First World War

Liddell Hart’s History of the First World War is, in some respects, a complementary volume to his History of the Second World War. Both are based on the same fundamental conception of the writing task at hand.
Large quantities of material have been written about the First World War from a variety of viewpoints. Some writing has been predominantly narrative, focusing on such things as the specific horrors of trench warfare on the Western Front, or perhaps the development of the world’s first aerial warfare and the flying aces. Other writing has perhaps focused on the social and economic impact of the war, and how it led to such things as the right to vote for women and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.
Liddell Hart’s history has considerable narration, but the main thrust of the work is analysis of strategy and tactics employed by both sides in the conflict. It is both expositional and critical and has a dispassionate tone. Important individuals, such as Foch, Churchill, Haig and Ludendorff are discussed only to the extent that they played some part in the execution of strategy. The German Schlieffen Plan, and the French Plan 17, both their theory and how they were employed are discussed in considerable depth. The reasons for the Russian defeat at Tannenberg in 1914 are similarly analyzed. Then the long, frustrating horror of trench warfare and the various attempts to break out of it are treated, along with both the British naval blockade and the German U-Boat campaign that made up the war of attrition. The withdrawal of Russia, the short-lived German breakthrough in 1918 and the final collapse of the Central Powers constitute the concluding portions of the book, although some attention is devoted to such events as the Canadian victory at Vimy Ridge and the American campaigns late in the history of the Western Front, although none of these were central to the final outcome of the war. Although the eastern campaigns at Gallipoli and the Arab Revolt against the Turks are reviewed, an overwhelming amount of attention is devoted to the situation and the campaigns on the two major European fronts.
As such, it is worthwhile to be aware of what Liddell Hart discusses and what he does not discuss. The purport of the work is to analyze strategy, and individuals wishing to examine such things as the Bolshevik Revolution had best look elsewhere because it is mentioned only in passing. Although the immediate reasons for the outbreak of war in the summer of 1914 are discussed, there is little detail about the background to the conflict, such as the race for colonies and the Anglo-German naval race. Virtually nothing is written about the Paris peace conferences after the war and how the war led to a second global conflict in little over a generation. As with his history of the Second World War, Liddell Hart’s work on World War I has a specific focus.
As an analyst of strategy, Liddell Hart was of primary importance in the historiography of the two World Wars. Others who have written on the same aspect of the conflicts have either followed in his footsteps and have been obliged to make frequent references to his work. Born in Paris in 1895 and educated at Cambridge, Liddell Hart saw active service in the First World War and rose to the rank of captain. A breakdown in health saw him retire from active military service in 1924, but he had established a strong reputation as an intellectual theorist of war, becoming an early advocate of both air power and armoured mobile tactics. He became a personal advisor to the British Minister of War, but retired when reorganization of the British forces proved too slow. He was a military analyst to both The Daily Telegraph and The Times in the 1930’s, and was active as a lecturer in several staff colleges and as a writer until his death in 1970. Thus, he had considerable direct experience at a high level of both world wars, and his expertise is unsurpassed. Serious students of tthe world wars cannot avoid reading Sir Basil Liddell Hart.