I read in quick succession the books 1913 and 1914 by Australian author, historian, journalist and publisher Paul Ham. Both were borrowed from the Moreland Library, 1913 in ebook format and 1914 as a traditional book.
1913: The Eve of War by Paul Ham (2013)
1913: The Eve of War by Paul Ham sets the European stage for the start of WWI. While 1913 is only a small offering of 81 pages, Ham still manages to engage the reader from the very first page. This book is a lead in to his much more substantial body of work 1914.
1914: The Year the World Ended by Paul Ham (2013)
Why a book about 1914 rather than about the Great War as a whole? The year 1914 was when the war was born, notwithstanding its longer, complex gestation. According to Ham (and Churchill), and with the benefit of hindsight, this was the year when Germany and its allies really lost the war; when modern wartime slaughter came into its own, and when the old European world was transformed and imperialism fatally undermined. It’s to this year that the succeeding horrors of the 20th century – Nazism, Stalinism, World War II and the Cold War – can, on Ham’s argument, largely be traced. The Western Front, now seared into western consciousness, was established in 1914 and remained there for the war’s duration.
Ham offers a profound denunciation of the war and its consequences, and condemns virtually all the key leaders of all the great nations and empires involved. All were deeply flawed.
It revisits all of his book 1913 so you don't really have to read that book. It is very similar to Barbara W. Tuchman's definitive The Guns of August (1962) which is my all-time WWI favourite.
A fascinating read and one that I highly recommend.
Fanstastic review in http://newtownreviewofbooks.com.au/2014/02/06/paul-ham-1914-year-war-ended-reviewed-rod-madgwick/. Much better than I could write myself.
1913: The Eve of War by Paul Ham (2013)
1913: The Eve of War by Paul Ham sets the European stage for the start of WWI. While 1913 is only a small offering of 81 pages, Ham still manages to engage the reader from the very first page. This book is a lead in to his much more substantial body of work 1914.
1914: The Year the World Ended by Paul Ham (2013)
Why a book about 1914 rather than about the Great War as a whole? The year 1914 was when the war was born, notwithstanding its longer, complex gestation. According to Ham (and Churchill), and with the benefit of hindsight, this was the year when Germany and its allies really lost the war; when modern wartime slaughter came into its own, and when the old European world was transformed and imperialism fatally undermined. It’s to this year that the succeeding horrors of the 20th century – Nazism, Stalinism, World War II and the Cold War – can, on Ham’s argument, largely be traced. The Western Front, now seared into western consciousness, was established in 1914 and remained there for the war’s duration.
Ham offers a profound denunciation of the war and its consequences, and condemns virtually all the key leaders of all the great nations and empires involved. All were deeply flawed.
It revisits all of his book 1913 so you don't really have to read that book. It is very similar to Barbara W. Tuchman's definitive The Guns of August (1962) which is my all-time WWI favourite.
A fascinating read and one that I highly recommend.
Fanstastic review in http://newtownreviewofbooks.com.au/2014/02/06/paul-ham-1914-year-war-ended-reviewed-rod-madgwick/. Much better than I could write myself.
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