The Defeat Of Imperial Germany, 1917-1918 (Major Battles & Campaigns) [Paperback]

Colonel Rod Paschall (Author)

Book Description

Series: Major Battles & Campaigns | Publication Date: August 22, 1994

January 1917. On the Western Front the armies of Imperial Germany, Great Britain, and France were locked in grim stalemate. Repeated attempts by both sides to achieve breakthrough in the face of machine-gun fire, barbed wire, long-range artillery, and poison gas had brought only enormous casualties.The Defeat of Imperial Germany focuses on the innovative plans created by generals on both sides in their struggles to dislodge the entrenched enemy and to restore maneuver and victory on the Western Front. In a series of vivid analyses of successive offensives, Paschall examines the problems of command and what happened when the massed soldiery sought to carry out their orders. These strategies and tactics developed by the military leadership in 1917–1918, though largely failing to shatter the deadlock, would prove successful when implemented twenty years later in World War II.The first volume in the Major Battles and Campaigns series published under the general editorship of John S.D. Eisenhower, The Defeat of Imperial Germany has been designed for the "armchair strategist." Dozens of photographs, many never before published, as well as clearly drawn theater and battlefield maps help to make this book an outstanding, challenging, and original contribution to the history of the Great War.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A graduate of West Point and the U.S. Naval War College, Colonel Rod Paschall is a decorated veteran of five campaigns in Vietnam and the director of the U.S. Army Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (August 22, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306805855
• ISBN-13: 978-0306805851
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,045,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very precise debunker of myths, October 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Defeat Of Imperial Germany, 1917-1918 (Major Battles & Campaigns) (Paperback)

Rod Paschall has written a very tidy piece of military history which goes a long way towards showing how many of the conventional beliefs concerning WW1 are totally innaccurate. He dosen't diminish the loss of life but he does show that the generals in charge were no less capable than their WW2 counterparts. Much of what was practiced in WW2 started in WW1. Pascall builds a compelling case that the generals on both sides invented ingenious new strategies that simply failed in the context of a war of attrition. An outstanding contribution to the body of knowledge of World War One.

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book on WWI strategy and tactics, July 22, 2010

By 

J. Lassiter (Norfolk, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Defeat of Imperial Germany, 1917-1918 (Major Battles and Campaigns) (Hardcover)

I found this to be a great explanation of the evolving tactics and strategy in Western Europe as World War I drug on. I have always enjoyed the descriptions of the von Schlieffen Plan and Germany's invasion of France and Belgium, but like the war I always got bogged down in the trench warfare. I found this to be a very readable description of how the opposing armies attempted to find a new way to fight the war after Verdun. The author does a masterful job of weaving the political situations into the military strategy. Finally, he described the American contribution. It was disheartening to read about how the Americans failed to take advantage of what the Allies had learned during three years of war, and instead depended on rifles and courage rather than machine guns and small unit tactics.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read, March 9, 2009

By 

Philip Draper (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Defeat Of Imperial Germany, 1917-1918 (Major Battles & Campaigns) (Paperback)

Paschall's book focuses in part on the role of the American Expeditionary Force in the ultimate defeat of Germany along the Western Front in 1918. As such, it is a useful tool as an introduction to an easily neglected area of study. In addition, Paschall provides good descriptions of the battles of 1917 and 1918 along the Western Front (I thought Cambrai was his best). My only qualm with Pachall is that he seemed to have neglected scholarship available to him regarding certain aspects of his work (e.g. German tactical doctrine and industrial capacity). But overall, I would recommend it as an introduction to the last two years of the war.