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The Armchair General World War One: Can You Win The Great War?
The second book in the Armchair General series, where YOU choose the fate of the First World War
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HISTORY IS WRITTEN BY THE VICTORS. WILL IT BE YOU?
TAKE THE HOTSEAT
Assume the role of real real historic general, leaders, soldiers and intelligence officers of the Allied Forces during World War I.
EXAMINE THE INTELLIGENCE
Explore eight key moments from the First World War, using real contemporaneous including the July Crisis, the Battle of the Somme, and the Russian Revolution.
CONSIDER THE SCENARIO & MAKE YOUR DECISION
From battlefields to the Royal Courts, each tactical and strategic decision you make leads to a different outcome.
Will you follow the path of the past - or shape a new history...?
________________________________
PRAISE FOR THE ARMCHAIR GENERAL SERIES
'An original and exciting approach... The Armchair General adds enormously to our understanding of the conflicts' JAMES HOLLAND
'A reminder that history is a never ending now, a relentless and endless present that comes without the luxury of hindsight' AL MURRAY
'Wonderfully original...putting readers at the heart of the decision-making process and allowing them, literally, to change the course of history. This is counterfactual history at its very best' SAUL DAVID
________________________________
HISTORY IS WRITTEN BY THE VICTORS. WILL IT BE YOU?
TAKE THE HOTSEAT
Assume the role of real real historic general, leaders, soldiers and intelligence officers of the Allied Forces during World War I.
EXAMINE THE INTELLIGENCE
Explore eight key moments from the First World War, using real contemporaneous including the July Crisis, the Battle of the Somme, and the Russian Revolution.
CONSIDER THE SCENARIO & MAKE YOUR DECISION
From battlefields to the Royal Courts, each tactical and strategic decision you make leads to a different outcome.
Will you follow the path of the past - or shape a new history...?
________________________________
PRAISE FOR THE ARMCHAIR GENERAL SERIES
'An original and exciting approach... The Armchair General adds enormously to our understanding of the conflicts' JAMES HOLLAND
'A reminder that history is a never ending now, a relentless and endless present that comes without the luxury of hindsight' AL MURRAY
'Wonderfully original...putting readers at the heart of the decision-making process and allowing them, literally, to change the course of history. This is counterfactual history at its very best' SAUL DAVID
432 pages, Hardcover
Published October 26, 2023
14 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 23, 2023
Book Review: 4/5 for the Armchair Historian WWI
In this book we are given the chance to try our own hand at winning the great war. In each of the 8 scenarios ranging from Gallipoli, Jutland, the Somme to the Zimmerman Telegram and Lawrence of Arabia.
We are initially given the background and then presented with a decision. One of which is historically accurate and one fictional, but written with factual insight to determine the likely outcomes of that decision. We then follow the chosen branch through two more decisions before being able to loop back to experience the other choices and/or reading about what actually happened and why the fictional branch could have helped/hindered the situations.
Overall a really enjoyable read, my only criticism is that some of the branches overlapped a lot making it hard to stick to following one through before reading the alternative, but such is the nature of history; confused!
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In this book we are given the chance to try our own hand at winning the great war. In each of the 8 scenarios ranging from Gallipoli, Jutland, the Somme to the Zimmerman Telegram and Lawrence of Arabia.
We are initially given the background and then presented with a decision. One of which is historically accurate and one fictional, but written with factual insight to determine the likely outcomes of that decision. We then follow the chosen branch through two more decisions before being able to loop back to experience the other choices and/or reading about what actually happened and why the fictional branch could have helped/hindered the situations.
Overall a really enjoyable read, my only criticism is that some of the branches overlapped a lot making it hard to stick to following one through before reading the alternative, but such is the nature of history; confused!
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March 3, 2024
I have finished reading “The Armed Chair General WW1” by John Buckley & Spencer Jones.
Following on from their previous volume; the “The Arm Chair General WW2”, the authors have released this volume covering important decisions made in World War One that could easily have turned out some intriguing alternative events.
Much like the first book, I feel this book successfully manages to drive home the drama and the pressure and the danger in facing political or military questions which are often interlocked in a time of war. Many of the decisions can lead to much better outcomes, but sometimes there are many false dawns that lurk down other paths. What this book done well is to caution against what may have seemed to casual readers of history as “obvious” decisions not made. Sometimes in situations with a lot of moving parts and a background of foundational instability, decisions made with the best of intents either result in misfires or are simply overtaken by events.
The different sections casts you in as real life decision makers on various different sides, with various different roles during World War One, not all of them military personnel. These could range from, Generals, Intelligence Officers, Admirals, the wife of a monarch, a Serb assassin to one of the most renowned female archaeologists of the time period. Each of the decisions are laid out before they are presented with evidence on either side, so as not to sway the reader to one side or the other. But sometimes, brilliantly or depressingly, more often than not the reader can be faced with one of history’s “gotcha” moments when decisions the reader makes and has carefully weighed up simply doesn’t do much………….history basically ignores you. This proves that history CAN rely on the choices made by individuals, but aren’t necessarily DETERMINED by them.
I like how the different characters presented are shown warts and all. Some are courageous, clever and honourable. But others are liars, cheaters, incompetents and a few are just tarred with the label of being “unlucky”. Each of them get an honourable real life mini obituary at the end of every episode, serving to bring the history alive.
