The Great War

by John H. Morrow Jr.

The Great War is a landmark history that firmly places the First World War in the context of imperialism. Set to overturn conventional accounts of what happened during this, the first truly international conflict, it extends the study of the First World War beyond the confines of Europe and the Western Front. By recounting the experiences of people from the colonies especially those brought into the war effort either as volunteers or through conscription, John Morrow's magisterial work also unveils the impact of the war in Asia, India and Africa. From the origins of World War One to its bloody (and largely unknown) aftermath, The Great War is distinguished by its long chronological coverage, first person battle and home front accounts, its pan European and global emphasis and the integration of cultural considerations with political.

Genres: History, World War I, Nonfiction, War

349 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

John Howard Morrow Jr. is Franklin Professor of History at the University of Georgia. He earned his BA with Honors in History from Swarthmore College in 1966 and his Ph.D. in Modern European History from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971.

Reviews

[bluentity · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although this book gives a good superficial introduction to some aspects of the First World War to which most are not familiar, Morrow's amateurish, presentist post-colonial analysis succeeds only in obscuring the larger realities of the war.

The major combatants of WWI possessed geographically massive empires in the undeveloped world, whose various resources were of course involved in the titanic struggle of the Great War. Additionally, the European powers hoped to augment or defend their imperial holdings during the war. In the insipid tradition of Howard Zinn, Morrow fixates on relatively insignificant, literally peripheral occurrences in the war and attempts to extrapolate these into an alternative narrative of colonial exploitation (to his credit, Morrow is more circumspect and explicit in doing this than Zinn). The fact that the French easily squashed opportunistic rebellions in North Africa during the height of the slaughter on the Western Front or that they brought colonial troops into Europe to fight (whom they treated rather callously--which of course NEVER happened to indigenous Europeans) are interesting trivia, but Morrow tries to puff them up into something they are not. This is frequently accomplished by presenting one-sided or poorly contextualized information to support his case. For instance, Morrow's fixation on colonial forces in Europe (black man fighting the white man's war!) got me curious, but when compared to the overall order of battle on the Western Front (which I had to look up elsewhere), they constituted a trivial contribution to that theater, even including labor battalions and other non-combatants.

The author appears to make no attempt to understand contemporary European attitudes towards various imperial issues, especially race, either in general or as distinct among the major powers. For instance, his gloating over the successes of the German von Lettow-Vorbeck's colonial army against the South Africans sent to run them to ground in southeastern Africa as vindication of the superiority of black soldiers in jungle fighting (yeah) bizarrely underplays German brutality towards native Africans, caricatures South African attitudes (probably based on things Morrow was told in the 80s), and glosses over the use of black colonials--the famed King's African Rifles--by the Commonwealth. His treatment of the other peripheral theaters is no better.

Speaking of the Commonwealth, Morrow really has it in for the British and the French, and this work is probably best understood as a sort of polemic against them. This is the simplest explanation for the comparative neglect of the Eastern Front.

An Imperial History will introduce all but the most knowledgeable readers to some new lines of inquiry into the Great War for the curious. "An Imperial History" did get me wanting to know more about the fighting in Africa, which eventually led me to purchase and read Edward Paice's World War I: The African Front, which I recommend as a detailed and balanced account of the fighting in Africa by Lettow-Vorbeck and others. Read that instead.

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Turgid prose

[Joseph R. Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a much broader writing about World War I. Instead of just writing about the leaders and battles, Dr. Morrow actually looks at it from an Imperialistic study of the war, the events leading up to it, and the resulting shrinkage of the European empires around the globe. The book is a very quick read, which coming from me means that it held my attention very easily. However, I thought that too much attention was spent on the glorification of non-European races and the constant need to make comments about them "mixing" sexually with white women and how that feared the white man too much. Considering the glorious exploits of "minority" soldiers and statements about interracial mixing with white women were rarely documented, it caused me to feel as though they were modern sentiments and ideals blanketed on a past time in order to legitimize those beliefs. There weren't too many great details about the respective battles, but the events are all chronicled very nicely, and the book also sheds enjoyable light on the Eastern, Southeastern, Messopatamian, and African Fronts. Overall, I give the book a 3 to 3.5 rating. Unfortunately, the non-sourced references to social/racial issues caused me to doubt the legitimacy of them and believe that they were over-represented out of sensationalized, personal beliefs.

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview of WW I. Covers the military history, the politics, and the home front. Really changed the way I think about the history of the early 20th century. Shortly after reading this book, I found out that a relative who was my namesake was killed in France during the last days of this war.

[Malapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Desde el punto de vista del aficionado es un libro completo pero con ritmo inconstante. Aprendes bastante pero hay tramos que se hacen pesados. Transmite muy bien los horrores de la contienda y entra también a valorar los cambios que produce la guerra en las sociedades contendientes.
Bien si se tiene interés en el tema, pero no recomendado para una lectura ocasional.