The Great World War 1914–1945: v.1 - Hardcover

Comparing and contrasting the World Wars.

This will be a landmark in military history: a collaborative venture between historians from 20 different countries addressing every aspect of the two world wars.

The scope of the book is enormous. From frontline combat to civilian experience, women, children in wartime, genocide etc

1. The Face of Battle
2. Leadership in the wars
3. Civilians in the wars
4. National experiences
5. Cultural impact
6. Moral experience
7. Reflections

'The Great War 1914-45' is a landmark in military history. This collaborative venture by historians from 20 different countries addresses every aspect of the world wars. Above all, were they really two separate conflicts or should not he whole period be recognized as one 'Great War' that was not resolved until the extinction of German military ambition in 1945?

Frontline combat is compared and contrasted from the Somme to Stalingrad, aerial warfare from 'Bloody April' to the 'Great Marianas Turkey Shoot'. Naval campaigns, jungle and desert warfare and amphibious operations are examined as well as the success or failure of national strategies. One common strand is the contrast between the excellence of German battlefield tactics and the questionable strategy pursued by both the Kaiser's senior commanders and the Nazi high command.

Away from the battelfields, 'The Great War 1914-45' also investigates different civilian experiences of war, grand strategy, economic policy, and the 'barbarization of warfare' that so marred the first half of the 20th Century.