Rating: 
Summary: Where are the maps?
Review: When are history authors going to learn to include decent maps in their works? This was perhaps my biggest gripe with this work.I don't agree that the writing style, per se, was bad. In fact, I liked it. The work as a whole is rather disjointed though, especially considering it is supposed to be a one-volume general history.
Rating: 
Summary: Masterful examination of a lesser-known conflict
Review: World War I, so overshadowed by its sequel and so much less remembered by Americans who took part, albeit crucially, in its latter stages, is fleshed out extraordinary well portrayed here. Mr. Keegan's main contribution is his insightful recognition of the lack of effective communication on the battle lines as the underpinning for the bloodshed; the instruments of killing had surpassed the means to use them to desired effect. This was a war that changed the psyche of the world, and Mr. Keegan explains this also, quite well. The one complaint is that the lack of maps makes the battles difficult to follow at times, but this should not detract from the book. If you haven't already, buy this and give it a read.
Rating:
Summary: Not Barbara Tuchmann
Review: This book covers a byzantine topic (origins and conduct of WWI) which is not assisted at all by the convoluted and run-on sentence structure which the author adheres to. The result is very confusing for the reader. In addition, town names are thrown about like one is very familiar with local French/Russian/Polish geography, frequently with no reference to maps. Something is moreover definitely lacking in the time-line presentation, because battles for example are very difficult to follow. I will definitely stay with The Guns of August.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointing
Review: Although Keegan gives an interesting view of the Great War, I found the book to be disappointing for several reasons. Some of my thoughts overlap with those already written by others here, for which I apologize. But, here thay are anyway: 1. Too much operational detail; too little politics, social implications, economic problems, etc. This book gave a narrow view of the war, almost entirely from the perspective of the battlefield. It gave very little information on the broader effects on the societies involved. And even when discussing battles, Keegan does not provide, in my opinion, enough of the common soldier's perspective. 2. Terrible maps. For a book that focuses almost exclusively on battles, I expected great maps showing the battles. Instead, we get too few maps, with far too little information. So, for example, Keegan frequently discusses cities, mountains, rivers, etc., that do not appear on any maps. Very annoying. 3. Very rushed at the end. I got the impression that Keegan either had to rush to meet a deadline or he lost interest near the end. As a result, after 400 pages of a lot of detail about the course of the war, he tells us very little about the final, decisive campaigns. And he tells us even less about the negotiated resolution of the war. Very little information on the armistice, and none on the peace treaty. So, after telling us how important the Great War was to subsequent events, including WWII, he does very little to explain why. 4. Contrary to what many reviewers have said, I do not think the writing is particularly good. Keegan tends to write very long (some would describe them as run-on) sentences, which I often had to re-read to understand. 5. Keegan assumes too much background knowledge. As a result, he sometime discusses people, and often discusses weapons, without adequate background information. At other times, he provides the background information, but only several hundred pages after first discussing a subject (eg., battleships). 6. Too little information about the role of the United States, and downplays the significance of that role. I have other criticisms, but these give you an idea of what I think. Still, despite all the book's faults, it is a decent overview of the operational course of the war.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome Coverage of the Great War
Review: This is the best book about the totality of the Great War I've seen, and I am no Keegan partisan. I admit that I had low expectations...but Keegan takes the reader on a brisk narrative that actually ANALYZES the events that happen. My expectations rose dramatically after 50 pages, and kept going up, only for Keegan to meet them at the extreme. You get the background that you would expect, plus detailed treatment of strategy, operations, and tactics. The first person accounts are there, but they don't predominate (thankfully). A lot of attention is given to the eastern and southeastern fronts, and colonial warfare is also covered. The Schlieffen plan gets detailed analysis, not only of the obvious structual flaws (that we all can see in hindsight), but also some of the less visible flaws, and the actual friction in execution that led to failure. All major and many minor actions as well get similar treatment and elucidation. Naturally, there are some areas of weakness: air war is barely mentioned, a sensitive reader might detect a slight apologia for Haig and other WWI commanders. Home fronts and economic warfare are neglected. Of course, more maps would be welcome. A chapter on grand strategy is called for, and the last chapter, "American and Armagedon" sounds cool, but ends on a somewhat confusing note, a whimper more than a bang. A good conclusion would have been the fitting finale. But for one volume, less than 500 pages and for a very easy to read and understand style, you won't be disappointed in what you get.
