Was Lloyd George a better war leader than Churchill? Why did D-Day succeed but Gallipoli fail? What was it like to grow up in a city bombed every night?
In 1914-18 war spawned the Bolshevik revolution and paved the way for the Nazis. Fro many nations, 1939-45 represented a continuation of the First War - so much so that it is time to consider both conflicts as one Great War from 1914-45.
This book is a collaborative venture by historians from 20 different countries and addresses every aspect of the world wars. 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 battlefields, 'The Great War 1914-45' also investigates different civilian experiences of war, grand strategy, economic policy, and the "barbarisation of warfare" that so marred the first half of the 20th century.
