Fire and Movement: The British Expeditionary Force and the Campaign of 1914
- ISBN-10
- 0199355525
- ISBN-13
- 9780199355525
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 544
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2014-10-01
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Author
- Peter Hart
Description
The dramatic opening weeks of the Great War passed into legend long before the conflict ended. The British Expeditionary Force fought a mesmerizing campaign, outnumbered and outflanked but courageous and skillful, holding the line against impossible odds, sacrificing themselves to stop the last great German offensive of 1914. A remarkable story of high hopes and crushing disappointment, the campaign contains moments of sheer horror and nerve-shattering excitement; pathos and comic relief; occasional cowardice and much selfless courage--all culminating in the climax of the First Battle of Ypres. And yet, as Peter Hart shows in this gripping and revisionary look at the war's first year, for too long the British part in the 1914 campaigns has been veiled in layers of self-congratulatory myth: a tale of poor unprepared Britain, reliant on the peerless class of her regular soldiers to bolster the rabble of the unreliable French Army and defeat the teeming hordes of German troops. But the reality of those early months is in fact far more complex--and ultimately, Hart argues, far more powerful than the standard triumphalist narrative. Fire and Movement places the British role in 1914 into a proper historical context, incorporating the personal experiences of the men who were present on the front lines. The British regulars were indeed skillful soldiers, but as Hart reveals, they also lacked practice in many of the required disciplines of modern warfare, and the inexperience of officers led to severe mistakes. Hart also provides a more accurate portrait of the German Army they faced--not the caricature of hordes of automatons, but the reality of a well-trained and superlatively equipped force that outfought the BEF in the early battles--and allows readers to come to a full appreciation of the role of the French Army, without whom the Marne never would have been won. Ultimately Fire and Movement shows the story of the 1914 campaigns to be an epic tale, and one which needs no embellishment. Through the voices and recollections of the soldiers who were there, Hart strips away the myth to offer a clear-eyed account of the remarkable early days of the Great War.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2015
- 480 pages
- Paperback
- Oxford University Press, USA
Similar books
-
A Fierce Green Fire: The American Environmental Movement
By Philip ShabecoffOriginally published in 1993, this new edition brings the story up to date with an analysis of how the administration of George W. Bush is seeking to dismantle a half-century of progress in protecting the land and its people, and a ...
-
The Fire and the Word: A History of the Zapatista Movement
By Gloria Muñoz RamírezCheck out the latest on the International Zapatista Campaign at elfuegoylapalabra.org!In 1983, a small group of Mexicans traveled to the Lacandón jungle in Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas, with the...
-
Fire and Flames: A History of the German Autonomist Movement
By GeronimoTranslated for the first time into English, the history of the German autonomous anticapitalist movement is traced back to the 1970s in this firsthand account.
-
Ranger Handbook (Large Format Edition)
By Ranger Training Brigade, U. S. Army Infantry, RANGER TRAINING BRIGADE. U. S. ARMY INFANTRY. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY.A group of highly-trained and well-organized soldiers, US Army Rangers must be prepared to handle any number of dangerous, life-threatening situations at a moment's notice-and they must do so calmly and decisively. This is their handbook.
-
A Diagram for Fire: Miracles and Variation in an American Charismatic Movement
By Jon BialeckiMy wager is that this book will quickly earn an expansive readership among anthropological and trans-disciplinary scholars.”—James S. Bielo, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Miami University “Jon Bialecki takes the study of ...
-
Peace Under Fire: Israel/Palestine and the International Solidarity Movement
By Nicholas Blincoe, Josie Sandercock, Radhika SainathPresents a collection of accounts of International Solidarity Movement volunteers and the work they do to support Palestinian non-violent resistance to Israel's military occupation.
-
Cane Fires: The Anti-Japanese Movement in Hawaii, 1865-1945
By Gary OkihiroA history of a systematic anti-Japanese movement in Hawaii from the time migrant workers were brought to the sugar cane fields until the end of World War II.
-
Strange Fire?: Assessing the Vineyard Movement and the Toronto Blessing
By Eric E. WrightDrawing on first-hand personal experience of meetings and extensive quotations from leaders of the movement, Eric Wright makes a careful and thorough assessment both of the Toronto Blessing and of the Vineyard movement from which it sprang, ...
-
Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two
By Allan BerubeAmong the many histories of fighting men and women in World War II, little has been written about the thousands of homosexuals who found themselves fighting two wars--one for their...
-
America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s
By Elizabeth HintonAs she suggests, if rebellion and the conditions that precipitated it never disappeared, the optimistic story of a post–Jim Crow United States no longer holds.