ISBN: 9781849088596
Published by Osprey Publishing on February 20th 2014
Pages: 312
Featured Review
Author Adrian Gilbert’s introduction notes that: “British histories of the 1914 campaign typically adopt the emotionally comforting paradigm of the plucky Briton giving the overbearing foreign bully a bloody nose.” Gilbert goes on to state “…my intention is to look afresh at the British Army during 1914….My aim is not by any means to belittle the army’s many achievements but to provide a more realistic assessment of the army set within a general narrative of the war in 1914.”
Gilbert’s book succeeds admirably, and not as a revisionist work but rather as a corrective supplement to the controversial Official History of the First World War multi-volume series published between 1922 and 1948. Although the 1914 volumes of the Official History were not subject to as much debate as later books in the series, Gilbert still found “significant instances of evasion and omission, and, on occasion, outright distortion” in the 1914 volumes of the Official History.
For example, Gilbert’s research contradicts the official version of the battle of Le Cateau (26 August) as a successful delaying action fought against great odds. The author explains that such misrepresentations are important because the Official History was “so influential in defining the outlook of subsequent histories of the war.” As an example, Gilbert quotes historian John Terraine who described Le Cateau as “one of the most remarkable British feats of arms of the whole war.” Challenge of Battle devotes five detailed chapters to the preliminary maneuvers and decisions to fight at Le Cateau, the battle itself, “Failures of Command,” and the continuing retreat of the BEF. Gilbert’s book clearly proves that Le Cateau was a British tactical defeat, but it remains to be seen whether his new work can overcome well-established myths.
Dana Lombardy, Publisher WWOI
Behind the Front: British Soldiers and French Civilians
ISBN: 9780521837613
Published by Cambridge University Press on March 27th 2014
Genres: History, General, Europe, Great Britain, Military, World War I
Pages: 480
Gardens of Hell: Battles of the Gallipoli Campaign
ISBN: 9781612346830
Published by Potomac Books, Inc. on May 15th 2014
Genres: History, Middle East, General
Pages: 344
Hemingway, the Red Cross and the Great War
ISBN: 9781606351628
Published by Kent State University Press on November 1st 2013
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Literary, History, Military, World War I, Literary Criticism, American, General
Pages: 199
Medium Mark A Whippet
ISBN: 9781782003984
Published by Osprey Publishing on May 20th 2014
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Europe, Great Britain, Weapons
Pages: 48
The Battleship HMS Dreadnought
ISBN: 8362878681
Published by Kagero Oficyna Wydawnicza on August 1st 2013
Pages: 69
Breaking the Fortress Line 1914
ISBN: 9781848848139
Published by Pen and Sword on October 17th 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 256
Machine Gunner 1914-1918: Personal Experiences of the Machine Gun Corps
ISBN: 9781844153596
Published by Pen and Sword on November 28th 2013
Genres: History, Military, Aviation
Pages: 240
Climax at Gallipoli: The Failure of the August Offensive
ISBN: 9780806144269
Published by University of Oklahoma Press on 2014
Genres: History, Europe, France, Military, World War I, Middle East, Turkey & Ottoman Empire
Pages: 364
Khaki Jack: The Royal Naval Division in the First World War
ISBN: 9781445634098
Published by Amberley Publishing Limited on June 10th 2014
Genres: History, Military, General
Pages: 320
The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914
ISBN: 9780061146664
Published by HarperCollins on March 18th 2014
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Europe, General
Pages: 736
The Great War and the Origins of Humanitarianism
ISBN: 9781107604834
Published by Cambridge University Press on March 13th 2014
Genres: History, Military, General, Law, International, Political Science
Pages: 397
Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914
ISBN: 9781782006480
Published by Osprey Publishing on June 20th 2014
Genres: History, General, Europe, Eastern, Technology & Engineering, Military Science, Military, Modern, 20th Century, World War I
Pages: 488
The Courage of Cowards
ISBN: 9781781592953
Published by Pen and Sword on April 30th 2014
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 134
British Infantryman vs. German Infantryman Somme, 1916
ISBN: 9781782009146
