Rating: 
Summary: Trench Warfare, Through and Through
Review: Let me start by noting that John Keegan undertook a daunting task in attempting to describe the entirety of World War I in a single volume. Many notable accounts of the war focus on a single aspect of WWI, e.g., the battles of 1914, the Zimmerman telegram, the collapse of the central powers, etc. Keegan takes this all on and more. The result is an often absorbing, but sometimes monotonous and sometimes confusing account.Keegan's writing exhibits a mastery of both the major events and the subtle nuances of the war. He describes the military, political, and socio-economic climate in perceptive detail, and does this for all the combatents. The reader will surely learn a great deal by tackling this book. Nevertheless, the book suffers from two serious flaws, only one of which perhaps was within Keegan's direct control. First, the book is seriously lacking in maps. For example, the entire book contains just four maps for the entire Western Front. Many pivotal towns are simply missing from the all-to-general maps. Many battles in minor theaters have no accompanying maps at all. As a result, the narrative is often difficult to follow. Second, given the static nature of the fronts in World War I and the generally consistent military strategy during the war, the desciption of each battle is more or less a repeat of the last. The narrative separating the descripions of the battles is also somewhat repetitive, resulting in a sometimes tedious read. I often found myself looking ahead to the next section. All in all, the reader of The First World War will certainly be rewarded by completing Keegan's informative account. Unfortunately, however, the book often reads more like a textbook then a "live" history.
Rating: 
Summary: military history with compassion and sans political bias
Review: John Keegan' "The First World War" is one of those rare books which combine the thoroughly researched descriptions of history, technology and means of warfare with nuances of psychology and mystery of the Great War. Keegan starts with the overview of diplomatic positions of the Great powers involved in the war (although his analysis of origins is on his own admission is just a summary of prior work), then proceeds to the breakout of the conflict. In subsequent chapters Keegan covers every year of the Great War on the Western, Eastern, Middle Eastern, Italian and Mediterranean theatres of war in a thorough and scholarly fashion. Very soon a pattern emerges - a static trench warfare on the Western front, in-conclusive war of movement on the Eastern front with untold unaccounted casualties, diversionary operations on the secondary theatres costing significant resource drain, and pointless war of heroics, despotism and bravery on the Italian front. What I like particularly about the book is the analysis of military strategy and tactics of the main participant in the manner which somebody without training in military science can easily comprehend. Keegan points out how lack of communication, rigid bureaucratic organization and the lack of appreciation of the tactical variability of the war caused British failures to command a decision at Somme in 1916 and Ypres and Flanders in 1917; how ill-prepared was French army for defensive operations due to its romantic "esprit de corpes"; how Russian lack of coordination, material supply and organization lead to horrendous losses on the Western front. Germans came out as good fighters, allowing their field commanders high degree of freedom, yet weak strategically, unable to concentrate the efforts on a single point of the decisive breakthrough. Keegan touches on the naval warfare as well, specifically Jutland, but since navy in the Great war played mostly static positional role, he does not spend much time there. Overall, I found his book fair and non-biased; essentially without any political agenda. Keegan is more interested in uncovering the mystery of the war as the source of human suffering, then finding a particular side to blame. To this degree this is a rare book.
