Country A invaded country B, predicting that country B would put up no resistance because it was much weaker. This prediction turned out to be completely wrong, as the armed forces of country B bravely defended their country. When the civilians of country B also resisted, the soldiers of country A carried out mass executions and set cities to flames, all the while laying the blame on the Government of country B.
Isn’t the above describing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022?
No, it is not. It depicts the invasion of Germany into neutral Belgium in August 1914, the month of the beginning of World War I. It is a tragic illustration of Mark Twain’s famous quote: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
“The Guns of August” tells the background that led to the First World War, the events and battles that occurred in the month of August 1914. The narrative stops at the conclusion of the Battle of Marne, which destroyed any hope of a short war and laid the foundation for four years of one of the most brutal conflicts in history.
The background included the formation of the Triple Entente of France, Russia, and Britain, and the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. German strategy in 1914 was to first defeat France, then shift its forces to the East and knock out Russia, commonly known as the Schlieffen Plan. In France, there was Plan 17, a plan for the mobilization, concentration and deployment of the French armies and it made possible an invasion of Germany or Belgium or both before Germany completed the mobilization of its reserves and simultaneous to an allied Russian offensive.
The events and battles included the escape of the German Battlecruiser Goeben, the invasion of Belgium and the Flames of Louvain, the Battle of the Frontiers, the Battle of Tannenberg, Von Klick’s turn and the Battle of Marne.
One of the interesting features of the book was the brief introductions of the various players. When a personality first appeared, it was accompanied by a short but lively description. Some examples:
General Joseph Joffre, French Generalissimo
“Massive and paunchy in his baggy uniform, with a fleshy face adorned by a heavy, nearly white mustache and bushy eyebrows to match, with a clear youthful skin, calm blue eyes and a candid, tranquil gaze, Joffre looked like Santa Claus and gave an impression of benevolence and naivete, qualities not noticeably part of his character.”
Charles Lanrezac, French General, Commander of the 5th Army
“Formerly a distinguished staff college lecturer. Because of his keen intelligence, Lanresac was considered a star at the General Staff, which forgave him his caustic manner and his tendency to bad temper and impolite language for the sake of the clarity, brilliance, and logic of his lectures.”
Alexander Von Kluck, German General, Commands First Army on Belgian Frontier
“He was tall and majestic with a scarred, clean-shaven face, hard features and a frightening glace. In his right hand he carried a soldier’s rifle and his left rested on the butt of a revolver…No one-seemed to dare to approach him and indeed he wore a terrible air, invoking the image of Attila”
Sir John French, Commander of the British Expedition Force
“Untrained to study and with a mind closed to books, at least after his early successes in action, French was less renowned for mental ability than for irritability…..Like his vis-à-vis across the Channel, French was an unintellectual soldier with the fundamental difference that whereas Joffre’s outstanding qualify was solidity, French’s was a peculiar responsiveness to pressure, people, and prejudices. Joffre was imperturbable in all weathers; Sir John alternated between extremes of aggressiveness in good times and of depression in bad.”
It was no surprise from these cast of main characters that conflicts were bound to happen. Thus. the first meeting between the Commander of the British Expedition Force, Sir John, and General Lanrezac, ended in each misunderstanding and despising the other. General Lanresac always had criticisms on his boss General Joffre‘s orders, which were not always promptly obeyed. Eventually, General Lanrezac was relieved of his command by General Joffre, although history judged that the views of General Lanrezac were almost always correct. In recognition of his initially unappreciated prudence in the opening month of the war that helped save France, he was made an officer of the Légion d'honneur in July 1917, awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown by Belgium in 1923, and awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur in 1924.
A somewhat similar but less fortunate episode happened in the career of Rear Admiral Ernest Troubridge. The Rear Admiral, in charge of several cruisers in pursuit of Germany’s battlecruiser Goeben in the Mediterranean, did not engage Goeben when it had the chance to do so on August 7, because he judged that his ships were no match in both speed and gun range with the Goeben and therefore, according to the order from the British Admiralty not to engage with superior force, he obliged. His decision almost certainly saved his ships and men from watery graves.