Published by Osprey Publishing on January 20th 2014
Genres: History, General, Military, Other, Technology & Engineering, Military Science, World War I, Strategy, Biography & Autobiography
Pages: 80
The Great War Handbook
ISBN: 9781783461769
Published by Pen & Sword Books (ncr) on October 30th 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Illustrated
Pages: 240
Darks Invasion 1915: Germany’s Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America
ISBN: 9780062307569
Published by HarperCollins on February 10th 2015
Genres: History, Modern, 20th Century, Political Science, Terrorism, Biography & Autobiography, Law Enforcement
Pages: 496
Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War I: The Comprehensive Guide to Weapons Systems, including Tanks, Small Arms, Warplanes, Artillery, Ships and Submarines
ISBN: 9781782741411
Published by Amber Books on August 21st 2014
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Illustrated
Pages: 272
A German Tommy: The Secret of a War Hero
ISBN: 9781783462742
Published by Pen & Sword Books on 2014
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Australia & New Zealand, Great Britain
Pages: 198
Float Planes and Flying Boats: The U.S. Coast Guard and Early Naval Aviation
ISBN: 1612511074
Published by US Naval Institute Press on July 15th 2012
Pages: 322
Knights in Canvas: The Aviation Art of James Dietz
ISBN: 9781935881049
Published by Aeronaut Books on 2012
Pages: 174
Army of the Sky: Russian Military Aviation before the Great War, 1904-1914
ISBN: 9781433114908
Published by Peter Lang on 2012-01
Genres: History, Europe, General, Military, Aviation, Transportation
Pages: 256
Airway to the East 1918-1920
ISBN: 9781848846579
Published by Casemate Publishers on 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Aviation
Pages: 244
DH2 vs Albatross DI-DII Western Front 1916
ISBN: 9781849087049
Published by Osprey Publishing on 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Europe, Great Britain, Aviation
Pages: 80
Into the Sun: Novels of the United States Airforce
ISBN: 1879176475
Published by Imprint on December 31st 2011
Pages: 241
No Empty Chairs
ISBN: 9780297859956
Published by Orion Publishing Group on May 10th 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 288
Open Cockpit
ISBN: 9781908117250
Published by Grub Street on May 31st 2012
Pages: 224
Russian Aces of World War I
ISBN: 9781780960593
Published by Osprey Publishing on 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Aviation, Europe, Russia & the Former Soviet Union
Pages: 96
German Seaplane Fighters of WWI: A Centennial Perspective on Great War Seaplanes (Volume 2)
ISBN: 9781935881094
Published by Aeronaut Books on 2012
Pages: 150
Development of German Warplanes in WWI – A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes and Seaplanes
ISBN: 9781935881087
Published by Aeronaut Books on 2012
Pages: 148
Somme Success: The Royal Flying Corps and the Battle of the Somme 1916
ISBN: 9781848848825
Published by Pen & Sword Books Limited on June 30th 2012
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Military, World War I, Aviation
Pages: 223
Sopwith Camel
ISBN: 9781780961767
Published by Osprey Publishing on 2012
Genres: History, Military, Aviation, World War I
Pages: 64
Naval Aces of World War I – Part 2
ISBN: 9781849086646
Published by Osprey Publishing on May 8th 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Aviation
Pages: 96
The Blue Max Airmen: German Airmen Awarded the Pour le Mérite
ISBN: 9781935881063
Published by Aeronaut Books on 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Aviation, Transportation
Pages: 112
Aces of Jagdstaffel 17
ISBN: 9781780967189
Published by Osprey Publishing on November 20th 2013
Genres: History, Military, Aviation
Pages: 96
Austro-Hungarian Albatros Aces of World War I
ISBN: 9781849087476
Published by Osprey Publishing on December 20th 2012
Genres: History, Military, Aviation, World War II, Europe, General
Pages: 96
France On Fragile Wings: A Libertyman’s Adventures 1917-19
ISBN: 9781575101668
Published by Pictorial Histories Pub. on 2013
Pages: 253
KEK’s and Fokkerstaffels: The Early German Fighter Units in 1915-1916
ISBN: 9781781552230
Published by Fonthill Media on January 14th 2014
Genres: History, Military, Aviation
Pages: 236
Carl Menckhoff: Reminiscenses of War and Captivity
ISBN: 9781935881179
Published by Aeronaut Books on 2013
Pages: 304
Fokker D.VII: The Lethal Weapon
ISBN: 9788362878338
Published by Casemate Pub & Book Dist Llc on September 15th 2012
Genres: Crafts & Hobbies, Models, History, Military, Aviation
Pages: 168