World War I Reading List

[Harold Jones]

I've read a few books about WW1 but haven't read nearly as much as I have on more recent wars. I'm especially interested in personal accounts but am also interested in anything else that the members of this grate sight would recommend.

[Ifor]

Harold,

I'm no expert and other members might not recommend them, but here are a few I found interesting

The Gardners of Salonika

Ordered to Die-The History of the Ottoman Army on the First World War.

The K-Boats

A Damned Un-English Weapon

The Zeppelin Fighters

First Blitz-The Secret Plan to Raze London to the Ground in 1918

The Pity of War

They Fought for the Sky.

Hope they're what you're looking for.

Ifor

[Richard Lindquist]

Harold, for personal accounts, try Lyn MacDonald's books. They are a lot of soldier reminiscences spliced together with an historical narrative.

 

The books are:

 

They Called It Passchendaele

Somme

1914: The First Months of Fighting

1915: The Death of Innocence

To The Last man: Spring 1918

 

Mostly Brit interviews, but some CW and some German.

[Corinthian]

This is my only WW1 book - A World Undone: The Story of the Great War

 

http://www.amazon.com/World-Undone-Story-Great-1914/dp/0553382403/ref=sr_1_16?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389137472&sr=1-16&keywords=world+war+one

 

I haven't even finished it yet as it is quite thick, with small text, thin pages, and somewhat laborious to read. I can't put my finger on it, i.e. I dunno if I like the way the narrative is done or not. It's sorta like reading a TV series in straight narrative form. Something like that. As for objectivity, I can't exactly be sure if it's one of those lions-led-by-donkeys books or more of a balanced view.

 

BillB et al, have you guys come across this book? I can't recall your answers when I asked about this years ago....

[Colin Williams]

I'll try to dig out my WW1 book box (yes, like our long-lost and lamented friend King Sargent, I now have almost all of my military books stored in boxes) and pass on a few recommendations, but a couple of memoirs I enjoyed ("Neath Verdun" and "Chasseur of 1914" both from the French perspective) came from Leonaur books, which is a great place for WW1 memoirs if you want to spend money. Some of the books can be found cheaper in used bookstores or even for free online. (http://www.leonaur.com/collections/collections.php?seriesid=2)

 

(I bet Tomas can't wait for their upcoming publication of "Ladies of the Veldt". Sounds exotic!)

[Richard Lindquist]

Books to irritate hell out of BillB:

 

Haig's Command: A Reassessment by Denis Winter

 

The Somme by Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson

 

The Illusion of Victory: America in World War I by Thomas Fleming

 

The Myth of the Great War: How the Germans Won the Battles and How the Americans Saved the Allies by John Mosier

 

Stormtroop Tactics: Innovation in the German Army, 1914-1918 by Bruce I. Gudmundson

 

Battle for the Bundu: The First World War in East Africa by Charles Miller

 

Leavenworth Papers No. 4, The Dynamics of Doctrine: The Changes in German Tactical Doctrine During the First World War by Timothy T. Lupfer

 

Steel Wind: Colonel Georg Bruchmuller and the Birth of Modern Artillery by David T. Zabecki

[Archie Pellagio]

First stop should be John Keegan's 'First World War'

For the war at sea, Phillip Massie's 'Castles of Steel'

The Sleepwalkers is a good book on the start of the war, along with Dreadnought, and The Peacemakers is good on the treaty of Versailles.

 

I'm reading Phillip harts 'The Somme' at the moment, not bad.

[Fritz]

If you haven't read The Guns of August yet it should be #1 on your list.

[Argus]

John Terraine, Business in Great Waters puts both WWI & III U-Boat campaigns in context.

 

shane

[Michael Eastes]

If you haven't read The Guns of August yet it should be #1 on your list.

 

Absolutely right. One of the finest history books ever written.

 

Personal memoirs:

 

Goodbye To All That, by Robert Graves

 

Over the Top, by Arthur Guy Empey

 

Other works:

 

Lyn MacDonald's WWI books. All that I have read were excellent. I think that someone above ( Richard? ) included most of her titles in his list. She used a lot of first-person interviews and/or memoirs in her writing.

 

A good collection of poetry written mainly by Brits and Canadians/USians at the front. Some of the best poets were Siegfried Sassoon, Osbert Sitwell, Wilfred Owen, and Robert W. Service, but there was a lot of good poetry coming out of the trenches and hospitals.

