WWI books.

[Orm]

Due to a recent thread I realized I wanted to read more about WWI. Any recommendations you guys can make? Preferably the book should still be easily available in online book-stores.

- I am especially looking for books that handles other campaigns that the West Front.
- And any good ones handling the political considerations (mainly after the war begun)
- And are there any good fictional books in a WWI setting?

Thank you.

[altipueri]

Liddell Hart is a good place to start - he wrote lots on WW1 and WW2:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._H._Liddell_Hart

This link may give you a preview of his WW1 book:

https://scienzepolitiche.unical.it/bach ... (1972).pdf

Churchill also wrote a book or two on it.

[altipueri]

You should also try:

Robert Graves's "Goodbye To All That"


It's German viewpoint equivalent - All Quiet On The Western Front

--
As for other campaigns e.g. Palestine and the Arab revolt - the classic is TE Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" but in some ways a more readable account is actually Robert Graves's "Lawrence and the Arabs"

This may work: https://fada.birzeit.edu/jspui/handle/20.500.11889/1905

PS Robert Graves served in the front line; Lawrence was key in the Middle East. They became friends after the war.

[AshK]

Hi!

I will gladly add my three cents:

Dalton Trumbo "Johnny Got His Gun"
Holger Afflerbach "An Improbable War? the Outbreak of World War I and European Political Culture Before 1914"
Pierre Veys, Carlos Puerta "Red Baron"
History Nerds, Aleksa Vučković "World War 1: The Sacrifice of a Generation"

Hope you will find something interesting!

[wosung]

David Stevenson, With Our Backs to the Wall: Victory and Defeat in 1918
Alexander Watson, The Fortress: The Great Siege of Przemysl
Alexander Watson, Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914-1918
Graydon A. Tunstall, The Austro-Hungarian Army and the First World War (Armies of the Great War)
Elizabeth Greenhalgh, The French Army and the First World War (Armies of the Great War)
John Gooch, The Italian Army and the First World War (Armies of the Great War)
Richard Dinardo, Breakthrough: The Gorlice-Tarnow Campaign, 1915 (War, Technology, and History)

[RobS61]

Nothing but maps. All kinds of maps - battles, campaigns, sea campaigns, political maps, economic maps, etc. Black & White. Excellent.
I know the edition shown is out of print, but I think there are newer editions that might not be.

[cpdeyoung]

You cannot go wrong with the Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker.

The first book is titled Regeneration.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regeneration_(novel)

Chuck

[Aurelian]

Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy by David Stevenson

The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918 by Holger H. Herwig

Collision of Empires, Germany Ascendant, Russia's Last Gasp, The Splintered Empires (4 books) by Prit Buttar. Eastern Front from 1914-1921

The Russian Army in the Great War: The Eastern Front 1914-1917 by David R Stone

The Eastern Front 1914-1917 by Norman Stone

[loki100]

its not about the war as such but Margaret McMillan's Peacemakers is about the end of war treaty making - and by default picks up a lot of the politics of the late war phase.

for fiction, Good Soldier Svejk remains a classic - not least in how it picks up the ambigious approach of many Czechs and Slovaks to the war (and its funny)

Siegfried Sassoon's autobiographical trilogy Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man is interesting as he moves from enthusiastic early war artillery officer to critic. He's better known as a poet but I think his autobiography is more interesting.

for a more steam punk fiction take on the final German offensive in the West, Kim Newman's Bloody Red Baron is fun. Among adding vampires and squeezing in almost every historical figure (and indeed every vampire from the wider fiction) there are some astute discussions along the way.

[altipueri]

@loki By coincidence I read Siegfried Sassoon's autobiographical "The Old Century and Seven More Years" a month ago.

For others - here is a bit on Siegfried Sassoon from wiki:

Siegfried was sent to the 1st Battalion in France, where he met Robert Graves, and they became close friends. United by their poetic vocation, they often read and discussed each other's work. Though this did not have much perceptible influence on Graves' poetry, his views on what may be called 'gritty realism' profoundly affected Sassoon's concept of what constituted poetry. He soon became horrified by the realities of war, and the tone of his writing changed completely: where his early poems exhibit a Romantic, dilettantish sweetness, his war poetry moves to an increasingly discordant music, intended to convey the ugly truths of the trenches to an audience hitherto lulled by patriotic propaganda. Details such as rotting corpses, mangled limbs, filth, cowardice and suicide are all trademarks of his work at this time, and this philosophy of 'no truth unfitting' had a significant effect on the movement towards Modernist poetry.

Sassoon's periods of duty on the Western Front were marked by exceptionally brave actions, including the single-handed capture of a German trench in the Hindenburg Line. Armed with grenades, he scattered sixty German soldiers:

He went over with bombs in daylight, under covering fire from a couple of rifles, and scared away the occupants. A pointless feat, since instead of signalling for reinforcements, he sat down in the German trench and began reading a book of poems which he had brought with him. When he went back he did not even report. Colonel Stockwell, then in command, raged at him. The attack on Mametz Wood had been delayed for two hours because British patrols were still reported to be out. "British patrols" were Siegfried and his book of poems. "I'd have got you a DSO, if you'd only shown more sense," stormed Stockwell.

