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A review by bhautikg
Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War by Max Hastings
5.0
Having read Max Hasting's comprehensive book on WW2(Inferno: the World at War), I was looking for a contemporary work on The Great War, probably the defining moment of modern times.
Max Hasting does a great job of bringing a new perspective for this work, colouring in the most epic human war ever fought with the personal stories and accounts of everyday folks caught up in it.
One of the surprises for me was learning, and Hasting's argues this quiet well, of the large responsibility Germany bore for deliberately precipitating this war. And while we say Germany, it really comes down to two people: the Kaiser and his Chief of Staff, both weak and insecure men with something to prove, and the world's biggest army. Though, they were steeped in German militaristic culture which encouraged a view for precipitating the war, its also worth noting the impossibility of stopping it once it the armies were on march.
For none of the belligerent States were organized in such a way that it was possible. You cannot do things that you have made structurally impossible, is an important lesson to draw from this catastrophe.
My favourite parts are also the parts where these societies, and many of its people, experience the wonders and horrors of 20th century technology for the first time.
Absolutely worth the read or listen.
Max Hasting does a great job of bringing a new perspective for this work, colouring in the most epic human war ever fought with the personal stories and accounts of everyday folks caught up in it.
One of the surprises for me was learning, and Hasting's argues this quiet well, of the large responsibility Germany bore for deliberately precipitating this war. And while we say Germany, it really comes down to two people: the Kaiser and his Chief of Staff, both weak and insecure men with something to prove, and the world's biggest army. Though, they were steeped in German militaristic culture which encouraged a view for precipitating the war, its also worth noting the impossibility of stopping it once it the armies were on march.
For none of the belligerent States were organized in such a way that it was possible. You cannot do things that you have made structurally impossible, is an important lesson to draw from this catastrophe.
My favourite parts are also the parts where these societies, and many of its people, experience the wonders and horrors of 20th century technology for the first time.
Absolutely worth the read or listen.