Page 94 - History of War - Issue 01-14

reviews History Of War casts its eye over the military-based

books, DVDs and games that may or may not
convince you to part with your cash this month

The Cambridge hisTory of The firsT World War:
Three-Volume hardbaCk seT

Various authors Cambridge University Press RRP £240
★★★★★

s the clock ticks down manner of engrossing and diverse victims. Exploring this opus is often
to the centenary of the topics, but also illustrating just reminiscent of wandering around
start of the Great War, how unbalanced our world became some vast, spectacular, well-lit
it’s inevitable that there in those deeply troubled years. museum. Indeed, it’s strange
will be many books on We have, for example, curios such to think that a body of work so
a the subject. None surely, as the cover of a tourist guide wonderful has been created about
though, will surpass this. specifically designed for bored something so entirely dreadful.
Bringing together 14 world-class German soldiers occupying the The Cambridge History Of The
historians from four different Somme region in one volume. First World War not only deserves
countries, this three-volume A photo in another shows turbaned to find a place in every university
behemoth covers the conflict from Indian troops trundling towards and school, but also on the shelves
a military, social, cultural, economic the frontline in France on London of anyone with an interest in the
and political perspective. In short, double-decker buses. In a third, war that was supposed to end all
it’s as comprehensive a study of there’s a photo of camels dragging wars. Utterly absorbing, endlessly
the origins of the war, its evolution sleighs of food through the snowy fascinating, absolutely essential.
and aftermath as has ever been Russian wastes to relieve famine Nick Soldinger
put together.
It’s impossible in this short It’s strange to think that a body of
review to do justice to the scale of
this work, and a hearty slap on the work so wonderful has been created
back needs to go to Jay Winter, who about something so entirely dreadful
edited it. Throughout, the writing is
crisp, accessible and consistently
entertaining, with the use of first-
person accounts – whether they be
from letters or diaries – helping to
drive home the individual human
cost of a holocaust that started in
a Sarajevo street one bright Sunday
morning, and went on to plunge large
areas of the globe into darkness.
So, a brief overview: Volume
One, entitled Global War, explores
the conflict from a military and
diplomatic perspective, showing
how imperialist aggression ensured
that it spread from Europe into
a worldwide catastrophe that
changed the face of warfare
and the political landscape
forever. Volume Two, The State,
concentrates on how the different
political systems coped (or didn’t)
with the pressures of building – and
losing – vast armies. Volume Three,
Civil Society, concerns itself with
the cultural impact of the savagery.
As you would expect, the work on
the military and political aspects
of the conflict is exemplary, but
it’s when topics as diverse as, say,
the impact of the war on art or on
medical procedures are explored
that this really pushes beyond
what one has come to expect from
a single historical work.
The judicious use of pictures and
photographs throughout the three
volumes is also a masterstroke, Getty
not only providing doorways into all
94 History War
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