Rating:
Summary: Concise and literate, very well done
Review: Mr. Keegan continues his string of excellent historical war accounts. This work is remarkable in many ways, but its greatest asset is the author's ability to distill the massively, complex history of the Great War into a single volume. His insights are often fresh and perceptive. I particularly enjoyed his personal histories and wish he'd included many more. And the questions raised on his last page are truly important. The work's few minor flaws need not dissuade neophyte or experienced readers. It suffers most seriously from a deficit of maps. A standard atlas remedies the problem, but I suspect Mr. Keegan overestimates American understanding of world geography. Civilian privations are given slight shift. And I believe Mr. Keegan's generosity toward Generals French, Haig and Joffre (at a minimum) is far too complimentary. They are responsible for the wholesale butchering of countless innocent soldiers, as the author so well documents. But their cavalier, unsympathetic dispositions are inexcusable, regardless of Mr. Keegan's attempts to explain of their points of view. Yet this history is very much worth reading. I followed with great interest Mr. Keegan's Near and Middle Eastern discourses. He proves himself a master of the history of sea warfare in his presentations of naval battles and technologies. He deftly positions Lenin, Hitler, Churchill, Hindenburg and many other important personalities in their appropriate roles. We are again in debt to Mr. Keegan for this concise, excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed but Compelling War Drama
Review: Keegan writes a solid straightforward narrative of the Great War. Perhaps he best puts the essential riddle of his book thus: "[T]he First World War is a mystery. Its origins are mysterious. So is its course....How did the anonymous millions, indistinguishably drab...find the resolution to sustain the struggle and to believe in its purpose?...Comradeship flourished, bound strangers into the closest brotherhood...Men whom the trenches cast into intimacy entered into bonds of sacrifice of self stronger than any of the friendships made in peace...That is the ultimate mystery...If we could understand its loves, as well as its hates, we would be nearer understanding the mystery of human life." This book is not primarily for military scholars,and errs on some maps and details of campaigns But for those who seek a basic understanding and at least plausible explanations, it is compelling. The murder of Archduke Ferdinand set in motion controllable events, if only...Austria moved at once to restrain the spiraling of a net of interlocking treaties: France with Russia, Britain with France; Germany, Hungary and Italy together...if only Russia did not rapidly mobilize...if only. There are so many if-only's. Keegan explains them well. The tragedy of diplomacy in August 1914 was that "events successively and progressively overwhelmed the capacity of statesmen to control them." The Schlieffen plan was flawed "at its heart", and thus a quick end of deaths impossible. "The Second World War, when it came in 1939, was unquestionably the outcome of the First." The ideas are not new, their value is to the curious and in the almost elegant telling of them. The battles are described in horrific detail: "this was war on a titanic scale." The barbarous martinets: Petain, Joffre, Haig, Falkenhayn, Ludendorff and on and on send millions to certain death. Particularly fascinating are the photos: the Kaiser granting medals, his withered hand visible; the vast Chateau Wood wasteland; demonic instruments of destruction; joyous faces greeting a liberating French soldier; trenches everywhere; the hard faces of men fearing no loss of others' lives; and most poignantly, the harrowed faces of men facing death, the rows of bodies and the thousands of neatly laid out crosses. In sum, a book for the moderate novice, which earnestly tries to explain, if not entirely answer, the essentially unanswerable.
Rating:
Summary: Not Keegan's best, but an adequate treatment of the subject
Review: One volume accounts of sweeping events as complex as the Great War rarely live up to reader's expectations. In that regard, John Keegan's "The First World War" is no different than previous attempts to explain the origins, course, and outcome of World War I. Although a fine writer and an extraordinary historian, Keegan adds little new information to the causes of World War I that have not already been covered in Barbara Tuchman's definitive book, "The Guns of August." Nor does Keegan provide a comprehensive, single source of information on the conflict. Keegan clearly writes to a specific audience, professional military historians interested in strategic decision-making. Readers interested in a crash course in the history of the "War To End All Wars" would be better served by S.L.A. Marshall's book, "World War I". Yet, Keegan's book merits some attention by the more serious historian. He covers new ground in his chapter on "The War Beyond the Western Front" and adds new insight into the campaigns outside the European theater. Overall, "The First World War" is worthwhile reading, but adds relatively little new material to the vast body of knowledge already existing on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: The Last War of the Nineteenth Century
Review: The author rightly lays the ensuing events of twentieth century at the feet of the First World War. The subject matter, condensed into a single, short (by history writing standards) volume includes just about everything a person, interested but not obsessed, needs to become conversant. The author is generous with his details of commanders their strengths and weaknesses on both sides. His narratives of the major and minor battles on all fronts are both impressive and terrifying as he reconstructs the body counts from each action. The author places the war on a technological cusp between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries with changes imminent in transportation, communication, and tactics, which were unfortunately unavailable during the conflict. In effect making this the last war of the nineteenth century. That's the good news. The bad news is the same as with many single volume works, the author is forced to leave things out or gloss over them. Conspicuous by its absence are the complex political underpinnings leading up to the war. During the conflict the behind the battlefront politics are also AWOL. If you are looking for information on Churchill or more importantly Kaiser Wilhlem II you will have to look elsewhere. The author primarily keeps to the battlefields, even when there is little happening. Another shortcoming of the book is either a complete lack of a relevant map or inconsistency in the maps that are presented. Some maps are perfectly detailed to the book's credit, some however appear to be throwaways. For example the sea battle of Jutland is told in great detail, but the map on page 271 shows the North Sea with a couple of crossed swords where the battle took place, very dissatisfying. Other maps leave out very pertinent detail, for example the map on pg. 280 details the battle of Verdun much of which the author describes occurring in the vicinity of the Bois des Caures, but this landmark is not shown on the referencing map. All in all this is carelessness on the part of the author, editor and publisher. These issues aside, this is a good book for those interested in the subject. Questions left unanswered or under-explored can be found in other more comprehensive editions that cover either some aspect of the climate leading up to the war or specific parts of the war itself. For example, Robert Massie's Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War, Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August and John Toland's Men at War No Mans Land [currently out of print]).
Rating:
Summary: The first history book I have ever read in two sittings
Review: This is the first history book that I have ever read in two sittings. I just could not put it down. I know people have varied tastes and expectations, and I respect this. But how anyone (not trying to be unkind) can give this book one or two stars bewilders me. Mr. Keegan's writing style is so lucid, so coherent, so easy to read and understand, so unpretentious that he took a subject that I knew very little about and made it come alive. He gave me an overall picture of the european political, civilian and military mindset of that era. I am a layman, maybe that is why I so thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated this book. If I had a PhD in history, maybe I would be more critical. For anyone who, like myself has (had) limited knowledge of the Great War. The war to end all wars, I highly recommend this book.
|
