The Guns of August

Historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Tuchman has brought to life again the people and events that led up to World War I. With attention to fascinating detail, and an intense knowledge of her subject and its characters, Ms. Tuchman reveals, for the first time, just how the war started, why, and why it could have been stopped but wasn't. A classic historical survey of a time and a people we all need to know more about, The Guns of August will not be forgotten. The Guns of August 1......Page 2 The Guns of August 2 (1)......Page 3 The Guns of August 2......Page 4 The Guns of August 3 (1)......Page 5 The Guns of August 3......Page 6 The Guns of August 4 (1)......Page 7 The Guns of August 4......Page 8 The Guns of August 5 (1)......Page 9 The Guns of August 5......Page 10 The Guns of August 6 (1)......Page 11 The Guns of August 6......Page 12 The Guns of August 7 (1)......Page 13 The Guns of August 7......Page 14 The Guns of August 298......Page 0 The Guns of August 8......Page 15 The Guns of August 9 (1)......Page 16 The Guns of August 9......Page 17 The Guns of August 10 (1)......Page 18 The Guns of August 10......Page 19 The Guns of August 11 (1)......Page 20 The Guns of August 11......Page 21 The Guns of August 12 (1)......Page 22 The Guns of August 12......Page 23 The Guns of August 13 (1)......Page 24 The Guns of August 13......Page 25 The Guns of August 14 (1)......Page 26 The Guns of August 14......Page 27 The Guns of August 15 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290......Page 572 The Guns of August 291 (1)......Page 573 The Guns of August 291......Page 574 The Guns of August 292 (1)......Page 575 The Guns of August 292......Page 576 The Guns of August 293 (1)......Page 577 The Guns of August 293......Page 578 The Guns of August 294 (1)......Page 579 The Guns of August 294......Page 580 The Guns of August 295 (1)......Page 581 The Guns of August 295......Page 582 The Guns of August 296 (1)......Page 583 The Guns of August 296......Page 584 The Guns of August 297 (1)......Page 585 Published to immediate acclaim in 1962 and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1963, The Guns of August is the classic account of the cataclysmic outbreak of World War I in 1914 and the 30 days of battle that followed. This opening clash determined the future course of the war and shaped the history of our century. Its tense drama continues to enthrall readers of Barbara W. Tuchman's magnificent best-selling work, now in 25th anniversary edition with a new preface by the author. In the summer of 1914, Europe with a heap of swords piled as delicately as jackstraws, and not one could be drawn out without upsetting the others. Still, statesmen, field marshals, admirals, kings, and patriots believed what they wanted to believe -- or what they feared not to believe -- and waited in profound ignorance for victory to reveal itself within a matter of weeks. Instead, the holocaust of August was the prelude to 4 bitter years of deadlocked war that cost a generation of European lives. The German, French, English, and Russian General Staffs had had their plans for war completed as early as 10 years before hostilities began. Germany intended to invade France; England had committed her army to cooperation with the French Army. France, bolstered by her alliance with Russia and her "entente" with Britain, designed her strategy in terms solely of the offensive and the attaque brusqueée. Russia planned a pincer invasion of East Prussia while the main German armies were involved in the West. None of these plans allowed for the contingencies of the others, or recognized their own intrinsic errors. Yet for perhaps five years before the war began, each General Staff knew what the others would do; all that was planned. The bloody catalogue of the battles of August 1914 includes the almost mythic names of Liège, Tannenberg, Mons, the Battle of the Frontiers, and Charleroi. And of men like Joffre, indomitably rebuilding his shattered French armies; Samsonov dying a suicide after the annihilation of the Russian 2nd Army; von Kluck stubbornly committing his fatal mistake; Admiral Souchon choosing his desperate and fateful course for Constantinople. Through her unforgettable portraits of these characters and many others, Mrs. Tuchman has made her book doubly exciting -- revealing the human reasons for the disasters of war. - Jacket flap. In this landmark, Pulitzer Prize-winning account, renowned historian Barbara W. Tuchman re-creates the first month of World War I: thirty days in the summer of 1914 that determined the course of the conflict, the century, and ultimately our present world. Beginning with the funeral of Edward VII, Tuchman traces each step that led to the inevitable clash. And inevitable it was, with all sides plotting their war for a generation. Dizzyingly comprehensive and spectacularly portrayed with her famous talent for evoking the characters of the war's key players, Tuchman's magnum opus is a classic for the ages. - Random House. SO GORGEOUS was the spectacle on the May morning of 1910 when nine kings rode in the funeral of Edward VII of England that the crowd, waiting in hushed and black-clad awe, could not keep back gasps of admiration. The shock of opening clash in August, 1914, and the thirty days of batle which followed determined the future course of the First World War and the shape of nations in our time