Donato Colangelo’s Reviews > Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914-1918 > Status Update

Good summary of the Somme battle, with some really good insights about germans!

“Mitteleuropa” was perhaps the first, real, idea of European Union, albeit the concept was, in some weaker and non functional way, already at work in Austria-Hungary.

The reasons why the Austro-Hungarians faced so poorly in this war are many and a good part of these reasons stems from the mishandling of the “inner front”, as the State was not up to the task of using the war as a unifying event, but rather pushed hard against his own minorities in order to bring them under more, asphyxiating, control. That the AOK leaders were not up to the task was just a bonus.

The book reports details of the Central Powers societies during the war that are fascinating and surprising. Never before I have read any book about the war that goes this deep into the Austro-Hungarian and German civil societies. It serves well to show the strains and good faith of normal people, the suffering and the efforts at staying united during a most dire situation.

Strong links between Nazi invasion of Russia in the 40s and Tsarist invasion of Galicia in 1914, a subject that indeed is overlooked by many if not all historians. Terrible episodes of violence, racism and deliberate killings based on prejudices. The bloodbath, in East Europe, started some 30 years before Operation Barbarossa commenced.