The Western Front: A History of the First World War
£0.90
A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR
‘A tour de force of scholarship, analysis and narration . . . Lloyd is well on the way to writing a definitive history of the First World War’ Lawrence James, The Times
‘This well-researched, well-written and cogently argued new analysis . . . will undoubtedly now take its rightful place as the standard account of this vital theatre of the conflict’ Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny
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In the annals of military history, the Western Front stands as an enduring symbol of the folly and futility of war.
However, as bestselling military historian Nick Lloyd reveals in this highly-praised history – the first of an epic trilogy — the story is not one of pointlessness and stupidity, but rather a heroic triumph against the odds. With a cast of hundreds and a huge canvas of places and events, Lloyd tells the whole tale, revealing what happened in France and Belgium between August 1914 and November 1918 from the perspective of all the main combatants – including French, British, Belgian, US and, most importantly, German forces.
Lloyd examines the most decisive campaigns of the Great War and explains the unprecedented innovation, adaptation and tactical development that have been too long obscured by legends of mud, blood and futility, drawing upon the latest scholarship on the war, wrongly overlooked first-person accounts, and archival material from every angle. Conveying the visceral assault of the battlefield with vivid detail, Lloyd ultimately redefines our understanding of a crucial theatre in this monumental tragedy.
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‘Excellent on detail . . . Lloyd’s book will be cherished by military history buffs’ Max Hastings, Sunday Times
‘It is the best modern single-volume history of war on the Western Front and is likely to remain the standard account for some time’ Jonathan Boff, The Spectator
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Additional information
| Publisher | 1st edition (4 Mar. 2021), Penguin |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 41938 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 650 pages |
by Sir Benedict Godfrey
This is a great insight into WW1. I grew up only looking at the British perspective of history, but this tells the whole story of the Western Front. We need to consider that much of the damage (Western Front) was done on French land, so we it’s important to understand their perspective. We also get to hear the German perspective. Most of this is through the eyes of senior leaders, military and political. But we also get snippets of the lower ranks. All in all it was a horrendous piece of history. Technology and weaponry advanced during this time and manifested into what we now see as modern warfare, with tanks, planes, machine guns and so on. The death toll and future implications were also unspeakable. But going forward, when I wear my poppy in November and attend my local remembrance service, this book will help me contemplate all those deaths and sacrifices by the many and not just the British.
One final thing, Field Marshall Robertson is my relative, so it meant a lot to me to hear about his involvement (whether he made right decisions or not)!
Thank you to the author and I look forward to the next book which will focus on another area of WW1.
by Anthony Mcmanus
The book was delivered next day by prime. The book arrived in excellent condition even though it was a used copy. I saved money on a quality used hardback. The author is well respected in his field of study and I look forward to reading about a fascinating part of world history.
by markyt
There is a certain type of military history book exemplified by Max Hastings and Anthony Beevor in which the author selects a subject with high “brand awareness” such as Stalingrad, the Vietnam War, D-Day etc and creates a “soup to nuts” overview of the subject. The Western Front is certainly well within this particular canon – as it were. Although the canvas is usually large – you will never find a volume on rifle grenades of the British Army 1914-18 by this type of author, by confining it to one albeit large volume, of necessity the reader won’t find much by the way of granular detail. The issue is not so much what goes in but what is left out. Thus Nick Lloyd will spend forty or so pages on the 1918 German Offensives; generally the narrative is at Army level with occasional refences to small actions so the overall effect is that the book acts as a very good primer if the reader was coming to the subject without knowing too much. There are some curious omissions such as the 1915 Shell Scandal and only a passing reference to Jutland surely a major influence on the course of the Western Front given that it allowed a ruinous naval blockade of Germany. On the other hand there is a paragraph on the A7V in action at Villers-Bretonneux possibly out of proportion to it’s significance however I suppose it does add a bit of flavour to the “5th Army moved here, 3rd Army moved there” narrative. Because this has a top down approach there is a concentration on the major players both political and military, this is not really an account of life in the trenches, there are other books to cover that. It is very good at putting the Western Front in the context of the First World War, there are frequent references to what was happening elsewhere both militarily and politically. Do we learn anything new here after all the First World War is awash with books both narrative and analytical on the subject. If you are familiar with the Western Front then there are unlikely to be any revelations nonetheless it’s an immensely readable book. The layout with full pages of a reasonably sized typeface unburdened by footnotes matches perfectly with Nick Lloyds pacey, literate style that at times reads like a thriller is in stark contrast to some of the more turgid and dry military history books so it reads effortlessly. I can imagine this book selling well alongside the latest Beevor/Hastings volumes. Frankly if you want to delve deeper then there are other more specific books available
by A bookworm
Whilst it may seem strange to call a 500 page book an introduction, this book feels just that. Lloyd doesn’t get too distracted in the technical details and doesnt spend a large portion of the book on why the war broke out. That is excellent for the general reader or those new to the subject. For those who are more familiar with the Western Front, you may not learn anything new but it is written in an engaging fashion and I really enjoyed reading it; easily reading over 150 pages in a sitting.
As with any book there are negatives. Its the first part of a trilogy which will focus on other areas of the land war (Eastern Front and the wider war), and it mentions these in passing, especially the Eastern Front, whenever events would tie into those on the Western Front. However, I feel it neglects the role of the Allied Naval blockade in the eventual defeat of Germany with it only receiving a sentence or two in passing.
There isn’t much of an analysis (but I understand that is not going to be a negative for all), but if you look for the opinions of the senior figures, you sense, for example, Lloyd isn’t Haigs biggest fan during the middle years, but redeemed towards the end of the conflict. Equally, for a book focusing on the military history of the conflict, the irony that the leadership of Germany were too militarily focused was for me mildly amusing!
These criticisms aside, there is something that I can’t quite fathom that is preventing me from giving this 5 stars. That said, I eagerly await the next next two books in the trilogy.