Download or read book With Our Backs to the Wall written by David Stevenson and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2011-09-19 with total page 747 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With so much at stake and so much already lost, why did World War I end with a whimper-an arrangement between two weary opponents to suspend hostilities? After more than four years of desperate fighting, with victories sometimes measured in feet and inches, why did the Allies reject the option of advancing into Germany in 1918 and taking Berlin? Most histories of the Great War focus on the avoidability of its beginning. This book brings a laser-like focus to its ominous end-the Allies' incomplete victory, and the tragic ramifications for world peace just two decades later. In the most comprehensive account to date of the conflict's endgame, David Stevenson approaches the events of 1918 from a truly international perspective, examining the positions and perspectives of combatants on both sides, as well as the impact of the Russian Revolution. Stevenson pays close attention to America's effort in its first twentieth-century war, including its naval and military contribution, army recruitment, industrial mobilization, and home-front politics. Alongside military and political developments, he adds new information about the crucial role of economics and logistics. The Allies' eventual success, Stevenson shows, was due to new organizational methods of managing men and materiel and to increased combat effectiveness resulting partly from technological innovation. These factors, combined with Germany's disastrous military offensive in spring 1918, ensured an Allied victory-but not a conclusive German defeat.

Download or read book The Marne 15 July 6 August 1918 written by Stephen C. McGeorge and Mason W. Watson and published by . This book was released on with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Greatest Victory written by J. L. Granatstein and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did Canadians come to lead these mobile, well-coordinated, and hard-hitting attacks? The preparations were intense, according to Granatstein, ranging from individual training to massive corps-wide exercises; careful analysis of "lessons learned" studies; expansion of the role of signallers, gunners and engineers; and perfection of techniques like the "creeping barrage." The "fire and movement" philosophy emphasized by Sir Arthur Currie, Commander of the Canadian Corps, increased the use of tanks, machine guns, Stokes mortars, and phosphorus bombs, among other military hardware. Mobility was the key; Canadians used their two Motor Machine Brigades - with guns and mortars mounted on armoured cars and trucks - with great effect. Granatstein is an award-winning historian who has received six honorary degrees for his work on conflict and Canadian history.

Download or read book On War written by Carl von Clausewitz and published by . This book was released on 1908 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book 1918 Year of Victory written by Ashley Ekins and published by Exisle Publishing. This book was released on 2010-04 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The First World War was a turning point in history. It marked the birth of the modern era and established the pattern for large-scale violence, devastation and genocide throughout the wars of the 20th century. Old empires disintegrated and new nations emerged in the maelstrom of the war and its aftermath. The peace settlements reshaped national boundaries, leaving tensions and rivalries between nation states and people that resonate to the present day. Historians continue to explore and challenge many assumptions and perceptions surrounding the conflict, from its origins and causes, to the responsibility for its conduct, the reasons for Allied victory over the Central Powers, and the consequences and long-term outcomes of that victory. This book is a collection of the latest research findings by scholars from a number of nations, many of them renowned specialists in their field. They gathered for an international conference, 1918 YEAR OF VICTORY, convened by the Australian War Memorial in Canberra in November 2008 to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of the war and to share their insights into issues surrounding the ending of the war, its memory and continuing impact. Lively, authoritative and wide-ranging, the chapters span the themes of war strategy and planning; the problems of raising, training and maintaining armies in the field; developments in technology and weapons systems; the role of command; the evolution of tactics and the use of combined arms; the development of war economies; and the exploitation of human and material resources in war on the home front, on land, at sea and in the air. CONTRIBUTORS Jay Winter Yale University, USA Robin Prior University of Adelaide, Australia Gary Sheffield University of Birmingham, UK Robert Foley University of Liverpool, UK Elizabeth Greenhalgh University of New South Wales, Australia Meleah Ward University of Adelaide, Australia Ashley Ekins Australian War Memorial Peter Pedersen Australian War Memorial Glyn Harper Massey University, New Zealand Tim Cook Canadian War Museum, Canada David Stevens Defence Sea Power Centre, Australia James Goldrick Australian Defence College Peter Hart Imperial War Museum, London, UK Trevor Wilson University of Adelaide, Australia Martin Crotty University of Queensland, Australia Stephen Badsey University of Wolverhampton, UK

Download or read book St Mihiel 12 16 September 1918 written by Donald A. Carter and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The St. Mihiel salient, created during the initial German invasion in 1914, had withstood multiple French efforts to regain the territory. Yet even though the Germans had established strong defensive positions around St. Mihiel and its neighboring villages and towns, the salient was highly vulnerable to attack and was an optimal target for a potential American operation. Until this point in the war, members of the American Expeditionary Forces had not fought in a formation larger than a corps, and then only under French or British leadership. Now, as part of the American First Army under General John J. Pershing, they prepared to launch an offensive that would demonstrate to the Allies and the Germans alike that the Americans were capable of operating as an independent command. The AEF's successful efforts in the St. Mihiel Offensive, and the hard-won operational and tactical lessons that it learned during the battle, helped set the stage for the grand Allied offensive that would seize the initiative on the Western Front and blaze a path toward ultimate victory in the war.

Download or read book A History of the Great War 1914 1918 written by C.R.M.F. Cruttwell and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2019-09-03 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This vivid, detailed history of World War I presents the general reader with an accurate and readable account of the campaigns and battles, along with brilliant portraits of the leaders and generals of all countries involved. Scrupulously fair, praising and blaming friend and enemy as circumstances demand, this has become established as the classic account of the first world-wide war.

