Great informational read

I really enjoyed this book. Like many Americans, my knowledge of the First World War went something like this:Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot was Gavrilo Princep, a Serb nationalist, in Serajevo. A system of alliances led to all of Europe going to war. Poison gas, tanks, and airplanes were used for the first time at large scale. America entered the war in 1917 because of unrestricted submarine warfare that sunk the Lusitania. Four years after it stared, with millions dead, Germany lost. Wilson had Fourteen Points, which were later the basis for the League of Nations, and the war ended with Germany losing and signing the Treaty of Versailles, which would later lead to World War II.In fairness, I had a LITTLE more knowledge that this, having read a middle-school simplified book about Pershing and then Jeff Shaara's novel. Also, some studies I did on Air Warfare introduced me to a little more awareness of early aviation in war. Still, it wasn't much. I think about half of my strategic awareness of World War One came from playing a mod of Civilization 2, and the other was rooted in watching "Paths of Glory."this book really expanded my awareness, both of the places and the people involved in the conflict at the highest levels. I didn't understand the political interests that lay behind some of the more consequential decisions, nor was I familiar with some of the replacements of key people that led to changes in strategy and even tactics. from the way the whole affair is covered in this book, one gets a sense that it was plausible at various times for Germany to win on the Western front if different decisions had been made, but especially that there were moments when a peace might have been arranged that benefitted Germany even without satisfying all of its war aims. however, the people running German strategy were not inclined towards a favorable peace short of total victory, and by the time they were forced to seek an armistice, they no longer really had any negotiating power.it's truly horrifying to think about the numbers of people mobilized and annihilated in the War, perhaps particularly so on the Western front because there was so little mobility for much of the war. This book helped me understand, though, that it was not as hopeless for the most part as my history recollection suggested, and that, by 1917, France and Britain were actually gaining considerable strength over Germany; one gets the impression that even if the United States had not entered the war, the Central Powers were destined to lose by that point.I also found this book helpful in understanding the Second World War. It's now apparent that the strategy pursued by Germany under the Nazis was a sort of "do over" of the First World War, with the various errors (e.g., slow movement, delays in Belgium, keeping Italy on their side, failure to encircle the Russian armies) corrected to achieve their original potential. But that became more clear to me as I read the sequel, covering the Eastern Front (which I also recommend).I think anyone interested in military history and strategy would benefit from reading this book.

Very good book. Narration was excellent. I've only read a few books on WWI and this is probably the most detailed about the Leadership and their decision making process. When you are losing literally 100's of thousands of men in single battles the strain on those leaders must have been incredible. Definitely recommend!

Enjoyed book as the Western Front was were the main action was. Discussion of the leader interactions was new to me. Access to a map of the front would be helpful but not essential to the great narration. RW