Want a NOOK? Explore Now
You’re no idiot, of course. You know that World War I was “the Great War,” and you’re familiar with its images: muddy trenches, poison gas, and a no-man’s-land of craters and barbed wire.
But when it comes to understanding its causes, why it dragged on for four years, and how it set the stage for World War II, you’re lost behind enemy lines. Don’t wave the white flag just yet! The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to World War I gives you a comprehensive over-view of the first global war, from the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand to the Treaty of Versailles. In this Complete Idiot’s Guide®, you get:
I. THE LAMPS GO OUT.
1. The Great War.
How Did It Start?
Wants and Needs. A Wrong Turn. A Tangled Web.
Red Pants and Spiked Helmets.
Summer of Six Million. Big Plans.
The Last Man on the Right.
Advance. Race to the Sea. Trenches and Graves.
No Man's Land.
Western Front. Eastern Front.
The New War.
The Russians Leave. The Americans Arrive.
Armistice.
Requiem at Versailles. The Long Truce.
2. Family Affairs.
A Historian Remembers a Funeral. Empires.
The Old World. Twilight of the Kings.
Secrets and Lies.
Bismarck's Diplomacy. The Entente. The World as a Trap.
A Set of Wars.
Seven Weeks in 1866. The Shame of Sedan. Rising Sun. Balkan Tragedies. Nations and Tribes.
3. Blueprints for a Bloodletting.
European Balance Sheet.
Allied Advantages. A Matter of Self-Sufficiency. Haber's Miracle.
Nations at Arms, 1914.
France Versus Germany. British Volunteers. The Russian “Steamroller”. The Dual Empire.
Deadly Innovations.
The Machine Gun. The New Artillery. The Dreadnoughts.
Spoiling for War.
French Elan: Plan XVII. German Speed: The Schlieffen Plan. Austro-Hungarian Flexibility: Plan. And the Russian Alphabet.
4. The Black Hand.
Union or Death.
The Assassins. A Sick Boy.
The Archduke and His Lady.
A Blind Alley in Sarajevo. June 28, 1914, 11:15 A.M.
Crime and Punishment.
Austro-Hungarian “Diplomacy”. The Kaiser's Pledge. Ultimatum and Response.
The Kaiser Comes Home to a War.
First Mobilizations. In Lockstep to Armageddon.
II. HOME BEFORE THE LEAVES FALL.
5. Battle of the Frontiers.
“The Guns of August”.
Across the Belgian Threshold. An Orgy of Declarations. Italy Avoids War—For Now. Treaty of London. Like an Unexpected Holiday.
Bottleneck at Liège.
Big Bertha and the Zeppelin. Papa Joffre's Decision.
The Great Wheel.
The Schlieffen Plan in Motion. Lorraine Erupts. Offensive in the Ardennes.
Sambre and Mons. “Hardly Satisfactory”.
6. The Marne: Massacre and Miracle.
The Fortified Camp of Paris. Moltke's Unsure Hand.
British Peril. Kluck Takes a Turn. The Front Is Paris. Kitchener Intervenes.
Taxis to the Marne.
The German Advance Falters. Counterattack on the Marne. Battle of the Ourcq. Paris Saved. Victory—of Sorts. The End of Moltke.
Trenches on the Aisne. Ypres. From the First 30 Days to the Next 5 Years.
7. The Sun Sets in the East.
The Myth of the Russian Steamroller.
When Numbers Lie. Lessons of the Russo-Japanese War. The Czar's Problems.
Strategy for the Eastern Front.
What the Germans Counted On. What Austria-Hungary Feared. What the Russians Hoped For. What the French Demanded.
A Divided Army.
Against East Prussia. Encounter at Stallupönen. Triumph and Failure at Gumbinnen. Against Austria.
The New Commander.
8. A Suicide.
Prelude to a Russian Tragedy.
The Generals Decide. Nerves. The Russian Position, August 26, 1914.
Tannenberg.
The German Guns Speak. Flight and Pursuit. The Russian Center Resists. Encirclement. The End of Samsonov.
Defeat at the Masurian Lakes.
9. Duel of Doomed Empires.
Austrian Priorities. A New Army Materializes.
Guessing the Russian Game. The Austro-German Advance Stalls. Battle at Lodz. New Orders from the Kaiser.
Carpathian Snows. The Winter Battle.
A New Weapon. Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes.
A Breakthrough.
The Long Retreat. A New Eastern Front, a New Commander.
10. The Sick Man and Serbia.
The Turkish Connection.
Young Turks. The Flight of the Goeben and the Breslau. Turkey's “Declaration”.
Action in the Caucasus. Serbia Resists.
Bulgaria Joins Austria and Germany. The Western Allies Far from Home. Doom and Defeat of Serbia.
The Greek Situation.
11. A World War.
Sea Power.
British Objectives. German Strategy.
Battle at Helgoland Bight. The U-Boat War Begins. High Seas Fleet Breakout.
The Battle of Dogger Bank. The East Asiatic Squadron. German Disaster at the Falklands.
Lusitania Lost! Empires Far Flung.
The Conquest of Togoland. War Comes to the Cameroons. Theater: South Africa.
German China and the German Pacific.
Enter Japan. North Pacific Battles. Allied Triumphs in the South Pacific.
The German Genius of East Africa.
Lettow-Vorbeck Takes the Offensive. The Smuts Offensive. A Fight Beyond the Finish.
III. WE ARE THE DEAD.
12. Deadlock.
The Technology of Stalemate.
The German Edge. A Change of Uniform. Machine Guns. Artillery. Enter the Tank.
The New German Strategy. Allied Arguments. Trench Life. Poison Gas.
A Yellow-Green Cloud at Ypres. Masks On! New Poisons.
13. A New Year and No Hope.
A Crisis of Priorities. 500 Yards for 50,000 Men.
The Battle of Champagne. An Experiment at Neuve Chapelle.
Fire from the Sky. Woëvre and Ypres. Allied Offensives.
Vimy Ridge. Artois and Champagne. Loos.
A Changing of the Guard.
14. The Gallipoli Disaster.
To Break the Deadlock.
Target: Dardanelles. Allied Naval Assault. Hasty Muster.
First Landings.
Under Fire. Blunders and Bloodshed. Heads Roll.
Second Landing.
Final Failure. Evacuation.
Russia, Hanging.
15. The Other Fronts, 1915.
Enter Italy.
End of the Triple Alliance. The Italian Army. A Dream of Vienna.
The First Battles of Isonzo. Death in the Caucasus.
Malazgirt. Kara Killisse.
Genocide.
Anonymous
Posted February 10, 2003
A good general account of the great war, but a map of pre world war europe would be a definite asset. There was not one map in the book!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted September 18, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
You’re no idiot, of course. You know that World War I was “the Great War,” and you’re familiar with its images: muddy trenches, poison gas, and a no-man’s-land of craters and barbed wire.
But when it comes to understanding its causes, why it dragged on for four years, and how it set the stage for World War II, you’re lost behind enemy lines. Don’t wave the white flag just yet! The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to World War I gives you a comprehensive over-view of the first global war,...