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The Western Front
For most British people, the First World War was the Western Front, the trench line stretching from the Swiss Frontier to the North Sea. It was there that the majority of nearly nine million British and Dominion soldiers who enlisted during the war served, and where most of the 947,000 who were killed met their deaths.
This detailed but accessible account covers everything from how the front was created and the experiences of the British Army in France, to the battle of Verdun and the last hundred days of the war. Holmes' concise and heartfelt narrative is illustrated with photographs, diagrams, maps and quotations that bring this inhuman four years of history to life.
In one of the best single-volume histories of the First World War available, Holmes skillfully clarifies the complexities of the Western Front, and highlights the political, military and human dilemmas of this, the most bitter and bloody of conflicts.
This detailed but accessible account covers everything from how the front was created and the experiences of the British Army in France, to the battle of Verdun and the last hundred days of the war. Holmes' concise and heartfelt narrative is illustrated with photographs, diagrams, maps and quotations that bring this inhuman four years of history to life.
In one of the best single-volume histories of the First World War available, Holmes skillfully clarifies the complexities of the Western Front, and highlights the political, military and human dilemmas of this, the most bitter and bloody of conflicts.
256 pages, Paperback
First published July 15, 1999
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About the author
Richard Holmes
116 books93 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
See this thread for more information.
Edward Richard Holmes was Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University and the Royal Military College of Science. He was educated at Cambridge, Northern Illinois, and Reading Universities, and carried out his doctoral research on the French army of the Second Empire. For many years he taught military history at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
A celebrated military historian, Holmes is the author of the best-selling and widely acclaimed Tommy and Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket. His dozen other books include Dusty Warriors, Sahib, The Western Front, The Little Field Marshal: Sir John French, The Road to Sedan, Firing Line, The Second World War in Photographs and Fatal Avenue: A Traveller’s History of Northern France and Flanders (also published by Pimlico).
He was general editor of The Oxford Companion to Military History and has presented eight BBC TV series, including ‘War Walks’, ‘The Western Front’ and ‘Battlefields’, and is famous for his hugely successful series ‘Wellington: The Iron Duke’ and ‘Rebels and Redcoats’.
See this thread for more information.
Edward Richard Holmes was Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University and the Royal Military College of Science. He was educated at Cambridge, Northern Illinois, and Reading Universities, and carried out his doctoral research on the French army of the Second Empire. For many years he taught military history at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
A celebrated military historian, Holmes is the author of the best-selling and widely acclaimed Tommy and Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket. His dozen other books include Dusty Warriors, Sahib, The Western Front, The Little Field Marshal: Sir John French, The Road to Sedan, Firing Line, The Second World War in Photographs and Fatal Avenue: A Traveller’s History of Northern France and Flanders (also published by Pimlico).
He was general editor of The Oxford Companion to Military History and has presented eight BBC TV series, including ‘War Walks’, ‘The Western Front’ and ‘Battlefields’, and is famous for his hugely successful series ‘Wellington: The Iron Duke’ and ‘Rebels and Redcoats’.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 10, 2017
This is a great summary to get a feel for this critical war without getting bogged down in a lot of detail that has turned me off to similar efforts. For instance, he summed up how the war started in a few short sentences, the best explanation I've ever heard that made it clear why the death of one duke could affect so many. The old sores, alliances, & military strategy make it seem obvious in hindsight, almost inevitable. While this covered only the Western Front in any detail, he did mention other important points that affected it such as the Russian Revolution.
With so many players covering so much ground, most with names only vaguely familiar at best, I've always found it too easy to get lost. Looking at some maps occasionally helped me a lot, too. My European geography is sketchy & my knowledge of transportation centers nonexistent.
Holmes shows why & how this was the first modern war. The sheer mass of men that were able to participate due to modern industrial capacity, transportation, & communications was incredible. The numbers killed in battles & tons of artillery shells expended were staggering. To put it in perspective, there have been less than 5000 American soldiers killed in the Iraq War & 60,000 in the entire Vietnam War while there were almost 150,000 English & French killed in just the Battle of Somme, one 5 month battle in a war that raged just over 4 years.
The war was a weird mix of the old & new. Tons of fodder had to be provided to horses & mules were brought in by trains. Train hubs & tracks were as important to strategic planning as geographical features. These were the first armies that were fully equipped with cartridges that allowed tremendous amounts of fire both personally & in crew weapons like machine guns & artillery. Planes, tanks, & poison gas were all used against old tactics. A real mess.
