An historical exercise!

Yes, indeed, another post on the subject of historians following my report from the frontline on the war between German historians.  This time, I am pleased to say, there are no academic fisticuffs, not least because one of the historians concerned is a lady, Prof. Margaret MacMillan, to be precise.  She has written a book - a mammoth book - entitled The War That Ended The Peace: How Europe Abandoned Peace for the First World War.  I can thoroughly recommend this book, er, not because of its historical expertise, its acute perceptions, its magisterial sweep and all that sort of thing, because I haven't actually read a page of it so far!  No, what I can recommend it for is fitness training - it is 21/2" thick and it weighs a ton!  Thus, every morning before I sit down at this computer to waste yet more of the rest of my life I intend to use it for some weight-training exercises.  I had thought it would be an ideal book to take on my forthcoming hols but, alas, I don't think I can afford the excess baggage charges!  

The other book I have just started was probably as hefty as Prof. MacMillan's as a hard-back edition but thankfully I bought a paper-back version.  It is by Lloyd Clark, an historian and lecturer at Sandhurst and it is simply titled "Kursk: The Greatest Battle".  In just a few lines Mr. Clark forces us to re-adjust our entire picture of WWII which, for many obvious and all too human reasons have been entirely coloured by Normandy and the war on the western front.  He reminds us:

The Soviet losses alone equated to the total number of dead from all belligerent nations on all fronts during the Great War.  Every week Stalin's armed forces accumulated a football stadium's worth of dead, and every three months mourned as many lives as the United States did in the entire war.

[...]

While the Normandy landings during the summer of 1944 did mark a major turning point in the war in Europe, we should remember that by the end of that year, 91 Allied divisions in northwest Europe faced 65 German divisions across a 250-mile front, while at the same time in the east, 560 Soviet divisions fought 235 German divisions across 2,000 miles.

Yes, you are right, that was the sound of my mind boggling!

 

Comments

[H]

Kursk, viewed in isolation, was 'bigger' than almost all other wars, with millions engaged on both sides, with thousands of aircraft and tanks.

[David Duff]

Exactly right, 'H', and whilst I know the rough outlines I am looking forward to finding out the details.

[Richard Morgan]

I cannot speak for the weight of Margaret MacMillan's tome, because I have it on my Kindle. However, I finished reading it last month, and I can thoroughly recommend it.

A major niggle is that the book stops at the point where war breaks out in Europe. There is no mention of the successful flight of the battle-cruiser Goeben and light cruiser Breslau to Constantinople which, only a few days after the outbreak of war in Europe, tipped the balance enough to bring Turkey into the war on the German side! It has been estimated that this added two whole years to the war!!

On top of this, with the closure of the Dardanelles, Russia's only ice free trade route was stopped. This did much to strangle her economy, which together with the German release of a certain Vladimir Lenin contributed heavily to the conditions that led to the October Revolution in 1917. Surely all this was important enough to have warranted inclusion in MacMillan's brief.

However, putting this niggle aside, 'The War That Ended Peace' should be regarded as pretty much the last word on the causes of the First World War. It is also an extremely readable book.

Duff, get yourself some weights and start reading!

[David Duff]

I started reading it last night, Richard, in fact I set aside "Kursk" for later. So far I am enjoying her style and her level-headed approach. Also, she wrote a book which enjoyed huge critical acclaim on the Versailles peace that followed and which I have been meaning to buy but at least now I will be taking her books in order.

And I don't require weight training, allow me to remind you that I am in the swimming pool five mornings a week dead on 7.00am. I am nearly back to being the skinny little runt I was 50-odd years ago!

[Oswald Thake]

Thanks for the recommendations, Duff. Downloaded both to my Kindle; will give me something to do tonight when I come out of the pub.
PS. It's my view that women make the best narrative historians - the late Mrs, Barbara Tuchman, and our own, equally late, Dame Veronica Wedgwood.Anyone think the same?

[David Duff]

Glad to have been of service, Oswald, if you have both books it should give you something to do every night for the rest of the year!

I agree with your praise of Ms. Tuchman.