Rating:
Summary: The Short Version
Review: This is a review of the Audio Cassette abridged version of Keegan's masterwork history of the First World War. This version is nice to have if you're spending a lot of time where you can't easily lay hands on, or can't easily read, the original work. While still comprehensive, it's less so than the book from which it derives. Limited by the format, you miss out on the bibliography and other details that make the book version such an important piece of work. Another reason for down-rating this version is the unwieldy cassette format itself. Constantly swapping tapes gets old quickly, and it's easy lose your place and load the wrong cassette. On the other hand, Simon Prebble was *exactly* the right person to read this book, and the quality his rich voice lends to the narrative made all the trouble of dealing with the cassettes worthwhile. Keegan's The First World War is a cornerstone work for anyone wishing to understand that disasterous conflict. While his conclusions are sometimes drawn inaccuartely (For instance, while the war was preventable, once it started, it most certainly *was* necessary for the Allied Nations to fight the Central Powers, though it most certainly was unnecessary for the Associated Nations to join the fight: Keegan fails to draw this important distinction), the accuracy of his researched facts is never called into question. Even on the few occasions where Keegan misses the boat, he still must be read, because so many other authors reference his work and/or have been deeply influnced by him. Keegan covers the whole scope of the war in exhaustive detail, though this abridged version leaves out some less central facts, weakening the final impact. This is, again, a limitation of the format, for which allowances must be made. You are never submerged in raw facts, and are only presented with piles of data where such piles make the point more clearly than a more narrative delivery would have done. Keegan's 'screw-up' theory of the war's start is well documented, and is perhaps the strongest and most accurate of his conclusions. From there he takes you through the hows and whys the conflict shaped up the way it did, including cites to documents rarely mentioned in other accounts. His explanations of the logistics of call-up and trasportation of troops brings to life a whole new aspect of the war that I had never considered before. Likewise, he spends considerable time documenting the Eastern Front of WWI, an area of crucial importance, one that is often ignored in Western history. Sadly, while he does more justice to the Russian side of the war, he doesn't give it quite the detail that the western front recieves. Still, a more detailed treatment of the eastern front would be hard to deliver considering the general lack of material on which to base his conclusions, and it is a better treatment than found in almost all other works. Likewise, his discussion of Gallipoli is perhaps the clearest explanation of events in that confusing little sideshow I've ever heard. Once the more obscure background facts and campaigns are brought to life, Keegan proceeds to assume a more lecturing tone, and he rolls on with a familliar littany of bloody battles and lost opportunities. Here he again misses the point on occasion in his conclusions, making references to events as 'preventable' when such conclusions do not stand up to more leisurly and detailed analysis: Keegan missed the central impact of the state of the world's technologial development: for a brief period of time the 'defense' was massively more powerful than the offense, what the destructive capacity of armies having become so vast; with prepared communications so much more rapid than ad-hoc communications; with soldiers on the attack relying on the Mark 1 Mod 0 foot while defensive forces were able to muster with the speed of railroads; and the sheer massive size of the armies made possible by the industrial and agricultural might of modern nations. Without reliable motorized transport, wireless communication, and truly effective armored fighting vehicles, trench warefare was all-but-inevitable. Once that happened, casualties in the millions *were* inevitable. Despite these failures in conclusion, Keegan's work is still important, informative, and pivotal, and must be read. Read Keegan's The First World War: It's simply the most acessable single-volume work on the war. Then, after having done so, pick up a copy of Gordon Corrigan's "Mud, Blood, and Poppycock." Keegan will build the structure for you, and then Corrigan will straighten out the details, including setting straight some of Keegan's more off-center conclusions. As a one-two punch, Keegan and Corrigan are a tough combination to beat. If you must spend a lot of time where audio is availble, but you can't read a traditional book (truck drivers, anyone?), then I highly recommend this audio cassette edition. Otherwise, get the book, it's much better.
Rating:
Summary: A readable text book!
Review: Keegan does it well! This book illuminates the war to end all wars and captures the sweep of the first global conflict. Keegan details the primary causes and the primary instigators of the conflict. You really come to understand how about 15 individuals and a lot of national pride led to the deaths of millions. While not a truly "modern" war, many of the instruments of death were well hoaned (e.g. the rifle, the machine gun and artillery). This book describes the horror of trench warfare, details the attacks and defenses, the general's attempts to break the stalemate, the mathematics of attrition, the political motivations, and most importantly, the effect on nations that established the groundwork for the second world war. No modern history, military history, or the 20th century history collection is complete with out a text such as this! Keegans book is dense and detailed, well researched, and yet understandable and a pleasure to read!
