The First World War was the overwhelming disaster from which everything else in the twentieth century stemmed. Fourteen million combatants died, fo...
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May 24, 2010
Mike
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Chapter 1 (Outbreak) weaves together the various factors that made Europe a place where war was waiting to happen. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was ‘the inevitable accident’. Years later the murderer said that if he had not done it, “the Germans would have found another excuse” (23). "The generation that emerged into maturity around 1890 has much to answer for…the greatest mistake of the twentieth century was made when Germany built a navy designed to attack [Great Britain:
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Feb 01, 2012
Lghamilton
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After reading Guns of August, which only covered the first month of the war, I wanted more. I read about this book and thought it would give a good overview of the war, and I liked the year-by-year analysis. However, the author's too-frequent use of parentheticals chopped the story up, and often the little asides did not add much or assumed the reader knew more. Also, his too-frequent use of pronouns made me backtrack through paragraphs to figure out who Stone was talking about. As an exampl
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Jan 10, 2012
T.J.
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World War One : A Short History by Norman Stone was a book I definately would reccomend to someone that wants to learn some backround information on World War I. In this book Norman Stone elaborates and presents the collapses of the four empires: Hapsburg, German,Tsarist, and The Ottoman Empire collapsed. He also challenges the current understandings of treaties that were created after the war by expanding and introducing them as failures. He also introduces the conflicts and European countries
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Jan 26, 2010
Christopher
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I read this book after seeing it on a list of "the best books of the last decade that you didn't read" and figuring I didn't know that much about World War One and it was probably time to change that.
The book's greatest strength is also it's greatest weakness- it is, as it says a short history. At 200 pages in print, it read to me at times like lists of places and names that I wasn't so familiar with.
All the same, if you are looking for a quick overview of the war, this is More...
The book's greatest strength is also it's greatest weakness- it is, as it says a short history. At 200 pages in print, it read to me at times like lists of places and names that I wasn't so familiar with.
All the same, if you are looking for a quick overview of the war, this is More...
Jun 18, 2009
Jim
rated it:
If you want to get a solid understanding of World War One in an afternoon, this book would be hard to beat. Stone moves expertly across the years and geography of a conflict that still seems impossible to grasp in its stupidity and staggering cost – and not only in terms of lives and fortune: this war more or less accomplished the suicide of European civilization. (For an exalted examination of that idea, see George Steiner's In Bluebeard's Castle.)
Stone is masterful at summing up th More...
Stone is masterful at summing up th More...
Jul 06, 2009
Maryellen
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Well frankly this book was a waste of time. The author seems so intent on amusing us with his epigrams that the war comes off as a jolly laugh. Also, some of them border on anti-Catholic. This may be the fault of the author's writing. At one point I thought English was his second language but on researching his background, I found out he was born and raised in Scotland. His overuse of the coma is criminal. So is his fondness for parenthesis. Not for the novice. Only someone who is well read in
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Nov 19, 2009
Nathan
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The book's advertised brevity is both its strength and shortcoming. Stone keeps an unbreakable gaze on the chronological and political events surrounding the war, but the self-imposed limits on his scope mean that no causes, consequences, or connections whatsoever are addressed. One might argue that this was not the purpose of the book, but no alternate reason for writing this book was posited - save brevity. What, ultimately, is the point? This is not the way to write history.
Dec 24, 2011
Adam
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A very brisk, but interesting overview of the First World War. Attention is balanced between politics, strategy and tactics, giving a broad picture of all fronts of the war. Concentrates on the major parts of the war, and does justice to all sides. (British and American romances of Lawrence and Hemingway get no more than a name-drop)
Jul 26, 2011
Corpulent generals safe behind lines/History's lessons drowned in red wine. Stone distills WWI, with particular attention to new material about Eastern Europe and Turkey, into an elegant short essay, while including gems such as the origin ...of Brownshirts in the fortuitous finding of a surplus of German East African khaki army surplus by a party flunky
Jan 11, 2010
Scott
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A truly short, yet enlightening, history of WWI. I would have benefitted from 10 more pages on the leadup to the war. Best sentence, which becomes one of the guiding ideas of the book: "In four years, the world went from 1870 to 1940." Interesting to hear how much investment went into instantly-obsolete war tools like horses and forts.
Aug 02, 2011
I couldn't sleep last night, so pretty much read this book cover to cover in one sitting. It's a good overview of WW I, which absolutely has to be the stupidest war ever fought, followed by the stupidest peace treaty ever signed. The maps would have been better placed in the middle of the text rather than at the end.
Aug 02, 2011
Great one volume overview of the 1st World War. This book doesn't get bogged down in every little detail. A great synopsis by year. If you want something light, then go for this book.
Jun 09, 2008
Alice
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I was disappointed by this whistle-stop tour of the First World War. Although well-written and easy to read, it is opinionated and sarcastic, qualities I don't feel belong in a book which calls itself a 'History'. The Germans come off particularly badly: one is left with the impression that they are a nation of blockheads. The author's statement that towards the end of the war faster monoplanes were replacing the old biplanes struck me as completely wrong - the most successful fighters of 1918 w
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Feb 03, 2010
Bobbi
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I wanted to get an overview of WWI but this was just too boring! Had to quit.
Jan 15, 2010
Bart
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I was interested in reading a condensed history of WWI. Unfortunately this book didn't meet my needs. I didn't enjoy his analysis or commentary.
Jul 17, 2010
Ben
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A nice short history of World War One. It's been awhile since I read it, so I don't remember a ton to leave a sufficient review. I do remember it being a "flyby" and since I wasn't familiar with all the names and places, it was a bit hard to follow.
Jul 10, 2008
Trish
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Does exactly what it says on the tin. A clear, concise history of the origins of WWI and the course of the war. Written in a very readable style with more than occasional acerbic turns of phrase. A good primer on the subject.
Jul 24, 2008
Ian
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Excellent v. short history (pp 226) of WWI. Great as an introduction or a reminder. Entertainingly written and covers all the main events & personalities. Thoroughly recommended.
Feb 06, 2012
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Jan 26, 2012
