Ian Senior - Invasion 1914

[Chris_Baker]

Amongst the outpouring of lightweight centenary books about “Tommies” and their hundred this, hundred that, cookbooks and the rest – at last, a serious work re-examining the battles of 1914. Ian Senior’s “Invasion 1914″ tackles the clash between the German and French forces, from their pre-war thinking and mobilisation, through to the gigantic battles of August and September. The ‘battle of the frontiers’, the immensely bloody fighting near Charleroi, the retreat southwards, Joffre’s counter strike at Guise, the reconfiguration of French forces and their decisive victory of the Marne, and finally the equally effective German defence along the Aisne and Chemin des Dames, are all covered in detail.

The author does not forget the British Expeditionary Force, but puts in it proper context as a relatively small force that after important actions at Mons and Le Cateau, and a series of very small rearguard actions on the retreat, was effectively taken out of the line of battle by its Commander-in-Chief and only returned once the tide had begun to turn. The major fighting was elsewhere, in the hands of the French and Germans, and this book is an important one in being one of very few in the English language that analyses and assesses the actions. It is, for example, the only really good modern English account I have seen of the Battle of Guise, which was not only important in overall terms but played a part in determining the fate of the British Expeditionary Force.

For bringing the fighting into context, and for producing a readable account, the author is to be congratulated. “Invasion 1914″ also includes a number of very clear maps, although perhaps inevitably given the scale of the fighting they rarely show units or formations smaller than a brigade. Excellent and recommended.

Book details can be seen at http://www.1914-1918.net/onthetrail/index.php/invasion-1914/

I was going to enter my review on Amazon but they say I can't as the book is not yet published!

[Fattyowls]

Thanks for the tip Chris, I think I will try this one before I read anything on the BEF, I've always had the nagging sense that for all of the exhausted heroism of the BEF in 1914 the real stuff was going on somewhere else. A bit of context will be really useful before I try to narrow down the book or books to read on the BEF's experience.

Pete.

[lostinspace]

Wasn't this published a year or so ago by Osprey under the title "Home Before the Leaves Fall"? Here's the link - http://www.ospreypublishing.com/store/Home-Before-the-Leaves-Fall_9781849088435 ; he covers Charleroi, Guise and the Ourcq (Marne) battles but not the massive battle in the Ardennes.

Dave

[David Ridgus]

Thanks for the tip Chris, I think I will try this one before I read anything on the BEF, I've always had the nagging sense that for all of the exhausted heroism of the BEF in 1914 the real stuff was going on somewhere else. A bit of context will be really useful before I try to narrow down the book or books to read on the BEF's experience.

Pete.

Pete

I've gone for four books to try and create the context you talk about:

The book Chris is recommending here

'A Mad Catastrophe' by Geoffrey Wawro (The Austrian campaigns against Serbia and Russia in 1914)

'Collision of Empires: the war on the Eastern front in 1914' by Prit Buttar

'Challenge of Battle: the real story of the British Army in 1914' by Adrian Gilbert

That should keep me going until the inevitable splurge of 1915 related books start coming out next Spring!

David

[Fattyowls]

Pete

I've gone for four books to try and create the context you talk about:

The book Chris is recommending here

'A Mad Catastrophe' by Geoffrey Wawro (The Austrian campaigns against Serbia and Russia in 1914)

'Collision of Empires: the war on the Eastern front in 1914' by Prit Buttar

'Challenge of Battle: the real story of the British Army in 1914' by Adrian Gilbert

That should keep me going until the inevitable splurge of 1915 related books start coming out next Spring!

David

Thanks matey, I was going to read Chris' recommendation and then go on to the Gilbert tome as you have spoken highly of it I seem to remember. I have a better grasp of the ground now, again largely thanks to Chris. I am reading so slowly at the moment it might take until the bicentenary if I try to include the Eastern Front and the Balkans. I'm currently blaming the long term damage caused by having my head next to the speaker bins at Hawkwind back in the mid 70's, it's either that or too much Irn-Bru.

Pete.

Pete.

[David Ridgus]

Thanks matey, I was going to read Chris' recommendation and then go on to the Gilbert tome as you have spoken highly of it I seem to remember. I have a better grasp of the ground now, again largely thanks to Chris. I am reading so slowly at the moment it might take until the bicentenary if I try to include the Eastern Front and the Balkans. I'm currently blaming the long term damage caused by having my head next to the speaker bins at Hawkwind back in the mid 70's, it's either that or too much Irn-Bru.

Pete.

Pete

I have been rightly upbraided by Heather for forgetting old friends in my recommendation. She has nothing against Gilbert, but reminded me that 'Farewell Leicester Square' by Kate Caffrey although now in Great War book terms quite long in the tooth, remains one of the best books on this period. It's also a fantastic read which as you know is always a strong plus with me.

David

[paulgranger]

A quick 'look inside' on Amazon does confirm that this book is the retitled paperback version of 'Home before the leaves fall' as suggested by lostinspace upthread. Didn't pay a lot of attention to the book on first release, but having waded through Catastrophe by Sirmaxhastings, I'm looking for more detail on the Franco/German battles, and Chris's review has certainly flagged this book up.

[David Ridgus]

Publishers seem to be trying to ensure they don't miss any potential sales because customers might not realise that a book is Great War related. I read somewhere that a new edition of Tuchman's 'The Guns of August' was going to be retitled 'August 1914' which I would have thought risked confusion with Solzhenitsyn's worthy (but in truth a touch dull) work of the same name.

