The Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I; Barbara W. Tuchman’s Great War Series (Modern Library 100 Best Nonfiction Books) by Barbara W. Tuchman (PDF)

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PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • “A brilliant piece of military history which proves up to the hilt the force of Winston Churchill’s statement that the first month of World War I was ‘a drama never surpassed.’”—Newsweek Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all timeIn this landmark account, renowned historian Barbara W. Tuchman re-creates the first month of World War I: thirty days in the summer of 1914 that determined the course of the conflict, the century, and ultimately our present world. Beginning with the funeral of Edward VII, Tuchman traces each step that led to the inevitable clash. And inevitable it was, with all sides plotting their war for a generation. Dizzyingly comprehensive and spectacularly portrayed with her famous talent for evoking the characters of the war’s key players, Tuchman’s magnum opus is a classic for the ages. The Proud Tower, the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Guns of August, and The Zimmermann Telegram comprise Barbara W. Tuchman’s classic histories of the First World War era

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Country A invaded country B, predicting that country B would put up no resistance because it was much weaker. This prediction turned out to be completely wrong, as the armed forces of country B bravely defended their country. When the civilians of country B also resisted, the soldiers of country A carried out mass executions and set cities to flames, all the while laying the blame on the Government of country B.Isn’t the above describing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022?No, it is not. It depicts the invasion of Germany into neutral Belgium in August 1914, the month of the beginning of World War I. It is a tragic illustration of Mark Twain’s famous quote: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”“The Guns of August” tells the background that led to the First World War, the events and battles that occurred in the month of August 1914. The narrative stops at the conclusion of the Battle of Marne, which destroyed any hope of a short war and laid the foundation for four years of one of the most brutal conflicts in history.The background included the formation of the Triple Entente of France, Russia, and Britain, and the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. German strategy in 1914 was to first defeat France, then shift its forces to the East and knock out Russia, commonly known as the Schlieffen Plan. In France, there was Plan 17, a plan for the mobilization, concentration and deployment of the French armies and it made possible an invasion of Germany or Belgium or both before Germany completed the mobilization of its reserves and simultaneous to an allied Russian offensive.The events and battles included the escape of the German Battlecruiser Goeben, the invasion of Belgium and the Flames of Louvain, the Battle of the Frontiers, the Battle of Tannenberg, Von Klick’s turn and the Battle of Marne.One of the interesting features of the book was the brief introductions of the various players. When a personality first appeared, it was accompanied by a short but lively description. Some examples:General Joseph Joffre, French Generalissimo“Massive and paunchy in his baggy uniform, with a fleshy face adorned by a heavy, nearly white mustache and bushy eyebrows to match, with a clear youthful skin, calm blue eyes and a candid, tranquil gaze, Joffre looked like Santa Claus and gave an impression of benevolence and naivete, qualities not noticeably part of his character.”Charles Lanrezac, French General, Commander of the 5th Army“Formerly a distinguished staff college lecturer. Because of his keen intelligence, Lanresac was considered a star at the General Staff, which forgave him his caustic manner and his tendency to bad temper and impolite language for the sake of the clarity, brilliance, and logic of his lectures.”Alexander Von Kluck, German General, Commands First Army on Belgian Frontier“He was tall and majestic with a scarred, clean-shaven face, hard features and a frightening glace. In his right hand he carried a soldier’s rifle and his left rested on the butt of a revolver…No one-seemed to dare to approach him and indeed he wore a terrible air, invoking the image of Attila”Sir John French, Commander of the British Expedition Force“Untrained to study and with a mind closed to books, at least after his early successes in action, French was less renowned for mental ability than for irritability…..Like his vis-à-vis across the Channel, French was an unintellectual soldier with the fundamental difference that whereas Joffre’s outstanding qualify was solidity, French’s was a peculiar responsiveness to pressure, people, and prejudices. Joffre was imperturbable in all weathers; Sir John alternated between extremes of aggressiveness in good times and of depression in bad.”It was no surprise from these cast of main characters that conflicts were bound to happen. Thus. the first meeting between the Commander of the British Expedition Force, Sir John, and General Lanrezac, ended in each misunderstanding and despising the other. General Lanresac always had criticisms on his boss General Joffre‘s orders, which were not always promptly obeyed. Eventually, General Lanrezac was relieved of his command by General Joffre, although history judged that the views of General Lanrezac were almost always correct. In recognition of his initially unappreciated prudence in the opening month of the war that helped save France, he was made an officer of the Légion d’honneur in July 1917, awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown by Belgium in 1923, and awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d’honneur in 1924.A somewhat similar but less fortunate episode happened in the career of Rear Admiral Ernest Troubridge. The Rear Admiral, in charge of several cruisers in pursuit of Germany’s battlecruiser Goeben in the Mediterranean, did not engage Goeben when it had the chance to do so on August 7, because he judged that his ships were no match in both speed and gun range with the Goeben and therefore, according to the order from the British Admiralty not to engage with superior force, he obliged. His decision almost certainly saved his ships and men from watery graves.Troubridge was court martialed for the decision. Although vindicated, his reputation was damaged. He remained in the Royal Navy through the remainder of World War I. He went on to serve in various staff positions but never again held a seagoing command. Ultimately promoted to full admiral, Troubridge retired from the Royal Navy in 1924 and died two years later. Sadly, despite his achievements, he is too often remembered only as “the man who let Goeben escape.”Sir John and the British Expedition Force appeared poorly in their portrays in the book. Sir John’s insistence, as well as that of the British, to retreat instead of joining France in the attack, almost resulted in their not taking part in the Battle of Marne, the Battle that halted Germany’s advance in France. Finally, after many fruitless efforts, the speech by General Joffre calling the honor of England into question apparently did the job of awakening Sir John from his folly.It has been said that The Guns of August helped save the world from nuclear conflict during the 1962 Cuban Crisis. When President Kennedy’s advisors urged him to strike the Russian missile sites in Cuba, he refrained from doing so because of what he read in The Guns of August that, once war action was initiated, it could not be stopped.The First World War was supposed to be the War to end Wars. Nothing can be further from the truth, as the number of wars since 1918 keeps on increasing. It seems that starting and continuing conflicts is part of human nature. It begs the question why such a wicked and destructive element exists in human nature. Perhaps the answer is again found in Mark Twain’s wisdom:“Man was made at the end of the week’s work, when God was tired.”

⭐I first read this book 55 years ago when I was in High School. I re-read it about 20 years ago and now again just recently on the Kindle App. The book is wonderfully written. Despite being about events over 100 years ago and my having a pretty good knowledge of how it turned out I found myself glued to the pages. The book is information rich and yet it also conveys the drama, feelings, and importance of both the events and the people who made it happen.The primary focus of the book is on the events of August 1914 when armies were on the march in Europe before the sides settled into a long and terrible war of attrition on the Western Front. However, enough information is presented of the times leading up to this calamitous period to understand something of the origins of the conflict and of the eventual outcome of the war. While WW1 is now over 100 years ago, the forces set in motion by it led to WW2 and influenced the events of the Cold War and even now.Rather than being highly judgmental about such things as the invasion of a neutral in Belgium and the harsh collective punishments on the civilians, the author presents the facts and lets you draw your own judgements. Ultimately this is the most persuasive way to bring up such historical facts. The author presents the story in such a way that I think you begin to understand the situation from all sides.The only negative I have to say about the book is that it is relatively light on the conduct and beginning of the war by Austria Hungary while concentrating mostly on the conduct of the war between the German Empire and France, England, and Russia. On the other hand it’s a relatively long book and I understand what the author has done in focusing on this critical period and conflicts.One advantage of the Kindle edition is that you can click on words or phrases to get them defined or translated. Obviously the author worked with German and French documents and includes the occasional French or German phrase. The occasional German phrases used usually include an English translation, sometimes the French word or phrases do not include an English translation, though the meaning is usually fairly clear from the context.I found that each time I have re-read the book that I notice new things and emphasis in the book. I would say that this is a book well worth re-reading if it’s been a while since you read it or if you never read it. It is especially chilling to me how the current situation in the Ukraine and potentially in Taiwan feels like it could devolve at any time to a new World War. That makes this book particularly poignant at this time.

⭐A science-fiction writer, I happened upon this book when I was eighteen and read it. Previously, my only experience with WWI had been ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ as assigned reading in high school. There are history books written by historians, and then there are history books. Too often chroniclers of history hold a particular worldview and write from this perspective. Tuchman does no such thing; while there may be outdated pieces of information, diaries recently discovered and all that, The Guns of August holds up rather well.The one complaint is she completely ignores the southeastern front fought in August, 1914 between Austria and Serbia. However, by showing the human side of those directly involved, and not shying away from the controversial decisions made by Moltke and Joffre.There may be more comprehensive books written about the first month of WWI, but few come close to the detail and explaining the events of August, 1914 like Tuchman does.

