Victory 1918

Images of World War I are usually dominated by the spectacle of romantic youth being mercilessly ground up in the mud of Ypres and the Somme. Even histories of the Great War tend to focus on the Western Front with, perhaps, a look at the massive battles on the Russian Front while declaring the Middle Eastern, African, and Balkan theaters to be mere "sideshows." Distinguished historian Alan Palmer revises this received wisdom in his excellent book Victory 1918.

Historians have usually argued that the German Army exhausted itself in its final gambit, a titanic push toward Paris in the late months of 1918. Palmer disagrees, contending that Allied offensives in Italy, Greece, Mesopotamia, and France kicked the props out from under the German Empire in the early months of the war's final year. A comprehensive survey of Allied military and diplomatic actions throughout the war, Victory 1918 reveals many global issues that weighed on the minds of British and French war planners. For instance, Field Marshal Earl Kitchner, England's colonial enforcer, squelched a possible jihad throughout India, the Middle East, and Africa by appealing to Mecca's spiritually powerful Sherif Hussein in 1914. This diplomatic coup severely reduced the impact of Sultan Mehmed V's call to arms from Constantinople, meaning Britain could then field more divisions in Flanders. Lucid and entertaining, Victory 1918 is a fresh portrait of a conflict that established the political and military contours of the 20th century. --James Highfill