Folio Society Published Works Number 2445
Gilbert, Martin - The First World War
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Gilbert, Martin - The First World War (Published in by The Folio Society in 2011. Bound in cloth. Blocked with a design by Joe McLaren. Set in Utopia. Book Size: 10" x 6.75". 2 volumes. 752 pages in total. Colour frontispieces. 40 pages of black & white plates. A masterly narrative that reveals the human face of the 'war to end all wars'. On 28 June, 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot dead in Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist. By midnight on 4 August, four empires were at war: the Austro-Hungarian Empire against Serbia; the German Empire against France, Britain and Russia; and the British and French empires against Germany. It was hoped that the fighting would end by Christmas; in fact, it lasted four years and left almost nine million soldiers dead, with many more maimed and scarred for life. A further five million civilians are estimated to have died under occupation. It was a war the likes of which had never been seen before, leaving an indelible mark on the politics and society of Europe and the wider world. In his engrossing account, Martin Gilbert traces each step of the war's progression, from the tensions and alliances leading up to it and the first skirmishes on the French and Belgian borders, to the final peacemaking and remembrance. His geographical scope is equally broad, from Mesopotamia and East Africa to the 'forgotten war' waged in the Atlantic. He analyses the often disastrous decisions of the commanders on all sides – Kitchener, Haig, Hindenburg, Ludendorff and Pétain – who pursued the stalemate on the Western Front at a terrible cost to human life. The testimonies of civilians, medical officers and nurses, pacifists and others who spoke out against the war, add a further perspective. The final chapters of this superb history consider the painful process of remembrance carried out by individuals, families and nations. They also show how this war would leave a bitter and unresolved conflict, to explode again within a generation. )
