Invasion 1914: The Schelieffen Plan to the Battle of the Marne

by Ian Senior

The German invasion of France and Belgium in August 1914 came agonizingly close to defeating the French armies, capturing Paris and ending the First World War before the autumn leaves had fallen. The initial German strategy revolved around, and in part depended on, rapid victory over the French, but they were unable to deliver the knock-out blow they had planned - and the surprisingly fluid battles of the early days of the war deteriorated into the defensive, trench-based warfare which was to see the war drag on for another four years of unprecedented slaughter.
Ian Senior has woven together strategic analysis, diary entries, dramatic eyewitness accounts and interview transcripts from soldiers on the ground with consummate skill. He has produced a remarkable new narrative history that for the first time focuses on the experiences of French and German troops in the long hot summer of 1914 as the outcome of the war hung in the balance, revealing how the defiant French opposition and failings in the German invasion plans ultimately foiled the German war machine and changed the course of the war.

Genres: World War I, Military History, History

456 pages, Paperback

Published August 19, 2014

About the author

Ian Senior has taught at Dulwich College, a boarding and day school for boys, in Dulwich in southeast London, England. He is also Associate Lecturer in the History of Art for the Open University, a public distance learning and research university, and one of the biggest universities in the UK for undergraduate education. He first became interested in the battlefields of 1914 when visiting his wife's family in her native Belgium.

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Reviews

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific book about the beginning of WWI to the Battle of the Marne in Seotember of 1914. The interesting thing about this book is that it concentrates more on the French/German battles as opposed to the British contributions. I learned a great deal and appreciate the author's analysis at the end.