Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent account of World War I., May 7, 2000
"World War I" is an excellent basic history of "the war to end all wars," written by a former U.S. Army Brigadier General and military historian. Marshall's narrative is crisp and precise, and his descriptions of people and events is reasonably detailed. He is fair and objective, unsparing in his criticism of errors made my military leaders on all sides of the conflict. Perhaps the strongest part of this book is the opening chapters, where Marshall narrates a fascinating account of the underlying causes of the war and the events of conflict's first few months. This book won't take the reader into any deep examination of the war, its causes, or its effects on later events. It is, however, a good basic survey of the war, based upon solid, if not penetrating, research. It certainly makes recommendable reading.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent overview, April 19, 2002
Mr. Marshall has written an excellent overview of WWI - an overview is all this book is, though. It is important to keep in mind that any book, which attempts to examine one of the most complex conflicts in human history on less than 500 pages, will have to be brief. Consequently, the book is best used as a study, which offers a sense of structure of the events between 1914 and 1918. As a source of information on particular events, may they be political or military, the book is incomplete.Mr. Marshall's study is a valuable source for establishing a broad sense of the sequence of events. The interlocking of state policies is described with captivating simplicity. The first chapter, which examines the political climate of Europe leading up to the war, manages to present a convincing, if simplistic, narrative about the forces, which chose the path of armed confrontation over diplomacy and negotiation. Subsequent chapters chart the different stages of the conflict, spanning from 1914 to 1918 and shifting between the hills of Verdun and the peaks of Kilimanjaro. The different campaigns are described schematically and their most important themes and considerations are highlighted at the expense of more obscure factors. Given the complexity of the war, Mr. Marshall's ability to impose structure on the events is a rather praiseworthy achievement. Another commendable quality of Mr. Marshall's work is his literary style. Unlike many historical studies, this book is actually very readable. The author has an excellent sense of rhythm and a pleasant ratio of seriousness and irony. A favorite passage dealing with the early stages of the trench war describes how the shell shortage forced the British to "...mark time on the Aisne while Germans fortified. The French followed suit so that they might live longer, and the novelty, while offensive to their doctrine, swiftly became a habit" (page 127) If I have anything critical to say about this book, it will be about the analysis of the conflict as a series of chess moves. Mr. Marshall traces most events back to the intentions of a single individual (may these intentions be correct or erroneous). This desire to rationalize the development of the war in terms of the influence of the individual political and military figures does not capture the chaotic atmosphere of the period. In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that Mr. Marshall has compiled an overview of WWI, which affords an excellent structure of the conflict. If you want to understand the basics of this crucial point in world history, this compendium is for you. If you are looking for an in-depth analysis, it probably will not carry the title "World War I" but something more like "The First Marne". As Charles Jenks once wrote: "You cannot blame a donkey for being a bad sort of horse."
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Comprehensive Epic of the New Dark Ages, May 7, 2000
"Slam" Marshall's epic "World War I" is an expansive and explosive account of the beginning of what we might best think of as the 'Century of War'. His history not only provides lucid, detailed and gripping accounts of the major campaigns of the Western and Eastern fronts, but also gives his readers a sense of the extraordinary human waste of this terrible conflict. Not only is his work a thrilling piece of military history, but also a work with giant insights into social and political currents as well as a novelist's sense of psychology: his portrait of Ludendorff, for instance, makes a convincing case for adding this demonically gifted glory-hound to the canon of the century's great villains. Marshall's eye for detail will fill his reader's heads with indelible images, from the cigarette-case tossed aboard the Kaiser's yacht with the news of the Archduke's assasination to Hoover's troubled walk through Paris after reading the Versailles Treaty's punishing conditions. The book's final illustration-- of the Nazis in one of their Miltonic conferences-- lands a final punch with staggering force: this insane conflict, which destroyed the humane illusions of 19th Century progressivism, was only the beginning of a cycle of almost unremitting horror.
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