Troubridge was court martialed for the decision. Although vindicated, his reputation was damaged. He remained in the Royal Navy through the remainder of World War I. He went on to serve in various staff positions but never again held a seagoing command. Ultimately promoted to full admiral, Troubridge retired from the Royal Navy in 1924 and died two years later. Sadly, despite his achievements, he is too often remembered only as “the man who let Goeben escape.”
Sir John and the British Expedition Force appeared poorly in their portrays in the book. Sir John’s insistence, as well as that of the British, to retreat instead of joining France in the attack, almost resulted in their not taking part in the Battle of Marne, the Battle that halted Germany’s advance in France. Finally, after many fruitless efforts, the speech by General Joffre calling the honor of England into question apparently did the job of awakening Sir John from his folly.
It has been said that The Guns of August helped save the world from nuclear conflict during the 1962 Cuban Crisis. When President Kennedy’s advisors urged him to strike the Russian missile sites in Cuba, he refrained from doing so because of what he read in The Guns of August that, once war action was initiated, it could not be stopped.
The First World War was supposed to be the War to end Wars. Nothing can be further from the truth, as the number of wars since 1918 keeps on increasing. It seems that starting and continuing conflicts is part of human nature. It begs the question why such a wicked and destructive element exists in human nature. Perhaps the answer is again found in Mark Twain’s wisdom:
“Man was made at the end of the week’s work, when God was tired.”
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Popular Highlights in this book
One constant among the elements of 1914—as of any era—was the disposition of everyone on all sides not to prepare for the harder alternative, not to act upon what they suspected to be true.Highlighted by 2,773 Kindle readers- Character is fate, the Greeks believed. A hundred years of German philosophy went into the making of this decision in which the seed of self-destruction lay embedded, waiting for its hour.Highlighted by 2,531 Kindle readers
- “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”Highlighted by 2,519 Kindle readers
- Germans had imbibed from 1870 the lesson that arms and war were the sole source of German greatness.Highlighted by 2,063 Kindle readers
- The impetus of existing plans is always stronger than the impulse to change.Highlighted by 1,593 Kindle readers
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Critical First Month of WWI
Author Barbara W. Tuchman was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1963 for The Guns of August. Fifty-five years later her book remains one of the best sources for understanding the prelude and first thirty days of what would become known as the Great War.We are all familiar with the horrors of World War I - trench warfare, the ebb and flow of Allied and German advances across no man's land using outdated tactics in the face of barbed wire, withering fire from machine guns and heavy artillery, and the inhuman use of mustard gas. Combat related casualty figures were a staggering 8.5 million killed and 21 million wounded. Civilian casualties exceeded six million from food shortages, malnutrition, and disease. The ensuing influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 even exceeded these figures with an estimated fifty million deaths worldwide.How this conflagration began is the subject of Tuchman's book. It suspends what the reader already knows about the war to focus on its genesis. Historians point to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand as the event that lead to four years of slaughter, but this was but the excuse to launch the German Army (700,000 men) through neutral Belgium toward Paris. The Germans had put together a timetable for victory known as the Shclieffen plan that they began executing August 4, 1914. The two front battle plan had been developed and proposed by the chief of the German general staff as far back as 1905.The French also had developed a plan to counter the German attack which was known as Plan XVII. Rather than rely on defense it envisioned a bold strike into the heart of Germany to recapture the territories of Alsace and Lorraine that had been lost in the Franco-Prussian War. It relied heavily on French courage rather than sound tactics. Mounted cavalry attacks and bayonet charges failed to take into account how warfare had changed.The first twelve days of the war came to be known as the Battle of the Frontier. During this period it was all but certain that Germany would prevail. The next eighteen days would become known as the Miracle on the Marne with retreating allied forces regrouping and turning the tide. However, German forces had penetrated so deeply toward Paris that the war would drag on for four more years.Tuchman recounts the momentous decisions that lead to the stalemate and the military commanders behind them. It is a testament to her ability to fully humanize these historical persons that we find ourselves fully immersed in the times and events, and learn what really happened as well as what it felt like for the people involved.This is a great read for any historian or reader who seeks to understand history!
Top reviews from other countries
Snow Pharoah
How close it was and how deadly it became
Reviewed in Canada on August 14, 2023
sgh100
Very interesting read, learned a lot
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 22, 2021