Customer Reviews

Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918 World War I and It's Violent Climax (Unabridged Audiobook on 12 Tapes)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have read a number of histories of World War I. I believe this war was the most important event of the twentieth century, creating world political and social conditions we are still trying to work through today. At this point, 90 years after the start of the war, it is difficult to find an author with a new take on taking us through this history. Mr. Persico has made a valiant attempt and, for the most part, he succeeds.

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year 1918 is, of course, the moment when World War I came to an end. What Mr. Persico does is tell the story of the war with its last day as his starting point. He does this for a couple reasons. First, he wants to make the point that, as the armistice had been signed before this day, the casualties of November 11th were pointless. He then uses the senseless casualties of the last day to bring to life much of the senselessness of the previous four years. He needs to do this to bring the scope of the war into a focus that he can cover in 400 readable pages, using the stories of many individual soldiers to get at the heart of the matter. And we do manage to get a lot of personal stories here: from the great (Foch, Pershing) to the soon to be great (McArthur, Truman, Patton) to the lesser known. And he gives us at least a taste of the German side with, of course, Hitler, Ludendorff and others.

The difficulty with the book is that the jumping around in time and place occasionally makes things difficult to follow. And he often gets away from his "last day" conceit, spending most of his pages on other days which makes his conceit seem somewhat artificial. Though, to his credit, he does tie everything together rather well by the end with a brief but lucid commentary on the effect of the war.

Mr. Persico may not have written the best book on the war but he has given us a fine addition to the literature that can be read in a reasonable amount of time. A quality many tomes on the topic do not share.

The author's point concerning the sheer stupidity and callousness of Pershing and other allied commanders in continuing to attack German positions AFTER THE ARMISTICE HAD BEEN SIGNED is earthshaking and almost incomprehensible to today's reader. Yet there it is; probably 6,500 additional American, Canadian, French and British soldiers gave their lives in the six hours between 5:00 AM when the armistice was signed and 11:00 AM when the cease fire took effect. And this was not because of German perfidy or perverseness -- it was due to our own commanders continuing to send troops over the top to attack German trenches.

The French and British can be almost forgiven for ordering Americans to die up to the last moment; they looked upon the US troops as Johnny-come-latelys who were going to grab the spoils without paying their butcher's bill. But nothing can excuse Pershing, Bullard, and other American commanders for ordering their troops to attack and die. It is impossible to read Persico's treatise without experiencing mounting anger, but this last date, at whom or what?

I will be eternally grateful to author Persico for making this imformation public -- like probably most others I had accepted official reports of casualties (woefully understated for 11/11 in a cover-up) and did not realize the abject criminality of those involved. There were many rationalizations, and Persico offers them all, but to little effect. For this I would give the author 5 stars.

Unfortunately, the author flits back and forth from the morning of November 11th, 1918, to other days in the war starting with its beginning. Most of the coverage is through ancedotes from letters and works by participants, but the overall effect detracts from the book's main theme and makes for confusing reading. On this basis the book becomes a personalized narrative, rating only three stars. With respect to learning about the war in a wider context, the book is simply unsuitable.

The concluding chapters feature probably the author's best work. His provocative questions and thoughts concerning the armistice of 1918 as leading to World War Two are worth reading. Some of it is light, such as overlooking that the British continued their blockade of Germany until the Versailles Treaty was signed (in a very large sense, continuing the war after the armistice), and the proffered idea that the war needed to be fought through to Germany's total defeat to eliminate any chance of resurgent militarism. It needs to be remembered in this context that no European War had been fought at that time since the Romans to the complete and unconditional surrender of a nation. Prior to WWI, wars were fought to acquire land, resources, hegemony, or to place a particular ruler on a throne, and negotiated treaties had been the norm.

Another item treated lightly was that had Wilson not brought the US into the war through propaganda and pretense, the parties most probably would have had to negotiate a peace after fighting to exhaustion on both sides. Clearly this point was reached in 1918, and it was only the American intervention that brought about the German collapse. One is tempted to believe that Hitler would not have come to power and World War Two would not have occurred had the US stayed out of WWI. Unfortunately, Persico does not expound on this thesis.

There were a few minor problems such as saying the Germans said, "Der Krieg ist ueber." That's a literal translation for "The war is over", but a German would have said, "Der Krieg ist vorbei" or something more idiomatic. Overall, however, the prose is excellent and well-edited and the author's writing style is crisp and engaging.

In conclusion, author Persico makes many valid points and has produced an important work that adds to the World War One literature. At this late date, that is an achievement in itself. I recommend purchasing this book.

"11th Month, 11th Day, 11th Hour" by Joseph Persico is an interesting and captivating book covering not only the final moments of the Great War but also offering a general history of the war from its beginning in 1914. The author follows a number of characters, great and small, throughout the narrative. We follow the paths and final fate of a number of soldiers from America, Britain, France, and Germany. We also get glimpses of those who control their destiny, Foch, Haig, Hindenburg and Pershing.

