Product Description

'One of the most impressive books of modern history in a generation.' Max Hastings, London Evening Standard

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #375573 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1248 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Hew Strachan's The First World War Vol I: A Call to Arms counteracts the argument that of the two world wars in the 20th century, it is usually only the second that is thought of as "global"--spanning from the Pacific to Normandy as Hollywood continues to remind us, from the River Plate to Scapa Flow as naval buffs will recall. By contrast the First World War is often assumed to be a European war, literally bogged down in the Somme and the Dardanelles. But as Hew Strachan argues in this magisterial and wide-ranging book we would do better to use the German phrase, "weltkrieg" to describe the conflicts of 1914-18 as well. The Call to Arms is the latest in a long line of Strachan's distinguished and subtle works of military history at its best: his recent The Politics of the British Army is particularly good. A Call to Arms covers the war in every part of the globe--chapters on Turkey, Africa and Japan sit alongside sections devoted to the Western and Eastern fronts. And Strachan shows too that the war was global not just in its geography, but also in its outcome. The entente powers had better access to international finance than their foes; the war accelerated religious and tribal nationalism in the old colonial empires; industrial mobilisation fuelled the growth of heavy industry in 'undeveloped' parts of the world. This is a big book--1,000 pages plus, and it is only the first of three volumes. It needs time and attentive reading to absorb the range of its scholarship and the originality of its arguments. But anyone wanting to understand how and why the First World War, as one French writer put it in 1914, extended "to the whole universe" must read this book.--Miles Taylor

Stand To! The Journal of the Western Front Association
"Incontestably the most important addition to the published work on the war for many years."

Max Hastings, Evening Standard
"This deserves to rank as one of the most impressive books of modern history in a generation."

Customer Reviews

The best history of the first world war ever written
Impeccably researched and fluently written. Impressive mastery. Deserves to become the standard text on the history of World War I. A splendid work of scholarship, objective in method, sound in judgement. Clear, authoritative and compelling!

Magnificent depth of research
The breadth and depth of Hew Strachan's account of the First World War are amazing. He manages to weave the big picture and the tiny but important details while at the same time maintaining a very readable book. This will become the definitive history of the first years of the First World War; while I am only halfway through this weighty volume, I am already eagerly anticpating volume II.

Probably the best history of WWI now available
This book justifies its imposing length both substantively and with great style. The author covers all aspects of this great and puzzling war -- military, political, and economic -- in a comprehensive and readable way. Avoiding an Anglocentric or even Eurocentric point of view, Mr. Strachan well supports his thesis that this war was a global war with global implications. Mr. Strachan demands attention from the reader, but well rewards that attention with a clear exposition that leaves one in awe not only of his scholarship, but his ability to synthesize so many sources. It is clearly worth the investment not only to purchase, but to read closely and enjoy greatly.