Sassoon's bravery was so inspiring that soldiers of his company said that they felt confident only when they were accompanied by him. He often went out on night raids and bombing patrols, and demonstrated ruthless efficiency as a company commander. Deepening depression at the horror and misery the soldiers were forced to endure produced in Sassoon a paradoxically manic courage, and he was nicknamed "Mad Jack" by his men for his near-suicidal exploits. On 27 July 1916 he was awarded the Military Cross; the citation read:
2nd Lt. Siegfried Lorraine [sic] Sassoon, 3rd (attd. 1st) Bn., R. W. Fus. For conspicuous gallantry during a raid on the enemy's trenches. He remained for 1½ hours under rifle and bomb fire collecting and bringing in our wounded. Owing to his courage and determination all the killed and wounded were brought in.

Robert Graves described Sassoon as engaging in suicidal feats of bravery. Sassoon was also later recommended for the Victoria Cross.

[Hellen_slith]

- And are there any good fictional books in a WWI setting?

Thank you.

You may like Upton Sinclair's novel _World's End_ which is the first in his series of "Lanny Budd" novels. Good fiction in a WWI setting, and the whole series is a good read (covers the entire world war eras).

[Curtis Lemay]

My fav WWI novel:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/879 ... _Great_War

[wodin]

here you all go. Just a few to get going with. Everyone is a must own\read. I've tried to mention books that aren't dead famous like All quiet on the Western Front, Memiors of a Fox Hunting Man, Undertones of War,and Good bye to all that etc etc.

Over all view of the war

Pandoras Box by Jorn Leonhard (you just can't get anything that will come close in looking at all aspects)

The Great War by Peter Hart (All his books are very good indeed)

Attrition by W Philpott (great read)

Over view of a battle\campaign

First day of the Somme by Martin Middlebrook (A classic)

The SOmme by Peter Hart

Bloody Victory: The Sacrifice on the Somme and the Making of the Twentieth Century by W Philpott

Fire and Movement by P Hart

Gallipoli by L A Carlyon

Passchendaele: The Sacrificial Ground by N Steel anbd P Hart

The German Army on ........... by J Sheldon ( All the books in the series are must reads\owns thats the Somme, Ypres 1914, Vimy Ridge, Cambria, Western Front 1915, Spring Offensives 1917 and PAschendale)

Verdun Regiment by J Bracken (amazing read)

Liasion 1914 by E Spears (superb account, a classic)

Memiors etc

Old Soldiers Never Die by F Richardson

War the Infantry Knew by J C Dunn (A classic must read)

Four years on the western front by A Rifleman

Storm of Steel by E Junger

Sagitairius Rising by C Lewis (Classic memoir of pilot)

Somme Mud by E Lynch

Of those we loved by I Read

The War Diary of the Master of Belhaven: 1914-1918 by R Hamilton

Unit history etc

To Conquer Hell by E Lengell (for the USA side of things)

Till the trumpet sounds again Vol 1 and Vol2 by R Nicoll (shear brilliance)

The Other Side of the Wire Vol1 to 3 by R WHitehead (again pure brilliance Vol4 the last volume due this year)

High in the empy blue by A Revell

Amazing well researched fiction

Richer Dust by S Hope

Covenant with death by J Harris

Winged Victory by V Yeates

Goshawk Sqd, Hornet Sting and War Story by D Robinson

Zero Hour by I Gale

Hurrah for the next man to die by S Winter

Hopefully they will do for starters:)

[wodin]

I'd say for the western front from the German side then Jack SHeldons German Army on series and Other side of the Wire volumes by R WHitehead are MUST reads.

For the allied side I'd say War the Infantry Knew by J Dunn, Four Years on the western front by A Rifleman, Liaison 1914 by E Spears, Till the tumpet sounds again Vol1 and 2 by R Nicoll and Verdun Regiment by J Bracken are my MUST reads.

[wodin]

Here is a review I did with regards to one of the books mentioned (well two really)

https://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co. ... vol-2.html

Plus an older list with links I did for AWNT both WW1 and WW2


https://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co. ... er_12.html

[gamer78]

.

[Orm]

Thank you for all the nice book suggestions. I will soon order some of them to have for the summer reading. And hope to order a second batch for Autumn.

[Randomizer]

Late to the party but here are a few titles, somewhat off the beaten track:

Command on the Western Front: The Military Career of Sir Henry Rawlinson 1914-18 by Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson. Not a biography but a fascinating study of the learning curve faced by the BEF leadership using Rawlinson as the model. Generally consigned to the Chateau General/Butcher archetype (and those certainly existed) Rawlinson's conduct of the disaster that was First Day on the Somme has come under extensive and generally negative scrutiny, albeit with good reasons. However, he was chosen by Haig to command the amphibious landings that would follow success at Ypres in August 1917, which shows that he clearly was considered as someone who had potential for this unusual assignment. Of course Passchendaele was a bloody failure so the operation was cancelled and Rawlinson went back to his Fourth Army. He later commanded this formation to major successes during the 100-Days campaign and clearly demonstrated that he had the ability to learn and grow as a commander while effectively implementing lessons learned on the battlefield.

