Frank Carlson Library

"A panoramic history of the savage combat on the Western Front between 1914 and 1918 that came to define modern warfare. The Western Front evokes images of hardship and sacrifice, of young, mud-spattered men in water-logged trenches, shielded from artillery blasts by a few feet of dirt. Long considered the most futile arena of the First World War, the Western Front has persisted in our collective memory as a tragic waste of life. In this epic narrative...

"The heroic American contribution to World War I is one of the great stories of the twentieth century, and yet is largely overlooked by history. In Sons of Freedom, historian Geoffrey Wawro presents the dramatic narrative of the courageous American troops who took up arms in a conflict 4,000 miles across the Atlantic, and in doing so ensured the Allies' victory. Historians have long dismissed the American war effort as too little too late: a delayed...

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • “A brilliant piece of military history which proves up to the hilt the force of Winston Churchill’s statement that the first month of World War I was ‘a drama never surpassed.’”—Newsweek
 
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time
In this landmark account, renowned historian Barbara W. Tuchman re-creates...

For the weary Allies 1918 was truly a year of victory. First came the defensive victories of the British and the French against the last desperate offensive launched by the Germans in the Spring. Then came the turning point of Foch's counter-offensive on the Marne followed by Haig's great attack on 8 August, the black day of the German Army, the breaking of the Hindenburg Line and the pursuit of the defeated German Army across the wasteland of war....

Examines the fabled truce that took place on the Dec. 1914 Christmas Eve along the Western Front. German and British soldiers in Ypres, Belgium, spontaneously ceased hostilities and peacefully celebrated the holiday together. Includes eyewitness accounts, the recorded recollections of those who were there, newspaper stories and military records help document this extraordinary occurrence.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning recreation of the powderkeg that was Europe during the crucial first thirty days of World War I traces the actions of statesmen and patriots alike in Berlin, London, St. Petersburg, and Paris.

This book examines the day-to-day lives of the men as they fought and died in the trenches, from their recruitment and training to their combat experience. It provides an extensive re-assessment of trench warfare, a revolutionary tactic that challenged the war, and details developments in weaponry and armoured vehicles, including terrifying innovations in the use of poison gas, flamethrowers and tanks.--[jacket cover].