The story is well told and you'll find yourself following the lives of these men and women intensely, mostly with the knowledge of what is to come but still drawn into the final agonising moments before the end. The book can jump about a little, from 1914 to 1918, as mentioned by previous reviewers, however I did not find that this detracted from the story and felt it worked well enough.

The book has received a few negative reviews in my country (Australia), mainly for the fact that the author tends to miss the other allies (Australia & New Zealand) who were fighting along side the Americans. The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) served from 1915 to 1918 on the Western Front and as a whole suffered a casualty rate of 65%, the highest of any Allied army in WW1. However I can see that this book has been written mainly for an American audience and I think it has done well.

The author's intent, to show the terribly tragedy of that final day, the waste of soldiers lives by Generals in an attempt to comply with criminal inept and stupid orders from higher up comes through strongly. Regardless of which nation those soldiers served, it's a well-told story and one that needed to be told.

I have read a quite a number of books on the Great War but this is one of the first to bring home the futility of some of the actions carried out by supposedly intelligent leaders & commanders. I hope that we never forget the sacrifice made by all the combatants, willing or not, in this most terrible War.

There are many who have not read every First Great war book out there, and this is a good one for such to read (even though I have read many). The author admirably gives us what's going on in each phase of the war, and details each battle in a style of Strategy, then Big-Picture, then Zoom in showing the viewpoint of an individual corporal or captain. Plenty of descriptions of what corps or brigades must do and obstacles, but also plenty of quotes from diaries and letters and journals of participants. It doesn't matter that two hundred authors have given the big picture; you must still give your own version of the big picture in order to fit your new private letters quotes and details in it. But I must say this is not a fun read: Here's one detail:
"During the fight the men under MacArthur imagined they had witnessed every permutation of human suffering until they observed the fate of private Jim Gallagher, 168th Infantry. In an anemy night attack illuminated by star shells, a flare lodged in Gallagher's gut. There was nothing his comrades could do to remove the hissing projectile but watch the man die in agony."

I've read several recent Civil War offerings and see that today's history trend is offering diaries, letters-back-home and journals from corporals, privates and lieutenants; Persico has followed this with much illuminating source content; but he had to give the brigade and corps picture, the generals and strategies too, so we can fit the small into the big and get a clear picture, and Persico fully gives us this. The notes and bib pages, in packed small print, total twenty-seven pages (plenty for volumes way under six or seven hundred pages; this text is 410), including not only books but journals, archives, and gov docs collections, covering the gamut from 1914 to 1999. This is not stale stuff, we get a fresh lot in a full picture of the early glory-seeking and later "just survive!" actions and feelings, the soldiers' downtime and the few up times; and it's a balanced picture between the Brits, the French, the AEF (American Expeditionary Force) and the Germans; the privates, and the generals.

Here's another in it: "Troops of the 37th and 79th Divisions were arrayed before Montfaucon, a hill dominating the center of the front. Its earth was steeped in ancient blood. More than a thousand years before, men had died on its slopes in battles between warring tribes. Rain appeared to be the inevitable concomitant of a new offensive on the western front, including this day. Numerous creeks crisscrossing the region flooded and turned fields into quagmires. Troops dumped tens of thousand of sandbags into washed-out roadbeds to allow supply wagons to reach the front. The infantrymen had to lay down duckboards to advance."

I sure can't quote whole pages here, but every chapter gives good stuff: you hear and touch and smell every forest, every road, every mudpit, every man, besides see it like you are there; and thus gain the understanding. One could easily wish to choose 200 paragraphs to quote trying to give a picture of the illuminating success of this author's efforts: you could in fact read only this book to get a competent view of the daily doings and surviving efforts, and criminal career-motivated orders of many commanders, leading to his main point.

He drives home his point of exactly why the men who died that final November morning didn't have to: nothing gained, wasted lives. And woe to infantry advancing against entrenched machine guns.

Everyone seems to know the exact time and date of the end of the Great War, but very few realize that the Allies were fighting right up until the last minute. This book examines the stupidity that condemned more than 6500 men to death, and thousands more to permanent injury, after it had been determined that the war was going to end at a certain time. There really was no good excuse for action up to the last minute, as this book very ably shows, but that's what happened, and it's a story that doesn't always get told. I do agree with the conclusion of the author: the only consequence of the Great War was that it led directly to World War II. Read this book, and you will once again be astounded by the utter stupidity of the way-behind-the -front -lines generals and their staffs.

A lot padded out, though. You get the sense that Persico did enough research for about half a book and then filled out the rest with your standard history of the war on the western front. Anyone not familiar with World War I will find this a splendid read but people who already know about the subject will probably be frustrated with the fact that a lot of the book doesn't even deal with the last day.

Persico hits the highlights (the Somme, Bellaeu Wood, the Harlem Hellfighters, etc etc), but I didn't see much here that I haven't already read about elsewhere. Moreover, the other fronts in the war are given almost completely short shrift. Want to know what happened on the war's last day in Italy? The Middle East? Sorry. You're out of luck here.