This is one of the best books I've read on the subject, even though it has a few holes due to being written to go with a TV series that I haven't seen. That probably would have made it even better.
With so many players covering so much ground, most with names only vaguely familiar at best, I've always found it too easy to get lost. Looking at some maps occasionally helped me a lot, too. My European geography is sketchy & my knowledge of transportation centers nonexistent.
Holmes shows why & how this was the first modern war. The sheer mass of men that were able to participate due to modern industrial capacity, transportation, & communications was incredible. The numbers killed in battles & tons of artillery shells expended were staggering. To put it in perspective, there have been less than 5000 American soldiers killed in the Iraq War & 60,000 in the entire Vietnam War while there were almost 150,000 English & French killed in just the Battle of Somme, one 5 month battle in a war that raged just over 4 years.
The war was a weird mix of the old & new. Tons of fodder had to be provided to horses & mules were brought in by trains. Train hubs & tracks were as important to strategic planning as geographical features. These were the first armies that were fully equipped with cartridges that allowed tremendous amounts of fire both personally & in crew weapons like machine guns & artillery. Planes, tanks, & poison gas were all used against old tactics. A real mess.
This is one of the best books I've read on the subject, even though it has a few holes due to being written to go with a TV series that I haven't seen. That probably would have made it even better.
September 15, 2025
As you would expect, this is a clear and informative summary of the Western Front of the First World War, written with Richard Holmes' typical lucid and easy-flowing style. Written to accompany a BBC TV series, it doesn't require much by way of background knowledge or reading. Holmes has a wonderful ability to outline and summarise, but also pauses at times to consider particular topics in more detail. One memorable passage examines the role of staff officers, who Holmes sees as somewhat unfairly maligned. He also writes particularly brilliantly on the battles of Neuve-Chappelle and Loos, weaving them into the wider development and progress of the Western Front, as this passage illustrates:
"Neuve Chapelle raised several issues, the difficulty of injecting cavalry into the battle only one of them. It highlighted the problem of achieving effective command and control on the battlefield. If Rawlinson deployed killing-power which would have astonished the Duke of Wellington a century before, his communications had improved far less dramatically. The telephone was undeniably useful, but its wires were often cut by shell fire, and in an attack at this stage in the war the last links in the chain of command usually depended on runners toiling through the crater-fields.
The unlearned lesson of Neuve Chapelle concerned the artillery. Rawlinson achieved a higher concentration of guns per yard of front attacked than he would on the Somme a year later, and because he had little ammunition he fired it swiftly. In doing so he achieved not only what the Germans called 'the first real drum-fire [Trommelfeur] yet heard', but also surprise. Heavy fire, delivered rapidly and without warning, was to become a key ingredient of successful attacks towards the war's end: it made its unsung début at Neuve Chapelle."
Holmes treads somewhat of a middle ground in his assessment of the Western Front, seemingly acknowledging that it represented the most effective way to defeat Imperial Germany while pointing out that necessary lessons could have been learned more quickly and without such a prodigious loss of life:
"The result of railway mobilisation, universal conscription and the revolution in military technology was a weapon density unparalleled in the history of warfare: the material origins of the Western Front. Yet its psychological origins are no less important: all the weapons in the world would not produce stalemate unless the soldiers using them proved resolute. And European armies and the societies they served had spent much time and trouble ensuring that the young men who rattled off to war in August 1914 would indeed be resolute. Offensive war plans ruled...The supply of both these commodities [men and munitions] stood at the very forefront of British military policy. The 'westerners' argued that the war could be won only if they were sent to France and Belgium. However, doing so would result in Britain confronting her major adversary in the principal theatre of war, in a marked deviation of the practice of more than a century...In the circumstances of 1915 the 'western' solution may well have been the only proper one: but, once adopted, it would commit the British army to the most obdurate test of its history."
The First World War undoubtedly sat at a historical junction: while a thoroughly modern and industrial war, the tonnage of horse fodder shipped to the Western Front still outstripped that of munitions. It is also a war that took place in a world very different to our own: Britain was an unparalleled global imperial power, and the British men who went to war were subjects, rather than the voters who fought a generation later. It is also a war that has been overlaid with so many cultural myths and images that it is hard to get to the truth, or even to approach the subject with anything approaching neutrality. Richard Holmes has done a great job of cutting through all these obstacles and delivering a concise, readable and enjoyable summary of the war in the West.