The German Army at Passchendaele by Jack Sheldon. Third Ypres was perhaps the most useless battle fought by the BEF in the Great War but in recent years it has been rehabilitated by a subset of British historians intent on making the massive efforts and sacrifices mean something positive for the war effort. Rather than a losing the battle of attrition for some minor "high" ground (that would be abandoned as untenable in three hours in March 1918), there has been a concerted trend towards reshaping the battle as a great victory and the foundational reason why the German Army finally broke at Amiens in August 1918. Historian Jack Sheldon pretty much demolishes this version of the battle and successfully argues that the battle did far more material and morale harm to the BEF than to the Kaiser's soldiers on the Western Front although the latter certainly suffered considerable hardship.

A Wood called Bourlon: The Cover-up after Cambrai 1917 by William Moore. Few BEF actions on the Western Front have seen a greater mythology built up around them then the Battle of Cambrai. The opening successes and famous ringing of the church bells in victory ignore the subsequent major defeat from a German counter offensive and by the time fighting wound down in early December, the BEF had lost more men and territory than the Germans, and gifted the Kaiser with over 100-serviceable tanks many of which would be used in the Kaiser's Battle in just a little over three-months. After the battle, questions were raised about the poor performance in many British divisions and called to account, Third Army commander General Sir Julian Byng blamed the soldiers and junior officers for the collapse of his front. This book examines what really happened and how the disaster was dropped down the memory hole and forgotten. Careers were destroyed as competent and effective subalterns and field grade officers were sent home in disgrace while Byng and his corps commanders added to their accolades. Read in conjunction with Sheldon's work, together they paint a picture of an exhausted and demoralized BEF, which would manifest itself in the collapse of General Gough's Fifth Army in March 1918.

-C

[CaptBeefheart]

If you're looking for a great yarn about WWI naval combat in Africa (not around Africa, but in), then this novel will fill the bill:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Utmost-Fish-Hu ... 058602297X

It was supposed to have been made into a film, but that fizzled. You can imagine all the great Brit and Irish actors of the 60s-70s being in it.

Cheers,
CB

[wodin]

Late to the party but here are a few titles, somewhat off the beaten track:

Command on the Western Front: The Military Career of Sir Henry Rawlinson 1914-18 by Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson. Not a biography but a fascinating study of the learning curve faced by the BEF leadership using Rawlinson as the model. Generally consigned to the Chateau General/Butcher archetype (and those certainly existed) Rawlinson's conduct of the disaster that was First Day on the Somme has come under extensive and generally negative scrutiny, albeit with good reasons. However, he was chosen by Haig to command the amphibious landings that would follow success at Ypres in August 1917, which shows that he clearly was considered as someone who had potential for this unusual assignment. Of course Passchendaele was a bloody failure so the operation was cancelled and Rawlinson went back to his Fourth Army. He later commanded this formation to major successes during the 100-Days campaign and clearly demonstrated that he had the ability to learn and grow as a commander while effectively implementing lessons learned on the battlefield.

The German Army at Passchendaele by Jack Sheldon. Third Ypres was perhaps the most useless battle fought by the BEF in the Great War but in recent years it has been rehabilitated by a subset of British historians intent on making the massive efforts and sacrifices mean something positive for the war effort. Rather than a losing the battle of attrition for some minor "high" ground (that would be abandoned as untenable in three hours in March 1918), there has been a concerted trend towards reshaping the battle as a great victory and the foundational reason why the German Army finally broke at Amiens in August 1918. Historian Jack Sheldon pretty much demolishes this version of the battle and successfully argues that the battle did far more material and morale harm to the BEF than to the Kaiser's soldiers on the Western Front although the latter certainly suffered considerable hardship.

A Wood called Bourlon: The Cover-up after Cambrai 1917 by William Moore. Few BEF actions on the Western Front have seen a greater mythology built up around them then the Battle of Cambrai. The opening successes and famous ringing of the church bells in victory ignore the subsequent major defeat from a German counter offensive and by the time fighting wound down in early December, the BEF had lost more men and territory than the Germans, and gifted the Kaiser with over 100-serviceable tanks many of which would be used in the Kaiser's Battle in just a little over three-months. After the battle, questions were raised about the poor performance in many British divisions and called to account, Third Army commander General Sir Julian Byng blamed the soldiers and junior officers for the collapse of his front. This book examines what really happened and how the disaster was dropped down the memory hole and forgotten. Careers were destroyed as competent and effective subalterns and field grade officers were sent home in disgrace while Byng and his corps commanders added to their accolades. Read in conjunction with Sheldon's work, together they paint a picture of an exhausted and demoralized BEF, which would manifest itself in the collapse of General Gough's Fifth Army in March 1918.

-C

All his Germman Army books are must reads:) He is very approachable aswell. Good man.