Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914

In the plethora of books published to coincide with the anniversary of the outbreak of The Great War, Max Hastings’ long-standing reputation as a military historian with a long list of titles to his name, especially about WWII, ensured that his account of WWI met with both critical and popular acclaim. The opening chapters describe the descent into the conflict, whilst the bulk of the book deals not only with the Western Front but also provides descriptions of the other theatres of war. The author’s narrative of the early battles will astonish those whose images of the war are simply of mud, wire, trenches and steel helmets. Hastings describes how the French Army marched into action amid virgin rural landscapes, in uniforms of red and blue, led by mounted officers, with flags flying and bands playing. The bloodiest day of the entire Western war fell on 22 August 1914, when the French lost 27,000 dead. Four days later, at Le Cateau the British fought an extraordinary action against the oncoming Germans, one of the last of its kind in history. In October, at terrible cost they held the allied line against massive German assaults in the first battle of Ypres. The author also describes the brutal struggles in Serbia, East Prussia and Galicia, where by Christmas the Germans, Austrians, Russians and Serbs had inflicted on each other three million casualties. The causes of World War I will always divide the historians; Max Hasings is among those who find overwhelming evidence that Austria and Germany must accept principal blame for its outbreak.