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The "stirring," definitive history of America's decisive role in winning World War I (Wall Street Journal). The American contribution to World War I is one of the great stories of the twentieth century, and yet it has all but vanished from view. Historians have dismissed the American war effort as largely economic and symbolic. But as Geoffrey Wawro shows in Sons of Freedom, the French and British were on the verge of collapse in 1918, and would have lost the war without the Doughboys. Field Marshal Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, described the Allied victory as a "miracle" -- but it was a distinctly American miracle. In Sons of Freedom, prize-winning historian Geoffrey Wawro weaves together in thrilling detail the battles, strategic deliberations, and dreadful human cost of the American war effort. A major revision of the history of World War I, Sons of Freedom resurrects the brave heroes who saved the Allies, defeated Germany, and established the United States as the greatest of the great powers.
A masterful account of the Hapsburg Empire's bumbling entrance into World War I, and its rapid collapse on the Eastern Front The Austro-Hungarian army that attacked Russia and Serbia in August 1914 had a glorious past but a pitiful present. Speaking a mystifying array of languages and lugging obsolete weapons, the Habsburg troops were hopelessly unprepared for the industrialized warfare that would shortly consume Europe. As prizewinning historian Geoffrey Wawro explains in A Mad Catastrophe, the disorganization of these doomed conscripts perfectly mirrored Austria-Hungary itself. For years, the Empire had been rotting from within, hollowed out by complacency and corruption at the highest levels. When Germany goaded Austria into starting the world war, the Empire's profound political and military weaknesses were exposed. By the end of 1914, the Austro-Hungarian army lay in ruins and the course of the war seemed all but decided. Reconstructing the climax of the Austrian campaign in gripping detail, A Mad Catastrophe is a riveting account of how Austria-Hungary plunged the West into a tragic and unnecessary war.
Wawro describes the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1, that violently changed the course of European history.
This is a history of the Austro-Prussian-Italian War of 1866, which paved the way for German and Italian unification. It is based upon extensive new research in the state and military archives of Austria, Germany, and Italy. Geoffrey Wawro describes Prussia's successful invasion of Habsburg Venetia, and the wretched collapse of the Austrian army in July 1866. Although the book gives a thorough accounting of both the Prussian and Italian war efforts, it is most notable for the light it sheds on the Austrians. Through painstaking archival research, Wawro reconstructs the Austrian campaign, blow-by-blow, hour-by-hour. Blending military and social history, he describes the terror and panic that overtook Austria's regiments of the line in each clash with the Prussians. He reveals the unconscionable blundering of the Austrian commandant and his chief deputies who fumbled away key strategic advantages and ultimately lost a war - crucial to the fortunes of the Habsburg Monarchy - that most European pundits had predicted they would win.
Combining original research with the latest scholarship Warfare and Society in Europe, 1792 - 1914 examines war and its aftermath from Napoleonic times to the outbreak of the First World War. Throughout, this fine book treats warfare as a social and political phenomenon no less than a military and technologial one, and includes discussions on: * The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars * Napoleon III and the militarization of Europe * Bismark, Molkte, and the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-71 * new technologies and weapons * seapower, imperialism and naval warfare * the origins and outbreak of the First World War. For anyone studying, or with in interest in European warfare, this book details the evolution of land and naval warfare and highlights the swirling interplay of society, politics and military decision making.
How will we be remembered? History is simply the interaction of our lives with each other and with nature. It begins with acts of adventure, courage, blind ambition, greed, and folly that are then recorded. Without accurate recording, we wouldn't know that Napoleon used a sandbox to construct his battle plans and transmitted messages to troops using semaphore, and that Christopher Columbus thought he'd landed in India instead of America - thus the name Indians for the local people there. Historical Atlas is a comprehensive history of the world to date. Learn everything from the gruesome detail of Nero's torture of Christians to the methods Kublai Khan used to select his concubines. Who did M...
An unprecedented history of American involvement in the Middle East. In this definitive and revelatory work, noted historian Geoffrey Wawro approaches America's role in the Middle East in a fundamentally new way-by encompassing the last century of the entire region rather than focusing narrowly on a particular country or era. With verve and authority, he offers piercing analysis of the region's iconic events over the past one hundred years-from the birth of Israel to the rise of Al Qaeda. Throughout, he draws telling parallels between America's past mistakes and its current dilemmas, proving that we're in today's muddle not just because of our old errors but because we keep repeating those errors.
HISTORICA presents the evolution of people's lives over the last thousand years, and shows how dramatically the world has changed. Divided into sections based on periods of time, each section features four themes: Milestone Events; The Arts; Science and Technology; and Lifestyle. Pictures, maps, timelines, contemporary quotations, offbeat "time-out" entries, and essential facts on each time period provide the reader with a time capsule for each period.
Combining original research with the latest scholarship Warfare and Society in Europe, 1792 - 1914 examines war and its aftermath from Napoleonic times to the outbreak of the First World War. Throughout, this fine book treats warfare as a social and political phenomenon no less than a military and technologial one, and includes discussions on: * The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars * Napoleon III and the militarization of Europe * Bismark, Molkte, and the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-71 * new technologies and weapons * seapower, imperialism and naval warfare * the origins and outbreak of the First World War. For anyone studying, or with in interest in European warfare, this book details the evolution of land and naval warfare and highlights the swirling interplay of society, politics and military decision making.
An important new history of air and sea power in World War II and its decisive role in Allied victory.