 

The Somme, by Peter Hart

 

The Price of Glory Verdun, 1916 by Alistair Horne

 

Death of an Army, by Anthony Farrar-Hockley- This one deals with the destruction of the BEF "old Contemptibles" in the early battles of 1914. I would have wanted it to have been longer, but I enjoyed it. I do wish that some good writer would do a true tome on the BEF in 1914.

 

Keegan's The Face of Battle, for the Somme section, although I thoroughly enjoyed it all.

 

Fiction:

 

Derek Robinson's WWI air war books are a lot of fun. Goshawk Squadron is the only title that I can bring to mind, but they were all good reads.

 

Solzhenitsyn's August 1914 is definitely worth your time. Unfortunately he never finished the series, but it stands alone quite well.

 

There are many more, but most of my WWI books are in storage, so this is the best that I can do right now.

[Lieste]

I've got several of Lyn's books too.

Some others not noted:

Command And Control On The Western Front: The British Army's Experience 1914-1918; Sheffield & Todman (eds) Spellmount 2004 (ISBN 1-86227-083-X)

The German Army Handbook 1918 (facsimile); Frontline Books 2008 (ISBN 978-1-84415-711-2) (restricted document of British Intelligence for General Staff use).

The War In The Air (facsimile); Raleigh & Jones - IWM London 1998 (ISBN 1-901623-22-X, 1-901623-27-0, 1-901623-26-2, 1-901623-25-4, 1-901623-21-1, 1-901623-20-3, 1-901623-16-5)

Royal Flying Corps Communiques (1915-1916, 1917-1918); Christopher Cole (ed)- Tom Donovan, London 1990 (ISBN 1-871085-03-9)/Chaz Bowyer (ed) Grub Street, London 1998 (ISBN 1-898697-79-5)

A Brief Record Of The Advance Of The Egyptian Expeditionary Force July 1917 to October 1918; HMSO, London 1919 (First UK printing (2nd Ed) - 1st Edition published by "The Palestine News")

Band Of Brigands; Campbell - Harper Perennial 2008 (ISBN 978-0-00721460-0)

War 1914 : Punishing The Serbs; Uncovered Editions - Stationary Office, London 1999 (ISBN 0-11-702410-4)

Lord Kitchener And Winston Churchill: The Dardenelles (Part 1: 1914-1915);Uncovered Editions - Stationary Office, London 2000 (ISBN 0-11-702423-6)

Not strictly WW1, but re-issued as training aids:
The Defence of Duffer's Drift; E.D. Swinton 1907 (also available in re-print) Leo Cooper 1990 (ISBN -0-85052-723-6)
Cavalry Tactical Schemes; Colonel Monsenergue/ Louis Spiers (transl) - Hugh Rees, London 1914 (French training manual circa Franco-Prussian war).

[harryRIEDL]

First stop should be John Keegan's 'First World War'

For the war at sea, Phillip Massie's 'Castles of Steel'

The Sleepwalkers is a good book on the start of the war, along with Dreadnought, and The Peacemakers is good on the treaty of Versailles.

 

I'm reading Phillip harts 'The Somme' at the moment, not bad.

Fully agree on Keegan first world war Neibergs Fighting the great war is also well worth a read

[Ken Estes]

Massie is dissed by a real authority. Did nobody read the thread on "Is It Time to rewrite the Naval History of WWI?"

 

Frankly the war is entirely too large to invite a simple list. The bibliographies are out there. Let Goggle be your friend.

[Harold Jones]

Frankly the war is entirely too large to invite a simple list. The bibliographies are out there. Let Goggle be your friend.

 

Google is my friend, but as you say there's a lot out there. Since I'm looking for stuff that would be interesting and that I might not pick out on my own, I decided to let TN guide me.

[RETAC21]

And of course, http://www.amazon.com/MILITARY-HISTORY-THE-WORLD-WAR/dp/B000KIIRNY

 

Before the Second one contaminated all literature.

[ramontxo]

If you haven't read The Guns of August yet it should be #1 on your list.

I enjoyed it hugely, and have just buy myself 1914 "El año de la catastrofe" spanish edition of Max Hasting's book,

[Tony Evans]

I have to second Richard on Dynamics of Doctrine -- it's not just an excellent study on WW1 doctrine, it's also very good on the interactive nature of war.

