The dramatic opening weeks of the Great War passed into legend long before the conflict ended. The British Expeditionary Force fought a mesmerizing campaign, outnumbered and outflanked but courageous and skillful, holding the line against impossible odds, sacrificing themselves to stop the last great German offensive of 1914. A remarkable story of high hopes and crushing disappointment, the campaign contains moments of sheer horror and nerve-shattering excitement; pathos and comic relief; occasional cowardice and much ...
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The dramatic opening weeks of the Great War passed into legend long before the conflict ended. The British Expeditionary Force fought a mesmerizing campaign, outnumbered and outflanked but courageous and skillful, holding the line against impossible odds, sacrificing themselves to stop the last great German offensive of 1914. A remarkable story of high hopes and crushing disappointment, the campaign contains moments of sheer horror and nerve-shattering excitement; pathos and comic relief; occasional cowardice and much selfless courage--all culminating in the climax of the First Battle of Ypres. And yet, as Peter Hart shows in this gripping and revisionary look at the war's first year, for too long the British part in the 1914 campaigns has been veiled in layers of self-congratulatory myth: a tale of poor unprepared Britain, reliant on the peerless class of her regular soldiers to bolster the rabble of the unreliable French Army and defeat the teeming hordes of German troops. But the reality of those early months is in fact far more complex--and ultimately, Hart argues, far more powerful than the standard triumphalist narrative. Fire and Movement places the British role in 1914 into a proper historical context, incorporating the personal experiences of the men who were present on the front lines. The British regulars were indeed skillful soldiers, but as Hart reveals, they also lacked practice in many of the required disciplines of modern warfare, and the inexperience of officers led to severe mistakes. Hart also provides a more accurate portrait of the German Army they faced--not the caricature of hordes of automatons, but the reality of a well-trained and superlatively equipped force that outfought the BEF in the early battles--and allows readers to come to a full appreciation of the role of the French Army, without whom the Marne never would have been won. Ultimately Fire and Movement shows the story of the 1914 campaigns to be an epic tale, and one which needs no embellishment. Through the voices and recollections of the soldiers who were there, Hart strips away the myth to offer a clear-eyed account of the remarkable early days of the Great War.
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Seller's Description:
Near Fine in Very Good+ jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 480pp/maps/illus. The dramatic opening weeks of the Great War passed into legend long before the conflict ended. The British Expeditionary Force fought a mesmerizing campaign, outnumbered and outflanked but courageous and skillful, holding the line against impossible odds, sacrificing themselves to stop the last great German offensive of 1914. Small crease on dj. Text clean no marks.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 480pp/maps/illus. The dramatic opening weeks of the Great War passed into legend long before the conflict ended. The British Expeditionary Force fought a mesmerizing campaign, outnumbered and outflanked but courageous and skillful, holding the line against impossible odds, sacrificing themselves to stop the last great German offensive of 1914. Small crease on dj. Text clean no marks.
The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) acquired its nickname of "The Old Contemptibles" from a remark attributed to Kaiser Wilhelm dismissing it as a "contemptible little army". In August 1914, Britain sent a force of approximately 120,000 men to join France and Belgium in the Great War against Germany. Peter Hart tells the story of the BEF during the eventful first months of the War in his new book, "Fire and Movement: The British Expeditionary Force and the Campaign of 1914". Hart, the author of several books on WW I, is Oral Historian of the Imperial War Museum in London. His history draws extensively on the records of the Museum.
The fighting in 1914 was different from the trench warfare that later came to dominate fighting on the Western Front. The Germans looked for a quick victory in France in order to turn their attention to the Eastern Front in Russia. Both large armies, that of Germany and France, sought a quick, decisive victory based on annihilation and maneuver. That was not to be given the size of the armies and the changes in military and economic resources.
Hart integrates his history of the BEF with the history of the War in 1914. He emphasizes throughout the small size and resources of the BEF in the early campaigns in comparison with the armies of Germany and France. His study aims to correct the work of earlier writers who frequently make extravagant claims for the BEF. Nevertheless, he finds heroism, grit, and determination in the actions of the troops and some of their leaders in the face of terrible fighting.
The book begins with Britain's preparations for war and its alliances in the years leading up to the conflict. Hart rejects the notion that Britain was unprepared for war, but he finds that it had largely prepared for a naval war rather that for sending boots on the ground. In successive chapters, he discusses the 1914 campaign, including the Battle of Frontiers, and BEF's role at Mons and Le Cateau, the Great Retreat, and the turn-around in the fortunes of the War at the Battle of the Marne. The story picks up even more force in Hart's account of the Battle of the Aisne, the Race to the Sea, and, in particular, the first Battle of Ypres. Hart offers an insightful overview of the beginning of trench warfare, and he explores the legends that have grown around the "Christmas Truce" in December 1914.
Hart tries to show throughout the character of the French and German armies as well as the BEF. British writers tend to overstate the BEF's role, Hart argues, and this leads to a failure to understand the real contributions the BEF made during the early months of the war. Hart's history makes extensive use of eyewitness accounts from the letters, memoirs, and diaries of soldiers. He draws primarily on BEF records but uses German and French records as well. As the history proceeds, Hart makes increasingly frequent use of quoted materials. He begins and ends his lengthy chapters with summations with the body of the text often consisting of quotations with annotations. The quotations are effective in giving a feel for combat and for the lives and sufferings of the soldiers. For example, here is a quotation from a member of the BEF that Hart offers that comes from the climactic fighting at Ypres.
"It all fills me with a great rage. I know I have got to stop my bullet some time and it is merely a question of where it hits one, whether it is dead or wounded. I don't care one farthing as far as I am concerned, but the whole thing is an outrage on civilization. The whole of this beautiful country is devastated -- broken houses, broken bodies, blood, filth and ruin everywhere. an unending hellfire for the Kaiser, his son and the party who caused this war repair the broken bodies and worse broken hearts which are being made -- being made this very minute -- within a few hundred yards of where I am sitting?"
Although lengthy and slow, the book is absorbing and difficult to put down. With its focus on the BEF, the book sometimes presupposes a background knowledge in its readers of the basics of the military history of 1914. Thus the book will not serve as a good introductory account for readers unfamiliar with the outbreak and early battles of WW I. It will be of most value to readers with strong prior knowledge of and interest in the War in 1914 and in the role of the BEF. The book is an eloquent tribute to the BEF and a judicious history of its contributions during this centenary year of the events that it commemorates.