When I was in elementary school, the school I went to did this thing called “Whiz Kids ” that was an extracurricular academic project. Kids who wanted to would put together a presentation, similar to a science fair project, but on any topic of their choosing. Then, they would present this in class. As I remember it, someone from the administration, like the principal, would come to give the presentation a grade. Everyone got a certificate who presented, but there were definitely differences in the grades received. I once did a presentation on World War I airplanes. I worked on this for quite a while, including going to the library with my dad to find some information on the different planes and then drawing some of them. My dad and I also built a pretty cool model of the Fokker Dr.I, the famous red triplane flown by the Red Baron. I had a lot of fun with the project and learned some stuff, but the presentation was maybe a little weak, and that showed in the fact that I didn’t get the highest marks possible. Other than that experience, World War I has been something I haven’t learned a lot about.
The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman (ISBN: 978-0-345-47609-8), since it is about the first thirty days of the war, doesn’t do much more than mention reconnaissance planes a couple times when it comes to the airplanes of World War I, but the book does provide a very detailed review of those critical early battles in 1914. The stage is set with an extensive review of both French and German military doctrine leading up to the war, as well as the military and political personalities involved. After the French and German positions were well established, the reader learned about the English and the Belgians. Then, things got moving, and the Germans invaded Belgium. It didn’t go quite as they planned, though, with a lot more Belgian defensive efforts than they planned on and an English response that somehow seemed to not be completely accounted for in German war planning. The Germans still advanced quickly, taking advantage of their superior numbers and superior firepower. Once they were well into French territory, the French finally gathered themselves and were able to stop the German advance only miles from Paris. The French effort was eventually aided by the British, who were shown to, overall, be slow and indecisive during this opening stage of the war, and by the Russians, who opened an eastern front that the Germans were forced to respond to even though it ultimately proved to be less of a concern than initially thought. Throughout the first thirty days of the war, all parties involved suffered from indecisiveness, incomplete information, and decisions based more on what people had planned on than on what was actually happening. These mistakes were a large reason the war took the turn that it did, leading to four years of trench warfare that left Europe broken.
The book was an interesting read, heavy on names and dates, although written in a very readable, narrative form, which earned Tuchman the Pulitzer Prize and is considered a classic of history. As noted above, I know less than I probably should about World War I, but the book solidified for me the overall impression I had of the war: a petty squabble that turned into a worldwide mess that resulted in a ridiculous level of loss of life and destruction. The war was started by empires itching for a fight. Once they got in the ring, tactical and strategic blunders turned what could’ve been a knock out in the first round into one of those marathon twelve-round bouts. Over and over, as I read, it just seemed like so much unnecessary fighting. Although I found the book a little dry at times, I liked learning more about the war and those involved. It had a large impact on what would happen only twenty years later.
The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman (ISBN: 978-0-345-47609-8), since it is about the first thirty days of the war, doesn’t do much more than mention reconnaissance planes a couple times when it comes to the airplanes of World War I, but the book does provide a very detailed review of those critical early battles in 1914. The stage is set with an extensive review of both French and German military doctrine leading up to the war, as well as the military and political personalities involved. After the French and German positions were well established, the reader learned about the English and the Belgians. Then, things got moving, and the Germans invaded Belgium. It didn’t go quite as they planned, though, with a lot more Belgian defensive efforts than they planned on and an English response that somehow seemed to not be completely accounted for in German war planning. The Germans still advanced quickly, taking advantage of their superior numbers and superior firepower. Once they were well into French territory, the French finally gathered themselves and were able to stop the German advance only miles from Paris. The French effort was eventually aided by the British, who were shown to, overall, be slow and indecisive during this opening stage of the war, and by the Russians, who opened an eastern front that the Germans were forced to respond to even though it ultimately proved to be less of a concern than initially thought. Throughout the first thirty days of the war, all parties involved suffered from indecisiveness, incomplete information, and decisions based more on what people had planned on than on what was actually happening. These mistakes were a large reason the war took the turn that it did, leading to four years of trench warfare that left Europe broken.The book was an interesting read, heavy on names and dates, although written in a very readable, narrative form, which earned Tuchman the Pulitzer Prize and is considered a classic of history. As noted above, I know less than I probably should about World War I, but the book solidified for me the overall impression I had of the war: a petty squabble that turned into a worldwide mess that resulted in a ridiculous level of loss of life and destruction. The war was started by empires itching for a fight. Once they got in the ring, tactical and strategic blunders turned what could’ve been a knock out in the first round into one of those marathon twelve-round bouts. Over and over, as I read, it just seemed like so much unnecessary fighting. Although I found the book a little dry at times, I liked learning more about the war and those involved. It had a large impact on what would happen only twenty years later.
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