Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914

by Prit Buttar

Overview

The fighting that raged in the East during the First World War was every bit as fierce as that on the Western Front, but the titanic clashes between three towering empires—Russia, Austro-Hungary, and Germany—remains a comparatively unknown facet of the Great War.

With the one hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the war in 2014, Collision of Empires is a timely exposé of the bitter fighting on this forgotten front—a clash that would ultimately change the face of Europe forever. Drawing on firsthand accounts and detailed archival research, this is a dramatic retelling of the tumultuous events of the first year of the war, with the battles of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes in East Prussia followed by the Russo-Austrian clashes in Galicia and the failed German advance toward Warsaw.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472813183
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	02/16/2016
Series:	General Military
Pages:	488
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Prit Buttar studied medicine at Oxford and London before joining the British Army as a doctor. After leaving the army, he worked as a GP, first near Bristol and then in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. He is extensively involved in medical politics, both at local and national level, and served on the GPs' Committee of the British Medical Association. He has appeared on national TV and radio, speaking on a variety of medical issues. He contributes regularly to the medical press.

An established expert on the Eastern Front in 20th-century military history, his previous books include the critically acclaimed Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany's Eastern Front 1944–45 (Osprey 2010) and Between Giants: The Battle for the Baltics in World War II (Osprey 2013) and a definitive four-part series on the Eastern Front in World War I which concluded with The Splintered Empires: The Eastern Front 1917–21 (2017). He now lives in Kirkcudbright in Scotland.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Maps

Author's Note

Dramatis Personae

Introduction

1. The German War Machine

2. The Russian Steamroller

3. Austria-Hungary: the Other Sick Man of Europe

4. Over the Brink

5. The First Battles: Stallupönen and Gumbinnen

6. Crisis of Command

7. Tannenberg

8. The Illusion of Victory: Galicia, August 1914

9. The Battle for the Masurian Lakes

10. The Reality of Defeat: Galicia, September 1914

11. A Bloody Sideshow: The Serbian Front

12. Mud and Blood: Autumn in Poland

13. Lódz

14. The First Christmas

15. Disappointments and Illusions

Appendix: Place Names

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

Insightful, drawn from numerous sources woven together into anarrativethat is easy to follow even if one knows little about this theater of the war...The centennial of World WarI is under way, andauthors aroundthe globe are writing many new books about the way. This book certainly ranks among the best of them.” —Military Heritage

“Painstaking research and firsthand accounts propel the author's narrative of events that took place during the first year of the war a century ago. Buttar's splendid hardcover book puts an exclamation point on the reality that their collision in combat resulted in the downfalls of all three empires.” —Toy Soldier & Model Figure

“Based in archival research, this book will appeal to readers interested in World War I and especially the first months of battles on the Eastern Front.” —Library Journal

“...a timely retelling of the early weeks of the war on the Eastern Front.” —WWI Historical Association, www.ww1ha.org (October 6, 2014)

From the Publisher