Still, if you don't know anything about the Great War (or if you're a completist), this is a good place to start. Persico is a lively, if sometimes glib, writer and you could do a lot, lot worse.

I was quite surprised at the negative review given to this book by a fellow reader. I could not disagree more with the criticisms cited. Essentially, this has turned out to be one of the best books I have read about the Great War. This period in history is endlessly fascinating to me and I will read any new book published on the topic, without fail. I was hooked from page one, with the author, Joseph E. Persico, weaving a fascinating chronicle of this cruel conflict, back and forth, from its surprisingly violent last hours to subsequent events that ultimately lead to the final outcome. Hardly confusing, this style is seamlessly executed and lends a dramatic re-telling of events that have shaped world history to this day. Additionally, Persico offers character studies of a few famous figures not normally associated with the First World War - Adolf Hitler, Douglas MacArthur and George Patton - and their roles in this conflict. I highly recommend this brilliantly written book, whether you are a novice to the story of the Great War or someone with an enduring fascination like myself.

Mr. Persico has given us a very readable work addressing certain aspects of WWI. While the student of this war will certainly find nothing new here, it is never-the-less a worthwhile read, particularly for those not all that familiar with this particular era. The book is around 400 plus pages long. As I look at one of my book shelves in my home, I find over seven feet of shelving devoted to this particular war and I have not even touched the surface. What I am trying to say, is that the author has given us some okay stuff in a very short book. I would hope that anyone reading it though, would use it as a springboard for further study as the author has very much overly simplified things quite a lot. Some of his "facts" could and certainly should be questioned, but hey, that is part of the fun of reading history and reading various authors. This is a good read in that the author does have a good command of the language, tells a good story, and dose, somewhat, give is a picture of the horrors of this particular war. It is certainly worth the time it takes to read it and I do recommend it.

I highly recommend this book. Mr. Persico puts a human face to the staggering and sterile numbers of dead and wounded. The senselessness of the last day of the war (which is the prime focus of this book) only magnifies the futility of the entire war. He also provides enlightening comparisons for many of the war's statistics (casualties on Nov. 11, 1918 were higher than for the Allies on D-Day, and were higher than the average for the war). Included are descriptions of many of the key players (Foch, Pershing, Patton, Haig) that bring to life the war's history and helps to explain some of the senselessness of its pursuit to the final minute. Quotes are aptly provided to illustrate some of the internal debate about the conduct of the war at the highest levels (Lloyd George stating that the losses were so staggering that "If the people knew, the war would be stopped tomorrow.") But more importantly, he introduces the reader to many of the historically faceless soldiers (Private Henry Gunther, Private George Price) who went "over the top" on that last day and lost their lives. He also offers as good as an account and analysis of this war as many other books on World War I. None are without flaws. I believe that more history must be written by authors as Joe Persico who adds a dimension and perspective lacking in other accounts. History is not the special purview of academics, scholars or military historians.

"Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour" by Joseph Persico is not at all a bad book. If it were an account about an earlier or later war, I might have rated it at four or five stars. However, this book chronicles the Great War, a war that has produced the finest and most captivating masterpieces in fiction (All Quiet on the Western Front, A Farewell to Arms) and nonfiction (The Guns of August, The Price of Glory) alike. When, for example, it is compared to Alistair Horne's account of the battle of Verdun ("The Price of Glory") Persico's book falls flat.

The title (Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour) seems to imply that the book will focus primarily on the events of the last day of the Great War. While many other WWI accounts will recall the last days with high-profile events such as the Kaiser's abdication or the German representatives' visit to Foch for terms, few mention how the trenches were blazing with gunfire and artillery right up to the final seconds of the Armistice. This is where Persico's book does well, although in my opinion he missed an opportunity to do better. Persico confined the actual account of the final day to a few chapters while scattering the personal accounts to bite-sized excerpts over several preceding chapters--chapters that chronicle the entire war from August 1914.

The personal accounts of the last days of the war were good but were unfortunately diluted by Persico's impulse to retell the war in its entirety. My only explanation for why Persico recounted the whole conflict was to make his book more palatable to lay readers. Oddly, many other authors (such as the fore-mentioned Horne) have a little more faith in their audience's ability to recall at least the basic course of the war. If readers need to brush up on their WWI history in order to understand the intended focus of this book, there is no shortage of great World War I overviews (such as those by AJP Taylor or a recent work by John Keegan.)

As with any book on the Great War, Persico does well in conveying the immense tragedy of the conflict from both sides on the Western Front. The diary and memior excerpts included in the book are not only from the American, British, and French perspective, but many German accounts are included as well.

As I have previously stated, "Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour" is not a bad read, but it simply lags in its special classification as a WWI account. For those that have read a multitude of Great War literature (fiction & nonfiction), they will likely be disappointed in the lack of new information presented in this book.