Download or read book Toward Combined Arms Warfare written by Jonathan Mallory House and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1985 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book 1918 Defining Victory written by Peter Dennis and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book To Win the Battle written by Robert C. Stevenson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1915 the 1st Australian Division led the way ashore at Gallipoli. In 1916 it achieved the first Australian victory on the Western Front at Pozières. It was still serving with distinction in the battles that led to the defeat of the German army in 1918. To Win the Battle explains how the division rose from obscurity to forge a reputation as one of the great fighting formations of the British Empire during the First World War, forming a central part of the Anzac legend. Drawing on primary sources as well as recent scholarship, this fresh approach suggests that the early reputation of Australia's premier division was probably higher than its performance warranted. Robert Stevenson shows that the division's later success was founded on the capacity of its commanders to administer, train and adapt to the changing conditions on the battlefield, rather than on the innate qualities of its soldiers.

Download or read book The AIF in Battle written by Jean Bou and published by Melbourne Univ. Publishing. This book was released on 2016-06-13 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the end of the First World War the combat formations of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in both France and the Middle East were considered among the British Empire’s most effective troops. While sometimes a source of pride and not a little boasting, how the force came to be so was not due to any inherent national prowess or trait. Instead it was the culmination of years of training, organisational change, battlefield experimentation and hard-won experience—a process that included not just the Australians, but the wider British imperial armies as well. This book brings together some of Australia's foremost military historians to outline how the military neophytes that left Australia's shores in 1914 became the battle winning troops of 1918. It will trace the evolution of several of the key arms of the AIF, including the infantry, the light horse, the artillery, and the flying corps, and also consider how the various arms worked together alongside other troops of the British Empire to achieve a remarkably high level of battlefield effectiveness.

Download or read book Forgotten Decisive Victories written by Richard V. Barbuto and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Defining And Achieving Decisive Victory written by Colin S. Gray and published by . This book was released on 2014-07-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States was thrust so suddenly into the war on terrorism that it was forced to deal with both immediate operational issues and broad strategic questions simultaneously. Even while the American military is consolidating battlefield success in Afghanistan, strategic thinkers and leaders are developing a long-term strategy. In this process, nothing is more important than defining victory. In this monograph, Dr. Colin Gray, one of the world's leading strategic thinkers, explores the concept of victory in the war in terrorism, but he does so by placing it within the larger currents of change that are sweeping the global security environment. He contends that the time-tested idea of decisive victory is still an important one, but must be designed very carefully in this dangerous new world. To do so correctly can provide the foundation for an effective strategy. To fail to do so could be the first step toward strategic defeat.

Download or read book Britain and Victory in the Great War written by Peter Liddle and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2018-06-30 with total page 729 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can we begin to make sense of the Great War now that over 100 years have passed since it ended with the defeat of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman empire and Bulgaria, and the collapse of Tsarist Russia? The conflict had such a profound influence on world history that is it difficult to reconcile the different perspectives and draw clear conclusions. That is why this thought-provoking collection of original essays on the outcome of the war and its aftermath is of such value.It completes the trilogy of ground-breaking volumes conceived and edited by Peter Liddle which presents the latest scholarly thinking about the Great War from an international perspective. The first two volumes Britain Goes to War and Britain and the Widening War made this stimulating new writing accessible to a broad readership and this final volume has the same aim.A group of over twenty expert contributors reconsider the military reasons for the outcome of the fighting and look at the consequences for the principal nations involved. They explore the way the war and the peace settlement shaped the twentieth century and had an enduring impact within Europe and beyond.

Download or read book It Can t Last Forever written by David Campbell and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 2017-10-12 with total page 731 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 19th Battalion was an infantry unit that fought in many of the deadliest battles of the First World War. Hailing from Hamilton, Toronto, and other communities in southern Ontario and beyond, its members were ordinary men facing extraordinary challenges at the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, Amiens, and other battlefields on Europe’s Western Front. Through his examination of official records and personal accounts, the author presents vivid descriptions and assessments of the rigours of training, the strains of trench warfare, the horrors of battle, and the camaraderie of life behind the front lines. From mobilization in 1914 to the return home in 1919, Campbell reveals the unique experiences of the battalion’s officers and men and situates their service within the broader context of the battalion’s parent formations—the 4th Infantry Brigade and the 2nd Division of the Canadian Corps. Readers will gain a fuller appreciation of the internal dynamics of an infantry battalion and how it functioned within the larger picture of Canadian operations.

Download or read book The British Army and the First World War written by Ian Beckett and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-05-25 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive new history of the shaping and performance of the British army during the First World War.

Download or read book The Australian Imperial Force written by Jean Bou and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Great War came at a terrible cost, be it in human, material or financial terms. For the young Commonwealth of Australia the raising, sending and maintenance of an expeditionary force that eventually totalled 330,000 men was a massive undertaking. This book examines the fruit of this endeavour, the Australian Imperial Force. In doing so it seeks to outline and analyse the institution from its inception to its disbandment after the war. The book considers the creation of the force, the way that it expanded, the organisation of its fighting units and formations, how it used its human resources, its command and its administration. It also draws on up-to-date statistical information drawn from the AIF Database, a database created as part of a long-term research project undertaken at the University of New South Wales Canberra (located at the Australian Defence Force Academy).