4/5

A favorite of mine I’ve read once or twice before, this has held up especially now that I have more appreciation for military history than years past. While not a definitive book on the First World War, it is certainly a very descriptive one about the specifics of the war’s beginning and the failure of the German plan to knock France out of the war.

While the first chapter’s description of the European Royalty’s pomp is certainly memorable, I find the second half of the book detailing of the squabbles and agony of the military commanders in the first month of the war to be far more interesting. The participants were so aware that what they were doing would be scrutinized and critiqued for decades to come, it gives the entire narrative a sense of un-reality. There are a few moments that seem like bad cinema writing to be sure, but overall I think this paints an informative and very human picture of August 1914.