The Marne, 1914 : The Opening of World War I and the Battle That Changed the World (Paperback)

from Shrike58

A readable, Germano-centric account of the how the great 1914 campaign in the West failed to yield victory for the Germans, and created the military stalemate that was the crucible for social and political conflict in the 20th century. Of particular value is how the German army commanders are ill...

from wmorton38

A fine history of the beginnings of the First World War through the first battle of the Marne. It is well written but quite detailed and with all the head swimming Prussian names and the fact that both armies all had 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. armies, divisions, etc. it was quite easy to become confused...

from dmmjlllt

The title is a bit misleading, as this basically covers the same ground as hundreds of other books, but at least it does cover the Battle of the Marne (unlike, say, Tuchman). Herwig's a reasonably good writer and he tells this story reasonably well. I don't know that there's any special insight h...

from quizshow77

Holger Herwig has said for decades that the Schlieffen Plan was the most consequential government document anywhere in the world in the twentieth century. In this book he tracks the consequences of that plan, tracing the first six weeks or so of the fighting on the Western Front in 1914. His writ...

from wildbill

There is much positive to say about this book but I did not find it an enjoyable read. The author lets the reader know from the beginning that he is writing his history of the events from the German point of view. He makes use of sources that just became available since the unification of Germany...