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Early in World War One between April 22nd and May 30th, 1915 only 8 months after the start of the war there were three major events using weapons never used before in the history of warfare. Dianna Preston’s new book is the story of these three told with exceptional detail and interesting research. No doubt the Germans are the villains here but Preston does not hold anyone blameless for how they adopted and further developed even more horrific forms of mass killing.
Preston’s choosing of these three weapons leaves out many other terrible higher forms of killing introduced in World War One. The use of machine guns and tanks for example. But her choices are interesting, educational and sound. The irony being that these awful weapons were used to fight a war that was totally unnecessary and pointless. A war that devastated European civilization and economic growth. A war that never ende
First at Ypres was the use by Germany of poison gas on Canadian and French troops. I found this section of the book the most interesting and horrifying. Just the description of the Germans transporting the gas canisters to the front line trenches and digging the holes to plant them while waiting for the wind to blow in the right direction before mounting their attack is worth the price of the book. Preston also discusses the future use and stockpiling of gas by major powers after the war.
Second, was the submarine U-20 sinking the Lusitania on May 7th killing 1,198. This section of the book is well done but Dianna Preston’s earlier book about just the Lusitania sinking is a much better read and more detailed. I still consider her Lusitania book her best book (and I have read all of her books). I also just read Erik Larson’s book DEAD WAKE which also is about the sinking of the Lusitania.
Thirdly, on May 31, 1915 London was bombed by a German Zeppelin. Although the damage done was insignificant compared to the use of gas and submarines the Zeppelin attacks had a great psychological impact on the British civilian population. The stories told here about the development of the Zeppelins and the inability of the British to develop planes that could shoot them down is most interesting. And serves as a prologue to the Second World War’s Battle of Britain.d until the very end of World War II and in the Middle East is still being fought today.
The book’s publication is obviously timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of these events.
- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Press (February 24, 2015)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1620402122
- ISBN-13: 978-1620402122
- Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 1.3 x 9.4 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Customer Reviews: 23 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#1,420,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2754 in World War I History (Books)
- #208 in Belgian History
- #288 in Biological & Chemical Warfare History (Books)
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