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The First World War

A Complete History

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The First World War

By: Martin Gilbert
Narrated by: Roger Clark
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About this listen

It was to be the war to end all wars, and it began at 11:15 on the morning of June 28, 1914, in an outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire called Sarajevo. It would officially end nearly five years later. Unofficially, however, it has never ended: Many of the horrors we live with today are rooted in the First World War.

The Great War left millions of civilians and soldiers maimed or dead. It also saw the creation of new technologies of destruction: tanks, planes, and submarines; machine guns and field artillery; poison gas and chemical warfare. It introduced U-boat packs and strategic bombing, unrestricted war on civilians and mistreatment of prisoners. But the war changed our world in far more fundamental ways than these.

In its wake, empires toppled, monarchies fell, and whole populations lost their national identities. As political systems and geographic boundaries were realigned, the social order shifted seismically. Manners and cultural norms; literature and the arts; education and class distinctions; all underwent a vast sea change.

©1994 Martin Gilbert (P)2020 Tantor 20th Century Military Modern War Royalty Imperialism Interwar Period Submarine Russia U-Boat World History
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Great book but poor narration. Would suggest to speed up to 1.2 for a better listen .

Great book but poor narration

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The narrators pitch/tone can be easily changed slightly by adjusting playback speeds. This is one of the greatest books written in detail about the Great War.
Don't miss out on this because of something so minor.
Brilliant book and thank you.

Review below states that the narrator is no good

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Well written and well told but required an adjustment of the speed to appeal to my ears.

Well written

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I was disappointed that the role of Australia’s General Sir John Monash in defeating the Germans in the field in mid-1918 was not even mentioned.

General Monash devised and executed the first-ever integrated air, tank, artillery and infantry attack in history at the Battle of Le Hamel. If successful, it would thwart German plans to capture French transportation hub Amiens and enable unimpeded ferrying of German troops and supplies to the Western Front.

The battle took place on 4 July 1918. It was over in 93 minutes during which the troops under General Monash’s command advanced two miles for 300 men killed. If traditional trench warfare methods had been applied, it is estimated that the Battle of Le Hamel would have taken 8 months and the troops advanced two miles for 35,000 killed.

King George V himself insisted on travelling to Australian Corps headquarters in France to knight General Monash.

So it is surprising that the book doesn’t even mention General Monash or his pivotal contributions. I recommend listening to Peter FitzSimons’ “Monash’s Masterpiece” for a detailed account of the Battle of Le Hamel of July 1918 and other victories under Monash’s command that drove the Germans back to the Hindenburg Line and undoubtedly contributed to the Armistice of 11 November 1918.

Woeful narration. Good account but a tad “British forces-centric”

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Recommended for a reader interested in the Great War due its range,depth & detail. The narrator bring gravitas to the story and is better slightly sped up.

Great depth whether covering the politics, military strategy, tactics or individuals. Balanced focus across the many theatres.

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True to the goal set out in the introduction, this book gives the perfect blend of background, perspectives, leading events, statistics and outcomes while still reminding you regularly of the heartbreakingly human stories of individual suffering, bravery and the senselessness of so much loss of life. Well laid out and easy to follow - learned a lot from this book! Took one star off for performance only because there were more than a few jilted sentences seemingly at the end of a page where the rest of the words were suddenly tacked on with the wrong inflection. Easy mistake, but one that could've also been easily fixed.

Thorough and well-explained

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I had to listen to this book on 1.2x speed, such was the narrator’s labourious and plodding delivery. It actually sounded ok at the faster speed! Probably my biggest problem with the narrator was his complete inability to pronounce many commonly known names correctly. For a native English language speaker (as his biog stated him to be) it’s incomprehensible to me that a professional actor managed to mangle so much content! It quite ruined my listen… and it was only the sheer magnitude of the subject matter that sustained me to the end. Mr Clark really should do his research before undertaking any more audio books!

Woeful narration

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Narration is flat and monotone. The story is gripping and of immense importance, shame it isn't given a better telling.

Great book but poor narration

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Brilliant overview of a calamity. I could have listened for 60 hrs but am pleased to know much more about the complexity of this huge tragedy & how it fed into so many aspects of WW2

This is as comprehensive as it can be.

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Education and in-depth
A very complicated history we all share!
So brave was that era!
Hope war like this never happens again

Very well written

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