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The Eastern Front 1914-18: Suicide of the Empires
On the outbreak of war in 1914, the armies of the Western Front soon became bogged down in the mud of Flanders and it is these events that many people associate most strongly with the First World War – but its origins and the strategy which governed all but its closing months lay in the East.
In the wide plains and forests of the Eastern Europe the three great Empires – Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary – grappled in a series of titanic but little known battles involving millions of men and hundreds of miles of front. It was the Germans, with their excellent equipment and intelligent leadership who dominated the battlefield, even when outnumbered. The Russian and Hapsburg armies moved across a truly Napoleonic canvas with huge masses of cavalry, infantry and baggage.
Shortly after the outbreak of war the Russian 'steamroller' had lurched into Prussia only to be hurled back amid the marshes of Tannenberg. Later defeats were caused by the Russian revolution itself with the downfall of the Tsar and the mutiny of their soldiers.
For three years the fighting swung indeterminately back and forth and Alan Clark in the Suicide of the Empires, first published in 1971, describes in clear terms the campaigns which provoked the downfall of three great empires and left the world changed forever.
In the wide plains and forests of the Eastern Europe the three great Empires – Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary – grappled in a series of titanic but little known battles involving millions of men and hundreds of miles of front. It was the Germans, with their excellent equipment and intelligent leadership who dominated the battlefield, even when outnumbered. The Russian and Hapsburg armies moved across a truly Napoleonic canvas with huge masses of cavalry, infantry and baggage.
Shortly after the outbreak of war the Russian 'steamroller' had lurched into Prussia only to be hurled back amid the marshes of Tannenberg. Later defeats were caused by the Russian revolution itself with the downfall of the Tsar and the mutiny of their soldiers.
For three years the fighting swung indeterminately back and forth and Alan Clark in the Suicide of the Empires, first published in 1971, describes in clear terms the campaigns which provoked the downfall of three great empires and left the world changed forever.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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About the author
Alan Clark
130 books21 followersAlan Clark was an English Conservative MP, historian and diarist.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 3, 2022
Don't waste your time with this - way more up-to-date and insightful books have been written in recent years about the Eastern front in WW I. Even for its time it was not very good and utterly superficial.
March 31, 2025
Interesting subject. Starts out somewhat okay, but while being too shallow, devolves into a bit of an unstructured mess.
December 14, 2013
Cursory overview of the Eastern front of World War One. Okay as a summary, but doesn't add anything to the genre.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews