World War I

[bfisher]

Really happy to discover that David Macfarlane's "The Danger Tree: Remembrance and Loss in A Newfoundland Family" is now available in ebook. Read it more than twenty years ago, and will be reading it again soon.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by bfisher

Really happy to discover that David Macfarlane's "The Danger Tree: Remembrance and Loss in A Newfoundland Family" is now available in ebook. Read it more than twenty years ago, and will be reading it again soon.

This was originally published as Come from Away in the US and I agree, a terrific book, but I think the ebook's not available here.

[bfisher]

I can see it on amazon.com, but perhaps it is because I am viewing from a Canadian IP address:
http://www.amazon.com/Danger-Tree-Da.../dp/B00D5TPXB4

[issybird]

Originally Posted by bfisher

I can see it on amazon.com, but perhaps it is because I am viewing from a Canadian IP address:
http://www.amazon.com/Danger-Tree-Da.../dp/B00D5TPXB4

Yes, I can see it but not buy it. "Not available for purchase." Thanks for looking!

I mentioned the original US title (since republished as The Danger Tree) for those USans who might resort to the plibrary as an alternative. Highly recommended.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

I also have Sean McMeekin's, 'July 1914 Countdown to War' .... which I will read in due course.

Recently finished this book which describes the story of Europe’s countdown to war between 28 June 1914 and Britain’s final plunge on 4 August.

The author has researched many many papers, minutes, government documents, diaries etc to reach his conclusions which he enunciates in the Epilogue, The Question of Responsibility.

Here's a sample of his reasoning:

Spoiler:

Was Germany at war with Russia, or not? No one knew. And as Bethmann argued, the strange thing was that if she were not at war with Russia, she could hardly justify going to war with France. Falkenhayn dismissed this as twaddle, arguing that ‘the war was there after all and the question of a declaration of war on France was of no account.’ Moltke agreed: ‘The war was there, and that was that.’ Still, Bethmann would not budge. He would not allow Germany’s war with France to proceed, declared or otherwise, until he had ‘some confirmation under international law’ that she was at war with Russia. At this Moltke grew angry. The Russians had mobilised first, he reminded Bethmann; shots had been fired on the East Prussian border; ....

.... Someone then pointed out, as if in passing, that Austria had still not promised to ‘take the field with us against Russia’ – rather a large oversight. Nor had Italy, a military ally since 1882, been informed that Germany had declared war on Russia. Nor had Romania, another country with which Germany had a mutual defense alliance. When they learned this, Moltke and Falkenhayn were ‘horrified.’ Tirpitz’s lasting impression from this historic night was that Germany’s ‘political leadership has completely lost its head.’2 In one area, at least, the Germans were thinking ahead. After learning from reports at four AM and six AM that Russian troops had crossed the border into East Prussia, Bethmann was able to confirm to the kaiser, the German public (via a press communique). ....

.... The chancellor finally conceded that, if the Russians had indeed fired first, then the case was ‘clear, that means the Russians have been the first to start and I shall have the declaration of war [on Russia] handed over the frontier by the nearest General.’ One might think this was unnecessary, considering that a declaration of war had already been sent to St Petersburg. Yet Bethmann did not know whether Pourtalès had handed it to Sazonov. He needed legal proof. The argument, arcane on the surface, was fundamental. With impeccable German logic, Bethmann insisted that war could not begin unless it had been declared.

In short McMeekin puts the blame on Russia and France for their deceptive conduct in the last weeks leading up to the war. He presents information relative to their withholding of information as to their respective states of Mobilisation, and other facts, in order to benefit for their own purposes.

McMeekin further claims that Germany declared war first because it couldn't countenance the idea of going to war without actually formally declaring it.

[badgoodDeb]

In this age of information, that sounds very odd indeed! I wonder what they would make of the current Ukraine situation.

[Lynx-lynx]

At the time of the first world war there still seemed to be a general acceptance of protocols and procedures, although circumvention of same was well practised. Today I get sense of shoot first, apologise if you have to, second.

And the extent and range of the high powered weaponry today hasn't acted as a deterrent to fighting and nor did it then; although WWI was the first 'modern' weaponed war and peoples from all countries thought that alone should be sufficient reason not to go to war. Nope, there was too much 'honour' and 'face saving' at stake. Just like today, eh.