"Neuve Chapelle raised several issues, the difficulty of injecting cavalry into the battle only one of them. It highlighted the problem of achieving effective command and control on the battlefield. If Rawlinson deployed killing-power which would have astonished the Duke of Wellington a century before, his communications had improved far less dramatically. The telephone was undeniably useful, but its wires were often cut by shell fire, and in an attack at this stage in the war the last links in the chain of command usually depended on runners toiling through the crater-fields.
The unlearned lesson of Neuve Chapelle concerned the artillery. Rawlinson achieved a higher concentration of guns per yard of front attacked than he would on the Somme a year later, and because he had little ammunition he fired it swiftly. In doing so he achieved not only what the Germans called 'the first real drum-fire [Trommelfeur] yet heard', but also surprise. Heavy fire, delivered rapidly and without warning, was to become a key ingredient of successful attacks towards the war's end: it made its unsung début at Neuve Chapelle."
Holmes treads somewhat of a middle ground in his assessment of the Western Front, seemingly acknowledging that it represented the most effective way to defeat Imperial Germany while pointing out that necessary lessons could have been learned more quickly and without such a prodigious loss of life:
"The result of railway mobilisation, universal conscription and the revolution in military technology was a weapon density unparalleled in the history of warfare: the material origins of the Western Front. Yet its psychological origins are no less important: all the weapons in the world would not produce stalemate unless the soldiers using them proved resolute. And European armies and the societies they served had spent much time and trouble ensuring that the young men who rattled off to war in August 1914 would indeed be resolute. Offensive war plans ruled...The supply of both these commodities [men and munitions] stood at the very forefront of British military policy. The 'westerners' argued that the war could be won only if they were sent to France and Belgium. However, doing so would result in Britain confronting her major adversary in the principal theatre of war, in a marked deviation of the practice of more than a century...In the circumstances of 1915 the 'western' solution may well have been the only proper one: but, once adopted, it would commit the British army to the most obdurate test of its history."
The First World War undoubtedly sat at a historical junction: while a thoroughly modern and industrial war, the tonnage of horse fodder shipped to the Western Front still outstripped that of munitions. It is also a war that took place in a world very different to our own: Britain was an unparalleled global imperial power, and the British men who went to war were subjects, rather than the voters who fought a generation later. It is also a war that has been overlaid with so many cultural myths and images that it is hard to get to the truth, or even to approach the subject with anything approaching neutrality. Richard Holmes has done a great job of cutting through all these obstacles and delivering a concise, readable and enjoyable summary of the war in the West.
December 11, 2018
A really interesting look at WWI, which was good to read and remember at the 100th anniversary of it's end. Unfortunately I do not know very much about the battles and movements of that war and so I frequently got lost about what was going on where and who the people involved were, but I think I generally got the gist.
Popsugar challenge 2018 advanced: a book that was being read by a stranger in a public place
Popsugar challenge 2018 advanced: a book that was being read by a stranger in a public place
December 31, 2025
A very over-the-top review of the First World War through the lens of the Western Front. Very sobering.
October 7, 2013
A very useful summary of the war on the Western Front in WW1. Clearly (and this is stated) this book is an accompaniment to a TV series and so the structure of the narrative is somewhat unorthodox in how it is laid out on the page, but follows a chronological approach that is easy enough to follow.
Indeed, the lack of grinding detail is welcome in a summary such as this - often times I find historical accounts of the conflict are actually too detailed to allow the reader to see the whole picture. That is not the case here. This book provides an interesting account of the battles and the stalemate and the ultimate defeat and victory of the Western Front. It covers some of the horrors of trench warfare but concentrates mainly on the battles, the tactics, the futility and the horrendous losses.
I still find it hard to reconcile the enormity of the slaughter, and that isn't too strong a word for it. The author casually tells us that some engagements cost over 200,000 casualties. That is truly hard to grasp but, as Holmes expresses, this war ultimately became one of attrition, to the extent that really became the only goal.
Not exactly moving, since the book doesn't cover the personal stories that deeply (although there are some) but a great summary of how the war was eventually "won" on the Western Front.
Indeed, the lack of grinding detail is welcome in a summary such as this - often times I find historical accounts of the conflict are actually too detailed to allow the reader to see the whole picture. That is not the case here. This book provides an interesting account of the battles and the stalemate and the ultimate defeat and victory of the Western Front. It covers some of the horrors of trench warfare but concentrates mainly on the battles, the tactics, the futility and the horrendous losses.
I still find it hard to reconcile the enormity of the slaughter, and that isn't too strong a word for it. The author casually tells us that some engagements cost over 200,000 casualties. That is truly hard to grasp but, as Holmes expresses, this war ultimately became one of attrition, to the extent that really became the only goal.
Not exactly moving, since the book doesn't cover the personal stories that deeply (although there are some) but a great summary of how the war was eventually "won" on the Western Front.
January 24, 2014
Really clear and informative history. Richard Holmes makes clear where he differs from other historians, but also recommends more detailed books on some of the subjects he treats only briefly. I got a much clearer idea of how the First World War developed on the Western Front and also, thanks to a brief summary at the end, how it fitted in to the fighting in the War as a whole.
December 7, 2021
The Western Front, both this book and the TV Documentary it accompanied, shows the late author/history presenter Richard Holmes at his best- explaining a fairly complex subject to the lay person in a straightforward and simple way. The topic is the main action of WWI- the Western Front in France and Belgium. Dividing the book and the documentary into Making the front, Feeding the Front, Holding the Front, commanding the Front, Enduring the front, and finally Breaking the Front, Holmes gives the reader/viewer an amazingly complete understanding of the pertinent issues that dominated WWI. Mentally- Senior European Officers had trouble conceiving of the scale of the new armies- and of the ranges and effects of the new smokeless powder, bolt action magazine rifles, fast firing pneumatic recoil artillery pieces and especially of course the Maxim Machine Gun that would come to truly dominate the battlefields. Once people started digging trenches to improve defensive positions- the "Front" from the Swiss border to the Belgian Coast did not take long. Then both sides would slog away at each other until the mobility returned in 1918 as combatants finally developed effective tactics for offensives against defense in depth. Holmes is there at every turn to explain why decisions were made at the time-some that seem counterproductive to the modern eye.
The Germans, after heinous losses in the first moves of the war, seem to understand the new realities quicker- making and distributing many more Maxim Guns first, developing trench systems in depth, adding concrete bunkers, issuing grenades, and moving to Steel helmets, all moves the allies would adopt months later. But the Germans are also being strangled by the British Naval Blockade, even after they push Russia out of the war in 1917. The Allies are learning too- and they have their own empires for troops and resources- and a whole other empire. the American one, that they can entice into the war and use as an offshore "arsenal of Democracy" to use a phrase from a later war. The Allies need to survive 1917 (Enduring the Front) and then endure a last spasm of German offensives in early 1918- drives that took lots of acreage -but did not break the alliance, the front, or the will of the allied voters. When the allies went back over to the attack after the Kaiser's Army was spent- they were finally able to break and exploit- and the Germans sued for peace. All along Holmes is a clear narrator- always with a ready way to explain how the best of intentions led to 4 years of too much muddy stalemate.
There are adult themes and some graphic violent passages, but all well handled, so I think a Junior Reader over about 12/13 should be able to handle this book - especially a good accompaniment to watching the Documentary. For the Gamer/Modeler/Military enthusiast -this is a bit of a mixed result. The Gamer is really getting background information- for those who might be playing Flames Of War Great War, Bolt Action, Chain of Command or other era games, as the pictures and maps/diagrams are really not specific enough. The Modeler does get a lot of B/w pics and some interesting diorama ideas- but this is still more a background research book. The Military enthusiast get a lot here though. Few historians can explain a military meatgrinder as clearly and as simply as Holmes and still allow you to see the leaders as people and not monsters. With the careful guidance of a true master- the reader can see how stalemate and industrial volume death was an unintended consequence of military and political decisions made before the war and in its early stages. I recommend this Book and Documentary Series to anyone interested in WWI or the Western Front in particular, whether they are a Military History buff-or a more general reader.
The Germans, after heinous losses in the first moves of the war, seem to understand the new realities quicker- making and distributing many more Maxim Guns first, developing trench systems in depth, adding concrete bunkers, issuing grenades, and moving to Steel helmets, all moves the allies would adopt months later. But the Germans are also being strangled by the British Naval Blockade, even after they push Russia out of the war in 1917. The Allies are learning too- and they have their own empires for troops and resources- and a whole other empire. the American one, that they can entice into the war and use as an offshore "arsenal of Democracy" to use a phrase from a later war. The Allies need to survive 1917 (Enduring the Front) and then endure a last spasm of German offensives in early 1918- drives that took lots of acreage -but did not break the alliance, the front, or the will of the allied voters. When the allies went back over to the attack after the Kaiser's Army was spent- they were finally able to break and exploit- and the Germans sued for peace. All along Holmes is a clear narrator- always with a ready way to explain how the best of intentions led to 4 years of too much muddy stalemate.
