Victory through Coalition: Britain and France during the First World War

Cambridge Military Histories

by Elizabeth Greenhalgh

Germany's invasion of France in August 1914 represented a threat to the great power status of both Britain and France. The countries had no history of cooperation, yet the entente they had created in 1904 proceeded by trial and error, via recriminations, to win a war of unprecedented scale and ferocity. Elizabeth Greenhalgh details the civil-military relations on each side, the political and military relations between the two powers, the maritime and industrial collaboration that were indispensable to an industrialized war effort and the Allied prosecution of war on the western front.

Genres: History, France, Military History, Military Fiction, Leadership, World War I

322 pages, Hardcover

First published August 12, 2005

About the author

Elizabeth Greenhalgh graduated from the Victoria University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and arrived in Australia in 1987. She worked as a research assistant in the Department, then School, of History, UNSW @ ADFA and, after completing her PhD, edited the international journal War & Society between 2005 and 2010. She then became a full-time researcher, being awarded a UNSW postdoctoral fellowship and then an Australian Research Coucil Fellowship (2010-2014).

Reviews

[Johnny]

Lessons gleaned from this book

I learned 4 things from this book:

1. I think I agree with Marshal Foch who said he lost some respect for Napoleon's reputation because he mostly coalitions.
2. My respect and admiration for Dwight Eisenhower as a administrator and manager as Supreme Allied Commander during World War II has increased greatly
3. How in the world did the Germans lose to these guys? British and French High Command at best tolerated each other and sometimes downright loathed each other.
4. Oh yea, it was because the technicians and bureaucrats knew how to work together and successfully pool and distribute resources. And in this war materials and supplies wins wars.

I would recommend this to anyone interested in not only the Great War but to anybody interested in seeing how coalitions try to work and the troubles of trying to get the government and military to think in Allied terms and not in their own self interest

[Andrew Daniels · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad, but really not that interesting
a bit boring to read

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned 4 things from this book:

1. I think I agree with Marshal Foch who said he lost some respect for Napoleon's reputation because he mostly coalitions.
2. My respect and admiration for Dwight Eisenhower as a administrator and manager as Supreme Allied Commander during World War II has increased greatly
3. How in the world did the Germans lose to these guys? British and French High Command at best tolerated each other and sometimes downright loathed each other.
4. Oh yea, it was because the technicians and bureaucrats knew how to work together and successfully pool and distribute resources. And in this war materials and supplies wins wars.

I would recommend this to anyone interested in not only the Great War but to anybody interested in seeing how coalitions try to work and the troubles of trying to get the government and military to think in Allied terms and not in their own self interest