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Battles on the Eastern Front 1914-18: Suicide of the Empires (Great Battles)

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Originally published in 1971, the book offers no new information regarding the eastern front during WWI. While the period and place hold considerable interest, this book does not come close to satisfying it, except, perhaps, as a precis. One would be better served to consult SLA Marshall in the American Heritage volume on World War I.

Alan Clark's overview of the Eastern Front in World War I is a good starting place for readers to know more about the "war to end all wars." A considerable number of U.S. books have been devoted to the Western Front, which is understandable since it was where American soldiers fought and died. But far fewer works have dealt with the catastrophe of inept Russian and Austro-Hungarian armies at war. What is obvious from Clark's work is the tragic cost of the war for those two empires. What also emerges is the obvious superiority of the German command in comparison to its Russian and Austrian counterparts and, by implication, the over-confidence that this performance bred for the next world war. The author -- who often came under attack (sometimes rightly so) from the academic community -- also includes suggested additional readings on the Eastern Front.

At 111 pages in length, this book is hardly an exhaustive treatment of the First World War on the Eastern Front. The author does, however, address a number of important points. It all begins with a discussion of Germany's Schlieffen Plan, which called for a quick victory against France in the West before focusing on the Russians in the East. Ultimately, the Germans were forced to send some of the forces earmarked for the West to the East to stave off the Russian advance--a decision that made the trench-based stalemate in the West more likely.

As the author lays out the events that aided the able German forces in crippling the lumbering Russian army, a number of interesting facts are brought to light--not the least of which was that Tannenberg had been the site of German Army war games and maneuvers that each German officer knew like the back of his hand. What brought little help to the Germans was their Austrian-Hungarian ally--a nearly feudal entity that outmatched even the Russians in incompetence and pointless bureaucracy. The Austrians did excel in one department--that of the massive howitzers produced by their Skoda works--behemoths that dwarfed even the guns of Germany's preeminent arms manufacturer Krupp.

This book has a number of maps and photographs to help and engage the reader. Nevertheless, the author would have done well to include a few more well-marked maps. In particular, I would have appreciated a more detailed mapping of the forces deployed and movements executed at Tannenberg.

I'm going to be a little less harsh than some of the other reviewers. It is true that this is far from the definitive account of the battles on the Eastern front, for that I second the suggestion to read Norman Stone's version. Nonetheless, it does work as a nice, easily read primers on some of the largest, but least documented battles of the 20th century, by a respectable historian.

This book is just over 100 pages. It gives a pretty good account of Tannenberg, yet has few maps. The Brusilov offensive is very breif, 13 or 14 pages as is true in most books unfortunately. Most of the information in the book is accurate, barring just about all of page 97, which is uninformed at best. This page discusses the western front so it can be excused. The correct version of page 97 should read , the American expeditionary force destroyed the Germans at St. Mehiel and so Ludendorf asked for an armistice, the Balkans were a side show. Read "The Myth of the Great War," John Mosier, for a better explanation. The book is a good primer for the eastern front, and sadly in the english language there's not much after that. Any good book on WWI Suggests Norman Stones book The eastern front 1914-1917 as it's main source, however unfortunately, it's the only source. One final comment, Mr. Clark writes that Evert's offensive was originally scheduled for June 9, 1916, I believe it was scheduled for June 14 originally.