Catastrophe

Europe goes to war 1914

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December 7, 2022 | History

Catastrophe

Europe goes to war 1914

  • 4.0 (1 rating) ·
  • 11 Want to read
  • 1 Have read

In 1914, Europe plunged into the 20th century's first terrible act of self-immolation- what was then called The Great War. On the eve of its centenary, Max Hastings seeks to explain both how the conflict came about and what befell millions of men and women during the first months of strife. He finds the evidence overwhelming, that Austria and Germany must accept principal blame for the outbreak.

"From the acclaimed military historian, a new history of the outbreak of World War I: from the breakdown of diplomacy to the dramatic battles that occurred before the war bogged down in the trenches. World War I immediately evokes images of the trenches: grinding, halting battles that sacrificed millions of lives for no territory or visible gain. Yet the first months of the war, from the German invasion of Belgium to the Marne to Ypres, were utterly different, full of advances and retreats, tactical maneuvering, and significant gains and losses. In Catastrophe 1914, Max Hastings re-creates this dramatic year, from the diplomatic crisis to the fighting in Belgium and France on the Western front, and Serbia and Galicia to the east. He gives vivid accounts of the battles and frank assessments of generals and political leaders, and shows why it was inevitable that this first war among modern industrial nations could not produce a decisive victory, making a war of attrition inevitable. Throughout we encounter high officials and average soldiers, as well as civilians on the homefront, giving us a vivid portrait of how a continent became embroiled in a war that would change everything"--

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
628

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: 1914 el año de la catástrofe
1914 el año de la catástrofe
2014, Crítica, Editorial Crítica
Cover of: Catástrofe
Catástrofe
2014, Vogais
Cover of: Catastrophe 1914
Catastrophe 1914: Europe goes to war
2013, Alfred A. Knopf, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Hardcover in English
Cover of: Catastrophe
Catastrophe: Europe goes to war 1914
2013
in English

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Book Details


Table of Contents

1914 chronology
The organisation of armies in 1914
Prologue : Sarajevo
'A feeling that events are in the air': Change and decay ; Battle plans
The descent to war: The Austrians threaten ; The Russians react ; The Germans march ; The British decide
'The superb spectacle of the world bursting into flames': Migrations ; Passions ; Departures
Disaster on the Drina
Death with flags and trumpets: The execution of Plan XVII ; 'German beastliness' ; Lanrezac encounters Schlieffen
The British fight: Mons ; Le Cateau, 'Where the fun comes in, I don't know'
The retreat
Tannenberg : 'Alas, how many thousands lie there bleeding!'
The hour of Joffre: Paris at bay ; Sir John despairs ; Seeds of hope
The nemesis of Moltke: The Marne ; 'Stalemate in our favour'
'Poor devils, they fought their ships like men'
Three armies in Poland
'Did you ever dance with him?': Home fronts ; News and abuse
Open country, open sky: Churchill's adventure ; 'Inventions of the devil'
Ypres : 'Something that was completely hopeless'
'War becomes the scourge of mankind': Poland ; The Serbs' last triumph
Mudlife
Silent night, holy night.

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (pages 595-603) and index.

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
940.311
Library of Congress
D511 .H37 2013b, D511

The Physical Object

Pagination
xxxvii, 628 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates
Number of pages
628

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL28259440M
Internet Archive
catastropheeurop0000hast
ISBN 10
0007467648, 0007519753, 0007398573, 0007519745
ISBN 13
9780007467648, 9780007519750, 9780007398577, 9780007519743
OCLC/WorldCat
852805993

Work Description

From the acclaimed military historian, a new history of the outbreak of World War I: the dramatic stretch from the breakdown of diplomacy to the battles -- the Marne, Ypres, Tannenberg -- that marked the frenzied first year before the war bogged down in the trenches. In Catastrophe 1914, Max Hastings gives us a conflict different from the familiar one of barbed wire, mud and futility. He traces the path to war, making clear why Germany and Austria-Hungary were primarily to blame, and describes the gripping first clashes in the West, where the French army marched into action in uniforms of red and blue with flags flying and bands playing. In August, four days after the French suffered 27,000 men dead in a single day, the British fought an extraordinary holding action against oncoming Germans, one of the last of its kind in history. In October, at terrible cost the British held the allied line against massive German assaults in the first battle of Ypres. Hastings also re-creates the lesser-known battles on the Eastern Front, brutal struggles in Serbia, East Prussia and Galicia, where the Germans, Austrians, Russians and Serbs inflicted three million casualties upon one another by Christmas. As he has done in his celebrated, award-winning works on World War II, Hastings gives us frank assessments of generals and political leaders and masterly analyses of the political currents that led the continent to war. He argues passionately against the contention that the war was not worth the cost, maintaining that Germany's defeat was vital to the freedom of Europe. Throughout we encounter statesmen, generals, peasants, housewives and private soldiers of seven nations in Hastings's accustomed blend of top-down and bottom-up accounts: generals dismounting to lead troops in bayonet charges over 1,500 feet of open ground; farmers who at first decried the requisition of their horses; infantry men engaged in a haggard retreat, sleeping four hours a night in their haste. This is a vivid new portrait of how a continent became embroiled in war and what befell millions of men and women in a conflict that would change everything. - Publisher.

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History

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December 7, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
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