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A review by wwatts1734
The First World War by John Keegan
4.0
John Keegan is arguably the best military historian of the 20th Century, and this book is his go at the Great War. Overall this was a great book. Of course Keegan goes into the usual topics of the Great War - the political run up to the war, the various offensive strategies of the European powers, the offensive blitz of August 1914 and then the stalemate that presided over the Western front and most of the Eastern front for the remainder of the war. Trench warfare, the butchery of the machine gun and the artillery, the innovations of the aeroplane and the U Boat, all of this is standard fare in histories of the Great War.
What I particularly liked about this history was Keegan's treatment of non-standard topics. For example, Keegan spent a good amount of time discussing the Russian army. While most WWI histories skip over the Russian front between Tannenburg in August 1914 and the 1917 revolutions, Keegan delves into the Brusilov offensives, which were the relatively successful Russian campaigns against the Austrians and the Turks. He goes into Gallipoli and the horrible war planning that went into that campaign. He discusses the African campaign, which may have been the only theater of that war which followed the 19th century model of warfare. He talks about the Italian front, with its repeated yo-yo between the Germans and the Italians may have actually been a more frustrating effort than France. I was amazed at the extent of the German army's conquests during the war, so much so that the territory of Germany expanded over three fold between July 1914 and November 1918.
My only criticism of this history is a common criticism of Keegans works. The man is very technical and spends a tremendous amount of time discussing tactics, strategy, arms, ships and many of the minutiae of war. While this is fascinating to some, Keegan tends to miss the big picture, which is what it all was for, and the overarching consequences of the war.
Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this book. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the First World War.
What I particularly liked about this history was Keegan's treatment of non-standard topics. For example, Keegan spent a good amount of time discussing the Russian army. While most WWI histories skip over the Russian front between Tannenburg in August 1914 and the 1917 revolutions, Keegan delves into the Brusilov offensives, which were the relatively successful Russian campaigns against the Austrians and the Turks. He goes into Gallipoli and the horrible war planning that went into that campaign. He discusses the African campaign, which may have been the only theater of that war which followed the 19th century model of warfare. He talks about the Italian front, with its repeated yo-yo between the Germans and the Italians may have actually been a more frustrating effort than France. I was amazed at the extent of the German army's conquests during the war, so much so that the territory of Germany expanded over three fold between July 1914 and November 1918.
My only criticism of this history is a common criticism of Keegans works. The man is very technical and spends a tremendous amount of time discussing tactics, strategy, arms, ships and many of the minutiae of war. While this is fascinating to some, Keegan tends to miss the big picture, which is what it all was for, and the overarching consequences of the war.
Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this book. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the First World War.