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sydsnot71's review against another edition
4.0
This is a finely researched & well-written book.
It's worth a read to find out more about the period covered [1917-1923] and if there's a particular area you want to know more about you can go read more specialist (or focused) history books. It reminded me of incidents I'd forgotten from my O & A-Level history or about which I knew nothing at all.
Gerwarth's theory - if that's the right word - is that the violence of the war continued into the peace & as the violence rolled over civilians, especially those seen as some kind of fifth column, such as Jews or other minorities. Violence also begat violence, which the Greek-Turkey clashes show in real detail.
The violence then - and the Lausanne Treaty - effectively helped set-up the horrors of the 1930s & World War Two.
Sometimes though the book feels horrible like it is commenting on the present day, which makes it even more important to read it.
It's worth a read to find out more about the period covered [1917-1923] and if there's a particular area you want to know more about you can go read more specialist (or focused) history books. It reminded me of incidents I'd forgotten from my O & A-Level history or about which I knew nothing at all.
Gerwarth's theory - if that's the right word - is that the violence of the war continued into the peace & as the violence rolled over civilians, especially those seen as some kind of fifth column, such as Jews or other minorities. Violence also begat violence, which the Greek-Turkey clashes show in real detail.
The violence then - and the Lausanne Treaty - effectively helped set-up the horrors of the 1930s & World War Two.
Sometimes though the book feels horrible like it is commenting on the present day, which makes it even more important to read it.
cator_and_bliss's review against another edition
4.0
A clear and straightforward tour of the immediate 'post-WW1' period. The scare quotes are necessary as there is a strong case, suggested throughout Gerwarth's excellent book, that the First World War should rightly be considered ending only with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. This argument is a timely and important corrective to the view (held prominently in the Anglosphere -the case of Ireland notwithstanding) that the fighting ceased in November 1918 and everyone still alive went home. As Gerwarth shows, this was emphatically not the case, particularly in those territories in which victory was unknown or somehow tarnished. There should be more books like this in English.
michael_k's review against another edition
Ένα βιβλίο που έχει ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον όχι μόνο για όσους ασχολούνται με τον Α' ΠΠ αλλά και για όσους θέλουν να μάθουν περισσότερα για τη Μικρασιατική Καταστροφή. Στο βιβλίο περιγράφεται όλο το διεθνές γίγνεσθαι της εποχής και εκτός από το κομμάτι που αναφέρεται συγκεκριμένα στα γεγονότα που οδήγησαν στο 1922, βλέπει κανείς τη γενικότερη εικόνα και καταλαβαίνει πληρέστερα το πλαίσιο και τις αιτίες. Βέβαια υπάρχουν πιο εμπεριστατωμένα βιβλία για καθένα από τα γεγονότα που εξετάζονται αλλά νομίζω ότι μια πολύ καλή συγκεντρωτική εισαγωγή που τα καλύπτει με ενιαίο τρόπο.
Δείτε λίγο περισσότερα στο Ex Libris 239!
Δείτε λίγο περισσότερα στο Ex Libris 239!
bronwynmb's review against another edition
4.0
This was really interesting. As someone very interested in the between-the-wars years, this book sheds light on why there wasn’t that period in much of Eurasia. Thinking about it, of course I know about the Russian revolution and knew a little about Greece and Italy, but this book really brings home the point that there wasn’t a between-the-wars period except in the US and England.
bronwynmb's review against another edition
4.0
This was really interesting. As someone very interested in the between-the-wars years, this book sheds light on why there wasn’t that period in much of Eurasia. Thinking about it, of course I know about the Russian revolution and knew a little about Greece and Italy, but this book really brings home the point that there wasn’t a between-the-wars period except in the US and England.
lucifer_the_cat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.5
bronwynmb's review against another edition
4.0
This was really interesting. As someone very interested in the between-the-wars years, this book sheds light on why there wasn’t that period in much of Eurasia. Thinking about it, of course I know about the Russian revolution and knew a little about Greece and Italy, but this book really brings home the point that there wasn’t a between-the-wars period except in the US and England.
elisacek's review against another edition
1.0
Unfortunately, this book was a huge disappointment. Part of it was because the title gives high expectations. Yet, instead of "Why the First World War failed to end,” you get badly written information on what happened after the year 1916 in Europe, all of which we learned in high school! On top of that, the author doesn't hide who his favourites are, thus making the whole work really tendentious. The cherry on top are the factual mistakes, one of the many examples being the date in which the Munich Agreement was actually signed.
taylormcneil's review
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Slightly more than 100 years ago, the Great War officially ended. In our hazy memory, that moment ushered in a peaceful interlude in Europe before the horrors of the Second World War began. But that’s a misreading of history, Gerwarth argues in this book, which focuses on the states and peoples who were among the losers in that first epic conflict, namely Germany, the Habsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. In central and southern Europe and in the Middle East, the war might have ended, but the forces of nationalism and leftist and rightist ideologies led to bitter confrontations and violence, often between ethnic groups fighting for their fair share of their new nations—and for simple survival. The result, more often than not, was what we now too politely call ethnic cleansing, as ethnic and religious groups fought dirty battles to take control of territory. The level of violence, almost all of it against civilians, was startlingly high. What’s even more unsettling is that the conflicts that Gerwarth describes from a century ago are still at play in Europe and the Middle East now. The dark forces that were unleashed by the First World War and its immediate aftermath still exist and bubble up periodically, wounds that have never healed. This is a disturbing history, but one well worth remembering.