The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War I

by Alan Axelrod

You're no idiot, of course. You know that World War I was the Great War, and you're familiar with its images; muddy trenches, poison gas, and a no-man's land of craters and barbed wire.

But when it comes to understanding its causes, why it dragged on for four years, and how it set the stage for World War II, you're lost behind enemy lines. Don't wave the white flag just yet! 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War I' gives you a comprehensive over-view of the first global war, from the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand to the Treaty of Versailles. In this 'Complete Idiot's Guide', you get:
-Broad coverage of the secret treaties and en-tangling alliances that led to war.
-Comprehensive analysis of some of history's bloodiest battles, including the Somme, Tannenberg, Gallipoli, and Belleau Wood.
-Expert commentary on the development of weapons such as the thank, the dreadnought battleship, poison gas, and the German U-boat.
-Valuable insights into the war's influence on this century's political and cultural developments.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, American, Reference, World War I

403 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2000

About the author

Alan Axelrod, Ph.D., is a prolific author of history, business and management books. As of October 2018, he had written more than 150 books, as noted in an online introduction by Lynn Ware Peek before an interview with Axelrod on the National Public Radio station KPCW. Axelrod resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know, who would admit to buying a "Complete Idiot’s" guide to anything? Not that there aren’t plenty of subjects for which I’d need a complete idiot’s guide, like physics or car mechanics, but why on earth would I want to learn about those? The Great War, on the other hand, is a beloved obsession, but it’s as complex as it is interesting. And, as history books are written by historians and not great authors, sometimes a peppy overview with three bullet points at the end of each chapter listing "The Least You Need to Know" is just the ticket.

The big problem with this book, besides the title, is that it has no maps. If you have a detailed geographical, topographical, and political map of Europe circa 1914 already in your head, then you probably don’t need this book in the first place. But for the rest of us, it’d be nice to know where the Meuse River valley is and exactly how Poland used to be divided. And who really has a grip on the Balkans, regardless of the time period? As for more far-flung areas, forget it. I took a battlefield tour of the Gallipoli Peninsula a few years ago and still became frustrated with the Dardanelles Campaign explanation. A quick Wikipedia search can clear up most geographical questions, but what’s the point of having an "idiot’s guide" if you still have to look stuff up? Perhaps if you don’t need to picture where things happened, though, this isn’t so much of a problem.

On the plus side, I thought the overview of the Eastern front was concise and informational, and almost every page has either a battle term explained or a pertinent quotation from letters, diaries, or books. And every now and then there’s biographical sketch of a major player, telling where he came from and what eventually happened to him, which I found really interesting. Another big bonus is that in the front of the book there’s a handy "Compact Chronology" page that you can tear out and use as a bookmark. With breezy writing and lots of headings, this book is super easy to read and provides a great reference for an extremely complicated war.

[Cav · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...in World War I getting killed became a rather more impersonal event—“rarely was there any individual opponent to outwit, outrun, or outthink.” Breech-loading had shortened the interval between firings, and field guns now had recoil systems that took up the counterforce of propulsion without jolting the gun carriage, which saved time readjusting the aim. And rifled barrels and high-velocity shells had pushed possible targets far beyond human sighting—some seventy miles for Germany’s Paris guns. Death just dropped out of the sky—with no warning."

Interesting marketing strategy: call potential readers of your book "complete idiots"... LMAO. All jokes aside, this one was a fairly decent look at The Great War.
Author Alan Axelrod, Ph.D., is a prolific author of history, business, and management books. As of October 2018, he had written more than 150 books.

Alan Axelrod:


Alexrod drops some big numbers of The Great War early on:

"Soldiers, sailors, and airmen involved worldwide: 65,038,810.
Military deaths worldwide: 8,020,780.
Civilian deaths worldwide: 6,642,633.
Military wounded world wide: 21,228,813.
Approximate monetary cost in early twentieth-century dollars: $281,887,000,000."

The formatting of this one is a bit unorthodox. The writing is broken into many short blurbs with headers at the top. There are many additional boxes of dialogue beside and below the other writing. Although this was probably done to present the information to the average reader in an easily-digestable format, I'm not sure this worked here. I found this formatting jumped around too much - there are too many sidebars and blocks of additional text. This had the effect of bogging down the reader, and finding him lost in the weeds at times.
To his credit, Axelrod includes a brief summary at the end of every chapter called: "The Least You Need to Know", where he goes over the main points in a bullet-point fashion.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War I is quite a comprehensive guide to most things "WW1". Some of the topics covered in these pages by Axelrod include:
* The historical context and causes of the war.
* The major belligerents.
* The major battles.
* Notable politicians and military commanders.
* Military technology of the era; the invention of the tank, U-boat warfare, fighter planes, mines, minesweepers, and the usage of chemical weapons.
* The aftermath of the war; The Treaty of Versailles.

