Written in Blood: The Battles for Fortress Przemysl in WWI

Written in Blood: The Battles for Fortress Przemysl in WWIWritten in Blood: The Battles for Fortress Przemyśl in WW1 by Graydon A. Tunstall
ISBN: 0253021979
Published by Indiana University Press on August 16, 2016
Genres: Battles & Campaigns
Pages: 408

Winner of the 2016 Tomlinson Prize Award

A series of battles to capture and relieve the besieged Habsburg Fortress of Przemyl during the fall of 1914 and early 1915 was bloodier than Verdun. By the time the fortress finally fell to the Russians on 22 March 1915, the Austro-Hungarian Army had sustained 800,000 casualties; the Russians, over a million.

Control of the fortress changed hands three times during the fall of 1914. In 1915, several Austro-Hungarian armies launched three major offensives to penetrate the Russian encirclement and rescue the 120,000 men trapped in the fortress. Tunstall argues that Przemyl had served its purpose: the besieged garrison kept the Russian army from advancing farther and perhaps causing the collapse of the weakened Habsburg forces.

Reviewed by Dana Lombardy, publisher of WWOI

Dennis Showalter: “A valuable and unique contribution to the history of both WWI and European fortress war. This work will be cited long after ones on more glamorous subjects have been relegated to library shelves, and in my professional judgment, Tunstall is the only scholar who could have done it.”

Blood on the Snow: The Carpathian Winter War of 1915

Blood on the Snow: The Carpathian Winter War of 1915Blood on the Snow: The Carpathian Winter War of 1915 by Graydon A. Tunstall
ISBN: 0700618589
Published by University Press of Kansas on May 11, 2010
Genres: Battles & Campaigns
Pages: 258

Winner of the 2010 Tomlinson Prize Award

This is the first book-length account of the Carpathian campaign of 1915, described by some as the “Stalingrad of the First World War.” It was also the first English-language account of WW1 Eastern Front military operations in more than 30 years.

Tunstall did research in Vienna’s and Budapest’s War Archives, and his narrative incorporates material drawn from eyewitness accounts, personal diaries, army logbooks, and correspondence among members of the high command. He shows that the roots of the Habsburg collapse in Russia in 1916 were established in the winter campaign of 1915. Its accolades and Tomlinson award were well deserved.

Reviewed by Dana Lombardy, publisher of WWOI

The U.S. Army War College Quarterly Parameters: “The book is a detailed case study, based on extensive primary source research, of an attempt to devise a viable strategy to meet drastically-changed, unforeseen conditions with impending crisis….”

New York Military Affairs Symposium, NYMAS Review: “In giving a full account of the winter war, Tunstall has rendered a vital service to our understanding of World War I. This is a must book for experts and novices alike.”

Blood on the Snow: The Carpathian Winter War of 1915

Blood on the Snow: The Carpathian Winter War of 1915Blood on the Snow: The Carpathian Winter War of 1915 by Graydon A. Tunstall
ISBN: 9780700618583
Published by University Press of Kansas on May 11th 2010
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Europe, Russia & the Former Soviet Union, Austria & Hungary
Pages: 258

Len's Summary: The Russian and Austro-Hungarian armies each suffered about a million casualties in this disastrous series of three offensives which paved the way for the disintegration of the Habsburg army. Dr. Tunstall is executive Director of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society, and chairs WFA’s Undergraduate Essay Prize award panel.