The Great War on the Western Front

by Griffith, Paddy

• ISBN13: 9781844157648
• ISBN10: 1844157644
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-06-19
• Publisher: Pen & Sword

Summary

The war on Western Front from 1914 to 1918 remains one of the notoriously great tragedies of the twentieth century. Most people hold it in their minds as a milestone in modern history, yet many of them know less about this devastating clash of nations than they would like - and they would be interested to discover more. Paddy Griffith's short history of the conflict has been written with them in mind - it provides an accessible primer to an enormous and fascinating subject. His account is aimed at an English-speaking readership, and he concentrates on the part played by British Expeditionary Force and the Americans in the conflict. The French and German perspectives are also explained and the wider political and strategic evolution of the war as a whole is laid out as essential background.

Author Biography

Paddy Griffith was a senior lecturer in war studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Table of Contents

List of Maps and Illustrations
List of Plates
The Start of the War and of the Western Front	p. 1
Late 1914 and the Battles of 1915: Birth of a New Style of Warfare	p. 17
The Battle of Verdun, 1916	p. 33
The Battle of the Somme, 1916	p. 43
Spring 1917	p. 57
Passchendaele	p. 71
The Bitter Winter of 1917-18	p. 85
The Flashing Sword of the Counter-Offensive	p. 101
The American Contribution to Victory	p. 119
The Western Front as a Historiographical Phenomenon	p. 133
Notes	p. 145
Glossary of Terms	p. 149
Further Reading: A Short Annotated Bibliography	p. 151
Index	p. 157
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