Forgotten Victory: The First World War: Myths and Realities

After reading this I feel that the most misunderstood moment in history has to be World War 1. There are many more forgotten moments but the thing about WW1 is most people think they know about it.

It's interesting that people think "Oh what a lovely war"- a musical for heavens sake! Poetry and even Black Adder are some how important historical references. They all have to be by their very nature distortions of what really happened. Prussian aristocrats turned it into a stalemate in memory to eradicate their own failings and the peace movement hailed it as a catastrophe even though far fewer died in this war compared to the "successful" WW2. So Gary Sheffield carries out a Herculean task of taking out the misunderstandings and the deliberate confusions to come up with some very serious new conclusions about the war.

The information is clearly laid out in a very easy to read manner making this a favourite book of mine. Gary Sheffield acts as a guide leading you through this huge event with great skill and passion.

This book is vital to anyone who wants to learn the realities of the war from the people living through it. It strips away the suppositions and talks about what really happened.

A true WW1 classic (already) (33/36 people found this helpful)

Firstly, a word about what this book isn't - it is not intended to be narrative, year by year account of WW1. Many such books already exist, I found Huw Strachan's very good.

What this book does offer is a reappraisal of WW1, comparing the realities of the Great War with the tired stereotypes and myths that are served up regularly (and unquestioningly) in WW1 films, books and documentaries. Dr Sheffied does not flinch from asking the hard questions, and some readers will be shocked, or possibly angered, by some of his findings. But you don't have to agree with every word of it to find this an outstanding contribution to war history.

Apart from being an outstanding historian, the author is also an excellent writer who retains the reader's attention with stylist prose and wit. Unlike some other "revisionist" authors, he also writes with great compassion for those caught up in the war and resists the trap of rubbishing anyone who has written anything contrary to his thesis, except in cases where it is truly deserved (Alan Clark's dreadful "The Donkeys" being a case in point.)

In short, I wholly recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in the Great War.

A challenge to the myths (32/38 people found this helpful)

This is not an easy book to read but it is one that needs to be since it challenges our perceptions of The First World War.

The author argues that it was a necessary, not futile war, which had to be fought to curb German Militarism. It asks what would have happened to places that the Germans had overrun – such as most of Belgium – had there been an early compromise peace.

He argues that the Generals made mistakes but were not the crass, blundering butchers of popular belief – and specifically addresses such things as Blackadder goes Forth and expressions which have come into our language – such as a good man to have next to you in the trenches.

He argues that many of our perceptions of the war are based on war poets and English teachers – rather than the man in the trench doing his duty or historical facts.

He also explodes the widely believed – even today – Nazi myth that the German Army was not defeated but was betrayed by the politicians.

The arguments are well put, logical and easy to follow. I say it is hard to read however in that a statement on one page that the Grimsby Chums had light casualties of 110 men is not just 110 men who may not be coming back – it’s 110 families, parents, siblings, wives, lovers, children also affected. How much leeway can we allow for the “learning curve” which the BEF and its commanders had to undergo when men’s lives are being ruined or ended?

I came away with the impression that they did enough to win - but win well, or with ease, they did not. Therefore by the standards of Sun Tzu, they were failures. But looked at over four years, by the end they were running an efficient military machine, which with increasing numbers of American troops coming into the fray would have driven onto Berlin – had Germany not capitulated.

Ninety years after it started our views on The Great War are still coloured by our emotions and horror at the mud, the blood, the gas, the graveyards, the death of innocence and the “squander” of a nation’s youth. The author deserves credit for attempting to take this emotional baggage out of the equation. Perhaps in another ninety years time our successors will be able to do so.

An excellent reappraisal of the British Army. (6/8 people found this helpful)

So often thought of in the ideal of poets such as Wilfred Owen and Seigfried Sassoon, Gary Sheffield's excellent work argues that this attitude was hardly typical of the British soldier in the Great War. Far from being an inept mass army of "lions led by donkeys", the British Army experienced possibly the greatest learning curve in it's long, long history. The results of this learning curve were the overwhelming victory on the Western Front in the "Hundred Days" campaign, with the BEF reaching it's peak in professionalism and coherance. Sheffield points out that our perceptions of the Great War are distorted by the writings of such poets as Owen and Sassoon, and the pacifist literature that followed the conclusion of the war.

Whilst the author does not attempt to deny mistakes where they were made, he concisely demolishes the myth of the "lions led by donkeys" ideal, epitomised in his reappraisal of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. Not seeking to lionise him, Sheffield argues that he is a figure who deserves serious attention as the man who commanded a victorious British Army - presenting Haig in a far more concise, objective light.

A thoroughly recommended read for anyone interested in the British Army or the Great War in general.

An excellent reappraisal of the British Army. (22/24 people found this helpful)

So often thought of in the ideal of poets such as Owen and Sassoon, Gary Sheffield argues that this was hardly the typical view of the British soldier in the Great War. The old line of the British Army being an archaic institution of incompetant officers and disillusioned soldiers is refuted as a myth of post-war pacifist literature. In reality, the BEF experienced the greatest learning curve of all the armies in the war, and profited most from the hotbed of technological innovations and ideas (the tank, air reconaissance and the "creeping barrage"). The evetual reality of this great learning curve was the most impressive and coherant victory in the histoy of the British Army.

As well as the course of the war, Sheffield also seeks to re-examine the causes, with much emphasis placed on the post-Bismarck attitude of Wilhelmine Germany.

Whilst the author does not seek to deny the mistakes that were made, and the tragedies the befell the frontline soldiers, he argues that the "lions led by donkeys" mentality is one that has obscured our perceptions of the Great War even to this day.

The subject of possibly the most controversy, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, is also reappraised in a single chapter depicting the relationship between Haig and the men under his command, which by 1918, could be described as very coherant. Sheffield does not attempt to lionise Haig, but his excellent revision allows for a far more objective look into a very complex character.

An essential read for all who express an interest in the British Army, and the Great War.

Forgotten Victory: The First World War: Myths and Realities

Gary Sheffield

Reader Reviews:

World War 1 explained (0/0 people found this helpful)

A true WW1 classic (already) (33/36 people found this helpful)

A challenge to the myths (32/38 people found this helpful)

An excellent reappraisal of the British Army. (6/8 people found this helpful)

An excellent reappraisal of the British Army. (22/24 people found this helpful)

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