The First World War: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

by Michael Howard

Paperback, 2007

Status

Available

Call number

940.3

Series

A Very Short Introduction (154)

Genres

Publication

OUP Oxford (2007), Edition: First Edition, 160 pages

Description

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 book provides a concise history of 'the Great War', focusing on why it happened, how it was fought, and why it had the consequences it did.

User reviews

LibraryThing member tloeffler

Several things that I read, watched, or ran across last year led me to think that my education was woefully inadequate about the First World War. So I determined that in 2010, I was going to remedy that. I asked for suggestions, reviewed recommendations, and in general, kept my eyes out for books

that would qualify. This book, however, particularly caught my eye. I am not a historian by any stretch of the imagination, and I concluded that my best bet would be to start with a book that explained the whole thing in general before I started looking at specifics.
I could not have picked a more perfect initial book.
The title of this book includes "A Very Short Introduction," and that's what it is. At just over 100 pages, it gives the basics of the war, and little else. The writing style is just right, not too heavy and not too light. I came out of this book with the ability to look at my list of WWI recommendations and sort them by year/battle/event, so when I'm ready for another WWI book, I can choose wisely and not just read randomly. For my purposes, this was the perfect start to what I hope will be a fascinating adventure.

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LibraryThing member sarahlh

A clear and concise history of the important events and details of WW1. Very helpful for those who, like me, went to high schools that skimped heavily on what exactly the first world war was all about (Franz Ferdinand shot! Trench warfare! Mustard gas! OKAY, ON TO WORLD WAR TWO, CHILDREN!). Some

more definitions of key terms would have been helpful, though.

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LibraryThing member cbl_tn

This short history of the First World War takes a chronological approach to its history, beginning with an overview of conditions in Europe just before the outbreak of war in 1914 and ending with the peace settlement in 1919. While some attention is given to social and political conditions, the

primary emphasis is on military operations, and it reads like a military history of the war. It provides the basic time line of the war that I was looking for, but it's short on human interest. I'll have to look to fuller accounts of the war or specific aspects of the war for that kind of information.

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LibraryThing member PhilSyphe

I decided to read this before undertaking a short course about WW1 just to have a taste of some of the most important events that transpired during the conflict.

The author does a good job; however, the limited number of pages means he’s greatly limited to what he can include from such a large

subject. As a result, I found it hard to get into.

Really a topic of this nature is not ideal for “a very short” anything.

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LibraryThing member auntmarge64

Brief but wonderfully written, leaving me with some idea not only of where things happened but why and how, and I think I will now have the patience to absorb a more detailed account. Subsequently reprinted as part of the "A Very Short Introduction" series from Oxford.

LibraryThing member gregdehler

This is truly a short introduction to the First World War. It covers a lot of history in a brief book. It is cogent and hits the important points. The emphasis is on the Wesernt front and little less attention is given to the other areas of combat. It was published in 2002, and, therefore, does not

include the scholarship that emerged in the centennial of the war. The "Further Reading" is a disappointment.

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