Arthur Banks ISBN: 0850527910 Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Pub. Date: May, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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