The Guns of August: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Classic About the Outbreak of World War I

Written in 1962, this is a fascinating history of the beginnings of WW1 and is the result of a vast amount of research. It's all true, and all documented, and even though it's a dense read, the huge cast of characters springs to life. This is the story of a war that changed the course of history. And it's also a story of the men who make the war. The reader gets to see the blunders and the madness and the personal feuds. And the humanity of the imperfect human beings who make the decisions that result in slaughter. There are maps in the book describing the battles. There are also photographs. But I must admit that I barely looked at the maps. And I found all the photos of the elderly generals very similar. What I did love though was the sweep of the story as well as the many details that go into waging a war. Previously, most war books I've read had to do with the experience of the soldiers. But this book is about the experience of making decisions, often based on folly. And it opened my eyes to how vulnerable the ordinary person is to the whims of the generals and the forces of pure chance. Ms. Tuchman also had a sense of irony and humor and sometimes I found myself laughing out loud. The narrative of the month of August 1914 is described hour by hour. Belgium has to make a decision to accept an awful defeat or willingly allow the Germans to march through their neutral territory. There are alliances in place that are just waiting to be broken. The Russians come into the war. So do the British, even though it is with much reluctance. The basic war is between France and Germany, almost a continuation of the defeat the French suffered at the hands of the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. Before I read this book, I didn't know much about WW1. Now I do. It was a war that defined the breakdown of the European nobility and set the stage for the next war, which was even more horrific. It taught me a lot, especially about how many people wind up dying because of the quest for power. It saddened me too because this quest for power is basic. So is the folly of mankind. The only thing that has changed is technology. This book is a masterful work. It lays the groundwork for an understanding of the mechanics of war. I might not remember all of the names of the generals or the battle plans. But I will always remember the feeling of being right there, watching the decisions being made, marching for miles in spite of fatigue, handling the big guns, making courageous decisions that sometimes led to disaster. And, especially, knowing that this is the true face of war. Highly recommended.

How do you critique a book given almost universal acclaim, and the winner of a Pulitzer prize? The answer would have to be "Very carefully". I tend to prefer the shorter and more concise works, but found myself immersed in this very detailed and excellent analysis of the origins of World War I, aka The Great War. However, in spite of the slowness of reading, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Let me say, if you happen to be of German descent, which I am, you might NOT like this book. It is not complimentary to German leadership and priorities, or even to the tendency of the German people to be docile and obedient to their leadership. However, her analysis of the average German citizen's obedience is not presented as her opinion, but rather is presented as the reported opinion of the German leadership themselves. Still, I found it to be a reasonable and interesting assessment of the causes of the Great War, and not at all derogatory. As a historian, Tuchman provides details and analysis that goes beyond normal historical writings. She has done her research, and organized it very intelligently. The result, to me, is an analysis that showed the errors, foolishness and military gaffes of all sides. Many historical writings concern themselves with WHAT happened. Tuchman tells us why, and how it happened, and helps us understand the years following 1914 in ways that simple facts do not. Tuchman's style of writing is also to be commended. I found it interesting and entertaining. She is an excellent wordsmith, leading me to investigate other of her writings. As the result, I am now reading a book written 4 years before The Guns of August entitled The Zimmerman Telegram, concerning events that led the United States into the conflict in 1917. I highly recommend The Guns of August for anyone wanting to do more than just KNOW history, but also UNDERSTAND it.

A masterfully written and easy-to-read account of the first month of the First World War. Refreshingly, the book does not begin with the demise of the Habsburg heir, but with an account of a prior funeral, which serves to showcase the peculiar propensities and invidious and insidious intentions of Kaiser Wilhelm II. My only quarrel with Tuchman is that after documenting the Kaiser’s habitually psychotic rants, she succumbs to the universal tendency to take his August 1st session with General Moltke at face value, and to credit Willy with cold feet at the last minute. Nothing could be further from the truth: Wilhelm II was a master manipulator, and he made sure to snare everyone (including Moltke) in his web of deception, so that he would be “on the record” as being blameless for acting on his long-cherished desire to prosecute the ultimate war of Teutonic hegemony. The photographs selected for the book are all unusual: none of them became the iconic images seen in later histories. The maps that are included are minimalist in design (black-and-white line drawings), but most of them manage to convey troop movements understandably. (The endpaper maps are the exception: they suffer from the inclusion of confusing topographic features, and a lack of contrast due to their being rendered in shades of grey.) Chapters are given descriptive titles, making the table of contents the helpful tool it is meant to be. Tuchman employs an unwieldy end-notes system, but she does it with diligent attention to detail, so the reader is not left wondering where the in-text quotations came from. The book is thoroughly indexed. I read the public library’s well-thumbed 1962 first edition, but added a copy to my own library, for further study.

Barbara Tuchman provides a vivid picture of the prelude to war in The Guns of August. She explores the leaders of the major powers and their actions years before the war. She discusses Kaiser Wilhelm II's expansionist rhetoric, his split with Bismarck, and his diplomatic ineptness in the face of opposition. Tuchman discusses the war plans for Germany (the Schlieffen Plan), France (Plan XVII), England, and Russia. She discusses the cooperation of French and English War Departments planning for German attack on France. Tuchman focuses on events leading up to 1914 that hardened the combatants to their respective sides. She explores the French/German conflict in Alsace-Lorraine. She explains the French preoccupation with the offensive. She outlines the military leadership of France. She also discusses the inadequateness of Russia for war. With corrupt civil and military government, advancement of officers not based on merit, and the Minister of War that did not believe in modern warfare, Russia finds itself unready for war. Tuchman also elaborates on collaboration of France and England. She explains the difficulty of England in stating its position and declaring war. However, Tuchman pays no attention to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and Serbian conflict other than noting its occurrence. In my opinion, she misjudges the motivations of the empire. If the vice president of the United States or heir to the English Crown was assassinated by a foreign power, war would have resulted. Tuchman's fails to deliver the diplomatic exchanges between Austria, Serbia, and Russia. I would recommend John Keegan's The First World War for a more thorough account of these events. Tuchman coverage of war as it unfolds is masterful. She writes about the actions of the German capital ships Goeben and Breslau in the Mediterranean and their assistance in causing the Ottoman Empire to enter the war. Tuchman then writes of the opening actions of the Western front. She describes the destructive advance of the German army through Belgium. She tells us of the defiant Belgian defense against the Germans. She details the brutal reprisals perpetrated by the Germans on the Belgian populous. German savagery in Belgium and France serves as a prelude to the atrocities carried out by Germans in the second World War. It shows that the German military was already conditioned for cruelty before Hitler came to power. The author shows evidence of the French ignoring the warning signs about the strength of the German right wing in pursuit of their own offensive following Plan XVII. Tuchman describes the Battle of the Frontiers with the French assaults in the South that were blunted, and the successful counterattack by the Germans. She discusses the lack of coordination between the British and French armies and General Lanrezac's efforts to defend the French left wing. Tuchman writes of the French retreat after the Battle of the Frontiers and sets the scene for the Battle of the Marne. She doesn't actually describe this Battle of the Marne or the details of the outcome. But, Tuchman successfully describes what led up to the German failure to complete their victorious drive into France. She discusses the failure of plans and the pressure to change plans in the face of perceived enemy action and status. Tuchman also follows the Battle of Tannenberg. She discusses the rushed Russian mobilization and advance. The author describes the reaction by the German command. She writes of the replacement of Prittwitz by Hindenburg and Ludendorff. She relates Hoffman's plan to shift the army to face the Southern Russian army in the face of the pause of the Northern Russian army. She then describes the envelopment and destruction of the Russian 2nd Army and its inglorious retreat. She also notes that despite the Russian failure on the Eastern front, they did cause German forces to be drawn to the Eastern front which helped weaken the German right wing on the Western front. The Guns of August is a fast paced engaging story that will hook any history lover. However, readers who have not read anything about WWI may feel put off by the ending stopping short and leaving the rest of the war untold. I would recommend a comprehensive history of WWI like John Keegan's The First World War to complement this book.

A classic that needs to be reread, because the current global conflicts have a startling parallel with the situation in August 1914.

“The Guns of August” has been called the book that saved the world. In the fall of 1962, looking at each other across the island of Cuba, the United States and the Soviet Union came nose to nose to pulling the trigger on a nuclear weapons war. United States Air Force U2 pilot Major Rudolf Anderson, USAF was shot down and killed. “Our guest has been up there for over an hour,” [Russian] Lieutenant General Stepan Grechko told a deputy. “I think we should give the order to shoot it down, as it is discovering our positions in depth.” With the commanding general, the only man authorized to order a surface-to-air missile launch, nowhere to be found, Grechko gave the order himself: “Destroy Target Number 33.” American Generals urged President Kennedy to order an attack on Cuba. The President said that one passage from Barbara Tuchman’s book gave him the courage to resist the pressure of his generals. “Your Majesty,” General Moltke said to the Kaiser, “it cannot be done” when the German army began its advance into Belgium and the Kaiser ordered Moltke to stop The trains are already in motion--and with that simple phrase, a war that took over 10 million lives was launched. I have read “Guns” several times over the years and I know how the story ends, yet I follow each decision as though it were now, each description as though it is happening, not has happened. It is an incredible story of horror, yet with examples of incredible courage. Her humor is able to shine through the darkness of the times with her characterizations of the Generals and Statesmen, Bethmann-Hollweg, “who means well feebly”, British Field Marshall Sir John French, “who knows nothing at all about the subject” and most of these are simply quotations made by other participants. Her effort was tireless, her research masterful, and her writing brilliant. I work with soldiers in the recruiting group here and I have bought and given this book to several of the sergeants hoping that it will percolate upward. It’s a command decision book and anyone who would think about war should understand the true horror of war. Not only were soldiers injured, blinded, maimed and killed, but the general population was starved so much that the Germans called the time “the turnip winter”. No bombs fell on Berlin but Germans suffered gravely. Paris was almost reached by the German armies until German General Von Kluck made one strategic mistake and presented his flank to the retreating French army. Remember too, this deals only with August, only a single month of a war that was to last four years, and to be the trigger for the next war, World War II, in which 60 million lives were lost. I believe an entire semester course should be taught using this book, not just in college, but also in high school. One thing I should mention. I speak both German and French, and read in them, so it can be a challenge with some of the reports---but, don’t give up on it. Her writing still come through, loud and clear, and clairvoyant. Stephen Joe Payne

This book is written on an epic scale. Is like a big board game where all the armies are directed by their leaders. I found out something I was not fully aware of by reading this book, and that was that when a book such as this, extensively researched, and written in the highly competent way in which the very able Barbara W. Tuchman does, it is a serious endeavor to immerse in the pages, and unless one is an avid historian or student of the war, the book might prove a little too tedious to enjoy. There is a big difference between a book such as this, where the story is told from war rooms in the many countries that took part, and the other kind where it goes down to the fighting men level, where one feels their pain and their struggles on the battlefield. The Guns of August is a powerful book never the less, in that is describing the first month of World War 1, but it does it at a higher level of command, not that tragedies and juicy tidbits are not to be found, it is still a sublime effort that deserved the author the Pulitzer Prize, but I had no connection with it in an emotional way, like I have had with incredible books about war I read lately, Flags of our Fathers being a clear example of what I am trying to say, which is without a doubt, one of the finest books I have read on the subject of war, and another clear example of the what the Marines mean to this country. The Guns of August is more like a global approach with the machinations of the generals and leaders, as they deployed their forces to accomplish their strategic plans that will lead them to victory. For those who are studious enough I am sure this powerhouse of a book would be very fulfilling. On the other hand, for those who prefer a more personal approach on a well written book, then this title would not deliver that. 4 Stars.

I've read military history most of my life, and this book is definitely a classic. The depth of her research, across several languages, across the seas and across the Western and Eastern fronts, is impressive. To refine all of that research and multiple perspectives into diamond-bright prose makes this book even more remarkable. Military history buffs will definitely want this on their shelves. How have I not read this before? Her chapter on the chase of the Goeben is one of the best naval combat descriptions I have come across. Her section on Tannenberg is also excellent. And through it all, she shows the events that led to the failure of both Plan 17 and the Schlieffen Plan in minute but thorough detail. As I read, and as it ended, I had that rare feeling when I read a book of this quality--give me more! If only she had covered each year of the war with such grasp of character, passion for research, and exquisite storytelling. As usual in such military history works, the political background may be cursory--too cursory for some, given some comments I've seen. Yes, you may have to go elsewhere for such political histories, but then, should we be surprised? The title, after all, is "The GUNS of August," and Tuchman delivers. The focus is not on diplomacy (not that it ever had a chance to develop in 1914, given the treaties that doomed Europe), but on the hopes that the war once started could be won speedily. The mindset of each military, and of each countries' leadership, is well told, and provides ample background for how these battles unfolded. I have a few quibbles, which have more to do with the state of book editing today than Tuchman. First were the typographical errors I found while reading this edition. I can't compare this to other editions in this regard, but a literary achievement such as this deserves to be polished occasionally. Second, while there are maps--good maps that illustrate the action--they did not translate well into paperback, and therefore readers may want a historical atlas to accompany this fine, fine narrative. Lastly, Tuchman seems to like to show off her French, and while her use of sentences from sources add welcome color and character, she was inconsistent in translating them--a strange flaw, given the lengths to which she devoted to writing such a literary monument in her native tongue. Despite these minor faults, it's still a 5-star book.