Questions
- Do you agree that World War I continues to be seriously misunderstood?
- Why did the great powers go to war in 1914?
- Did Germany wage what it regarded as a defensive, preventive war?
- Was the casualty count far higher than it could have been if the generals had
been more competent?
Further reading
I. F. W. Beckett The Great War, 1914–1918(Harlow: Longman, 2001).
C. Falls The Great War, 1914–1918(New York: Perigee Books, 1959).
Richard F. Hamilton and Holger H. Herwig Decisions for War, 1914–1917(Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2004).
J. Keegan The First World War(London: Hutchinson, 199 8 ).
A. Mombauer Helmuth von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War(Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2001).
D. Stevenson The First World War and InternationalPolitics (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1988 ).
—— Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy(New York: Basic Books, 2004)
H. Strachan The First World War: A New Illustrated History(London: Pocket Books, 2006).
S. C. Tucker The Great War, 1914–18(London: UCL Press, 199 8 ).
84 War, peace and international relations
- Military commanders were all but fatally hampered in their generalship by the
absence of reliable real-time communications with their troops, and by the
absence of means for rapid and flexible tactical and operational mobility. - Casualties in the war were by no means extraordinary, when they are viewed
in strategic historical perspective. When great industrialized powers wage total
war for four and a quarter years, the casualty figures are going to be high. The
9.45 million military dead in 1914–1 8 compares favourably with the 16. 8
million figure for World War II.