Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: Hotschi

Any recommendations for a good World War I history book?

warspite1

If you want a general history of WWI then: The First World War, A Complete History - Martin Gilbert. This is a good introduction.

1914 Catastrophe - Max Hastings. This covers the war's first year. Very anti-British but a good read for the most part.

Castles of Steel - Robert K Massie. This is the dogs dangly bits of a book [&o][&o]

WW1 book 'Guns of August' by Barbara Tuchman. All of her stuff is pretty good.

Johnny Reb...life of the commom conferate soldier.  Not a bad read.  And as always the Bible.

Sharpes Enema (sic) Yup Obidiah Hakeswill is back and he is a right PITA [:D]

Cheers

Jev

ORIGINAL: warspite1

If you want a general history of WWI then: The First World War, A Complete History - Martin Gilbert. This is a good introduction.

1914 Catastrophe - Max Hastings. This covers the war's first year. Very anti-British but a good read for the most part.

Castles of Steel - Robert K Massie. This is the dogs dangly bits of a book [&o][&o]

Thank you.

I'm Reading Max Hastings Catastrophe 1914 and The Wolf at the moment. [8D]

I am reading Thunder at Twilight - Vienna 1913/1914 by Fredric Morton. While there are a couple of places I found myself reaching for the dictionary with the adjective choices, overall a very impressive immersion into a lost word of which I want to share this paragraph (opening of Chapter 12)

When thrust into a fresh expanse of future, the Viennese sought comfort in omens. They had a long established New Year's pastime. Into an ice bucket filled with cold champagne they would throw molten bits of lead, and then, with a pair of tongs, hold up each bit for interpretation. From the shape into which the lump congealed they would extract clues to thing to come. It was a game of fascinating ambiguities. Never had it been played more intensely than during the wee hours of that newest January first.

(note: January 1st, 1914)

A lot of social nuances, bits of gossip and the driving egos of major and mid-level players on this stage of histroy are all painted with a similar tone as the description above. Check it out.

This custom, called Bleigiessen, is still around today.

Still haven't settled for a WW I book. I'll probably start with reading Sleepwalkers first, then go for books about the war. Max Hastings... I've read a couple books by him already. Let's see whether Catastrophe is as anti-British as warspite1 says. Remembering the other books I've read, Hastings likes to point fingers, sometimes justified, and more than sometimes unjustified. I just mention his views about the Australians in the Pacific War, Churchill's strategies and Montgomery. According to one review of Catastropheat Amazon, Hastings calls the assassination of Franz Ferdinand a "quirky little incident". Okay...

Thanks, that would be interesting to witness.

Amongst other issues, the book really delves into how poorly Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were treated, in life and in their death by the Royal Family. Another term I did not know before this "morganastic wife" And it seemed according to this narrative that Franz Joseph was almost relieved that Franz Ferdinand was assassinated - to somehow clear the stain of his willfull disregard of the old order.

A lot of interesting details I had not come across before. The overall drift of the work is what a sad tragic twist of fate, Franz Ferdinand being the main voice of peace with Serbia and for reform of the old order was murdered and used by forces from both sides determined to create the carnage that was sure to come.

For those who do not know a lot about the year and a half of troubles leading up to the ultimatum Austria-Hungry sent to Serbia (and why it was crafted and sent like it was), I recommend this book.

Managed to stumble across a copy of Third Axis Fourth Ally - all about the Romanian Armed Forces 1941-45. This looks goooooooood [8D]

Richard Overy's"Goering-Hitlers iron knight"not so much a biography as a synopsis of the german prewar and wartime economy.
As leader of the four year plans he exercised immense power and had his fingerprints on an extrodinary amount of elements of the reich.

Ian Kershaw, "The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945".

ORIGINAL: Hotschi

This title sounds very interesting, Orm. Please let me know what you think about it.

I did enjoy reading Divide and Rule. The Partition of Africa, 1880-1914 by Henk Wesseling. But with that said I thought it lacked in describing the effects in Africa. The focus of the book was on the European powers and their treaties and diplomatic actions.

I was surprised that it was so few people involved in colonization (partition) of such a huge area. I was also dumbfounded by the fact that everyone knew that most treaties with the African rulers were not legal but every European nation treated them all as legal because if they begun to question the legality of another nations treaties then their own would be questioned. Such trickery as changing the wording when translating the treaty or worse seem to have been common when creating the colonies in Africa but this is not the focus of the book.

I preferred the book King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild that I read previously since it described, in depth, what happened in the colony but Divide and Rule provided a nice overview.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divide_and ... _1880-1914
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Leopold%27s_Ghost

Game of Thrones series. Found the 5 book set on sale for the Kindle for $19.99 so I thought why not give it a try.

The Condition of the Working Class in England by Friedrich Engels (1847)

Before that two Jules Verne's novels. And after it, one more Verne's novel [8D]

ORIGINAL: nate25

Ian Kershaw, "The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945".

Oi! I have to read this one [:)]

I had read Kershaw's biography about Hitler. Amazing historian and book [&o]

I started to read spiritual books. Now I am reading Knowledge in the Nutshel

"Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors". A personalized biography of the sailors in Taffy 3 caught up in the Maelstrom of the Battle of Surigao straits.

ORIGINAL: Orm

I did enjoy reading Divide and Rule. The Partition of Africa, 1880-1914 by Henk Wesseling. But with that said I thought it lacked in describing the effects in Africa. The focus of the book was on the European powers and their treaties and diplomatic actions.

I was surprised that it was so few people involved in colonization (partition) of such a huge area. I was also dumbfounded by the fact that everyone knew that most treaties with the African rulers were not legal but every European nation treated them all as legal because if they begun to question the legality of another nations treaties then their own would be questioned. Such trickery as changing the wording when translating the treaty or worse seem to have been common when creating the colonies in Africa but this is not the focus of the book.

I preferred the book King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild that I read previously since it described, in depth, what happened in the colony but Divide and Rule provided a nice overview.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divide_and ... _1880-1914
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Leopold%27s_Ghost

Thank you, sounds like a title worth getting, just like another one, Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham.

ORIGINAL: Hotschi

Thank you, sounds like a title worth getting, just like another one, Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham.

Thank you. I am putting Scramble for Africa on my "to buy" list at once.