Hi everyone! I came to you requesting some help. I need a couple books about the Great War that cover the following items:
Europe before the War: UK, France, Germany, Italy and Russia. Colonial imperialism: politicals rivalry, nationalisms, militarisms; Austria-Hungarian and Ottoman Empire: general caracterization; Political alliances; On Asia: economic and political emergence of Japan.
Why the War? Economistic thesis and their simplistic approach. