Providing historians and history buffs alike with an essential and detailed account of World War I, this work contains extensive information about the most important aspects of the war. The events leading up to the war, the crisis of 1914, the great battles, and different countries' versions of the war are explored in depth and supported by photographs that have been researched and selected from the prestigious collection at the Imperial War Museum in London.
Hechos nuevos e ideas recientes junto a las imágenes originales se combinan para hacer este libro muy interesante y una buena lectura para aquéllos que tengan un verdadero afán por saber más sobre el conflicto y para auténticos historiadores. Contiene información extensa sobre los aspectos mas importante de la guerra, los eventos hasta que empezó la guerra, el crisis de 1914, las grandes batallas, una exploración a fondo de las versiones diferentes de varios países y fotografía seleccionada de la prestigiosa colección de la biblioteca fotográfica única del Imperial War Museum de Londres.
I finally managed to push myself to read up on World War I, which has so far been a fuzzy area in history for me (apart from the Russian Revolution). I still can't say that I know the events well enough, but at least now I get the difference between this and the Second World War.
The Finnish translation wasn't that impressive, but what made reading this even more difficult were all the listings of the troop movements. A huge amount of dates and places is not my idea of engaging war history (especially since I'm not that enthusiastic about it in the first place), but makes it mind-numbing and faceless. So my expectations didn't meet with what I got, because I wanted to know more about the things visible in the photos, like new weapons and other battle related things (the text mentions mustard gas, but only briefly), the reality of what it was like at the front (maybe even told by the soldiers themselves), and general practical things of the war. The collection of photographs, however, was excellent. Even though there were some repetitiveness with all the similar ships and weapons, I would still recommend having a look at them.
I did manage to gather some interesting pieces of information, though, and I'm most certainly going to be reading more about them, when I can find some in depth descriptions (preferably cultural history).
This did leave me wondering, who the photographers were and what they felt about working in the battle fields. Were they hired specifically for this job? In any case, some of the expressions on the men's faces are eerie, and not just because most of them never saw their home again but died in the middle of rotting corpses.
A Canadian military doctor John McCrae wrote this poem on May 2 1915, when his friend was found dead on a field in the midst of millions of poppies. A touching inclusion to the book.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses row on row That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly scare heard amid the guns below
We are the dead, short days ago we lived, felt dawn. Saw sunset glow, loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders Fields
Take up our quarrel with the foe To you from failing hands we throw the torch. Be yours to hold it high If ye break faith with us who die we shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders Field.
Dette er ikke bare en billedbok, men en innføring i første verdenskrig og grunnene til at den brøt ut. Boka er kategorisert i kapitler med forskjellig fokus og er lett å følge. Jeg leste boka på norsk.
Opptakten til krigen starter med Frankrikes tap i 1870-71 mot Tyskland og det påfølgende intrikate diplomatiske spillet mellom stormaktene med mange hemmelige traktater (Storbritannia med sin flåte som føler seg truet av det industrielle Tysklands flåte og økende handelskapasitet, Tyskland som allierer seg med alle for at Frankrike ikke skal få alliansepartnere, Frankrike som vil ha hevn og ha tilbake Alsace-Lorraine, Russland som vil ut av Svartehavet etter at de tapte Krimkrigen).
Det er også viet en del sider til havet og britenes ulovlige sjøblokade og Tysklands uinnskrenkete ubåtkrig som «fikk» USA med i krigen på Trippelententen side (Storbritannia, Frankrike og Russland) etter senkingen av Lusitanina, som faktisk fraktet ammunisjon til Storbritannia og Frankrike til tross for at USA skulle være nøytrale.
Med tanke på dagens konflikter i Gaza og Ukraina så følte jeg et slags déjà vu, for stormaktene tar seg til rette og blåser i internasjonale regler når det gagner dem, men protesterer høylytt når internasjonale reglene blir brutt av motparten.
Krigen på Gallipoli og hvordan Tyrkia kom med på tysk side pga dårlig diplomati fra engelsk side, var også interessant lesing.
Da USA ble med i krigen og ville ha en fred uten seierherrer, gjorde Storbritannia og Frankrike sitt beste med å sabotere dette (Russland var allerede ute av spillet da det hadde brutt ut revolusjon) og man fikk freden i Versailles hvor tyskerene ble tvunget til å ta all skyld for krigen og gjorde at krigen fikk en pause før den brøt ut som andre verdenskrig 20 år senere.
Jeg likte også kapittelet om den tyske hochsee-flåte som kontreadmiral Reuter senker i Scapa Flow som følge av mangel på kommunikasjon og av frykt for at Storbritannia ville beslaglegge flåten.
I picked up this book to look at the 800 pictures. There is a decent amount of text too, but I don’t have time to read it. (I know the basics about ww1 but couldn’t judge the book anyway.) The photographic material is impressive. Enormously sad, but impressive.
I wasn’t aware of this poem.
In Flanders Fields BY JOHN MCCRAE
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
Interessant boek over de eerste wereldoorlog. Jammer dat er flink wat tekstuele of typfouten in staan. Ook zijn de afbeeldingen niet altijd passend bij de tekst. Desalniettemin een heel interessant boek.
Tuto knihu jsem si zcela záměrně koupil, protože vím, že se k ní budu vracet. Protože čím starší jsem, tím víc mě fascinuje 1. světová válka, a vedle toho miluju staré fotografie, za kterými se skrývají skuteční lidé a jejich životy tak odlišné od těch našich. Knize nemám moc vytknout - líbí se mi, jak zpochybňuje vinu Německa za rozpoutání války a naopak odkazuje na předválečné kroky především Francie a Ruska, kterým ekonomický rozmach Německa nedal spát. Samozřejmě ani Velká Británie, která se snad ještě i nyní považuje za vládce moří, nebyla bez viny. No, a na závěr mi jako Čechovi chyběla jakákoli zmínka o českých legionářích v Rusku. Každopádně víc takových knih!
Another book on the subject of the Great War (WO1) which I bought online because it was called WO1 in pictures and the price was right, for some of the visuals of this war. However I got quite a surprise when the book arrived, 600 pages and a lot of text. It will prove undoubtely an interesting read and view upon the mass of pictures this book does offer (800 pictures). A really nice surprise, by the way this book is available in English as well if you search with the authors name.