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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
Unlike 1945, the First World War did not end neatly with the unconditional surrender of the Germans. After a dramatic week of negotiations, military offensives and the beginning of a Communist revolution, the German Imperial regime collapsed. The Allies eventually granted an armistice to a new German government, and at eleventh hour on the 11th of November, the guns offici...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
October 13th 2009
by PublicAffairs
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Everyone knows that 11 November is Armistice Day, but how many of us know the details of what made it so memorable? Author Nicholas Best, beginning with the week preceding, describes the events leading up to the historic peace that ended World War I. Shifting from one side to the other, we get an idea of the strategic as well as political status of the Allies and the Germans during this tense phase of the war. Much of what Best presents comes from participants in the events…some of them combatan...more
The author weaves the recollections of dozens of participants in the events leading up to the ending of World War 1. Everything from the last moments of each nations final casualty. Sadly close to 11,000 casulaties on the day alone even though most soldiers on both sides knew that at 11 am the fighting would stop. Everyone from Monet, inspired to paint the water lillies to Irving berlin is covered. The technique has been used before but Best really does an excellent job out of weaving together t...more
Fantastic—although I'm starting to think I should probably be reading a more comprehensive book about the whole war instead of just the last week of it, since I know very little about WWI at this point. Due to the nature of the book (focusing on eye-witness accounts of a few days' period), there's some redundancy at times. But, for anyone researching the period this book is a gold mine of anecdotes and is guaranteed to get the creative juices flowing.
A decent book, with a comprehensive view of the collapse of Germany prior to the Armistice and a view to how close it was from not being signed. Occasionally took too broad of a view, and there were too many threads to really follow from beginning to end.
I'm also not a fan of the author's desire to include historical people of interest when they had tangential or no impact on the main crux of the story other than having been alive in Europe at the time. Similarly, his need to categ...more
I'm also not a fan of the author's desire to include historical people of interest when they had tangential or no impact on the main crux of the story other than having been alive in Europe at the time. Similarly, his need to categ...more
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One week of world history, but an important week, is covered very thoroughly and fascinatingly in this interesting book. The book starts on November 5 and concludes during the evening of November 11 as the inevitability of the end of the Great War is shown from all angles. While I enjoyed the glimpses into the lives of the leaders (Kaiser Wilhelm, David Lloyd George, Clemenceau, Woodrow Wilson, a young Hitler) perhaps more enlightening were all the stories of famous writers, actors and other w...more
A very readable account of the final week of the First World War. The author relates what the famous, the not famous, the to-be-famous, and the to-be-infamous were doing during that week. No prologue, no epilogue. Just a narrow focus on those seven days. The author resisted whatever urge he may have had to frame World War I as a prelude to World War II. Instead he lets this war stand on its own, with only subtle foreshadowing of the war to come.
I couldn't finish this, not even by skimming, and I'm not entirely sure why. I think there were just way too many names and events to build a coherent story. The play-by-play details worked well in The Longest Day, but when you try to stretch a week out minute-by-minute it just doesn't work.
Excellent book! Covers that last few days leading up to the armistice of 11 Nov 1918. Following the armistice, the story continues into the first hours of the cease fire. Lots of notable names featured.
Kind of interesting and kind of boring at the same time. I can't figure out if I didn't enjoy reading it more because I know crushingly little about WW1 or because this book didn't put it into enough context. It did inspire me to find a more comprehensive book (or two) about the events leading up to and following WW1.
An amazing book if you are into WWI history or anyone else. Unlike other WWI books it doesn't get bogged down in politics so its more interesting for younger readers.
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Nicholas Best is a British author of Anglo-Irish origin. He grew up in Kenya and was educated there, at King's School, Canterbury and at Trinity College, Dublin. He served with the Grenadier Guards in Windsor and Belize and worked in London as a journalist before becoming a full time author. He lives now in Cambridge.
His early books include Happy Valley: The story of the English in Ken...more
More about Nicholas Best...
His early books include Happy Valley: The story of the English in Ken...more
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