The Guns of August
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Author | Barbara Tuchman |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Military History, History |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Released | 1962 |
| Media Type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 551 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-345-38623-X |
The Guns of August (1962) (also published as August 1914) is an enormously popular military history written by Barbara Tuchman. It primarily describes the events of the first month of World War I. The focus of The Guns of August is to provide the history of World War I from the declaration of war through the start of the Franco-British offensive that stopped the German advance through France. In addition, the book provides a brief history of the plans, strategies, world events and international sentiments prior to and during the war.
The book is broken down into three sections—Plans, Outbreak and Battle.
Contents |
[edit] Plans
The first five chapters are devoted to describing the major powers of the war (England, France, Germany, and Russia, omitting Austria and Turkey) and the events that led to the conflict. Tuchman describes in detail the societal forces behind the events in The Proud Tower. The opening chapters provide the necessary background for the discussion of the battles and their commanders, although some events (notably the Dreyfus Affair and military engagements prior to 1914, especially the War of 1870) are assumed to be prior knowledge, and are referenced without explanation.
The book opens with the death of King Edward VII, whose funeral on May 20, 1910 marked "the greatest assemblage of royalty and rank ever gathered and, of its kind, the last."(pp. 15). Following chapters describe
- German obsession with encirclement and military superiority, culminating in the Schlieffen Plan to overrun France in thirty-nine days.
- France's desire to win back her lost territories.
- England's hesitancy to become involved in a European war.
- Russia's ominous size and unseen military and infrastructural weaknesses.
[edit] Outbreak
These chapters discuss from July 28, 1914 (Austria-Hungary's absorption of Serbia) through August 3, 1914 and play out the opening days of the war—the commencement of France's offensive Plan 17, the struggle by Russia to ensure her ally (France) would join in the war and France's attempts to win a guarantee from England of her involvement; as well as Germany's ultimatum to Belgium.
[edit] Battle
The remainder of the book is essentially devoted to the battles and tactical planning on the two fronts. Intertwined with this are the effects of leader's egos and insubordination, as well as the perceptions of the rest of the world including the events that cemented these views.
Tuchman continues by covering the two major theatres of war, the Western Front and the Russian Eastern Front, but starts the section by covering the search for the German battlecruiser Goeben by Allied forces in the Mediterranean. The Goeben finally took refuge in the Dardanelles while Turkey was still neutral and thus precipitated its entry into the war on the side of Germany, cutting off Russian import/export through the year-round ports of the Black Sea.
[edit] Crossing Belgium
Tuchman chronicles the sweep of the Germans through Belgium focusing on the battle at Liège and the efforts of King Albert to mount the best defense possible against overwhelming forces as well as his attempts, in vain, to alert the head of the French forces, General Joseph Joffre, of the massive size of the German force. As with most major events, she describes the effect of the successes in this defense on the world view of the new war.
[edit] The Front in France
As they crossed the Belgium frontier into France, the German armies were engaged by 7 French armies and 4 British divisions known as the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The Battle of the Borders was brutal, and the Allies were forced to slowly retreat under the German onslaught until finally the Germans were within 40 miles of Paris. The city was preparing for siege and possibly complete destruction, the government had fled south, and when 2 divisions of reserves arrived they were rushed to the front by the city's fleet of 600 taxi cabs.
Tuchman carefully introduces us to all the key players, the Allied commanders (French, Russian and British) and the German commanders. With her characteristic attention to detail we learn of their personalities, strengths and weaknesses. Many of the names are unfamiliar: Joseph Joffre, the French General; Lord Kitchener, the British War Minister; Moltke's, Chief of the General Staff; von Kluck the commander of the German's far right wing. But some of the names are more familiar: Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, President Raymond Poincaré, Lord of the British Admiralty Winston Churchill, and a young soldier named Charles de Gaulle who fought for France (only given honorable mention), among others.
[edit] The Front with Russia
Only two chapters are devoted to the Eastern Front. In these chapters, Tuchman covers the series of errors, faulty plans, poor communications and poor logistics which decidedly help the French by causing the Germans to transfer two divisions (yet another error?) to defend what the book refers to as the 'Russian Steam Roller'. It only hints of the follow-on misery of the eastern front.
[edit] The Flames of Louvain
Woven into the section on battle, are the threads for the formation of world opinion of Germany as the aggressor nation, with implications that the actions would greatly affect future involvement of the United States. In the chapter The Flames of Louvain, Tuchman uses a variety of sources to convey the desire of the German Empire and what appears to be the majority view of its people. She cites the writing of Thomas Mann [page 348], saying the goal was "the establishment of the German idea in history, the enthronement of Kultur, the fulfillment of Germany's historical mission". Further on she recounts reporter Irvin S. Cobb's account of an interview with a German scientist: "Germany [is] for progress. German Kultur will enlighten the world and after this war there will be no other."
This chapter continues to detail the "German theory of terror" [page 350] inflicted on the citizens of Belgium in a failed attempt to suppress the franc-tireur. The factual account leaves little doubt of the ferocity for which the world would view the reprisals of the German forces.
The book ends on the French mounting an offensive, Order No. 6, September 6, 1914, on von Kluck's exposed right flank, in what is to be the first successful offensive by the Allies. In the subsequent attack, the Germans were forced back north, with both sides suffering terrible losses. While Paris had been saved, the war took on a new cast and both sides settled into a defensive trench system that cut west-east across France. This became known as the Western Front and was to consume a generation of young men over the next four years.
[edit] Cultural Effects
The book was an immediate bestseller. The Pulitzer Prize nomination committee was unable to award it the prize for outstanding history because Joseph Pulitzer's will specifically stated that the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for history must be a book on American history. Instead, Tuchman was given the prize for general non-fiction.
President John F. Kennedy encouraged members of his cabinet to read The Guns of August, see IntroductionbyCarolineKennedyandVietnamInterviewwi.pdf . This impacted on the management of the Cuban Missile Crisis [1] . After the crisis was over, Kennedy gave a copy of the book to British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, and commented that the Western world had something to learn from the lessons of August 1914.
