The First World War: A Very Short Introduction - Softcover

Howard, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199205590 ISBN 13: 9780199205592

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2007

Synopsis

By the time the First World War ended in 1918, eight million people had died in what had been perhaps the most apocalyptic episode the world had known.

This Very Short Introduction provides a concise and insightful history of the Great War--from the state of Europe in 1914, to the role of the US, the collapse of Russia, and the eventual surrender of the Central Powers. Examining how and why the war was fought, as well as the historical controversies that still surround the war, Michael Howard also looks at how peace was ultimately made, and describes the potent legacy of resentment left to Germany.

About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

About this title

About the Author:

Michael Howard is Professor Emeritus of Modern History at the University of Oxford and Yale University.

Review:

`Review from previous edition Review from previous edition succinct, comprehensive and beautifully written. Indeed reading it is an experience comparable to scanning the clues of a well-composed crossword puzzle. Every allusion is eventually supplied with an answer, and the finished product
defies the puzzler's disbelief that the intricacies can be brought to a convincing conclusion. . . . Michael Howard is the master of the short book'
TLS

`Howard expertly and succintly summarizes the Great War for the layperson... volume is an excellent way to get a grounding in this momentous subject'
Forbes Global 21/03/03

`an enlightened idea to produce a very short account of the great war - a page per month - . . . . But if, in 2014, bright schoolchildren, their brains putified by GCSE, get around to asking what the first world war was about, Howard's book will be very valuable.'
The Times, Culture

`Professor Sir Michael Howard, . . ., is our best living military historian, and perhaps also strategic thinker. His new work is a masterly introduction to the Great War, desgined for those with no previous knowldge of the subject. . . . Any new student who reads Michael Howard should go on to
address the first volume of Hew Strachan's huge new work on the same theme. There is great wisdom in both books, and wisdom on this subject is in short supply.'
Sunday Telegraph

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0199205590
• ISBN 13: 9780199205592
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 134