I should preface this review by saying that I’ve examined a number of other histories of World War One. For example, I watched PBS’s 6-hour series “The Great War,” made for their American Experience series. And, as you might expect from this, PBS does indeed focus on the American experience of this great conflict. Prior parts of the conflict are therein discussed mainly through the experiences of American soldiers, who enlisted in various European armies. I’ve also watched CBS’s 10-hour series “World War One,” made back in 1964. Thankfully, CBS gives a pretty decent overview of the war, although they do have a disproportionate focus on the American experience of that war. And, most importantly, I saw the BBC’s 17-hour series “The Great War,” also made in 1964. This latter series even interviewed some of the veterans of that war. Thus, this is the best television overview of the war. It may even be one of the finest military history documentaries ever made. Thus, I’ve seen a number of other histories of World War One.
By contrast, this audiobook about World War One was only 4 hours long. It is part of a larger audiobook series called “The United States at War.” Thus, I was expecting it to focus largely on the American involvement in the war, much like the aforementioned PBS series. But, surprisingly, that was not the case here – which was actually good. In some ways, this audiobook is more like the aforementioned CBS series. This was because it endeavored to do a brief overview of the war – albeit one that had a disproportionate focus on the American experience. They give a brief (but still good) overview of the causes of the great European war. These causes were primarily rooted in a web of military alliances between the various European powers. This audiobook then gives a fairly detailed examination of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This audiobook then examines the diplomatic maneuverings of the July Crisis in some detail as well. Thus, the war soon broke out in Europe in 1914.
Sinking of the RMS Lusitania, 1915
This audiobook then covers the conflicts on the Italian front, the Russian front, and the Middle Eastern front (among other places). But there is also a strong focus on how the United States got involved. This audiobook discusses Theodore Roosevelt agitating for America to get involved in the war. They discuss major events like the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, and the infamous Zimmermann Telegram of 1917. My only criticism in this regard was that they spent very little time on the unstable situation in Mexico. In my opinion, the Mexican Revolution had much to do with the American entry into the war, because of the German involvement there. Regardless, they talk about how Woodrow Wilson was initially reluctant to enter the war. But, once he decided to enter the war, he clamped down on anyone who was critical of the national war effort. Indeed, his crackdown on free speech may have been one of the most unconstitutional things ever done by an American president. The audiobook commendably takes Wilson to task for all of this.
Meuse-Argonne offensive, circa 1917 or 1918
In 1917, a communist revolution in Russia soon knocked Russia out of the war. Thus, Germany was able to send many troops from the Eastern Front to the even-closer Western Front. The Germans were then gaining ground, shortly before American troops entered the maelstrom. But, when America finally started to commit more of its troops to the front, this was enough to make the difference. I should acknowledge that the British and the French did the bulk of the fighting and dying before then. Nonetheless, they were badly outnumbered, and thus needed the help of the Americans. This documentary does acknowledge the prior contributions of the Europeans, which is good. But they also show the critical importance of the American entry into the war, which is also good. They helped to regain some ground, and reverse the Allied fortunes. Thus, this audiobook seems to have avoided many of the common historical mistakes, in either direction with regards to the American involvement. That’s part of what makes this audiobook so good.
American troops advancing on the Western Front, March 1918
An armistice soon ended the war in 1918. Thus, the negotiations for the postwar peace treaty began soon afterwards. By 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was being signed in France. In my opinion, this audiobook gives the best coverage of the Paris Peace Conference that I have ever heard. I watched an entire documentary about this (more about that here), but it wasn’t all that good. Thus, I felt like this was the part of this audiobook from which I was able to learn the most. That’s part of what makes this audiobook so good. They give some detailed analysis of certain historical documents, like Wilson’s Fourteen Points. This sort of thing might be a little harder to dramatize for television, since it’s less visual. Thus, this sort of thing lends itself more to the narration-focused format of this audiobook. That’s part of why this audiobook is still worth having. It may be much briefer than the aforementioned television histories, but it still offers a solid overview in its four hours of runtime. Thus, this audiobook still belongs in the collection of the World War One buff. Highly recommended to any student of American military history, or to any historian of the twentieth-century World Wars.
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If you liked this post, you might also like:
Part of an audiobook series
The United States at War
World War One (1917-1918)
Others to be covered later
See also the audiobook series
The United States Constitution
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