 

Currently reading Cornish's Machine Guns and the Great War. A short study at less than 200 pages, but turns a few long-held opinions on their heads. What I found surprising was just how ubiquitous the "light" machine gun had become by 1917 (though the MG 08/15 was only light in direct comparison to the MG 08). My previous negative opinion of the Chauchat has also been modified somewhat by the author's persuasive argument that it was first of all only supposed to be an offensive firepower supplement, not a real machine gun, and that it was on the bleeding edge of technology at the time. (Which means that stories of unreliability have to be discounted somewhat because they're prejudiced by unreasonable expectations.)

[Richard Lindquist]

For the Italian Front:

 

Isonzo: The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War by John R. Schindler

 

The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1918 by Mark Thompson

 

Luigi Cadorna, the Italian CinC makes Douglas Haig look like a military genius.

[Archie Pellagio]

The Eastern Front (authors name escapes me) is pretty much the only book to cover the eastern front of the First World War.

Good book, if for no reason other than there isn't anything else that covers the whole war there, not simply Tanenberg and Masurian Lakes then a big black hole and *poof* Russian revolution and it's time to go west for kaiserschlacht.

[Colin Williams]

I will start off with my USian list, as it was the American Century and we won the war for the Allies. I'm sure there are other good books, but these are all ones I've read. Books on other topics to follow later.

Treat 'Em Rough!: The Birth of American Armor, 1917-20 by Dale E. Wilson (Author) , G. S. Patton (Foreword) - This is Tanknet after all, and Treat 'Em Rough is the book to have on the American tank force in WW1.

Yanks: The Epic Story of the American Army in World War I by John Eisenhower - Very well-written overview of the American Army in WW1, just as it claims in the title.

To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918 The Epic Battle That Ended the First World War by Edward G. Lengel - Best book I've read on the Meuse-Argonne. Pershing was a loser as a field general. Hunter Liggett saved the day (and should be far more famous).

The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I by Edward M. Coffman - Another excellent book on the American war effort.

Doughboy War: The American Expeditionary Force in World War I by James H. Hallas (Editor) - This may be the book that you will be most interested in, as it compiles a large number of personal accounts.

The AEF Way of War: The American Army and Combat in World War I by Mark Ethan Grotelueschen - I read the thesis and not the book, but the bottom line as above. Pershing could dress the part and act the part but couldn't get a clue when it came to combat doctrine. (Okay, that's my own prejudice!)

A Fraternity of Arms by Robert B. Bruce - The story of the Franco-American partnership in doctrine, training, weaponry, and on the battlefield in WW1. The author is a little overstated in his arguments, but this is one of my favorite WW1 books as it is both well-written and covers a relatively unknown part of American military history. Reminds us of the French impact on modern American military practice and that France is our oldest ally.

[Colin Williams]

The Eastern Front (authors name escapes me) is pretty much the only book to cover the eastern front of the First World War.

Good book, if for no reason other than there isn't anything else that covers the whole war there, not simply Tanenberg and Masurian Lakes then a big black hole and *poof* Russian revolution and it's time to go west for kaiserschlacht.

You may be thinking of Norman Stone's book on the Eastern Front. Good book, but given it's age I wonder if there is anything better out there.

[R011]

Massie is dissed by a real authority. Did nobody read the thread on "Is It Time to rewrite the Naval History of WWI?"

 

Rear Admiral Goldrick says there that he doesn't like the episodic format, which seems to be a matter of taste, and says that there's been some research that Massie didn't or couldn't use. Other than that, he doesn't mention any specific problems with Massie. I'm reading it again now and while it might not go into as much detail on things like coaling, radio, and weather, it doesn't neglect them.

[richard g]

If you want to get to the guts of the best practice of war as it was then and how some mastered the challenge and practiced the art to the fullest, something a bit more realistic than the fanboy German centric and Brit waffle stuff and it's free and online http://web.viu.ca/davies/H355H.Cda.WWI/Canadians%20and%20the%20Set%20Piece%20Attack%20(1994.pdf

[Ken Estes]

I found Goldrick's bibliography very tempting, apart from some of the older works he used just for convenient quotes. Just too many books, too little time.

 

The episodic format makes it a battle history, vice a military history. The devil is in the details of policy, training, materiel and so forth.

[BillB]

If you want to get to the guts of the best practice of war as it was then and how some mastered the challenge and practiced the art to the fullest, something a bit more realistic than the fanboy German centric and Brit waffle stuff and it's free and online http://web.viu.ca/davies/H355H.Cda.WWI/Canadians%20and%20the%20Set%20Piece%20Attack%20(1994.pdf

Indeed. And you mebbe ought to take the time to read it properly, given that the second page pretty much blows your first "contribution" in the other thread straight out of the water...

 

BillB