The
First World War
by John Keegan
Despite the avalanche of books written about the First World War in
recent years, there have been comparatively few books that deliver a comprehensive
account of the war and its campaigns from start to finish. The First World
War fills the gap superbly. As readers familiar with Keegan's previous
books (including The Second World War and Six Armies in Normandy) know,
he's a historian of the old school. He has no earth-shattering new theories
to challenge the status quo, no first-person accounts to tug on the emotions--what
he does have, though, is a gift for talking the lay person through the
twists and turns of a complex narrative in a way that is never less than
accessible or engaging.
Keegan never tries to ram his learning down your throat. Where other
authors have struggled to explain how Britain could ever allow itself to
be dragged into such a war in 1914, Keegan keeps his account practical.
The level of communications that we enjoy today just didn't exist then,
and so it was much harder to keep track of what was going on. By the time
a message had finally reached the person in question, the situation may
have changed out of all recognition. Keegan applies this same "cock-up"
theory of history to the rest of the war, principally the three great disasters
at Gallipoli, the Somme, and Passchendaele. The generals didn't send all
those troops to their deaths deliberately, Keegan argues; they did it out
of incompetence and ineptitude, and because they had no idea of what was
actually going on at the front.
While The First World War is not afraid to point the finger at those
generals who deserve it, even Keegan has to admit he doesn't have all the
answers. If it all seems so obviously futile and such a massive waste of
life now, he asks, how could it have seemed worthwhile back then? Why did
so many people carry on, knowing they would die? Why, indeed. --John
Crace, Amazon.co.uk
Paperback: 504 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.11 x
8.02 x 5.24
Publisher: Vintage Books; (May 16, 2000)
ISBN: 0375700455
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