"The First World War" by Hew Strachan

Above: "The First World War" Hew Strachan - 340 pages.

Even more than WWII, WWI continues to shape the politics and international relations of the world.

I completed reading this book, for the second time, today.

I first read Strachan's one volume tome on WWI in November of 2016. It has been almost three years since I read the book... so, in light of new learnings and new travels, I thought I would read it again to see if I could get any new insights. Also, on a first reading I sometimes get lost in the trees, never gaining an appreciation for the forest. My second reading of Strachan's book would be a "forest" reading.

Over the last four years, in anticipation of the one hundredth anniversary of the Armistice, I have spent quite a bit of time trying to better understand WWI.

Before 2015, my internalized knowledge of WWI was shockingly limited.

Considering I had spent much time in many areas of the world that had experienced directly WWI fighting, I decided to catch up.

On site visits.

In June of 2015 I spent two weeks on a military study tour of Gallipoli. In October 2015 I went on a military study tour to the WWI battlefields of Flanders and northern France.

Bishop's WWI bibliography

WWI related books I have read in the last four years include (in reverse order of reading).

"The Parisian," a historical novel by Isabella Hammad where a young, Palestinian student studies medicine in France from 1917 and touches base with Arabs in Paris working towards post-war independence. The novel then chronicles the medical student's life confronting Jewish immigration in his beloved, but rapidly changing, post war Palestine.

"1917 - Lenin, Wilson and the Birth of the New World Disorder" by Arthur Herman. The book notes that both Wilson and Lenin had idealistic visions about how to order post WWI world. The parallels between the two are more than one might think.

"The Great War" by Peter Hart. A one volume history of WWI noted for its inclusion of numerous first person diary accounts of various participants, from soldiers to Prime Ministers.

"Hitlerland", by Andrew Nagorski. A news reporter's view of how a WWI German soldier, who spent the whole war as a dutiful corporal, with seemingly no leadership potential, emerged out of WWI to capture the minds of many proud and militant Germans who felt they had been sold out by their WWI leadership.

"Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour - Armistice Day, 1918 - WWI and its Violent Climax" - Joseph Persico. The book focuses on late stage war events leading to the Armistice. Its hard for me to forget that some 2000 allied soldiers were killed on the final day of the war, their military field leaders continuing to fight knowing full well that the war was due to end in hours.

"Lawrence in Arabia" by Scott Anderson. In addition to T.E. Lawrence's role in the Arab Revolt, this book contains much useful information about the Zionist movement, the players shaping Jewish immigration policy in Palestine, and the immediate post war establishment of the British and French mandates in the Middle East.

"Vimy - The Battle and the Legend." Tim Cook. The story of how Canadian troops "came of age" in driving Germans from Vimy Ridge, the only bright spot in an other wise costly allied offensive, The Battle of Arras, in 1917, which failed, only perpetuating the stalemate in the trench warfare between the Entente and the Central Powers.

"The First World War" by John Keegan. A classic one volume history of WWI.

"The First World War" by Hew Strachan. First reading in November of 2016.

"The Fall of the Ottomans," Eugene Rogan. As a last ditch attempt to keep their empire intact during WWI, the Ottoman's tried to extend the Caliphate to Muslims fighting for the Entente. Didn't work. Saving grace for the Ottomans was Mustafa Kemal's successful, if not brilliant, effort to rid the Gallipoli peninsula of Entente forces in 1915.

"Gallipoli - Command Under Fire" - Edward J. Erickson. Chronological account of Lord of the Admiralty Churchhill's misbegotten effort to shift locus of WWI away from the Western Front. Important read to appreciate Australia's "coming of age as an independent nation....not to mention Turkey's rebirth out of the ashes of the fallen Ottoman Empire.

Insights

Here are three "forest" insights derived from my second, "forest," read of "The First World War" by Hew Strachan:

Insight #1.

WWI was a war of coalitions. One, more or less, stayed intact, the Entente. The other, the Central Powers, frayed. True, the Bolshevik's take over of Russia in 1917, and Russia's subsequent exit as an Entente partner, gave the Central Powers a boost in that Germany could divert troops from the eastern front to mount late war offensives against the Entente on the Western Front. But, America, as a late war entrant on the side of the Entente, with an inexperienced, but fresh, hopeful, energetic, military, was to replace Russia, providing new vigor to face off against a worn out, frazzled Central Powers coalition. In contrast, the Central Powers coalition suffered irreparable breakdown. There was no "America" to step in when Austria Hungary's weaknesses in resources and leadership began to show. Original Central Powers member Italy had, in 1916, jumped over to the Entente and the Bulgarian tie up with the Germany wasn't particularly helpful to German war aims.

Insight #2.

By the end of the war, the Entente had gained a palpable technology advantage. New war technology was a hallmark of WWI. The machine gun and advanced artillery were used by both sides with a killing effect that was unthinkable in previous warfare. The rolling artillery barrage, with enhanced communication between field commanders and artillery commanders, enabled significant decreases in deaths incurred from friendly fire. Both sides learned these lessons. At ward's end the Entente had five times the aircraft and four times the number of tanks (first used by England in WWI) as Germany and its allies.

Insight #3.

Even more than WWII, WWI continues to shape the politics and international relations of the world. The nation state alignment today is more or less the same today as it was in 1919 after the Treaty of Versailles certified the dissolution of four great empires, Germany, Russia. Austria-Hungary, and Ottoman. Middle Eastern geopolitical headaches today derive from WWI victors' decisions on how to organize the post Ottoman Middle East and how to respond to the Zionist Movement. The Balkans remain the same hotbed of ethnic tensions it was in 1914 when Garvillo Principe took out the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo. The seeds of the Cold War, a war against world wide communist tyranny, and thought recently, but erroneously, to be over, were planted at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Yes, WWII was more deadly than WWI, but the trajectory of current world conflict started in 1914, not 1939.

A Comparison of WWI One Volume Tomes

Of the three one volume histories of the war that I have read, Strachan, Keegan, and Hart, I liked this book, Strachan's, the best. The book was written in easy to read prose. The organization of topic matter was around regions, campaigns, and war management... not strictly chronological, jumping from one part of the world to the other based time elapsed. There wasn't a lot of personal diary quoting in Strachan's book as their was with Hart (good or bad depending on what you are looking for). Strachan's book was best to understand WWI from the proverbial "44th floor."

Conclusion

I'm not ready to give a master class, but, my study of WWI over the last four years has opened up many new insights about places where I have lived and visited. I sometimes wonder, as a depleting geezer, how I'm going to apply this newfound knowledge and understanding, but, I conclude that learning is an end in itself. The process of building understanding is one of the most rewarding things I do in my dotage. The next WWI tome on my reading pile is Max Hasting's "Catastrophe 1914."