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The Guns of August (Modern Library 100 Best Nonfiction Books), by Barbara W. Tuchman
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Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time
The Proud Tower, the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Guns of August, and The Zimmerman Telegram comprise Barbara W. Tuchman’s classic histories of the First World War era
In this landmark, Pulitzer Prize–winning 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.
Praise for The Guns of August
“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
“More dramatic than fiction . . . a magnificent narrative—beautifully organized, elegantly phrased, skillfully paced and sustained.”—Chicago Tribune
“A fine demonstration that with sufficient art rather specialized history can be raised to the level of literature.”—The New York Times
“[The Guns of August] has a vitality that transcends its narrative virtues, which are considerable, and its feel for characterizations, which is excellent.”—The Wall Street Journal
- Sales Rank: #8820 in Books
- Brand: Tuchman, Barbara Wertheim
- Published on: 1994-03-08
- Released on: 1994-03-08
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.23" h x 1.28" w x 5.47" l, .99 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 608 pages
- Ballantine Books
Review
“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
“More dramatic than fiction . . . a magnificent narrative—beautifully organized, elegantly phrased, skillfully paced and sustained.”—Chicago Tribune
“A fine demonstration that with sufficient art rather specialized history can be raised to the level of literature.”—The New York Times
“[The Guns of August] has a vitality that transcends its narrative virtues, which are considerable, and its feel for characterizations, which is excellent.”—The Wall Street Journal
From the Paperback edition.
From the Publisher
To many people, W.W.I seems like ancient history. To me, it is the most fascinating of wars. It is when the modern world began, or, in Barbara Tuchman's opinion, when the 19th Century ended. My late Great Uncle Jimmy, a Brit, joined the Army at the age of 16 by lying that he was 18 after being encouraged to do so by a recruiter. Where did they send him? To Ireland, to train horses for the cavalry! This was the same war that saw the debut of the airplane, submarine, tank, poison gas, machine gun, flamethrower, and hand grenade!
In this Pulitzer Prize-winning history, Tuchman writes about the turning point of the year 1914--the month leading up to the war and the first month of the war. This was the last gasp of the Gilded Age, of Kings and Kaisers and Czars, of pointed or plumed hats, colored uniforms, and all the pomp and romance that went along with war. How quickly it all changed, and how horrible it became. Tuchman is masterful at portraying this abrupt change from 19th to 20th Century. And how she manages to make the story utterly suspenseful, when we already know the outcome, is the mark of a great writer, and a classic volume of history.
Doug Grad, Editor
From the Inside Flap
"More dramtatic than fiction...THE GUNS OF AUGUST is a magnificent narrative--beautifully organized, elegantly phrased, skillfully paced and sustained....The product of painstaking and sophisticated research."
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Tuchman has brought to life again the people and events that led up to Worl War I. With attention to fascinating detail, and an intense knowledge of her subject and its characters, Ms. Tuchman reveals, for the first time, just how the war started, why, and why it could have been stopped but wasn't. A classic historical survey of a time and a people we all need to know more about, THE GUNS OF AUGUST will not be forgotten.
Most helpful customer reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
5 stars but note my recommendations in the last paragraph
By Kenneth C. Mahieu
There is a quote toward the end of this book, actually it's in the Afterword, that I believe summarizes very well what we have read in its 524 pages. This is from the French Chief of Intelligence speaking specifically of the Russians attack on the Germans in August 1914 which had come sooner than the Germans anticipated. It became necessary then for the Germans to shift two divisions from the Western Front in Belgium/France to the Eastern Front. In a short time, the Russians lost an entire army in the ensuing battles: "Let us render to our Allies the homage that is their due, for one of the elements of our victory was their debacle." The "Guns of War" is rife with debacle, incredible lapses of common sense and good judgment, disregard for orders, and sometimes, nerve. As is true in all wars. But in this book we are focused on just one month, August 1914. The title is quite literal. Coming into the War, both sides had very different expectations for the eventual outcome, but many on both sides anticipated a quick war. By the end of the month though, it was quite obvious that such was not to be the case.
Tuchman goes into considerable detail for most of the battles fought during that time. We come to know quite well the 6-10 Generals leading the armies of each side. She clearly has her heroes and her disappointments, and she describes them, their strengths, and their weaknesses in detail. She was particularly kind to the Belgians for the efforts and sacrifices both the military and civilians made and suffered to retard the advance of the Germans. She also saluted the French, recognizing that they had the highest losses per capita of the key combatants. She was very critical of Sir John French, first leader of the British Expeditionary Forces, for his frequent reticence to engage in "risky" battles.
Though I rate the book five stars, I encountered a number of disappointments. I wish Tuchman had written more about the circumstances that drew these countries into battle at this particular moment - and no, it was not just the assassination of the Archduke. Consequently, I bought a copy of "The Sleepwalkers" by Clark and will read it next. I recommend against the Guns paperback edition. The reprint of maps is terrible. I know the hardbound is out of print at the moment but if I had it to do over, I would have bought a used copy of it instead. I did buy the DK edition of WWl (coffee table size), with lots of photos and maps - and it provides very good summaries of events subsequent to August 1914 through to the signing of the Treaty; I recommend it highly. I also bought an even larger map book of WWl battles by Neiberg. (All of these books are available from Amazon.) Tuchman used an awful lot of French phrases in side comments, and the meaning in context of many was not clear - this was extremely annoying since I don't parlevous. Bottomline, though more than 50 years old this book is still very good but if you are going to read in depth about the causes, the War, the Treaty, and the Aftermath, you might want to pursue other books. There is just a ton of very excellent stuff out there and much of it has been written since 2000.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Reveals the nature of August in an intriguing way
By Bernie
It is okay to read Barbara Tuchman's books out of the order in which they were written. If you are starting here you definitely missed "Bible and Sword England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balflour", and "The Zimmermann Telegram" as a good background.
I have taken dry courses on WWI with the facts, numbers, and names. Some were very good with charts and diagrams. Some of the best explanations came from economics classes. However none of them put it all together as if you were reading a newspaper of the time until "The Guns of August."
Barbra brings out many facts and figures but mostly the personalities which seem at first an overwhelming amount of detail. Later you realize it is the detail that you missed in your history class.
Barbara has a way of making you feel that you shook hands with each of the key and not so key contributors to the creation of the environment of war and the people that dictated its nature and outcome.
You may find yourself re-reading this work periodically as you pick up different views through life and can reflect on what Barbra says in a new light.
I have to admit that somehow I missed some of the big things like "Plan 17." It was funny as when I was in the Army for the second time I went through BNOC where we had to stay up 36 hours and execute a different scenario every four hours. One of the scenarios was plan 17 where when you were up against an entrenched force that knew their territory so your only hope of success was to charge. If you lost momentum or tried to hide you were dead anyway. We won at only a casualty rate of 80%; the French faired pretty well on their first try also.
So in many cases this book can reflect on your life and the lives of others today.
I bought the hard copy of this book and also the Kindle edition with Whispersync. Usually the advantage of hardcopies are maps and charts. The Kindle edition had maps and charts that you consume in on. Whispersync also has its advantages; however you must be prepared for an overwhelmingly English accent.
340 of 363 people found the following review helpful.
Influential, and Historically Important, but also Fundamentally Flawed
By ReasonableGuy
The Guns of August may be the single most influential popular history of the origins of the First World War. It has convinced generations of readers that the war stemmed from a series of rivalries, which in turn lead to an uncontrollable escalation of events which ultimately results in an unintended conflict which sweeps up the most of the continent in a war that no one wanted. To the extent that President Kennedy is reported to have stated that this thesis influenced his thinking during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Guns of August takes on an additional level of historical importance which goes far beyond its merit as an interpretation of history. This book didn't just interpret history; it influenced history. It may have even helped to prevent a nuclear war. As such, it is an important book. This is why I've assigned it three stars; the book is historically important.
The great big screaming problem is, as a history, from the very day it was published, its basic thesis of war by miscalculation was already untenable on the basis of available scholarship.
The root of the problem is that while Tuchman does provide a brief overview of the historical tensions that provide a background to the war, she spends all of ONE long paragraph discussing what actually transpired between the assassination on June 28 and the July 23 publication of Austro-Hungary's ultimatum to Serbia (i.e. the crossing of the threshold that establishes that a decision for war has been made and opens the door to the further expansion of the conflict). This is a STAGGERING omission. If you're not going to spend any appreciable time looking at the specific actions of the participants during the crisis period, how can one possibly advance a thesis on the war's origin or who was or was not responsible for it's outbreak!
Here we need to cut through some bland nonsense. The war does not break out simply because of a set of longstanding bitter rivalries. Those rivalries were just that... longstanding. They are historically relevant background, but they are ONLY background. Crises came and went in the preceding years without leading to general war. The point is that even in a time of genuine crisis, something more is required to transform a crisis into a war. What is required is a specific set of choices, made by a specific set of decision-makers, occurring within a specific timeline. Tuchman's one paragraph treatment of the crisis period is a completely inadequate examination of what the key actors were actually doing during this critical period.
The irony is that for many people, Tuchman's "Guns of August" tends to be their first introduction to the history of the outbreak of WWI, despite the fact that far more scholarly and thorough works had been available for decades. The Carnegie Endowment translated and published quite a bit during the 1920s. Pierre Renouvin's Immediate Origins of the War became available in English in 1928, followed by Luigi Albertini's landmark 3 volume study, The Origins of the War of 1914 (3 Volume Set) which, by virtue of its extensive primary source documentation remains as valuable a reference as it was on the day of its publication. To these one could add Fritz Fischer's Germany's Aims in the First World War, which was published in German the year before GoA, and the subsequent War of Illusions: German Policies from 1911 to 1914 which came out several years later. All of these works dug into primary source evidence to painstakingly reconstruct the nuts-and-bolts details of the timeline of what went on at the top levels of decision-making. The evidence makes it clear that Tuchman's thesis was all wet. The war was not one of accidental, unintended escalation, nor were all parties more-or-less equally responsible. Decision-makers in Imperial Germany and Austro-Hungary made a specific set of deliberate choices that guaranteed the threshold to war would be crossed. While they may not have expected or intended the world war that they got, they were aware of the risks of escalation, and they very early on chose to accept those risks and opt for a punitive military strike against Serbia in preference to the pursuit of redress by diplomatic means. In contrast, prior to the issuance of Austro-Hungary's ultimatum to the Serbs, no other power took any steps which would have precluded the peaceful resolution of the assassination crisis. These other powers may share some responsibility for their role in background rivalries of the day, but they do not share equal responsibility for transforming an assassination into a war, which then had every possibility of expanding into a world war. Unfortunately, none of this comes out if one relies on Tuchman's one paragraph treatment of everything that happens between the assassination on June 28, and the ultimatum on July 23.
As Tuchman's Guns of August is historical important, I can't recommend that readers ignore it. However, I stress that it is essential to aware of its flaws. I can also recommend some remedies.
If you're not particularly familiar with the crisis period or the cast of characters, a good introductory work to start with is Europe's Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914? It's well organized and a fairly easy read. The documentation is not great, but Fromkin's book provides an excellent layout of the key players and the crisis timeline. When you get through Fromkin, move on to Albertini or Fischer's works cited above. These are not such easy reads, but they are scholarly, and very heavily documented. You'll need to spend some time with them, but if you invest that time, you'll emerge with a much more detailed understanding of the crisis period. You'll also be far better equipped to assess some of the new books which are coming out in connection with the war's anniversary.
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