Armistice 1918 - Softcover

Lowry, Bullitt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0873386515 ISBN 13: 9780873386517

Publisher: The Kent State University Press, 2000

Synopsis

The five armistices arranged in the fall of 1918 determined the course of diplomatic events for many years. The armistice with Germany, the most important of the five, was really a peace treaty in miniature. Bullitt Lowry, basing his account on a close study of newly available archives in Great Britain, France, and the United States, offers a detailed examination of the process by which what might have been only simple orders to cease fire instead became extensive diplomatic and military instructions to armies and governments. He also assesses the work of the leading figures in the profess, as well as supporting casts of generals, admirals, and diplomatic advisors.

About this title

About the Author

Bullitt Lowry is a professor of history at the University of North Texas.

From Publishers Weekly

Beginning on October 3, 1918, with Germany's initial armistice inquiry to President Woodrow Wilson, Lowry's exhaustive study follows the murky negotiations based on Wilson's Fourteen Points that led to the Compiegne Armistice signing on November 11, 1918. This is dense history, but Lowry, who teaches history at the University of North Texas, makes much of his account of the backbiting, threats, jealousy and ignorance, that arose from both national and personal interests read like a novel. The Supreme War Council, whose key members included Georges Clemenceau, Lloyd George, Marshall Ferdinand Foch and President Wilson, was wary not only of the Germans' intentions (they seemed "prepared to admit lack of success in the war, but not defeat" as Lowry puts it) but also of one another?as each country differed in its goals (i.e., total vs. partial disarmament, freedom of the seas, evacuation and reparations, leniency vs. vengeance). While this isn't the first study of its kind, Lowry's is definitive rather than derivative, with over 600 footnotes, an index and selective bibliography. Though the book is occasionally weighed down by its own density, Armistice 1918 will be invaluable to scholars and historians while others will revel in its trenchant insight into the minds and machinations of men and the inevitable consequences. Photos and maps not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: The Kent State University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0873386515
• ISBN 13: 9780873386517
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 262