Soldiers at the Battle of the Somme, 1916. Via Wikimedia Commons:


Axelrod writes on the somewhat delusional outlook of the citizens of European countries at the time, that would soon see their daily lives enveloped in absolute war:

"Crowds cheered men who believed that they were on their way to a great adventure that called to mind the bygone days of crusades and chivalry..."

As well as the delusional outlook of many of those in the upper echelons of the government and military. Here he describes the French:

"French commanders believed that the French soldier was animated by an overpowering patriotism amounting to a kind of Gallic life force that they called élan vital or simply élan. It was a concept borrowed from the prominent French philosopher Henri Bergson, and planners managed to persuade themselves that this spiritual force would prove irresistible on the field of battle. French generals believed that a charge into German territory would utterly disrupt German war plans and send the invaders running back to their homeland..."

This was a decent book that I enjoyed. It manages to convey the major themes, players and events of the war to the average reader and armchair historian. It would also make a great reference guide.
I would recommend this one to anyone interested.
4 stars.

[Sarah Beaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great book to start with if you're just beginning to learn about World War I. My classes in school and college didn't really go into very much detail about World War I, and it always seemed like a very complicated war.

It was a very complicated war, and The Complete Idiot's Guide helps readers who are new to studying World War I to understand the basics of the war. I did not give the book a higher rating due to the lack of maps, graphs, and photos.

I've since purchased additional books on World War I history to help 'fill in the gaps' left by The Complete Idiot's Guide.

Basically, The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War I is great for learning the basics of World War I, but if you want to go learn more in-depth information on battle locations, leaders during the war, and photos, you'll need to supplement The Complete Idiot's Guide with additional material.

[PBJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

WWII gets all the attention. Without WWI, there'd be no WWII.

[Alan Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book in so many ways. I learned many new facts and opinions about WWI that I did not know, and I have read a ton of books on WWI and WWII. For example, I did not realize the huge risk Foch was taking when he did not reinforce the British line during the 1918 German offensive after Ludendorff broke off the attack on the Marne. The story is exciting and a great rendition of how close some military operations are.

Some things I disagree with, like the author’s statements about Wilson trying to keep the US out of WWI, and a few other “insights” were wrong, or somewhat off base, but I still liked the book. The writing is excellent and definitely does not allow the reader to get bored. Good history should trigger new thinking, and The Idiot’s Guide to WWI does make a person closely evaluate his opinions about WWI.

My key complaint is at a few points in the text, and in many places discussing the world after the war, the author makes it clear that conservatives are not intelligent and their ideas must be avoided, or worse.

AD2

[Dennis Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War I by Alan Axelrod in 2000. Alan Axelrod has written over 150 books. Somewhere in the afterlife are my history teachers wondering how the slothful young man they knew could be reading a complete account of WW1. A fair question. In 2018 Peter Jackson, the noted New Zealand movie maker (Lord of the Rings) directed and produced They Shall Not Grow Old using actual film footage from WW1, into color. The reality of that film created an interest in more detail. If you want to understand, how WW1 started, how the war was fought and most importantly its impact on future events, this book is a great place to start.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good beginners book for enthusiasts of the first World War. This has alot of general if not super detailed descriptions of events prior to, during, and after the war, battles, weapons, major battles won and lost, generals, and other upper echelon players and characters, and other tidbits of info that is definitely helpful to someone who's just learning. but for people who have more knowledge of the war and have read a lot on the subject it doesn't offer much new information, nor is it descriptive enough with different subjects like battles and events and the suffering and brutality of the war. Good starter book, but nothing new for advanced enthusiasts.

[Steven Raszewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise, precise, factual, informative; AND, no bloviating revisionist historians trying to resurrect the tarnished and soiled reputations (deservedly so) of too many Allied generals, especially Joffre.

[Wendy Nadolny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good history lesson

I did not know a lot about WWI. A very good history lesson on all aspects of the war. Also enjoyed his book about the civil war.

[Frederick Buettner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comprehensive analysis of some of history's bloodiest battles, including the Somme, Tannenberg, Gallipoli, and Belleau Wood.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did a great job of filling in all the blanks that were left by my schools' poor history programs.

My only complaint was a lack of maps, which would have helped my understanding a lot.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A most excellent book to start learning about WW1. Even a history buff like myself enjoyed the read and found out a few new tidbits of info. Recommended