Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914 by Sir Max Hastings (English) Paperback Boo

Description: Catastrophe by Sir Max Hastings A magisterial chronicle of the calamity that crippled Europe in 1914. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description A magisterial chronicle of the calamity that crippled Europe in 1914. In 1914, Europe plunged into the 20th centurys first terrible act of self-immolation - what was then called The Great War. On the eve of its centenary, Max Hastings seeks to explain both how the conflict came about and what befell millions of men and women during the first months of strife. He finds the evidence overwhelming, that Austria and Germany must accept principal blame for the outbreak. While what followed was a vast tragedy, he argues passionately against the poets view, that the war was not worth winning. It was vital to the freedom of Europe, he says, that the Kaisers Germany should be defeated. His narrative of the early battles will astonish those whose images of the war are simply of mud, wire, trenches and steel helmets. Hastings describes how the French Army marched into action amid virgin rural landscapes, in uniforms of red and blue, led by mounted officers, with flags flying and bands playing. The bloodiest day of the entire Western war fell on 22 August 1914, when the French lost 27,000 dead.Four days later, at Le Cateau the British fought an extraordinary action against the oncoming Germans, one of the last of its kind in history. In October, at terrible cost they held the allied line against massive German assaults in the first battle of Ypres.The author also describes the brutal struggles in Serbia, East Prussia and Galicia, where by Christmas the Germans, Austrians, Russians and Serbs had inflicted on each other three million casualties. This book offers answers to the huge and fascinating question what happened to Europe in 1914?, through Max Hastingss accustomed blend of top-down and bottom-up accounts from a multitude of statesmen and generals, peasants, housewives and private soldiers of seven nations. His narrative pricks myths and offers some striking and controversial judgements. For a host of readers gripped by the authors last international best-seller All Hell Let Loose, this will seem a worthy successor. Notes Now in paperback, this is a magisterial chronicle of the calamity that crippled Europe in 1914, the beginning of WWI. Hastings explains how and why this war, which shattered and changed the West forever, was fought. From the author of All Hell Let Loose, which sold 260,000 copies. One could scarcely ask for a better guide to these horrors than Max Hastings... he is a superb writer with a rare gift for evoking the rhythm, mood and raw physical terror of battle. Mail On Sunday. Not final jacket image. Author Biography Sir Max Hastings is the author of twenty-five books, many of them about war. He was educated at Charterhouse and University College, Oxford, which he quit after a year to become a journalist. Thereafter he reported for newspapers and BBC TV from sixty-four countries and eleven conflicts, notably the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Vietnam and the 1982 Battle for the Falklands. Between 1986 and 2002 he was editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph, then editor of the Evening Standard. He has won many prizes both for journalism and for his books, most recently the 2012 Chicago Pritzker Librarys $100,000 literary award for his contribution to military history, and the RUSIs Westminster Medal for his international best-seller All Hell Let Loose. He has two grown-up children, Charlotte and Harry, and lives with his wife Penny in West Berkshire, where they garden enthusiastically. Review BOOK OF THE YEAR - AS CHOSEN BY THE INDEPENDENT, FINANCIAL TIMES, OBSERVER, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT AND SPECTATOR. Like one of Field Marshal Haigs family whiskies, Max Hastings is a dram that steadily improves with age ... His position as Britains leading military historian is now unassailable ... In this enormously impressive new book, Hastings effortlessly masters the complex lead-up to and opening weeks of the First World War ... [He] is as magisterial as we would expect ... This is a magnificent and deeply moving book, and with Max Hastings as our guide we are in the hands of a master Nigel Jones, Telegraph Hastings is the author of consistently good histories of WWII. But with Catastrophe he has reached a new level of excellence The Times Magnificent ... Hastings writes with an enviable grasp of pace and balance, as well as an acute eye for human detail. Even for readers who care nothing for the difference between a battalion and a division, his book is at once moving, provocative and utterly engrossing Sunday Times Masterly ... Hastings is a brilliant guide to that strange, febrile twilight before Europe plunged into darkness. Writing in pungent prose suffused with irony and underpinned by a strong sense of moral outrage ... this is history-writing at its best, scholarly and fluent ... for anyone wanting to understand how that ghastly, much-misunderstood conflict came about, there could be no better place to start than this fine book The Times One could scarcely ask for a better guide to these horrors than Max Hastings ... he is a superb writer with a rare gift for evoking the rhythm, mood and raw physical terror of battle ... If you are looking for a humane and compelling interpretive chronicle of the formative months of this horrific conflict, you will find none better Mail on Sunday Very readable. Character, pace, sense of landscape, battlefield detail - all are superbly done ... its a splendid read Observer Promotional Europe Goes to War 1914. The Essential World War I Political and Military History Book by the Sunday Times Bestselling Author Long Description The Amazon History Book of the Year 2013 is a magisterial chronicle of the calamity that befell Europe in 1914 as the continent shifted from the glamour of the Edwardian era to the tragedy of total war. In 1914, Europe plunged into the 20th centurys first terrible act of self-immolation - what was then called The Great War. On the eve of its centenary, Max Hastings seeks to explain both how the conflict came about and what befell millions of men and women during the first months of strife. He finds the evidence overwhelming, that Austria and Germany must accept principal blame for the outbreak. While what followed was a vast tragedy, he argues passionately against the poets view, that the war was not worth winning. It was vital to the freedom of Europe, he says, that the Kaisers Germany should be defeated. His narrative of the early battles will astonish those whose images of the war are simply of mud, wire, trenches and steel helmets. Hastings describes how the French Army marched into action amid virgin rural landscapes, in uniforms of red and blue, led by mounted officers, with flags flying and bands playing. The bloodiest day of the entire Western war fell on 22 August 1914, when the French lost 27,000 dead. Four days later, at Le Cateau the British fought an extraordinary action against the oncoming Germans, one of the last of its kind in history. In October, at terrible cost they held the allied line against massive German assaults in the first battle of Ypres.The author also describes the brutal struggles in Serbia, East Prussia and Galicia, where by Christmas the Germans, Austrians, Russians and Serbs had inflicted on each other three million casualties. This book offers answers to the huge and fascinating question what happened to Europe in 1914?, through Max Hastingss accustomed blend of top-down and bottom-up accounts from a multitude of statesmen and generals, peasants, housewives and private soldiers of seven nations. His narrative pricks myths and offers some striking and controversial judgements. For a host of readers gripped by the authors last international best-seller All Hell Let Loose, this will seem a worthy successor. Review Quote "Magnificent ... hypnotically readable" -- Sunday Telegraph "A work of staggering scope and erudition, narrated with supreme fluency and insight, it is unquestionably the best single-volume history of the war ever written ... [Hastings] writes with a wonderfully clear, unsentimental eye and has a terrific grasp of the grand sweep and military strategy. But what makes his book a compelling read are the human stories ... at the end of this gruesome, chilling but quite magnificent book, you never doubt that the war was worth fighting" -- Sunday Times "Majestic ... Hastings shapes all the stories, almost miraculously, into a single coherent narrative" -- Daily Telegraph "No other general history of the war amalgamates so successfully the gut-wrenching personal details and the essential strategic arguments. Melding the worms eye view and the big picture is a difficult trick to pull off -- but Hastings has triumphed" -- The Times "A fast-moving, highly readable survey of the entire war ... This is military history at its most gripping. A veritable tour de force" -- Evening Standard Feature - Published to coincide with the highly anticipated centenary memorial celebrations. - All Hell Let Loose was the history success of 2011-2, selling 260,000 copies. Description for Sales People The Amazon History Book of the Year 2013 is a magisterial chronicle of the calamity that befell Europe in 1914 as the continent shifted from the glamour of the Edwardian era to the tragedy of total war. In 1914, Europe plunged into the 20th centurys first terrible act of self-immolation - what was then called The Great War. On the eve of its centenary, Max Hastings seeks to explain both how the conflict came about and what befell millions of men and women during the first months of strife. He finds the evidence overwhelming, that Austria and Germany must accept principal blame for the outbreak. While what followed was a vast tragedy, he argues passionately against the poets view, that the war was not worth winning. It was vital to the freedom of Europe, he says, that the Kaisers Germany should be defeated. His narrative of the early battles will astonish those whose images of the war are simply of mud, wire, trenches and steel helmets. Hastings describes how the French Army marched into action amid virgin rural landscapes, in uniforms of red and blue, led by mounted officers, with flags flying and bands playing. The bloodiest day of the entire Western war fell on 22 August 1914, when the French lost 27,000 dead. Four days later, at Le Cateau the British fought an extraordinary action against the oncoming Germans, one of the last of its kind in history. In October, at terrible cost they held the allied line against massive German assaults in the first battle of Ypres.The author also describes the brutal struggles in Serbia, East Prussia and Galicia, where by Christmas the Germans, Austrians, Russians and Serbs had inflicted on each other three million casualties. This book offers answers to the huge and fascinating question what happened to Europe in 1914?, through Max Hastingss accustomed blend of top-down and bottom-up accounts from a multitude of statesmen and generals, peasants, housewives and private soldiers of seven nations. His narrative pricks myths and offers some striking and controversial judgements. For a host of readers gripped by the authors last international best-seller All Hell Let Loose, this will seem a worthy successor. - Published to coincide with the highly anticipated centenary memorial celebrations. - All Hell Let Loose was the history success of 2011-2, selling 260,000 copies. Details ISBN0007519745 Author Sir Max Hastings Publisher Harpercollins Publishers Year 2014 ISBN-10 0007519745 ISBN-13 9780007519743 Format Paperback Media Book Publication Date 2014-05-08 Pages 672 Imprint William Collins Place of Publication London Country of Publication United Kingdom DEWEY 940.3 Subtitle Europe Goes to War 1914 Illustrations Illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white) Language English UK Release Date 2014-05-08 Alternative 9780007519750 Audience General AU Release Date 2014-05-18 NZ Release Date 2014-05-31 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:78495914;

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