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Avg. Customer Rating:  199 reviews
Sales Rank: 4495394
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 448
ISBN: 0091855330
EAN: 9780091855338
ASIN: 0091855330
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Condition: NEW. Hardcover edition. Minor shelf wear
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| Customer Reviews:
 Essential Reading for background on World War One June 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an outstanding book, and essential reading for anyone needing an introduction to World War I. This war was quite different from the one that followed it. The mindless human sacrifice - millions of men walking arm in arm into the face of enemy gun fire - made somewhat explicable by John Keegan. Not that the lunacy of armed conflict can ever be justified or rationalized, but at least the causes can sometimes be explained, and Keegan does that as he meticulously lays out the political and military landscapes that started the war in 1914, and ultimately led to its conclusion with the armistice of 1918. World War I quite literally changed the face of Europe and the fate of empires, and for those who want or need to understand this, Keegan's book will be an excellent place to start. Well written, easy to read - as far as that is possible in a detailed telling of military events, but with an almost clinical tone, this was well worth the time and effort. I walk away far better educated than when I started.
 Let down by lack of maps June 10, 2007
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
Leaving aside Keegan's leaden prose style, the major problem I have with this (original hardcopy edition, 1998) is the of the lack of maps. Because of this I got no further than the chapter dealing with the Battle of the Frontiers and the Marne. It's very frustrating to be told in great detail about army movements without being able to see a pictorial representation. It's meaningless (and dull) to be told how X Division moved from town A to town B, failed to caputure town C, lost control of town D and then was forced back to river E without being able to see where they are. This is typical of the level of description, and yet there are only 10 maps in a book of 450 pages. All in all it makes for a dull and monotonous read.
Brilliant But Flawed May 20, 2007
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
One of the best known military historians writing today is Sir John Keegan. A former faculty member at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, Keegan is now the defense editor for "The Daily Telegraph." He made a name for himself as a historian with "The Face of Battle."
It is hardly surprising then that Keegan decided to write a general account of World War I. During this conflict, the British Army grew to its largest size ever, but the four years of this war initiated the decline of the United Kingdom as a power in world affairs. The book presents the Great War in the elegant prose that readers have come to expect from Keegan.
The author brings his expertise to bear in many important ways. He shows that the von Schliefen Plan was intellectually flawed from the get go. It could never have worked. Technological limitations, primarily those in communication, made it almost impossible for commanders to exert the type of control they had had in the past, or would have again in the future. At the same time, weapons with heavy firepower and the wealth of industrial nations allowed the combatants to put huge armies into the field on a scale larger than ever before.
Keegan focuses primarily on the experiences of the British Army. The Germans receive second billing. The French get much less attention even though they had more divisions in the field than their allies on the other side of the English Channel. Western Europe is the main area that Keegan discusses. Naval warfare, the Eastern Front and operations in Africa and Asia get far less attention.
According to Keegan, the ultimate factor in the allied victory was the sheer number of American troops that began arriving in France in 1918. The American Expeditionary Force (AEF), though, faced many of the same problems that the British had faced earlier in the war. This situation is understandable. Both armies were small and existed primarily for maintaining order in far flung territories. Neither had enough officers with experience to lead and staff the large formations that were required to face the Germans.
The problem with this assessment is that the AEF clearly underperformed. While it is possible that the American military contribution might simply have been raw numbers, it was a factor that the Germans were capable of handling, at least at the operational and tactical levels.
So, another factor had to be at work. Some historians have argued that the British and French Armies, particularly the British, had improved over the course of the war, but Keegan rejects this view. He believes it was simple raw numbers that crushed the Germans. Mass industrialization is clearly an important factor in this war as Keegan shows in convincing fashion during the earlier stages of this book, but to believe that it is the only factor is taking a good argument a little too far.
Another issue with this book is the limited number of maps. This illustrated version is better than the original version, but Keegan's description of the terrain is an important feature of this book. The limited number of maps and quality makes it difficult to follow him at times. The photos are a major assesst that give even more weight to his descriptions.
In short, this book is a brilliant but flawed work.
The Military History of WWI October 6, 2006
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
Being a John Keegan fanand having a long-standing interest in WWI, I was thrilled when I first heard this book was published and I ran out and got a copy immediately. I was not disappointed. All I could think to say is, Mr. Keegan brings his formidable guns to bear on an already thoroughly analyzed topic. His skills as a writer and military historian make this one of the premier books on the subject. The maps are superb and complement the text perfectly. The photos and illustrations place faces on names and give a sense of characters involved. It lacks the popularity and readability of Mrs. Tuchman's _Guns of August_ but provides more of a view from the trenches and maprooms making a great work of military history on the war. A very worthy piece of work on the topic.
The First World War September 8, 2006
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
Having recently read Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August, I wanted to further my education on this period in history. John Keegan's overview of the military side of the Great War is well done, though I still felt like I needed to know more after finishing the book. Keegan's narrative, including the beginnings of and the slide into a continental, eventually a global war, is expertly woven. His book is primarily focused on the military aspects of the war, which is essential, but by focusing on just that, one doesn't get as complete a picture. This isn't the author's fault; I just prefer more inclusive studies of such wide reaching events as World War I.
To say that the First World War, like any war, was tragic is an understatement. It was a war that not only resulted in the loss of millions of lives, but affected the lives of so many others, i.e. their families and friends. The First World War was brutal, though as bad as it was, it would be eclipsed by its successor two decades later. Keegan's narrative is focused on the military efforts and strategies employed by both the Central Powers and the Allies, late in the war to include the United States. This book details the opening of hostilities in August 1914 on the Western Front where the Germans hoped to reach Paris and win the war in just over a month, to the beginnings of trench warfare that produced the stalemate in France, to the battles that developed on the Eastern Front from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean and interior areas of the Ottoman Empire. Sea battles, colonial engagements in Africa and other theaters of the war are mentioned as well.
Keegan is quite good in outlining the military aspect of the war, but the personalities and people who fought don't always come through as well as I had hoped. Also, I think it's fair to admit his own prejudices in favor of the British efforts in the war, which let's face it, we're all biased towards one side or the other. I found it quite remarkable how the Germans were able to hold it together for so long, considering that for a time they were fighting on two fronts. Not that I think they were on the right side of the war, but they had men who fought and suffered like anyone else. The soldiers on all sides seemed to persevere, even after the deplorable casualty figures incurred from such major offensives as at the Somme, Verdun and other battles on both fronts. There were periods of near mutiny on the French side, discontent in the German homeland as the demands of the war effort drained its resources, and of course revolution in Russia that threatened to spread to other regions.
It's hard to summarize such a complex and widespread topic as this, but this book is worth reading. I've often thought of how it seems the First World War has been forgotten, considering how much is written on the Second World War, hence my interest in learning more about the former. Keegan's book lacks certain qualities found in Tuchman's, though neither book is all inclusive on studying the First World War. Keegan excels in writing about the battles fought and the ideas underpinning them, but as I mentioned earlier, I didn't get as good a grasp for the people, both in high command and those who fought in the trenches. His bibliography also seemed to lack for primary sources in my opinion. To be fair, no one book has all the answers. This book does demonstrate Keegan's abilities in writing military history. A good read.
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