To sum the book up in less than 500 words is fairly impossible, but I'll do my best. You have the whole of Europe which is a bit restless because nothing interesting has happened (ie, war) for about 45 years on the continent. Meanwhile, some of the great powers (or, Germany and France) are itching to play with their new "toys" which haven't been seen yet in history, including tanks, machine guns, and airplanes. The course of the book takes us through the events leading up to WWI and goes through the first month- August, 1914. In the first month, the War was lost for the Allies, won for the Central Powers, and then the reverse happened. It gives really great insight on who really "started" the war, how the war could have been prevented, and how the course of 20th century history was changed because of it.

The detail of the book was excellent. The author was able to show the variety of character between all of the people in the book, and was usually able to incorperate personal quotes of the generals, rulers, and other important people. The voice she used was excellent; an understated, almost satirical one which conveyed her message probably better than any other way.

the length of the book. While I enjoyed the detail, there were times when it was too much. There was also a lot of redundancy. For example, Tuchman explains the Schlieffen plan, then while she was describing battles, showed how it conformed to or went against the Plan. I found the Schlieffen plan fairly easy to interpret, and so I found this added "information" to be unnecessary.

take some asprin. My head was spinning, and my eyes were sore from reading 440 pages about war. Howeverm this is also a book that everyone should read, because I believe that it would discourage the use of war as a method for solving frivilous little disputes in the future.

ashamed to be human. Other animals don't start wars, especially for no reason. The petty conflicts of the kings and other countries became frustrating. It actually made me think of someone who told me that we should eliminate war, and let the heads of state duke it out between each other. And the way the victors would gloat, especially General von Luffendon. How can someone go up to a comrade who happens to be on the "wrong side" and essentially say, "Haha! We killed more of your people than you did of ours!"




Also, I was highly disappointed with the book, through no fault of the author's. She only reported the truths of the war. The disappointing part was how idiotic all these countries were. There was, as I said, no point in fighting. It was one nationality against another, each trying to prove that their culture was the best, that their army methods are the best (although, one has to admit that Prussian tactics are impressive).

did a very good job. I don't believe there is a documentary so complete as The Guns of August, especially of the thought process leading up to World War I. She shows both sides of the coin with an unbiased view, at least in terms of who should have won the war and who should have lost. Tuchman seemed to enjoy poking fun at the idiocy of the leaders, pointing out their most blatant to their most discreet mistakes. While she did get a tad carried away with describing everything, she presented a very real, sensory image of what it would be like to fight, and even run an army. She engaged all senses, and never faltered to point out similarities between two of the opposing armies, such as generals who looked fairly alike in both the French and German armies. Plus, she kept her book interesting, with funny antecdotes about her "characters"- quotes, stories, and other humourous events that keep an otherwise bland subject interesting.

it shows how futile war is. I don't think that average civilians appreciate how much goes into the planning, fighting, winning, and even loosing of war. This book brings to life all the struggles, the life-and-death decisions, of a war, and those consequences.

This book interested me quite a lot. It, along with other subject matter I was learning at the time of reading it, made me realize that war was not always what we see today. World War I was a different kind of war, a kind that had never been experienced before. War in the past was usually short and decisive, with few casualties. But at the turn of the century, war developed into a complex situation. There were new elements, such as gas, air raids, and tanks that suddenly came into being. This perception certainly lessened my opinion of war (not that it was ever high).

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Created Mar 19, 2002 at 8:52pm • Submit your own review...