Concise but highly readable and informative
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For a book as compact as this, Howard does quite an enviable task of outlining the 'Great War' (as it was know to it's combatants). In fact, calling it an outline, or indeed 'very short', does it a minor disservice. Howard doesn't leave anything substantial out or waste any pages with discussion of the trivial. The end impression given is of a historian trying to let the grand events speak for themselves.
After reading the book I felt not only that it had given me a better grasp of the chronology and general outline of the war, but also answers to some of the key questions.
Why, despite the fact that only 10 years earlier war with France (again) seemed the likelier, conflict with Germany was eventually unavoidable given the clumsy diplomacy of Bismark's successors.
Why the morale of the German army and of the home front crumbled despite the vast (yet brief) empire in the east gained by the defeat of Russia.
And why, because of French and (suprisingly) American insistance upon a harsh peace, the rise of Hitler was inevitable and the carnage repeated on a still grander scale, ony 20 years later.
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Outstanding
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It's hard to imagine a book of this length doing more justice to its subject matter. I had previously read Howard's book on Clausewitz from the VSI series. I recommend that book too, but this is even better.
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A Jewel of a Book
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This book is mesmerising. Brief, passionate, brilliant. The author describes all the main events, political changes and battles in a simple but effective manner.
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Excellent, reliable, engaging introduction
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If you know nothing of WW1 then this surely is the place to start. Howard's introduction is masterful. Given the fearful complexity of the origins, course and outcome of the War he manages to make his text remarkably accessible. I chewed over many new components. Given the sparseness of the book (30,000 words), it is also impressive that manages to make it truly moving (sacrifice, misery and disaster all round) while not getting bogged down either in the `war poet vision' or the historiographical controversies. I strongly recommend it. I wonder if he could do the same with WW2? Or has he?
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Concise and precise
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It takes someone who really understands their subject to be able to write sparingly and still make the reader think. We all know the essence of this, the most horrid of wars. Gas, shells, machine guns, senseless offensives - we all have a vile image of trenches. Unlike other writers, Howard does not set out to alter this image. This book is an introduction to the military history of the war. The Eastern Front, Gallipoli, the war at sea are all covered and a truly global image emerges of powers pouring their lifeblood into a conflict that showed little sign of abating. This is the essence of the war. Howard shows how German victories on both the Eastern Front at the start of the war, and the Western Front at the end of the war, could not achieve the Clausewitzian victory of the Franco-Prussian war. He shows how dogged Allied tactical problem solving, especially in artillery support, and mobilisation of resources, especially in America, enabled the victors to press on to final victory. This was total war, this was grinding, grueling, starving, industrial war, won by deep pockets and sheer determination. This is the introduction to Strachan's in depth study. This is the book that anyone interested in the Twentieth Century should read. This is distilled historical thought.
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