The Generals' War

Operational Level Command on the Western Front in 1918

David T. Zabecki (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

440 Seiten

2018
Indiana University Press (Verlag)
978-0-253-03701-5 (ISBN)

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Known as the War to End all Wars and the Great War, World War I introduced new forms of mass destruction and modern technological warfare. When the Bolsheviks pulled Russia out of the war in late 1917, the Germans turned their offensive efforts to the Western Front in an attempt to win the war in 1918. But as fresh American troops entered Europe, the strategic scales tipped against Germany.

Much of how World War I played out turned on the plans and decisions of the senior-most German and Allied commanders. The Generals' War explores the military strategies of those generals during the last year of the Great War. These six very different men included Germany's Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff; France's Marshals Ferdinand Foch and Philippe Pétain; Great Britain's Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig; and the United States' General John Pershing. Although history remembers none of them as great captains, these six officers determined for better or worse how World War I was fought on the battlefields of the Western Front between November 1917 and November 1918.

The Generals' War is a landmark exploration of the generalship that shaped the very framework of modern warfare as we know it today and provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis on the senior commanders of the Great War.

David T. Zabecki (Lt. Gen. Ret) is author or editor of nine military history books, including The German 1918 Offensives: A Case Study in the Operational Level of War, and the assistant editor of several military history encyclopedias. He is editor of Vietnam Magazine, the Senior Historian of the Weider History Group, the world's largest publisher of history magazines, and author of numerous articles, book reviews, and encyclopedia entries, all dealing with military topics.

Foreword by General Anthony Zinni, USMC (Ret)

Table and Maps

Glossary

I. Generalship in the Great War

II. Battlefield Realities

The Calculus of War

The Technological Revolution in Military Affairs

The Three Paradigm Shifts

The Vast New Scope of Warfare

Fire, Maneuver, and Combined Arms

Tanks

Artillery

The Defensive

The Offensive

III. The Strategic Situation

Germany

France

Britain

IV. The Commanders-in-Chief

Reputations One Hundred Years On

Powers and Responsibilities

Military Concepts

Adaptability and Risk

Personal Backgrounds

Political Supporters and Critics

The Political and the Strategic

Military Allies and Rivals

V. The Yanks are Coming

VI. Two Conferences in November 1917

The Allied Supreme War Council, Rapallo, 7 November

The German Planning Conference, Mons, 11 November

VII. The Gathering Storm

Vital Arteries and Jugulars

Bracing for the Deluge as Pétain and Foch Spar

Haig's Enemies, Front and Rear

Pershing Digs in His Heels

The Elusive General Reserve

Haig Spread Thin

Steel Wind Rising

VIII. MICHAEL and GEORGETTE

MICHAEL: 21 March to 5 April 1918

GEORGETTE: 9 to 29 April 1918

IX. GNEISENAU and BLÜCHER

Ludendorff Gropes for Plan B

The Allies Brace for Round Three

BLÜCHER: 27 May – 5 June 1918

GNEISENAU: 9 – 15 June 1918

X. MARNESCHUTZ-REIMS and the Second Battle of the Marne

Ludendorff Attacks Again: MARNESCHUTZ-REIMS (15-18 July 1918)

Foch Hits Back Hard: The Second Battle of the Marne (18 July – 5 August 1918)

Ludendorff vs. Foch

Foch vs Ludendorff

XI. Le Hamel to Mount St. Quentin

The Battle of Hamel (4 July 1918)

The Battle of Amiens (8-14 August)

The Battle of Montdidier (18-30 August)

The Second Battle of Bapaume (21 August–1 September)

The Battle of the Scarpe (26 August-2 September 1918)

The Battle of Péronne—Mont St. Quentin (31 August-4 September)

The Withdraw to the Hindenburg Line (2-9 September)

XII. Closing to the Hindenburg Line

The Saint-Mihiel Offensive (12-15 September)

The Battle of Havrincourt (12 September 1918)

The Battle of Épehy (18 September)

XIII. The Allied General Offensive

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Phase I (26 September-3 October)

The Battle of Canal du Nord (27 September-1 October)

The Fifth Battle of Ypres (28 September-2 October)

The Battles of the St Quentin Canal and the Beaurevoir Line (29 September-6 October)

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Phase II (4-28 October)

The Second Battle of Cambrai (8-10 October)

The Battle of Courtrai and the Closure to the Dutch Border (14-27 October)

The French First Army Attacks Across the Serre River (15-27 October)

The Battle of the Selle (17-27 October)

Foch Maps Out Future Allied Operations (19 October-14 November)

Exit Ludendorff (26 October)

The Battle of Valenciennes (1-3 November)

The Second Battle of the Sambre and the Final British Drive (4-11 November)

The Final French Drive on the Western Front (1-11 November)

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Phase III (28 October-11 November)

Retrospective

XIV. The Armistice

XV. The Fluctuating Verdict of History

Hindenburg

Ludendorff

Foch

Pétain

Pershing

Haig

If NotThen Who?

Appendix I: Biographical Chronologies

Appendix II: Note on General Officer Ranks

Erscheinungsdatum	15.09.2018
Zusatzinfo	14 Halftones, color; 14 Illustrations, black and white
Verlagsort	Bloomington, IN
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918)
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
ISBN-10	0-253-03701-8 / 0253037018
ISBN-13	978-0-253-03701-5 / 9780253037015
Zustand	Neuware