The Generals' War: Operational Level Command on the Western Front in 1918

Twentieth-Century Battles

by David T. Zabecki

Known as the war to end all wars and the Great War, World War I was the stage for a new form of mass destruction and violent chemical warfare. When the Bolsheviks pulled Russia out of the war in 1917, the Germans turned their offensive moves to the eastern front in hopes of winning the war in 1918. But as fresh American troops entered the front, the scales tipped against Germany.

Some of the most critical factors in the outcome of World War I were decisions made by the key commanders in Germany and in the Ally troops. The Generals' War: Operational Level Command on the Western Front in 1918 explores the military strategies of the senior-most generals of the last year of the Great War. These six very different men included Germanys Field Marshals Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff; Frances Marshals Ferdinand Foch and Philippe Petain; Great Britains Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig; and the United States General John Pershing. Although they may have not been known as great captains at the time, these six men determined how World War I played out on the battlefields of the western front between November 1917 and November 1918.

A landmark analysis of the generalship that resulted in a casualty count of one and a quarter million soldiers, The Generals' War is an intimate look at the senior commanders of the Great War.

Genres: Military History, History, World War I, Military Fiction, France

360 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2018

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific book that examines the operational level of war along with the leaders and decisions at said level. The book reviews the performance of Foch, Petain, Pershing, Haig, Ludendorff, and Hindenburg. Ultimately, when generals succeeded, it was due to their ability to link tactical actions in space and time to form an operational campaign. These campaigns focused and never lost sight of operational objectives.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the end of 1917, two events occurred that would change the ratio of troops on the First World War's Western Front: the first was that Russia left the war, allowing the Germans to transfer many divisions to the west, and the beginning of the arrival of a huge American army, reversing the previous advantage temporarily held by the Germans. Thus the conditions for a return of a war of movement to the previously stalemated front. This was the background to the German spring offensives and then the allied counter-offensives which won the war. General Zabecki examines these operations and the six generals in command of the armies: Hindenburg, Ludendorff, Haig, Foch, Petain and Pershing, and rates them as operational-level commanders. The result is a fluid and clear narrative of the fighting in 1918 and we have a better understanding of how well these generals functioned. A worthy addition to your World War I bookshelf.

[Ron Bergquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

A discussion of operational level command, illustrating all the varied levels of thinking needed, delivered in a coherent and clear manner. The skill it takes to do this well should not be underestimated. The author did a superb job, on all levels.

[Chris Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, chronological telling of how WWI generals on the western front learned the operational art through trial and error, or in some cases did not. Not a "war story" but a technical look at whether planned battles had reasonable objectives and whether they were linked in a logical way to operational and strategic outcomes.