Two Great Books!

I put two more in the “finished” pile, both of which were, simply, outstanding. First was The Last Century of Sea Power, Volume 1: From Port Arthur to Chanak, 1894–1922 by H. P. Willmott. Readers of this blog will know that I am a big fan of Willmott and he certainly doesn’t disappoint here. This book is the first of several volumes on Willmott’s views on the development and deployment of Sea power in the 20th century. The second volume, due out in March of this year takes us through 1945. It is unclear how many further volumes Willmott will need to take us to the putative 1994 end date implied in the title. Let’s hope that he is more diligent in finishing this series than he was in finishing his WWII trilogy.

First I should say what this book isn’t. It isn’t a history of naval operations during this period. Willmott does describe the major actions, Port Arthur, Tsushima, Dogger Bank, Jutland and many others, but they are mainly dealt with in the many appendices of this book. In fact, the book has an unusual structure. The actual text of the chapters reads almost like an essay on Willmott’s view of the then current status of sea power and its application during the period of the chapter. Also included in the narrative are any changes in the status and the ramifications of those changes on the overall picture. Then each chapter is backed with extensive appendices with data that support Willmott’s view.

For example, Chapter 7 covers the pre-WWI Anglo-German Dreadnought race. Willmott devotes 14 pages to making his points. Then the chapter is followed by three appendices; which collectively provide a year by year summary of British and German BB an BC ship construction, the capitol ship programs of those two powers and a year by year summary of BB and BC construction of all the powers that built them.

This book reminds me of a college course, with the chapters being the lecture of the professor and the appendices being the reading required to prepare for the class. All in all an excellent book, I can’t recommend it highly enough. I can’t wait for the second volume, which carries the story through the end of WWII and should be published in March.

There is one caution. The book builds on and assumes a basic knowledge of the Russo-Japanese War and WWI. This should not be the first thing a reader tackles on these topics. I would suggest that readers take this book on after reading something like Massey’s Dreadnought and Castles of Steel.

Second up, was an equally outstanding book, The Maps of Chickamauga by David Powell (with maps by David Friedrichs). This is, quite simply, THE definitive book on Chickamauga. Powell has laboriously gone through the Official Records and a plethora of primary source material and created virtually an hour by hour account of the battle and provided a clear, lucid, concise description of what was happening at any given time on all parts of the field. Even better, Friedrichs has profusely illustrated the narrative with a plethora of maps that are equally clear and lucid. Seriously, there are 120 maps covering this battle. They really illustrate the action, and they really “make” the book.

I can honestly say that despite having walked the field at Chickamauga several times using both the Park Service’s tour and the US Army War College Guide, I’ve never understood the battle as well as I do after finishing this book. Anyone at all interested in the battle needs this book.

5 for the year.

First serious history book of the year

Just finished The Marne, 1914 by Holger H. Herwig. The name of this book sort of undersells it. Seemingly referring only to the epic battle in front of Paris in September of 1914, this book actually runs from the beginning of the pre-war mobilizations, through the Plan XVII inspired “Battle of the Frontiers” and the German invasion of Belgium, all the up to the German retreat after essentially losing their nerve in front of Paris.

Throughout the book, Herwig does an excellent job of drawing the threads of the action together, keeping the reader properly oriented. This is especially important at the beginning of the war when there were essentially two offensives going on simultaneously, a French attack into Alsace-Lorraine executing Plan XVII, and the German attack through Belgium into Northern France. Herwig manages to tell us about both of them, while providing the proper spatial and temporal context. Readers will understand that while von Kluck and von Bulow were pounding the Leige forts into submission with the famous “Big Berthas”, Joffre was unsuccessfully hurling the “poilus” at Crown Prince Rupprecht’s 6th and 7th Armies around Sarrebourg and Morhange..

Another excellent feature of the book is that Herwig is very even-handed, giving equal treatment to both sides. There is just as much detail about the French operations as there is about the German ones. Herwig is also unstinting in both praise and criticism, passing both out to both sides when deserved. Moltke gets hammered for trying to run the entire war from Luxembourg, while Sir John French gets censured for his reluctance to conform to Joffre’s wishes.

The book is very detailed without being overwhelming, which means that it is a bit dense in some places, but never unpleasantly so. As with most military history books, the maps were somewhat inadequate, an issue I solved keeping the map from The Gamer’s Drive on Paris handy while reading it. Herwig covers the strategic and operational scales quite well, giving a good sense of what decisions were taken by the actors and why they took them. There isn’t much tactical detail here, reminisces of low level personnel are usually included to illustrate either the physical hardships involved in marching hundreds of kilometers over several weeks, without rest, in the summer heat, with inadequate logistical support, or the sheer bloodiness of the combat.

Although Herwig has several historical axes to grind vis a vis the existence of Schlieffen plan and the actual sequence of events relating to the German withdrawal to the Aisne river, but I am not well read enough on the topic to comment on them. I will say that everything he wrote seemed reasonable to me.

At any rate, I unreservedly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in WWI. Everyone, from the rankest novice to the scholar will find something of interest in this book.

3 for the year.

Two to Start off the Year

First two books of the year are finished; John Grisham’s The Associate and Herman Wouk’s War and Remembrance.

The Associate is a fairly mediocre example of Grisham’s oeuvre. In this book a young third year law student is forced by a blackmailer to accept a very lucrative job with a firm of High-Powered NY lawyers. The blackmailer is trying to steal sensitive information from the law firm. This book just wanders around for a while with no real surprises to the plot or development of the characters then finally, suddenly, shudders to a halt in the most unsatisfying ending I’ve experienced in a very long time. Avoid this one folks.

Second was War and Remembrance, by Herman Wouk is the second volume in the trials and tribulations of the family of Victor “Pug” Henry, US Naval officer and confidant of FDR. This book starts immediately after Pearl Harbor and extends past the end of the war to tie up all the lose ends. The book is well written and tightly plotted with decently written characters. Where the book really excels is putting all of the disconnected parts of WWII into perspective, through the device of having different parts of the cast dealing with them simultaneously. It is an excellent book, and I highly recommend it.

2 for the year.