There are adult themes and some graphic violent passages, but all well handled, so I think a Junior Reader over about 12/13 should be able to handle this book - especially a good accompaniment to watching the Documentary. For the Gamer/Modeler/Military enthusiast -this is a bit of a mixed result. The Gamer is really getting background information- for those who might be playing Flames Of War Great War, Bolt Action, Chain of Command or other era games, as the pictures and maps/diagrams are really not specific enough. The Modeler does get a lot of B/w pics and some interesting diorama ideas- but this is still more a background research book. The Military enthusiast get a lot here though. Few historians can explain a military meatgrinder as clearly and as simply as Holmes and still allow you to see the leaders as people and not monsters. With the careful guidance of a true master- the reader can see how stalemate and industrial volume death was an unintended consequence of military and political decisions made before the war and in its early stages. I recommend this Book and Documentary Series to anyone interested in WWI or the Western Front in particular, whether they are a Military History buff-or a more general reader.
November 20, 2022
4.5/5 rounding down for Goodreads.
Very good. Written alongside a documentary series so it is accessible. It is good at describing the details of the battles as well as broader analysis on things such as the conditions that led to trench warfare. Mostly focused on the British perspective but does have a good chapter on Verdun. Plenty of maps and photos that are pretty good in quality. Sometimes it mentions the historical debates about things like tactics or leadership, but this book is 20 years old now so views and scholarship have probably changed a bit since then. It does have a further reading list as well for each chapter but again it is an old book and will not have newer books on it. Overall I'd say it is a good place to start if you are interested in the Western Front of WWI.
Sidenote - Holmes' Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front 1914-18 is very good but a lot longer and more indepth and I'd also recommend reading that if you are interested in WWI. His books 'Sahib: The British Soldier in India 1750-1914' and 'Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket' are also very good.
Very good. Written alongside a documentary series so it is accessible. It is good at describing the details of the battles as well as broader analysis on things such as the conditions that led to trench warfare. Mostly focused on the British perspective but does have a good chapter on Verdun. Plenty of maps and photos that are pretty good in quality. Sometimes it mentions the historical debates about things like tactics or leadership, but this book is 20 years old now so views and scholarship have probably changed a bit since then. It does have a further reading list as well for each chapter but again it is an old book and will not have newer books on it. Overall I'd say it is a good place to start if you are interested in the Western Front of WWI.
Sidenote - Holmes' Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front 1914-18 is very good but a lot longer and more indepth and I'd also recommend reading that if you are interested in WWI. His books 'Sahib: The British Soldier in India 1750-1914' and 'Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket' are also very good.
February 20, 2020
A good overview for those less familiar with the events of WW1. Some may find the timeline difficult to follow as the author fails to be clear in dates, however, it is a good baseline to research specific battles from other sources. You can read in the writing the passion the author has for the subject and for the sacrifices made by those who fought.
December 11, 2017
This book was written to accompany Professor Holmes's documentary series for the BBC in 1999. He was a distinguished no nonsense presenter who drew together the contemporary war scholarship into a gripping account.
November 14, 2017
Detailed accounting with new (to me) perspectives about this horrendous war.
May 30, 2024
A great insight into the battles and people of WW1 on the Western Front.
Richard Holmes was a master of military history and the men and women involved.
Richard Holmes was a master of military history and the men and women involved.
January 30, 2017
Short read, but unfortunately it seemed to assume a certain level of knowledge that I lacked.
June 20, 2025
Good introduction to the subject. Accompanied a tv series which is worth seeking out on YouTube or BBC iplayer.
November 8, 2013
This is an excellent book that followed the BBC tv series. An interesting, authoritative and at times extremely emotional story about the Western Front. Very accessible for those just getting into history as well. A very good book.
April 23, 2010
Tidy, insightful, compassionate.
December 1, 2014
Good overview by famed historian and television presenter. Didn't focus as much as I'd have liked on the soldiers' experiences of trench warfare etc, but, still, not a bad introduction.
January 30, 2016
Quick overview using a few battles to represent different phases of the battle mostly in France.
April 22, 2017
A concise but informative account of the formation, evolution and demise of the Western Front during the 1914-18 war.
Packed full of statistics, mostly body counts, and personal accounts and impressions of the major confrontations between the allies and the central powers. Contains a number of original photographs.
A perfect introduction.
Packed full of statistics, mostly body counts, and personal accounts and impressions of the major confrontations between the allies and the central powers. Contains a number of original photographs.
A perfect introduction.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews