‘Magnificent ... Hastings writes with an enviable grasp of pace and balance, as well as an acute eye for human detail. Even for readers who care nothing for the difference between a battalion and a division, his book is at once moving, provocative and utterly engrossing’ Sunday Times
‘Masterly ... Hastings is a brilliant guide to that strange, febrile twilight before Europe plunged into darkness. Writing in pungent prose suffused with irony and underpinned by a strong sense of moral outrage, ‘Catastrophe’ is a frontal assault on what Hastings calls the “poets’ view” ... This is history-writing at its best, scholarly and fluent ... for anyone wanting to understand how that ghastly, much-misunderstood conflict came about, there could be no better place to start than this fine book’ The Times
‘One could scarcely ask for a better guide to these horrors than Max Hastings ... he is a superb writer with a rare gift for evoking the rhythm, mood and raw physical terror of battle ... If you are looking for a humane and compelling interpretive chronicle of the formative months of this horrific conflict, you will find none better’ Mail on Sunday
‘Very readable. Character, pace, sense of landscape, battlefield detail – all are superbly done ... it's a splendid read’ Observer
‘‘No part of the Great War compares in interest with its opening’, wrote Churchill, and Hastings does full justice to its appalling drama ... Catastrophe is rich in unexplored sources from every side of the conflict and every theatre of the war’ David Crane, Spectator
‘Vigorous and readable, making good use of the worm’s eye-view ... Engaging, well paced and, despite the grim subject matter, often entertaining’ New Statesman
‘Vivid and compelling ... superbly detailed and nuanced ... Hastings is a master of the pen portrait and the quirky fact ... yet his greatness as a historian – never shown to better effect than in this excellent book – lies in his willingness to challenge entrenched opinion’ Saul David, Evening Standard
The Amazon History Book of the Year 2013 is a magisterial chronicle of the calamity that befell Europe in 1914 as the continent shifted from the glamour of the Edwardian era to the tragedy of total war.
1914: a year of unparalleled change. The year that diplomacy failed, Imperial Europe was thrown into its first modernised warfare and white-gloved soldiers rode in their masses across pastoral landscapes into the blaze of machine–guns. What followed were the costliest days of the entire War. But how had it happened?
In Catastrophe: 1914 Max Hastings, best-selling author of the acclaimed All Hell Let Loose, answers at last how World War I could ever have begun. Ranging across Europe, from Paris to St. Petersberg, from Kings to corporals, Catastrophe 1914 traces how tensions across the continent kindled into a blaze of battles; not the stalemates of later trench-warfare but battles of movement and dash where Napoleonic tactics met with weapons from a newly industrialised age. A searing analysis of the power-brokering, vanity and bluff in the diplomatic maelstrom reveals who was responsible for the birth of this catastrophic world in arms. Mingling the experiences of humbler folk with the statesmen on whom their lives depended, Hastings asks: whose actions were justified?
From the out-break of war through to its terrible making, and the bloody gambles in Sarajevo and Mons, Le Cateau, Marne and Tannenberg, this is the international story of World War I in its most severe and influential period. Published to coincide with its 100th Anniversary, Catastrophe: 1914 explains how and why this war, which shattered and changed the Western world for ever, was fought.
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Descripción Condición: Good. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Nº de ref. del artículo: 12973522-6
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Descripción Paperback. Condición: Fair. A readable copy of the book which may include some defects such as highlighting and notes. Cover and pages may be creased and show discolouration. Nº de ref. del artículo: GOR008637447
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Descripción Paperback. pp. 628. 8vo. Replete with duotone photographs. Light shelfwear; very good. Nº de ref. del artículo: 090192
Descripción Paperback. Condición: Good. 710 pages. Cover worn.xxxvii, 628 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : 24 cm In 1914, Europe plunged into the 20th century' s first terrible act of self-immolation- what was then called The Great War. On the eve of its centenary, Max Hastings seeks to ex plain both how the conflict came about and what befell millions o f men and women during the first months of strife. He finds the e vidence overwhelming, that Austria and Germany must accept princi pal blame for the outbreak From the acclaimed military historian , a new history of the outbreak of World War I: from the breakdow n of diplomacy to the dramatic battles that occurred before the w ar bogged down in the trenches. World War I immediately evokes im ages of the trenches: grinding, halting battles that sacrificed m illions of lives for no territory or visible gain. Yet the first months of the war, from the German invasion of Belgium to the Mar ne to Ypres, were utterly different, full of advances and retreat s, tactical maneuvering, and significant gains and losses. In Cat astrophe 1914, Max Hastings re-creates this dramatic year, from t he diplomatic crisis to the fighting in Belgium and France on the Western front, and Serbia and Galicia to the east. He gives vivi d accounts of the battles and frank assessments of generals and p olitical leaders, and shows why it was inevitable that this first war among modern industrial nations could not produce a decisive victory, making a war of attrition inevitable. Throughout we enc ounter high officials and average soldiers, as well as civilians on the homefront, giving us a vivid portrait of how a continent b ecame embroiled in a war that would change everything-- Includes bibliographical references (pages 595-603) and index 1914 chron ology -- The organisation of armies in 1914 -- Prologue : Sarajev o -- 'A feeling that events are in the air': Change and decay ; B attle plans -- The descent to war: The Austrians threaten ; The R ussians react ; The Germans march ; The British decide -- 'The su perb spectacle of the world bursting into flames': Migrations ; P assions ; Departures -- Disaster on the Drina -- Death with flags and trumpets: The execution of Plan XVII ; 'German beastliness' ; Lanrezac encounters Schlieffen -- The British fight: Mons ; Le Cateau, 'Where the fun comes in, I don't know' -- The retreat -- Tannenberg : 'Alas, how many thousands lie there bleeding!' -- Th e hour of Joffre: Paris at bay ; Sir John despairs ; Seeds of hop e -- The nemesis of Moltke: The Marne ; 'Stalemate in our favour' -- 'Poor devils, they fought their ships like men' -- Three armi es in Poland -- 'Did you ever dance with him?': Home fronts ; New s and abuse -- Open country, open sky: Churchill's adventure ; 'I nventions of the devil' -- Ypres : 'Something that was completely hopeless' -- 'War becomes the scourge of mankind': Poland ; The Serbs' last triumph -- Mudlife -- Silent night, holy night. Nº de ref. del artículo: 253d
Descripción Soft cover. Condición: Good. 1st Edition. Nice clean copy. Nº de ref. del artículo: 001678