Reviews

Studies of WWI tend to focus on the Western Front with its dramatic altercations at the Somme and Passchendaele. In fact, the war was fought on three continents, three oceans and nine seas. This neglect is particularly problematic in considering the final year of the conflict, when offensives in the Balkans, the Middle East, Italy and the West all ended with decisive victories for the allied powers. Addressing long overlooked campaigns fought in Iran, Palestine and Eastern Europe, Palmer embraces the full scope of the war while emphasizing the period after U.S. entry in the spring of 1917. Palmer (The Banner of Battle, etc.) has a sharp eye for diplomatic mistakes and opportunities missed in the quest to find peace sooner rather than later. Such occasions were plentiful in the final year. An example: Austria's Emperor Charles petitioned for peace on September 14, 1918, nearly two months before the final Armistice. What we now know to have been a genuine offer was seen by the British and Americans as a trick. The human cost: a quarter million mortalities between mid-September and the Armistice. As he ably shifts between the diplomatic big picture and the local horrors of the trenches, Palmer presents the war in all its banality and valor. (Jan.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Most World War I histories focus on the muddy trenches of France and Belgium, while the other major theaters of battle--the Balkans, Italy, the Middle East--are treated as secondary. British historian Palmer (Twilight of the Habsburgs) reverses this, covering all areas of the war but focusing primarily on the outlying fronts. This approach has some benefits: Lawrence of Arabia's efforts make more sense, for instance, when seen as part of the overall battle against Ottoman forces in Palestine and Jordan. Palmer's diplomatic portraits show how some Allied leaders, especially Lloyd George, favored "knocking the props" out from under Germany and Turkey; others saw the "sideshows" as distractions. This well-written and thought-provoking view of the war would make a good counterpart to John Keegan's recent The First World War (LJ 4/15/99), which covers the Western Front well. Recommended for public and academic libraries.--Robert Persing, Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib., Philadelphia Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.