I appreciate the difficulty in making a book such as this which would do justice to the sheer scale of events WW1, but I feel that this book at least comes close. The July assassination and crisis, the August mobilisations, the initial Western Front moves, Gallopoli, the Somme, the Arab Revolt, the Zimmerman Telegram and the Russian Revolution are all covered in this book. But what I feel this book does very effectively is to set the scene for the grim calculus decision makers had to make to justify sending men to their deaths in, at the time, unprecedented numbers. Would any of us make wiser decisions? Hopefully none of us will ever have to find out.
Following on from their previous volume; the “The Arm Chair General WW2”, the authors have released this volume covering important decisions made in World War One that could easily have turned out some intriguing alternative events.
Much like the first book, I feel this book successfully manages to drive home the drama and the pressure and the danger in facing political or military questions which are often interlocked in a time of war. Many of the decisions can lead to much better outcomes, but sometimes there are many false dawns that lurk down other paths. What this book done well is to caution against what may have seemed to casual readers of history as “obvious” decisions not made. Sometimes in situations with a lot of moving parts and a background of foundational instability, decisions made with the best of intents either result in misfires or are simply overtaken by events.
The different sections casts you in as real life decision makers on various different sides, with various different roles during World War One, not all of them military personnel. These could range from, Generals, Intelligence Officers, Admirals, the wife of a monarch, a Serb assassin to one of the most renowned female archaeologists of the time period. Each of the decisions are laid out before they are presented with evidence on either side, so as not to sway the reader to one side or the other. But sometimes, brilliantly or depressingly, more often than not the reader can be faced with one of history’s “gotcha” moments when decisions the reader makes and has carefully weighed up simply doesn’t do much………….history basically ignores you. This proves that history CAN rely on the choices made by individuals, but aren’t necessarily DETERMINED by them.
I like how the different characters presented are shown warts and all. Some are courageous, clever and honourable. But others are liars, cheaters, incompetents and a few are just tarred with the label of being “unlucky”. Each of them get an honourable real life mini obituary at the end of every episode, serving to bring the history alive.
I appreciate the difficulty in making a book such as this which would do justice to the sheer scale of events WW1, but I feel that this book at least comes close. The July assassination and crisis, the August mobilisations, the initial Western Front moves, Gallopoli, the Somme, the Arab Revolt, the Zimmerman Telegram and the Russian Revolution are all covered in this book. But what I feel this book does very effectively is to set the scene for the grim calculus decision makers had to make to justify sending men to their deaths in, at the time, unprecedented numbers. Would any of us make wiser decisions? Hopefully none of us will ever have to find out.
March 22, 2024
Though this caught my eye on the library shelf I was a little conflicted- would a 'create your own adventure' style be too frivolous for the subject matter.
It was not. It is brilliant, no book has taught me more about WWl, no history teacher either. The decisions are very difficult and are a powerful way of understanding the complexities of this particular war.
Would I have won the war? Difficult to know though I agonised over my answers, I would have ruined Churchill's career though, will leave that up to others to decide if that is a good thing or not ;)
This is how you teach history! Brilliant book.
It was not. It is brilliant, no book has taught me more about WWl, no history teacher either. The decisions are very difficult and are a powerful way of understanding the complexities of this particular war.
Would I have won the war? Difficult to know though I agonised over my answers, I would have ruined Churchill's career though, will leave that up to others to decide if that is a good thing or not ;)
This is how you teach history! Brilliant book.
May 28, 2024
4/5
The way the book works is that you get put in the shoes of a general or political figure, Haig, David Lloyd George, Kitchener etc, at different points in WWI, then given the same information they had and then 2 different choices - one is the historical choice and one is an alternative choice. Then you make a choice and if it’s the historical one you get put in the shoes of someone else and make a new choice. If you alt-history you generally jump ahead a bit in time and given a scenario about what your choice may have led to, maybe better or worse than what actually happened. At the end of each specific chapter (July Crisis, Jutland, Gallipoli etc) there’s a historical note where the author’s explained which choices were made historically and their explanations for the alt-history outcome they went with.
It’s similar to a Choose Your Own Adventure book basically.
The book is mainly British focused in who you become and which battles are included, but there is some stuff about the Russian Revolution at the end.
The way the book works is that you get put in the shoes of a general or political figure, Haig, David Lloyd George, Kitchener etc, at different points in WWI, then given the same information they had and then 2 different choices - one is the historical choice and one is an alternative choice. Then you make a choice and if it’s the historical one you get put in the shoes of someone else and make a new choice. If you alt-history you generally jump ahead a bit in time and given a scenario about what your choice may have led to, maybe better or worse than what actually happened. At the end of each specific chapter (July Crisis, Jutland, Gallipoli etc) there’s a historical note where the author’s explained which choices were made historically and their explanations for the alt-history outcome they went with.
It’s similar to a Choose Your Own Adventure book basically.
The book is mainly British focused in who you become and which battles are included, but there is some stuff about the Russian Revolution at the end.
August 29, 2024
Wonderfully good fun to read and an extremely interesting counterfactual history of WWI. Enjoyed from start to finish, reading through all the alternative courses history could have taken; how seminal moments at times throughout the war hinged on individuals decisions, deciding the fat of millions. As a WWI buff I would highly recommend for those with a prior knowledge of WWI, or even people wanting to dive into the subject for the first time. 5*!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews