Customer Reviews

Great Battles of World War I (Great Battles of the World Wars Series)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Readers of the world wars tend to study the second in great detail and have only a mild interest in the first (if at all). WW II has quickly fought major battles, whereas the first seems to be one long stalemate. That was my former opinion, too. But to understand the causes of the second you need a better understanding of the first. Although more people died in WW II, WW I was a much more horrible war. Gas is just one reason why. The horrors of the trenches were another. Just how did the Germans handle the new invention, the tank? With field guns and flamethrowers. The parachute existed, but many figther pilots were prevented from flying with one because upper echelons felt that a pilot would be too tempted to desert his plane too soon. In fact, almost every major weapon system of WW II (no nukes, of course) was available and used in WW I (airplanes, bombers, aircraft carriers, submarines, tanks, machine guns, rockets, flame throwers) and included some that were used only in that war (zeppelins, gas, underground large explosive mines). But the great battles of WW I were also much more costly than any single battle in WW II, often in the hundreds of thousands. For instance, on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the British Army alone had over 58,000 casualties, 20,000 of which were killed that day (there were over 20,000 casualties in the first hour alone) mainly caused by German machine guns. This volume is well illustrated, nicely written, and just plain fun. It hooked me. I now have a nice 35 volume collection on various aspects of the Great War. It turned out to be every bit as interesting as WW II. If you want just one reference source on the First World War (World War One or the Great War) this volume would be an excellent choice.

I have the books GREAT BATTLEFIELDS OF THE WORLD, GREAT BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR, and GREAT BATTLES OF WWII. These are all great books. This new one does not have as good as pictures and maps. I still like it, it is just the 4th out of the 4 books.