If you, like me, were wondered how World War One (WW I) affected the 20th century or led to WW II, then this highly engaging book is for you. I was unable to put Barbara Tuchman Pulitzer Prize book down. It’s a page turner. She’s a brilliant writer who describes battlefield scenes such that the reader doesn’t need a map to understand the war in Belgium and France. She puts emphasis on powerful personalities–British, French and Germans. With
out a unifying battleplan and a lack of a common language, their misunderstandings and leadership arrogance lead to the war bogging down into trench warfare and the slaughter of millions of men on both sides of the conflict.
With America entering the war and injecting men and material the Germans are overpowered.
Barbara Tuchman’s narrative is gripping, her prose elegant, and polished. She carries the reader into the battle, whose outcome affected generations that followed.