The Marne, 1914: The Opening of World War I and the Battle That Changed the World by Holger Herwig

Herwig's The Marne, 1914 is an account of the earliest battles on the Western Front. It overlaps quite a bit with other accounts (The Guns of August and Catastrophe 1914, for example), but provides a slightly different perspective, as Herwig tries to incorporate more of a German perspective on this period (the book is dedicated to his grandfather who fought and died in the Imperial German Army). Herwig is a superb writer and this was one of the better books I've read thus far for this project. He repeatedly emphasizes the invaluable collection of documents freed up by the end of the Cold War, records thought destroyed by the Allies in 1945 but actually secretly captured by the Soviets. He covers his timeframe chronologically.

Herwig argues that the Marne was the most important battle since Waterloo, and he makes a solid case to support this broad assertion. Briefly, he argues that, though the Marne did not result in either a French or German victory, the fact that it was a stalemate ensured that the war would be a long one, the result being the fall of the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian Empires, the rise of fascism and communism, etc.

Herwig does a good job of portraying the German side, especially the disconnects and poor coordination between Kluck's First Army and Bulows' Second Army and the critical move through Belgium and into France. He also hammers home Moltke's poor command and control efforts and lack of coordination between the various moving parts of the Schlieffen plan. He seems to imply that, with better coordination, the German attack might just have succeeded, though he stops short of being explicit on this point. Given the logistical difficulties for Germany, and French interior lines (formation of the 6th Army north of Paris, as an example of how this really helped France), that would be a hard case to argue.

Personally, what I liked most about this book was that it covered the early battles of the war in much greater detail than I've read to date, especially the battle of the Frontiers to the south, an area usually glossed over in other accounts. While not decisive, maybe, these battles consumed huge numbers of soldiers and equipment and were a major contributor to the tremendous attrition of the first weeks of the war.

Some quibbles with the book, though. First, he uses Army historical maps that are somewhat unclear and not always the best depictions of what he is describing. No doubt this saved a good deal of money, but better maps would've helped. Second, he has a tendency to list lots of units and names in rapid succession, making for dense and confusing reading at times. While possibly useful for some, too much detail is just as bad as too little.

All in all, an excellent book and much recommended.