Rating: 
Summary: A good place to start
Review: My knowledge of history has been fading fading fast since my last class in high school, and I'd like to correct this. I found Keegan's book to be almost the ideal level of detail for someone who knew next to nothing about WWI. He interweaves detailed accounts of what units were where, who was in command, how the battles went; with more subjective details like comments on how things were drawn from soldier's letters and diaries, descriptions of the personalities of the leadership, the layout and brief history of the area. He gives an excellent account of the political situation leading up to the war. I would have liked to see an additional chapter at the end detailing the results of the war, the treaty of Versailles, and so on, especially given Keegan's thesis that WWI is important because it set the board for WWII. I also had some trouble keeping track of what unit was being talked about and what commander was in charge of what unit, but this would probably be more familiar to someone in the habit of reading military history. I will definitely read more of his books in the future.
Rating:
Summary: The War That Never Should Have Happened
Review: Blame it on the public school system if you want, but I was "taught" that World War I started because the Archduke of SomePlaceLand was assassinated by somebody from SomePlaceElseLand and that ticked off a lot of people who went to war. Upon further reading, I learned that the causes weren't so simple. John Keegan's book, THE FIRST WORLD WAR, is a great introduction to the real tragedy behind the war: the war should never have happened and could've been averted at several points before the actual outbreak. Keegan's premise, simply put, is that the war happened because there was a plan that made it possible to happen--the Schlieffen Plan. Certainly there were extenuating circumstances, and some very real reasons for belligerence but it really puts into perspective how the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was just one in a series of events that sparked the four years of horror. And it was a horror, as Keegan justifiably reminds us over and again. The sieges at Ypres and Verdun, and the slaughter at Gallipoli are brutally recounted. The real tragedy, to me at least, is Keegan's assertion that while the causes of the Great War are several in a series of chain reactions, its effect was to sow the seeds of World War II. Read Keegan's brilliant tome on the Second World War to complete this examination of the worst atrocities of the first half of the 20th Century. Rocco Dormarunno, author of The Five Points
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, scholarly work!
Review: The First World War by John Keegan is an excellent, scholarly work. While some readers may consider it longwinded and over-detailed, I deem it highly readable. Keegan writes about the Great War comprehensively, vividly, and compellingly. He writes with succinct detail about the tactics, campaigns, battles, and senior political and military leaders on both sides of the war. Yet Keegan also approaches the war with a humane aspect, including excerpts from the letters and diaries of soldiers. Keegan himself wrote many pages on the human costs of this unnecessary war. In short, I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, but not for beginners
Review: This book is excellent for the person deeply interested in the First World War and the events leading up to it. However, it is too in-depth for a beginner or intermediate reader. It has great info on generals, tactics, campaigns in the Eastern and Western Fronts and Serbia. The author, John Keegan, deals with the vast casualties of WWI in a very humanitarian way. His first chapter is entitled "A European Tragedy." Overall, a good book.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent overview
Review: WWII seems to get all the attention in media today, so I was curious to learn about WWI and wanted to read just one book. Keegan's writing style is very matter of fact but unlike the dry prose in a college textbook his writings are filled with insight that only an expert can relay. It feels like every paragraph is a summary of a mountain of knowledge that Keegan posseses on the subject. That said, I got a little dizzy reading through all the troop movements and the cast of characters is so deep I found myself re-reading sections to understand how it all connected. So be forewarned, this is no "TV Book" (what my high-school english teacher called entertainment literature), this is the real deal. Overall it's a great book, I'm glad I read it.
Rating:
Summary: almost a classic
Review: Keegan does a very good job in writing a general history of the first world war. The main reason which made me give it a 4 instead of a 5 is that he doesn't discuss or even mention the 1918 Argonne offensive. He explains lesser American battles such as Belleau Wood and St. Mihiel but he ignores entirely the largest American battle of the war. If Keegan had decided to add information about the Argonne battle and a bit more on the maneuvering of opponents during the actual battles then it would have been a perfect 5.
|
