by Bruno Cabanes, translated by Stephanie O'Hara
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016. Pp. xx, 230.
Map, chron., notes, index. $27.50. ISBN:0300208278
The Month that Shaped the Present
Originally published in France in 2014, this nicely done little book by Prof. Cabanes (Ohio State) gives the reader a sense of how the events of the first days and weeks of the Great War were perceived in France as they unfolded, rather than in retrospect.
After a brief introduction to set the stage, the first chapter covers the outbreak of the war, when “Everything happened quite quicky” (p. 1). There follows a chapter on the war plans and preparations, the effects of mobilization, the disastrous Battle of the Frontiers, and the sudden possibility of a French defeat even worse than that of 1870-1871. Two chapters cover a growing panic over spies, subversion, and the effects of rumor, and the final chapter takes us through the Battle of the Marne.
The tale is told not from the perspective of this historian, but rather from that of the participants, at all levels, from the peasants and factory workers to the troops in the field and on to the generals and politicians.
August 1914 is an excellent read for anyone interested in what remains the most important event in shaping the present world order.
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Note: August 1914 is also available in e-editions.
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