The Concise History of WWI

by Pat Morgan

In 1914 the world engaged in global conflict that was to scar human history and redefine the meaning of the word "war". Known as the Great War, decades of burgeoning imperialism and the formation of complex alliances brought the world's great powers face to face in conflict on a hitherto unprecedented scale. When the war ended in 1918, four empires had ceased to exist, the map of Europe had been redrawn and a generation of young men had been lost. This book tells the story of the conflict dubbed "the war to end all wars."

Genres: History

144 pages, Hardcover

First published August 20, 2013

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Great War

Typical European wars ended with both sides shaking hands and coming to respectable agreements. This one was very different.
Facts and numbers run the dialogue in this book. It’s short, and concise, and depicts the powers and soldiers in their appropriate settings and significance.
I was looking more for a read on the social impacts and events that pushed Europe in this direction. And I learned that there was alot of duplicity and stupidity on all sides, but especially from the writers of history, the winners, who wrote Germany into chaos, doomed failure, and ripe for their own revolution and subsequent vigilance.

[Marsha Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gives insight into the causes of WWI as well as the - to me - dumbfounding lack of planning by the instigators. Because of all the interlacing treaties what was intended to be a small, contained, war of aggression ended up as a conflagration.

I can't imagine this happening in quite this way even today. While we have long, drawn out wars (see Afghanistan) we seem to have a much better ability not to throw away millions of lives or end up with trench warfare. There are photos to go with a pretty cogent description of what is happening and why.

Chose to read it on a sleepless night, hoping it would lull me to sleep. Unfortunately, the author was just too engaging. Kindle freebie.

[Izabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a short description of WWI so I wasn't expecting a lot o details. It focuses more on the western front and only small proportions are dedicated to the eastern front, no details about the casualties of the eastern countries that suffered a lot of military and civil casualties, and very little is given about the war on the seas and in the air. The WWI story is very complex but I think this book was intended as an introductory and it served it's purpose.

[Susan Kelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very dry history of The Great War. There was quite a lot of battle detail, troop movements, and the like. I also struggled because my knowledge of Europe isn't the best, so I'd have to check maps to picture it in my head. I did learn a lot, though.