Forgotten Victory: The First World War: Myths and Realities [Paperback]

Well...not nearly correct according to this ambitious but stunningly sucessful revisionist account of the First World War, written by one of the able group of younger military and political historians who are beginning to look through the fog obscuring the realities of the First World War. Gary Sheffield argues that our perception of the First World War is distorted; firstly - by an (entirely understandable) emotional reaction to the massive casualty figures involving so many young men, secondly - by the subsequent portrayal in the arts and literature by the war poets, O What A Lovely War, Blackadder and many others. Sheffield argues that, for all their literary merit, the war poets (mostly officers, all very atypical soldiers) are about as relevant to what really happened as Shakespeare's plays are to English history.

Looking beyond these popular perceptions, Gary Sheffield demolishes the myths of 80 years, with devastating logic and well chosen illustrative examples. German militarism had been rising since the reunification of Germany, by the 1900s it had reached a dangerous pitch and in the hands of the frankly unbalanced Kaiser and his military clique posed a severe danger, not only to Britain and France but the stability of the world.... If Britain had not gone to war in 1914 (and under treaty we were obliged to defend our allies France and Belgium), it would have happened later, perhaps when we were less prepared. The German attack on France and Belgium was a purely aggressive bid for European domination and had to be resisted. The German Army's behavior in Belgium was as atrocious (but on a smaller scale) as that in the Second World War.

Britain started war in 1914 as ill-prepared for the fury of modern industrialised warfare as all the other involved armies were, but by 1917/8 had climbed a steep learning curve, involving new technology (especially tanks and aircraft), new strategies, new training, better use of men and materials. Far from being hide-bound stuffed uniforms, British officers and generals took on the new complexities and challenges of war and gained stunning victories in the last year of the war, as complete and well accomplished as the British Army has ever achieved before or since. For example, nearly a year to the day after the tragedy of the first day of the Somme, a new approach (with exploding mines, night attack and an artillery "creeping barrage") enabled the New Zealanders to take Messines Ridge successfully with minimal casualties.

Even Field Marshal Douglas Haig is rehabilitated as a capable and determined warrior, far from the butcher and bungler he has been portrayed as (although in an aside Sheffield does admit to Haig's somewhat unusual personality, and remarks that "he might not be an ideal dinner guest").

In a postscript, Sheffield debunks the belief that the harsh conditions set down at Versailles "caused" the rise of Nazism and the Second World War.

While nowhere glorifying the war nor excusing the frequent incompetance and poor generalship, and fully acknowledging the massive tragedy of the First World War, Gary Sheffield makes a compelling case that the conflict was far from futile. The First World War needs to be rescued from simplistic perceptions fed by the media, and needs to regain its rightful place in history as a victory that Britain and its allies can be proud of.

This is the best book I have read on the First World War for years - Sheffield writes well and clearly and this is essential reading for anyone with any interest in the First World War. Read more ›