The Cambridge History of the First World War

17th Oct 2024 by UName-144117

Much has been written about the Great War, and with the centenary of the conflict upon us, the bookshops are awash with new volumes on a myriad of subjects concerning the war. The choice for readers is bewildering. With Volume 1 - Global War of their history of The First World War, Cambridge University Press presents a fresh approach to relating the campaigns and associated issues of that great catastrophe. This is not merely a recounting of endless battles and campaigns - it covers a broader canvas with new perspectives delivered by a cast of well known and respected academic historians presenting their own considerations on the subjects they cover. The quality of their essays and the scope of the book makes this a valuable contribution to the historiography of the war. While it will not appeal to those attracted with the detail of battles and personal accounts of combatants, it will be welcomed by those who are interested in understanding the nature of the war on all fronts, and its wider global implications. Indeed, it could be considered four books in one, and the approach taken is a refreshing one that adds enormously to our understanding not only of the campaigns, but just as importantly to its world wide impacts. One can dip into this volume and look at the war from different angles. The usual narrative approach is presented in Part I - A Narrative History - with chapters covering the origins, each year of the war across all the theatres it was fought in, and the aftermath of this terrible bloodletting, each written by specialists in the events they cover. Through them one gains a good overview of the major military and naval events without becoming bogged down in detail. All are excellent, presenting a series of sound and balanced overviews year by year of the climactic events that changed the world forever, although one feels that in 1916: Stalemate the author allows his prejudices to peep through. Of particular interest is Bruno Cabanes’s 1919: Aftermath chapter, in which he takes a refreshing look at the Treaty of Versailles, being in his opinion a compromise treaty rather than a victor’s, and the impact of the war and the transitions that followed. Part II - Theatres of War - considers the same ground from a different perspective, covering an analysis of the main theatres of the war in Europe and the Middle East, in the air, and on the sea. Most are sound essays dealing with the peculiarities and approaches taken on each front, bringing home that they were different, had their own challenges and not all reflected the stereotype so often portrayed by the Western Front. Unfortunately, Robin Prior’s discussion of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli contains glaring errors of fact, which calls into question his depth of research on the Ottoman theatre, which is in contrast to his excellent chapter analysing the Western Front. Curiously there is nothing on the African theatre perhaps there is not enough in these campaigns to warrant a separate chapter. Rounding out this part is an excellent essay on Strategic Command by Gary Sheffield and Stephan Badsey, highlighting in a very balanced approach the diversity of military strategic command problems across the countries involved and the theatres of war. Part III - World War - takes us through a new prism in looking at the war. The main chapters provide an insight into regions not usually addressed in studies of the war, dealing principally with Africa, the Ottoman Empire, Asia, North America, and Latin America. Europe is briefly considered in a section of the leading chapter - The Imperial Framework. Unlike the initial two parts of the book, this is not concerned with campaigns, but provides the reader with an insight into the character and attitudes of the countries in these regions, together with the problems, influences and issues confronting them, and their contribution to or effect of the war on them. All make interesting and rarely presented reading, adding a new dimension to considerations of the war in the world at large, and amongst many of the non-combatant countries far from Europe. They are essays that contrast a largely European view of the war, and remind us that world war has an impact on non-combatant countries. The final and shortest part of this volume - Rules of Engagement, Laws of War and War Crimes - takes the reader onto controversial ground. In three fine, thought provoking chapters covering atrocities and war crimes, genocide and the laws of war, the reader is confronted with the uncomfortable subjects of war, forcing us to recognise that the horror of it all is not confined to the battlefield, and its scythe of bloodshed also sweeps up the innocent. Oddly out of place in Part IV, but nonetheless interesting and useful, is Jay Winter’s slim, and concluding chapter concerning the impact of photography on our view of the war, and the way in which they open up a new window in educating us through the stark realism of its myriad faces. This is a fine book covering a wide scope. Not only are readers presented with erudite and compelling essays on the campaigns and theatres of war, they are taken into areas that receive little attention in the vast literature of this war. In doing so this Volume earns its well deserved title of Global War.

Log in to review