John Keegan - The First World War

[tn.drummond]

John Keegan 'The First World War'

Pimlico £ 18.99 First Published 1988

500pp 15 Maps and 3 sections of B/W Illustrations.

Keegan was a military historian of some renown and had for a number of years been Defence Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. He lived in Kilmington, a matter of a few miles from my own home, and when he died last summer I realised that I'd never read this, one of his most popular works. Described variously as 'Magisterial' and "Beautifully written...the best overall account..(for)...nearly forty years" I came to it with raised expectations.

A sub-theme of my core reading has been for a number of years a quest to discover what for me muster as the best of the single volume histories of the war. To counter some of my innate subjectivity I feel that some measures of evaluation should be applied principle amongst which is that any single volume should be concise, an introduction to the subject for the prospector signalling weightier matter to be mined elsewhere.

Secondly the net should be cast wide, Western and Eastern fronts should predominate but coverage is also required of the lesser but still important theatres of Africa, Mesopotamia, Dardanelles, Salonika and Italian fronts. I have a particular interest in India and the various revolutionary Russian escapades so these too should for me appear, if not only because of their importance in post-war geo-politics. Naval conflict and the blockade are essential.

Thirdly the political aspects, treaties before, ensuing actions and treaties post. Fourth strategy, tactics and technology. Here I would expect to see development of the two key fronts discussed together with comment on ground troop tactics in key battles. Artillery and the machine gun are vital as is the development of gas, tanks and aircraft.

Finally editorial structure; I want good maps and a sprinkling of photographs to cover each topic. Key Personalities should be identified and, most essentially of all, a detailed index and bibliography should be provided.

For me, 500 pages has always been towards the outer limits of a single volume history. There are exceptions, Raj by Laurence James for instance, that still leave one chewing at the bit after 700 pages, but for most histories I’m pretty much ready to move on come the half thousand. Any measure of size must of course satisfy equitable standards of scope and depth and this Keegan manages with some ease. All of the essential theatres of war are presented within an appropriate chronology and the time spent on each front is relative to the importance of the subject discussed - the Dardanelles passage is the possible exception; I found it overlong. His great strength is the lack of a pre-dominant Anglo-centric thesis. The effects on France, and its pivotal role as the dominant allied force in matters tactical, is well handled as are the German and Russian perspectives. The role of both Austria-Hungary and Italy are given adequate scope with enough spice to promote future interest in these lesser known fronts (I found myself stimulated into some reading about the Rumanian front pretty much a backwater in most single-volumes and new to my interest). Other fronts are covered adequately and he is again particularly strong and succinct on the Bolshevik’s use of the railways (eshelonaia) to confront dissenting force in remote and Asian Russia – the image of Tom Courtenay as Antipov in Dr Zhivago looped around in some vestige of my memory. I was pleased to see the Baltic States discussed and his brief account of Finland’s involvement (Mannerheim etc) is a slick piece of journalism that entices further investigation. Coverage of the American position is short and to the point and his précis of the Naval issues and conflicts is certainly the among the first tier of summations to be found in the single volume genre.

Keegan’s coverage of the Eastern front proper is less successful and I think tends to highlight two consistent faults that run throughout. ‘Victory and Defeat’ is a key chapter of some 30-40 pages that covers the critical Galician and East Prussian battles of 1914. Keegan makes the point that few narrative histories of the period and subject exist, ‘personal reminiscences are very rare. Nobody collected them’, is his premise and is founded upon the fact that Russian illiteracy rates ran at 80% of the population. The problem this creates is a lack of lighter or more flowing narrative, specific to this chapter but also to the book more generally. It does make for some rather arid reading. The book is obviously not a narrative history in the manner of Lyn MacDonald or perhaps Peter Hart, but neither is it an academic tome on, for example, strategy. For a generalist study I did find this a major flaw, I personally don’t need this kind of input but someone new to the subject certainly would and it rather provokes the question as to what is the purpose of the book?. That the chapters are generally packed with corps and army movements seems to suggest that more of a tactical and strategic history is intended, however these are seldom transferred onto maps nor personalised with details of key corps commanders. As such (and I’ve been reading military history for some 40 years) I found the repeated citation of Corps activities confusing and clunky. That maps do not show Corps specific data nor some key towns mentioned in the narrative makes for confusion. Poor maps and too much mention of military units one can’t assimilate left me, on occasion, marooned.

And so to politics and strategy…

Keegan’s writing here is masterly. I would recommend the opening three chapters to anyone interested in the causes of WW1. His central thesis is that the war was an unnecessary tragedy, its inception lying in difficulties with, and paucity of, methods of communication; this he enlivens and animates with some clear vignettes that bring to life the various political personalities and forces that predicated the conflict and eventually made it unstoppable. His coverage of strategy & tactics is at times outstanding, particularly in the development of the Western front from all perspectives. He provides a two page overview (Flanders to Switzerland) that I rate as one of the most shimmering pieces of prose on the subject; like a balloon ride, all below is made visible and nearly tangible. At his best he can hint at greatness.

Matters technical, from supply to innovation, are well covered and will more than satisfy the needs of any fledgling historian. Artillery is his strength and his statistics on the matter are readable and apposite. Tank warfare and development is covered more than adequately as is the progress and importance of the cruiser to battle-cruiser. Submarine warfare is covered to satisfaction as is his content on the development of the light and heavy machine gun. My only criticism of his technical coverage is that of the war in the air. I can’t recall Zeppelins being mentioned and most mention of aircraft is used in a secondary manner and to illustrate another subject.

In the final analysis this is a robust one volume study, overly wordy in some areas, delightfully incisive in others. Its failure to link maps to narrative is significant as meaning is lost and some confusion is certainly engendered.

Recommended indeed, but not as an initial induction to the Great War, more as a resume and reference to the previously inducted.

Tim

Edit: The British Home front is not covered in any depth.