The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War I

by Alan Axelrod

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0028639022
• ISBN13: 9780028639024
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Alpha Books
• Length: 403 Pages
• Weight: 2.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Some Idiot Published a War Book Without Maps

There's not a single map gracing the pages of this "Idiot's Guide" which indicates perhaps that idiocy is widespread in the publishing industry as well as elsewhere. How can you publish a war book without maps? It's sort of like publishing a book called "Great Paintings of Rembrandt" without any illustrations. Except for the absence of maps, this book has a lot of virtues. It's easy to read, covers every aspect of the war concisely, defines a lot of technical terms, throws in some apt quotes, gives you a "Who's Who of WW I," and makes sense of what was a brutal, boring, but earth-shattering event. Most of what happened of interest in the war was during the first month in which the Germans made a huge sweep through Belgium and France -- the Schlieffen Plan -- and nearly won all the marbles in a single turn. German luck and nerve failed however and the French were able to hold on by the skin of their "dents." You can readily skip reading about most of the next four dismal years. It's all about mindless slaughter. Then, in 1918 the allies -- especially the British -- repelled five desperate German offensives and an allied counterattack -- spearheaded by the Americans -- forced the Germans to surrender. A couple of chapters at the end discuss the aftermath of WW I, the "lost generation," the League of Nations, and all the other factors that made WW I the opening act for WW II. By all means look up "Lawrence, T.E." and "Lettow-Vorbeck, Paul von" in the index for interesting summaries of the war in the Middle East and Africa. Smallchief

a must for the beginner!!

i picked up this book (along with idiots guide to ww 2) because i wanted to get a basic understanding of this war (and ww2). people i talked to told me that, "ww 1 was boring...all it consisted was trench warfare!" yes, it was basically trench warfare but how did it become so? a lot of things happened in this war that is interesting! for example, the french army had a mutiny. also, how these commanders of these countries had "great plans" with no back-up plan in case that one failed. or how these commanders assumed their enemies will do this or that when making their moves - big mistake! also, these plans fell flat which caused a stalemate along the western front that lasted 4 years. to sum it up this book is chock full of information! overall, i highly recommend this book for the beginner who wants to get the idea of the great war. i didn't find this book humerous as some idiots guides are and thats fine with me. i find axlerod's approach straight forward and in a clear cut manner. i have one quibble as did some other reviews - not one map! they could've put in one map (at least) of europe during 1914 to give us the visualization of where these outdated countries were and the fronts lines. for that, i'll have to refer to thre idiots guide to nazi germany (another excellent book to fill in the gap between ww 1 and 2).

Great overview of an often forgotten war

This book was a great overview of a war that is often forgotten in the shadow of World War II. What I liked about it the most was that it was balanced in the amount of treatment it gave to the background treaties and politics, the major battles, the major players, the new technology, the mistakes, etc. The first book on WWI I tried to read overly reflected the author's own focus on battle tactics, etc. to the neglect of the whys. This book was much more balanced. The only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is that, like others pointed out, there were no maps. Given there were photos and charts, I'm sure the publisher is capable of printing non-text items. For an epic war that involved two major fronts, and major powers such as Germany, France, Russia, England, the US, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Greece, Turkey, etc. and saw action in the Middle East and Africa as well as Europe proper, I can't understand why they would have zero maps. It was still worth it however.

Good general overview of the Great War

This book tackles this broad subject well. It is said that World War I is not a "popular" war to study because it's simply too complicated. This book helps straighten out the confusion and does a good job of addressing the different facets of this war. This is a good book to start with; it can help readers decide which avenue they want to study further (e.g. Pershing, weapondry, aerial, etc.)

Useful book on a complex subject

Don't think you are an idiot if World War One confuses you at times. Any war where the Allies are the Entente and the Alliance is the "bad guys" is bound to be confusing. The details on the buildup to war, political and military, are patient and easily read. The day-to-day fighting is also well told, and then the all-important end of the war and its subsequent treaty are also well done. The post-war aspects are especially thorough, laying the stage for World War II. This owuld be useful for anyone who needs a handbook on the way Wordl War I came about and was fought.