tagwyn
AGEod Guard of Honor
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Mon Dec 15, 2008 7:20 pm

"A bit of bias... ." The foreword is a salute to the Czar and his brave troops, etc. I have read a great many books by Sir Winston, this was propaganda. t

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Caradoc
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Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:05 pm

One book I have read is called "With a Machine Gun to Cambrai" by George Coppard about his actual life as a Tommy during the Great War.

One fictional novel I can recommend is "Covenant with Death" by John Harris. This is a novel yes but is clearly based on a Pals battalion.

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Syt
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Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:26 pm

Btw, for reading I also recommend the above mentioned "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich-Maria Remarque about the "normal" life on the Western Front to the point that the protagonist (while on vacation in Germany) feels isolated from the society he used to be part of.

As for movie version I rate the 1930 version higher than the 1970s one as probably being more authentic.
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The brutality and inhumanity of war stood in great contrast to what I had heard and read about as a youth.
- Reinhold Spengler, war volunteer 1st Bavarian Infanterie Regmnt., 1916

Mill65
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Thu Jan 08, 2009 5:10 pm

I would like to recommend Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger. It describes the war as experienced by Ernst in the trenches. The following quote from a review says it all:

He doesn't analyze the justice of the conflict or wonder about its outcome. He doesn't dwell on the sudden death of noble comrades or the seemingly pointless waste of men's lives or the futility of a lost cause. Instead, day by day, he performs his duty as a soldier, and he tells us, with clinical honesty, what he does and what he sees.

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Le Ricain
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Thu Jan 08, 2009 7:34 pm

Mill65 wrote:I would like to recommend Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger. It describes the war as experienced by Ernst in the trenches. The following quote from a review says it all:

He doesn't analyze the justice of the conflict or wonder about its outcome. He doesn't dwell on the sudden death of noble comrades or the seemingly pointless waste of men's lives or the futility of a lost cause. Instead, day by day, he performs his duty as a soldier, and he tells us, with clinical honesty, what he does and what he sees.


I agree completely with your choice of book. Junger is excellent.

However, I must admit that I agree with Syt's post on 'All Quiet...' as well.
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'Nous voilà, Lafayette'

Colonel C.E. Stanton, aide to A.E.F. commander John 'Black Jack' Pershing, upon the landing of the first US troops in France 1917

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Paul Roberts
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Fri Jan 09, 2009 4:29 pm

ulver1 wrote:Silly question: What the other one called?

(The non Guns of August one obviously)


Do you mean The Proud Tower?

Has anyone read Alan Palmer's Victory 1918? I'm a teacher, and this one just came into my school's library. At first glance it looks like a lively read. Is it worth the time?

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Syt
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Fri Jan 09, 2009 6:01 pm

Syt wrote:I am currently reading 1914 - 1918 by David Stevenson. It's a rather complete book, first giving a general overview, and then tearing into specific topics (economy, motivation/manpower, tactics/technology etc.). It's more exhaustive than Keegan (ca. 600 pages without appendix, 40 lines/page).


Finished the book and, frankly, love it. While Keegan's First World War has a lot more detail on campaigns and battles, Stevenson pays a lot of attention to politics (international and domestic) and economy - quite a bit of it appear in LGG in form of political decisions or events.

I have ordered:

Norman Stone: The Eastern Front 1914 - 1917

Mark Thompson: The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919

James Palmer: The Bloody White Baron

Though Stevenson has given me a few topics besides the military aspect of the war that I plan to read up on. :)
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The brutality and inhumanity of war stood in great contrast to what I had heard and read about as a youth.

- Reinhold Spengler, war volunteer 1st Bavarian Infanterie Regmnt., 1916

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cwjelen
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Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:32 am

Also quite interesting is "Der Rote Kampfflieger" by Manfred von Richthofen, but I don´t know wheter it is available in English

Aurelin
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Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:36 am

Syt wrote:I am currently reading 1914 - 1918 by David Stevenson. It's a rather complete book, first giving a general overview, and then tearing into specific topics (economy, motivation/manpower, tactics/technology etc.). It's more exhaustive than Keegan (ca. 600 pages without appendix, 40 lines/page).



Also http://www.amazon.com/Cataclysm-First-World-Political-Tragedy/dp/0465081843

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runyan99
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Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:17 am

For an overall history I would like to second S.L.A. Marshall's book, which I am reading now.

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Syt
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Tue Jan 27, 2009 9:59 pm



Thanks. :) While I enjoy the military histories about the war, Stevenson has sparked quite some interest for me in the social, political and economic side of the conflict and it's definitely something I want to continue to read up on.

Currently reading: The White War as linked above. The war in the Alps between Italy and Austria-Hungary; by an English author, from the Italian/Entente point of view.
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The brutality and inhumanity of war stood in great contrast to what I had heard and read about as a youth.

- Reinhold Spengler, war volunteer 1st Bavarian Infanterie Regmnt., 1916


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Cavalryman
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Book suggestion

Mon Feb 02, 2009 11:28 am

Hew Strachan is brilliant...anything by him is worth a read...you might not agree with every one of his conclusions but the process of getting there is wonderful....the best books I have read on the Great War.

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Syt
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Fri Feb 27, 2009 5:29 pm



Half way through and thoroughly enjoying it. He uses eye witness accounts and anecdotes a lot. The author looks mostly at the Italian side of the Alpine front, and he has little good to say about the reasons Italy went to war and their, uhm, inaptitude at waging the campaign.
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The brutality and inhumanity of war stood in great contrast to what I had heard and read about as a youth.

- Reinhold Spengler, war volunteer 1st Bavarian Infanterie Regmnt., 1916

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TheDoctorKing
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Tue Mar 03, 2009 10:20 pm

I have students read "Goodbye to All That" by Robert Graves for one soldier's view of the war. The classic account is "All Quiet On The Western Front" by Erich Remarque. Lyn Macdonald also wrote a series of oral histories of the British experience on the western front - "Somme" is excellent.

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