The Great War on the Western Front ─ A Short History

The war on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918 remains one of the notoriously great tragedies of the twentieth century. Most people hold it in their minds is a milestone in modern history, yet many of them know less about this devastating clash of nations than they would like - and they would be interested to discover more. Paddy Griffith's short history of the conflict has been written with them in mind - it provides an accessible primer to an enormous and fascinating subject.
His account is aimed at an English-speaking readership, and he concentrates on the part played by the British Expeditionary Force (including the Dominions) and the Americans in the conflict. The French and German perspectives are also explained - but in less detail - and the wider political and strategic evolution of the war as a whole is laid out as essential background. At the centre of the story are the operations and tactics of the Western Front itself - that long, narrow and deadly 'zone des armees' in which military considerations usually weighed much more heavily than either politics or poetry.

Paddy Griffith was a senior lecturer in war studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.