Customer Reviews

1918 : The Year of Victories

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Regrettably, this book is far less than anyone could reasonably expect. Far from providing any insights to the tumultuous events of 1918 and the lead up to the Armistice, the book is a turgid rendition of confusing details. Indeed, it took great patience to reach its end.

Thus, in light of the above, I cannot recommend this book to any general reader. Be advised, seek facts elsewhere.

This was one of the handfull of books I took to amuse myself flying from Sydney to Hawaii in June this year, I got nauseous and nearly puked, the cabin of the A330 seemed was rolling upside down with my stomach, but I dont really entirely blame this book for this, Id say that reading several hours in flight is not a good policy for me, maybe no matter which book. I grabbed for the barf bag several times felt just like an actual WW1 soldier grabbing for his gas mask when they yell Gas! Gas!!. False alarm, for me anyway. No Phosgene, no puke.
It did disappoint me a little, is not as involving a non-putdowner as some WW1 narratives. Its nicely presented as other reviewers have said, probably for the intermediate WW1 student, which is probably my level, a good gift idea, but I would recommend something like "TO THE LAST MAN, Spring 1918 " as a more entertaining and insightful alternative, even though the terms of reference are in common but narrower time-frame.

British born author and historian Martin Evans has written several volumes on both of the World Wars, including numerous battlefield guides. In his book, 1918: THE YEAR OF VICTORIES, he examines the final year of the Great War. I thought this a very worthy presentation of those events. If you have a good knowledge of WWI history, you may not find much new here, but I believe you will still enjoy the read. If you're not a WWI aficionado, you will find this volume most enlightening and much more enjoyable to read than some of the other volumes available which chronicle these same events.

There is a clear bias towards the Allied forces, though Evans presents information from both the Allies and the Central Powers perspectives. By that I mean, Evans does not shy away from presenting German acts of heroism as well as those of Allied troops. There is an interspersing of personal letters and accounts presented in conjunction with each battle as it unfolds. Some of these are emotionally difficult to read as you find first hand accounts of the horrific scenes of trench warfare, artillery bombardments and machinegun fire on virtually exposed infantry.

Evans also presents good insight on the ego-driven strained relationships between Haig, Petain, Pershing and others. This is one of the few books on WWI that strives to give the American Expeditionary Force its just due on bringing an end to the war. The one disappointment I do have in the book is the lack of quality maps. I'm fairly well versed on the campaigns and various salients, but those not familiar may have difficulty piecing it all together with the brief maps that are included and may need to reference other maps for clarification. The bibliography is rather brief, though does contain some good reference sources. The index is far too brief for this book.

Occasionally, when reviewing a book, the mention of the quality of the book itself warrants mentioning. This is one of those occasions. This is a 2003 publication from Chartwell Books and is quite nice. The graphics imprinted on the dust jacket are duplicated on the book's panels as well. The paper is well above average quality and the pages are stitch bound, a rare find in today's market of mass production for cost efficiency. This is a very nice volume that you will love to have added to the World War I shelf of your library.

Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com