David

[CarylW]

Thanks for the recommendation Chris. This is timely because I've made up my mind to stop moaning about the Centenery and try to re-educate myself a bit. Instead of flitting about between books I'll read some recommended books year by year as it happened one hundred years ago. Also several family members were part of the BEF so I'll give this one a go.

[spof]

Publishers seem to be trying to ensure they don't miss any potential sales because customers might not realise that a book is Great War related. I read somewhere that a new edition of Tuchman's 'The Guns of August' was going to be retitled 'August 1914' which I would have thought risked confusion with Solzhenitsyn's worthy (but in truth a touch dull) work of the same name.

David

I thought "August 1914" was the title of the original for the American market. I have a copy of the book with the August tile I bought second hand a few years ago.

[SiegeGunner]

JFK was famously reading Tuchmann's book at the time the Cuban Missile Crisis arose, and instructed his Cabinet to read it too. References to this all seem to cite the title as 'The Guns of August', but it was indeed also published as 'August 1914'.

Perhaps 'The Guns of August 1914' would be a suitable compromise ...

[Crunchy]

Chris,

Thank you for the recommendation. Just ordered it.

Pete,

You should also read Selwell Tyng's The Campaign of the Marne. Another excellent book that puts the 1914 Western Front campaign in context. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Campaign+of+the+Marne Very readable and pitched at the operational and strategic level, and although written in 1937 it remains a classic whose analysis has stood the test of time.

Cheers

Chris

[SteveMarsdin]

I found Tyng's book better than Herwig's more recent one on the same topic, which added little despite all the research undertaken in the intervening period.

Another book which covers the French side of things in English is Doughty's "A Pyrrhic Victory".

[David Filsell]

I certainly would not write off Herwig's book ''The Marne'.i It certainly echoes invasion and reads extremely well in my view

[Crunchy]

I found Tyng's book better than Herwig's more recent one on the same topic, which added little despite all the research undertaken in the intervening period.

I would agree Steve. IMO Tyng's is a much better book. I found Herwig got bogged down in details, and lacked the clarity of The Campaign of The Marne

Cheers

Chris

[joerookery]

We got the original “Home Before the Leaves Fall” and thought it was a pretty good book. I actually think we cited it once or twice. My wait a minute moment really came during the “opening moves” chapter on pages 65 to 69 there is a pretty light treatment of what transpired and then suddenly on page 70 he jumped to twenty August and suddenly a great deal more. So while I think the battle construct was pretty darn good I think he missed some of the major issues of his intention “a new history of the German invasion of 1914.” Similar to Zuber he erroneously refers to the Germany cavalry as “Cavalry Corps “and does not appreciate the difference between HKK and corps nor the plan problems associated with orders given to HKK1. This treatment and the lack of coverage of logistics problems as the Germans approached the BEF left me wanting more. So a great treatment that left me hungry! Nevertheless, given the reviews I think I will re-read this.

One more thing – it is refreshing to see the new publisher changed the cover photo after the original one got debunked!

[Fattyowls]

Chris,

Thank you for the recommendation. Just ordered it.

Pete,

You should also read Selwell Tyng's The Campaign of the Marne. Another excellent book that puts the 1914 Western Front campaign in context. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Campaign+of+the+Marne Very readable and pitched at the operational and strategic level, and although written in 1937 it remains a classic whose analysis has stood the test of time.

Cheers

Chris

Thanks for the top tip Chris. I am afraid I am reading so slowly recently that I try to home in on the definitive work; however all of the ones recommended have much to commend them. I'll just have to try harder.

I found Tyng's book better than Herwig's more recent one on the same topic, which added little despite all the research undertaken in the intervening period.

Another book which covers the French side of things in English is Doughty's "A Pyrrhic Victory".

Works for me Steve. I've got Pyrrhic Victory but it's a while since I read it

[David Ridgus]

Pete

Just when you thought it was safe to back in the water - another contender for context pops up!

The Sunday Times favourably reviewed 'Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary at war 1914-1918'. Amongst comments were '..it is good to see here a mirror portrait of the other side of the hill' and 'This book offers Anglo-Saxon students of the war a usefully original perspective'

Sorry mate but it looks like another one to add to the list (is that Jim Hastings I can hear laughing maniacally in the distance?)

David

[Fattyowls]

With

Pete

Just when you thought it was safe to back in the water - another contender for context pops up!

The Sunday Times favourably reviewed 'Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary at war 1914-1918'. Amongst comments were '..it is good to see here a mirror portrait of the other side of the hill' and 'This book offers Anglo-Saxon students of the war a usefully original perspective'

Sorry mate but it looks like another one to add to the list (is that Jim Hastings I can hear laughing maniacally in the distance?)

David

With friends like you and James who needs multinational cyber book companies. It's ok, I need to shed a few pounds, I'll just eat every other day.

[paulgranger]

This is available as a Kindle download for £1.09 today.

[paulgranger]

Bumped this up the board

[hazelclark]

Yes, Paul, but the deed was done before I reached this post! It is not, however, on sale here, but at under $8.00 nevertheless pretty good.

Hazel

[NickPS]

Just read this as second time - the first was on Kindle; this time around it was a softback and offered a completely different experience; to the extent that I felt it was like reading the account for the first time. For all it's many positives, I really don't think Kindle (at least my old version!) works for military history once maps get involved. An excellent book though - thought the Analysis alone was worth the price