⭐In my opinion a massively overhyped book. It spends relatively little time on the most important question of why the European nations went to war. Most of the book is focussed on the military mistakes on the Western Front. With more perspective than Tuchman had, it is not clear these mistakes were in fact errors and those errors only happened because of the political mistakes that preceded them. The other two fronts in the war are given very short shrift but are equally important even if less well known.Don’t waste your time with this book, try one of the more modern works that actually try to address the question as to why the war started: “Sleepwalkers” and “The war that ended peace” are much better bets.

⭐As other reviews, both on Amazon and elsewhere, have said, this is an amazing book.While it is very much “non-fiction” and, in many ways, “a history book”, it is very well written, and very readable. Some of the sentences / paragraphs are incredibly well crafted, and you’ll probably learn some new words along the way e.g. tatterdemalion. I loved that one.The level / depth of research behind this book is phenomenal, and to think this 500 pages + represents only the first month of a 4 yrs + war.For me, it has done a few things.First, I feel much more informed about the reasons for the onset of WW1. I had previously heard that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the most important cause for the start of WW1, but I now know that was really only a part of the story. This book outlines the extent to which Germany had been “planning” war, and talking about extending its reach/influence through war, for many years before 1914. I personally had no idea that this was such an important factor or so openly discussed in Germany prior to the war. It also makes an important connection back to a war in 1870, which isn’t covered in detail but is clearly a major factor.Second, I now feel better informed about the role Britain played at the start of the war or, to be more precise, the role it didn’t play in that first month. As a nation we’re brought-up to think we played a huge role in both world wars and, while this isn’t disputed as a whole, it seems we didn’t entirely cover ourselves in glory in that first month (notwithstanding the fact that we did send thousands of troops, when no other core European nation did, with the exception of Russia).Third, I wasn’t really clear how Belgium came into being, and I’m now much clearer on that. I also have a renewed respect for Belgium and the way they stood-up to the initial invasion, in the face of certain defeat, in 1914. Inspiring stuff.Finally, it has reinforced the importance of communication, relationships and trust in any large-scale human endeavour. That these were, in large parts at least, missing on the Allied side in the first month of the war seems clear, though the communication piece can be partly ascribed to the lack of modern technology. It also brings home the fact that, sometimes, “you get what you prepare for” and that, if you prepare enough for bad things to happen, you can sometimes make them happen. That’s how it felt to me anyhow.My only criticism is that, at times, I found it extremely difficult to keep in my head the various individuals, battle fronts, town names and situations. At certain points the author gets into such depths on these points that I got lost, and couldn’t keep that multi-dimensional view in my head. Probably others will do better.But, overall, I’d highly recommend this book. It’s obviously very old (1960s I think), but, as a clear account of that first terrible month, it is excellent to read and very informative indeed. It has left wanting to learn more about WW1, though I’m not sure the next 4 yrs make for particularly happy reading (especially not in the middle of a pandemic…)

⭐I read somewhere that The Guns of August has since been surpassed in its research and treatment of events leading to the outbreak of the First World War. This may be the case as I’m no historian. However, it is certainly a fabulous read, brilliantly written (almost like a novel) and I can guarantee that if you only had a smidgen of interest in history before reading this book, then afterwards you’ll be hooked on the subject for good and seeking out a plethora of similar books to read. Highly recommended.I hope you find my review helpful.

⭐I have read this book three times, and that, for me, is an unusual phenomenon! Barbara Tuchman wrote a book which transcends normal military history. It is a veritable grand narrative which never neglects the human factor.Such works are rare; hence it’s drama, insights and longevity.

⭐With the centenary of the start of WW1 less than a year away, Barbara Tuchman’s account of the lead-in to and first month of the War, published originally in 1962, provides a wide-ranging and insightful study of the events and personalities that led to the catastrophe that would determine the course of the Twentieth Century. Given the UK Government’s £50m investment in ‘commemoration’, much of the book is a sobering reminder of many of the realities: the comparatively minor, and reluctant, part played by the BEF, sent by a vacillating British Government only when its treaty obligations to Belgium could not be dodged and then lumbered with conflicting aims that led to its virtual betrayal of the French army; the scale of German atrocities in Belgium, obscured by the larger-scale horrors to come, that might pose a few problems for a ‘neutral’ approach to blame in the commemorations; the general failure of political leaders to act with integrity and decisiveness – only King Albert of Belgium emerges with any credit. As, most of the time, does the ordinary soldier, as usual paying the price. If history is to teach us anything, there are lessons aplenty in this masterly work. Not least that countries are always preparing to fight the last war. There are uneasy echoes in this book of attitudes to the current US brinkmanship over their budget and ‘small problems’ in the Balkans: economic rather than military issues though ones that evoke similar human weaknesses and might have consequences as unimagined as those of that summer a hundred years ago.

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