The Last Battle: Victory, Defeat, and the End of World War I by Peter Hart ISBN: 0190872985
Published by Oxford University Press on March 1, 2018
Genres: Strategic Studies
Pages: 464
The author is oral historian at the Imperial War Museum in London and has access to large archives of original testimonies…. describing and enlivening the final battles of 1918.
The author does admit that his “emphasis as a British historian is on the British Army with an appreciative reflection on the massive contributions of victory made by the French, American and Belgian forces.”
Politics and personalities involved in the cease-fire agreements were complex and often cantankerous…. [and left] “an unpleasant taste in the mouth when one considers that men were being maimed and dying in huge numbers with every day that passed.”
Ironically, it didn’t take long before the business of “battlefield tourism” began to flourish…. [while veterans now] “had to fight to retain their self-respect in a society that did not seem to care one iota for their welfare.”
This is a rich and comprehensive book, one I can certainly recommend.
Abridged from review by David F. Beer in RoadstotheGreatWar-ww1.blogspot.com/
Dennis Showalter: “…well-paced analytical text with first-hand accounts by participants.”
New York Journal of Books: “…an exceptional collection of personal narratives….”
