The Guns of August: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Classic About the Outbreak of World War I [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Fazit: Ein erstklassiges Buch, hervorragend recherchiert und spannend zu lesen

Tuchman's magic in employing the written word to advantage shines here, as her narrative weaves together the elements of a world in transition, empires ruled by Kings, Queens and Kaisers living in the past, out of touch with what advances in technology and tactics meant, and not recognizing that these revolutionary changes in technology, demography, and battle techniques would plunge the world into a nightmare conflict that none of them could foresee, contain, or manage, once it started.

In many ways the first world war marks the true demarcation point between the old European world of tradition, chivalry, and empires, on the one hand, and the frightening new world of tanks, machine guns and mass exterminations. Prepared and propelled by visions of glorious conquest in a battlefield characterized by Kipling and "the charge of the light brigade", what they got in its place was the horrifying nightmare war of extermination in trench warfare, infantry slaughtered anonymously by artillary, tanks and rapid fire weapons the troops had no effective tactics to protect against. So much for the old glory.

Yet all that lay ahead, in the weeks, months and years of bloody battle, of the excruciatingly costly struggle for new territory turned into a useless bloodbath for mere feet and yards. Here we are dipped deep into the boiling cauldron of people steeped in the mystique of the past, trying to win glory and fortune through warfare, and never understanding that the very attempt itself would result in the ruin of everything they knew and treasured, for the nature of the protracted conflict did indeed change everything, and Tuchman winds her way through the book with dazzling description and highly readable prose.

This is a wonderful and memorable book, typical of Tuchman's engaging and often humourous writing style, detailing as it does the ways in which old and outdated perspectives try ruinously to force themselves and their designs into an abrasive future, at the expense of everything traditional, local, and familiar. It is a valuable snapshot of a moment suspended in time, lovingly restored, taken of a world in violent transition at that very moment as we first stepped off the threshold of the past into the bloody abyss of the 20th century.

Mrs. Tuchman's accounts of German inflexibility and Allied complacency lead one to the inescapable conclusion that not only was the war entirely avoidable, but once started needn't have been nearly as long and bloody as it turned out to be: The German refusal to halt war preparations once they began simply because it was too inconvenient. The French failing to anticipate the German sweep around their left flank. The naive Belgian insistence on nuetrality even in the face of imminent attack. The British refusal to commit enough troops to make a real difference. The failure to update tactics to match the new technology on all sides, but particularly the Allied side. It all adds up to a colossal failure of both political and military leadership that would ultimately cost millions of lives.

One other effect of this book on my thinking is that I felt much less sympathy for the Allies than I had before reading it. The arrogance and incompetence of the French in particular make it very difficult to feel sorry for them. I now question whether this was a war in which the U.S. should ever have become involved. After all, our entry was instrumental in the defeat of Germany and the subsequent Versailles Treaty. As we all know, the seeds of the Second World War were sown with that ill conceived document.

At the very least, this book will make you think critically about the monumental events of the time. It is most enlightening and, I must say, as entertaining as any fiction novel I have ever read. This book is a must for all well informed citizens of any country.