The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918 (Modern Wars) - Softcover

Herwig, Holger H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340573481 ISBN 13: 9780340573488

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2009

Synopsis

This book draws on ten years of archival research to provide the first comprehensive treatment in English of how Germany and Austria-Hungary conducted World War I and what defeat meant to them.

About this title

Book Description:

A new edition of the definitive military history of Germany and Austria-Hungary during the First World War

From the Back Cover:

The Great War toppled four empires, cost the world 24 million dead, and sowed some of the seeds of another worldwide conflagration 20 years later. Yet, until now, there has been no comprehensive treatment of how Germany and Austria-Hungary - two of the key belligerents - conducted the war and what defeat meant to them. Much of the writing on the war has hallowed the tactical and operational effectiveness of the German army. Yet Germany lost the conflict. In tackling this paradox, Herwig shows how greatly the Central Powers suffered from inadequate resources and an incapacity to manage effectively what they had. He also shows with clarity just how much of Germany's effort was expended in sustaining not only its own war effort but also that of its ally, without any corresponding subordination of Vienna to Berlin, as the economic and military realities required. But it is in his reassessment of Germany's military effectiveness that he offers the most fundamental corrective. For readers accustomed to criticisms of the various Allied commanders, Herwig's examination of the German military effort will have uncanny echoes. Even the famous German offensives of March 1918, regarded as a model of breakthrough operations by interwar theorists, are condemned not just for their lack of strategic objective but even for their tactical failings.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0340573481
• ISBN 13: 9780340573488
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512