What I hadn't realised unti I read MacMillan was the size and reach of the Peace movement in the late 1890's and onwards. I thought that 'peace movements' were a modern invention - definitely not, they even had international conferences and brought the labour movements in as well. Even though ultimately they had no effect on the fact of the war they had been quite influential and served multi purposes locally, nationally and internationally. That cheered me.

[bfisher]

Thanks, Lynx-lynx, for the comments on Sean McMeekin's "July 1914 Countdown to War" , I have this on my TBR and will certainly move it up in the queue; it sounds quite interesting.

I read Christopher Clark's "The Sleepwalkers" earlier this year. Clark did suggest that Russia and France did much to make the Balkan Crisis escalate into general war. In particular, he identified 1912 as the critical moment when Raymond Poincare, then Prime Minister and minister of foreign affairs, in a reversal of prior French policy, commited France to supporting Russia in the event of a war arising from an Austro-Serbian quarrel. By a continuation along those lines "by the spring of 1914, the Franco-Russian Alliance had constructed a geopolitical trigger along the Austro-Serbian frontier. They had tied the defence policy of three of the world's great powers to the uncertain fortunes of Europe's most violent and unstable region." - ie, a French "blank cheque" to Russia.

Has anyone read Thomas Otte's recently published "July Crisis: The World's Descent into War, Summer 1914"? I'm thinking about adding this to my TBR. It's supposed to have some quite interesting comments of the European leaders of 1914.

[Apache]

If you want a good book on the WWI air war try the first part of Lords of the Sky: Fighter Pilots and Air Combat, from the Red Baron to the F-16 by Dan Hampton. It is very informative about the pilots, their planes and tactics and how they developed as the war dragged on.
Apache

[bfisher]

Sounds interesting, Apache. Do you know of any WW1 flying fiction? The main thing I'm familiar with is Donald Jack's Bandy novels. I'd like something the book equivalent of "Dawn Patrol" or "The Blue Max".

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by bfisher

Sounds interesting, Apache. Do you know of any WW1 flying fiction? The main thing I'm familiar with is Donald Jack's Bandy novels. I'd like something the book equivalent of "Dawn Patrol" or "The Blue Max".

Goshawk Squadron by Derek Robinson and Winged Victory by V.M. Yeates are 2 of the most popular aviation fiction novels.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by Apache

If you want a good book on the WWI air war try the first part of Lords of the Sky: Fighter Pilots and Air Combat, from the Red Baron to the F-16 by Dan Hampton. It is very informative about the pilots, their planes and tactics and how they developed as the war dragged on.
Apache

Sounds interesting! Some nonfiction aviation books in my collection are:

The Millionaires' Unit by Marc Wortman
Fighting the Flying Circus by Eddie Rickenbacker
Winged Warfare by Billy Bishop
The Red Fighter Pilot by Manfred Von Richthofen

[Apache]

Originally Posted by bfisher

Sounds interesting, Apache. Do you know of any WW1 flying fiction? The main thing I'm familiar with is Donald Jack's Bandy novels. I'd like something the book equivalent of "Dawn Patrol" or "The Blue Max".

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

Goshawk Squadron by Derek Robinson and Winged Victory by V.M. Yeates are 2 of the most popular aviation fiction novels.

I will second The RFC Series by Derek Robinson. The books are Goshawk Squadron, War Story and Hornet's Sting. Also he wrote A Splendid Little War which follows the squadron as it fights for the White Russians against The Bolsheviks.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/derek-robinson/
Apache

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by bfisher

I'd like something the book equivalent of "Dawn Patrol" or "The Blue Max".

I assume you're referring to the movies by those titles?

Perhaps you'd like the original stories that inspired the movies...

The Flight Commander by John Monk Saunders (short story that became Dawn Patrol)

The Blue Max by Jack Hunter
There are also two other books in the Bruno Stachel series, The Blood Order & The Tin Cravat (the series follows Bruno from WWI through WWII)

Unfortunately I don't think any of these are available in digital format.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

Goshawk Squadron by Derek Robinson and Winged Victory by V.M. Yeates are 2 of the most popular aviation fiction novels.

Thanks. Looking forward to reading "Goshawk Squadron".