Fire and Movement: The British Expeditionary Force and the Campaign of 1914 - Tapa dura

Fire and Movement is certainly the best and most perceptive account of the BEF in 1914 currently in print... It is impossible to offer more than a very strong recommendation for peter Hart's latest work. (David Filsell, The Bulletin of the Military Historical Society.)

s an Imperial War Museum oral historian with a string of books about the Great War covering such diverse subjects as Gallipoli, Jutland, and the air war to his name, Peter Hart is justly renowned. With his consumate melding of narrative with descriptions from contemporary diaries and letters, he has effectively taken over the mantle of Lyn MacDonald, producing works that are both accessible to the general reader and informative to the expert. This new volume, covering the Great War from its outbreak until the end of 1914 is no exception. (Western Front Association: Stand To!, Niall Ferguson)

Hart has established himself as a respected historian on the Great War... His books are never dry academic tomes. Pitched at the general reading public and Great War buffs alike, they deliver a clear, engaging and easy to read narrative, interspersed with analysis, and laced with chunks of quotes from participants that add colour and substance to the incidents he relates. (Sydney Morning Herald, Chris Roberts)

Fire and Movement is an eminently readable volume ... Hart's work has established a place as a valuable text on the subject. It will appeal to both scholars and general readers, and deserves to be read by both. (Spencer Jones, Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research)

It is [a] combination of strongly expressed opinion, nuance, rigorous argument, and research which makes this book an excellent read, as much for the beginner as for those with previous knowledge. (Bijan Omrani, Military History magazine)

Hart's ability to capture individual warriors' experiences as they vividly described them and connect those stories to the broader campaign narrative is a key strength of Fire and Movement (Brian Drohan, Army History)

The dramatic opening weeks of the Great War passed into legend long before the conflict ended. The British Expeditionary Force fought a mesmerizing campaign, outnumbered and outflanked but courageous and skillful, holding the line against impossible odds, sacrificing themselves to stop the last great German offensive of 1914. A remarkable story of high hopes and crushing disappointment, the campaign contains moments of sheer horror and nerve-shattering excitement; pathos and comic relief; occasional cowardice and much selfless courage―all culminating in the climax of the First Battle of Ypres.

And yet, as Peter Hart shows in this gripping and revisionary look at the war's first year, for too long the British part in the 1914 campaigns has been veiled in layers of self-congratulatory myth: a tale of poor unprepared Britain, reliant on the peerless class of her regular soldiers to bolster the rabble of the unreliable French Army and defeat the teeming hordes of German troops. But the reality of those early months is in fact far more complex―and ultimately, Hart argues, far more powerful than the standard triumphalist narrative.

Fire and Movement places the British role in 1914 into a proper historical context, incorporating the personal experiences of the men who were present on the front lines. The British regulars were indeed skillful soldiers, but as Hart reveals, they also lacked practice in many of the required disciplines of modern warfare, and the inexperience of officers led to severe mistakes. Hart also provides a more accurate portrait of the German Army they faced―not the caricature of hordes of automatons, but the reality of a well-trained and superlatively equipped force that outfought the BEF in the early battles―and allows readers to come to a full appreciation of the role of the French Army, without whom the Marne never would have been won.

Ultimately Fire and Movement shows the story of the 1914 campaigns to be an epic tale, and one which needs no embellishment. Through the voices and recollections of the soldiers who were there, Hart strips away the myth to offer a clear-eyed account of the remarkable early days of the Great War.