The acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the first month of World War I is now in mass market paperback. "Fascinating . . . One of the finest works of history written."--"The New York Times."
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The acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the first month of World War I is now in mass market paperback. "Fascinating . . . One of the finest works of history written."--"The New York Times."
Read Less
The year 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of WW I, and many books are being written in commemoration. I read Barbara Tuchman's famous book, "The Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I" (1962) after reading some of the more recent histories and becoming interested. Her book remains an invaluable study. The book has attained a life of its own. Tuchman (1912 -- 1989) was a popular historian. She wrote for a broad audience in a way that emphasized character, description, drama, and narrative writing rather than scholarly analysis.
The book covers the events leading to the outbreak of WW I, but its focus is on the military history of the first month of the war, August 1914. Tuchman describes in great detail actions on the Western front of the War. In August, 1914, the large armies of Germany and France faced each other in what each side thought would be a rapid and offensive war of annihilation. The German army moved through Belgium and France but received a check at the Battle of the Marne in early September and was forced to retreat. A long war of four years in the trenches set in.
Tuchman sets the stage for her story and displays her formidable writing skills in the book's opening paragraph. Here are the paragraph's opening two and concluding sentences.
"So gorgeous was the spectacle on the May morning of 1910 when nine kings rode in the funeral of Edward VII of England that the crowd waiting in hushed and black-clad awe could not keep back gasps of admiration. In scarlet and blue and green and purple, three by three the sovereigns rode through the palace gates, with plumed helmets, god braid, crimson sashes, and jeweled orders flashing in the sun. .... The muffled tongue of Big Ben tolled nine by the clock as the cortege left the palace, but on history's clock it was sunset; and the sun of the old world was setting in a dying blaze of splendor never to be seen again."
The book is full of descriptive, dramatic, and beautiful writing. As Tuchman introduces the participants from all sides of the Great War, she displays a gift for capturing the heart of an individual's character in pithy. well-chosen words. She continues to develop the strengths and weaknesses of individual characters in following their actions through her story.
Much has been written on the reasons for fighting WW I, and little has been found convincing. Tuchman describes the long, tense, history of Europe and the fears of one another that developed in Germany, France, Russia, and Britain. She describes the military plans long in preparation by each of the European powers that were to be impacted and tested in the conflict. The assassination in Serbia and the subsequent brief attempts in July, 1914 to resolve the crisis diplomatically receive relatively little attention in Tuchman's history. She sees the source of the war in broader and underlying tensions and aims.
Tuchman's military history begins with Germany's ultimatum to Belgium and the subsequent invasion which brought England into the war. She makes a great deal of the unanticipated resistance of the Belgians, of the German atrocities, and of the decisive turn against Germany in world public opinion. The book includes detailed, dramatic discussions of the campaign in the West. Germany seemed on the verge of triumph, and Tuchman tries to show how its opening campaign ultimately failed. She integrates her discussion of the Western front with shorter but essential discussions of the early battles between Germany and Russia on the Eastern front, with a treatment of the fateful entry of Turkey into the War on the side of Germany, and with a short discussion of the war at sea. Her history is developed in extensive detail and with a strong sense of military realities in addition to her beautiful writing. With her attention to detail, Tuchman also makes the reader feel the broad tragedy of the first month of the Great War together with its impact in sowing the seeds for the Second War and beyond. She concludes: "Afterward there was no turning back. The nations were caught in a trap, a trap made during the first thirty days out of battles that failed to be decisive, a trap from which there was, and has been, no exit."
Although written for a broad audience, "The Guns of August" is slow, well-documented and thoughtful. It is hardly an easy book to read. The continued success of the work speaks well both for the book and for its persistent readers. The book helps readers think about and understand a pivotal event in history and its continued impact. It thus fulfills the critical goals of writing history.
