6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Not Too Distant Mirror, November 9, 2008
This review is from: The Greatest Day in History: How, on the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month, the First World War Finally Came to an End (Hardcover)
November 11, 2008 will be the 90th anniversary of the Armistice that ended the fighting in World War I. Nicholas Best, a novelist, historian and former fiction critic for the Financial Times, delivers a well-written narrative of the week leading up to what The London Daily Express called "The Greatest Day in History."
He tells the tale from many perspectives--German soldiers retreating in good order in the face of the Allied onslaught, Allied troops fighting hard to settle scores for fallen comrades and murdered civilians, combatants on both sides trying (but often failing) to avoid dying in a war that was almost over. In Berlin, aristocrats watch as Germany descends into chaos and mutinous soldiers raise the red flag of Bolshevism. The book recounts the experiences of the famous of the time and of the future--Wilfred Owen, Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson, Conan Doyle, Marlene Dietrich, Maurice Chevalier, Adolph Hitler, George Patton, Harry Truman, Douglas McArthur and many others.
Such a narrative is bound to be kaleidescopic. With German civilians dying of starvation and the threat of civil war growing by the day, German leaders force Kaiser Wilhelm to abdicate and sign an Armistice that amounts to a complete capitulation. Many Allied leaders believe that the sooner the war is ended, the better--others fear that unless Germany itself is invaded and beaten, the German army will eventually be back for a rematch. Though most soldiers want the war to end before they are killed, there are a few that want the war to continue, for personal glory, or to settle old scores, or to beat Germany so thoroughly that it will never again dare to start a fight. And for the thousands who celebrate ecstatically and often drunkenly at the cease fire, there are those, like Vera Brittain, who have no one to celebrate with, her fiance, her brother, and their best friends having been killed in the War.
Juggernauts like a world war do not stop smoothly. Some soldiers didn't know that the war was scheduled to end, and they died in some final, pointless skirmish. Others died because their commanders, anxious for glory and reputation, pushed their units forward until the moment the cease fire took effect. 2,738 people died on the Western Front on the last day of the Great War, almost as many as were killed a generation later on D-Day. Amid all the tumult and mixed feelings, the book ends abruptly, as a convalescing Adolph Hitler resolves to enter politics so he can wreak revenge on Germany's enemies.
My one disappointment with "The Greatest Day in History" is that it doesn't bring some of the individual narratives to a conclusion--as the book ends, many of the story's protaganists are still in peril, and the fates of some are revealed only in the notes that accompany the book's photographs. What happened to these people, one wonders, in the days and weeks following the Armistice? That said, I recognize that the power of the book's narrative lies in capturing the end of World War I in all its tragedy, glory, celebration, confusion, uncertainty and ambiguity. A coda might have detracted from the sense of immediacy, so I'll defer to the author's judgment on the point.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enlightening, but how thorough was his research?, July 9, 2011
The author captures much of the spirit of the times -- the rise of Bolshevism, the anger at Germany and the Kaiser, the infighting among the Allies -- and for that I thank him.
But I wonder how thoroughly he researched when I see this on page 52: "The Germans and Irish were not the only ones who had voted against (Wilson). Large numbers of blacks had too, and women and farmers and businessmen." Women did not vote in national elections until after ratification of the 19th amendment to the Constitution, which took place on August 26, 1920.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Read about a Famous Day, August 4, 2009
This review is from: The Greatest Day in History: How, on the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month, the First World War Finally Came to an End (Hardcover)
This is a well written narrative on the days leading up to Armistice Day even if it is a little lightweight.
Author Best paints a good illustration of German and Allied actions and reactions in the final days of WWI. He provides a very clear picture of the turmoil and tumult that engulfed Germany in its final days - a country wracked with rebellion and Bolshevik insurrection. While the rest of the world saw the Germans as the bad guys, it is awful to read that so many young allied lives were lost even in the last 24 hours of battle, because many officers wanted to be seen to have a `good war.'
It is now a well accepted fact that the seeds of WWII came from the Armistice and the terms imposed on Germany. Interestingly, many allied leaders foresaw this - Haig and Clemenceau among them - but were not in a position to change the terms.
Some quibbles about an enjoyable book that is worth reading - I would have liked to have seen a more in depth portrait of the Kaiser and he introduces a number of characters whom he forgets to clarify what happened including the crew of U-67 who have no idea the war is over as they "sneak through the straits of Gibraltar," and we never hear from them again!
Minor quibbles about an enjoyable book. Read it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
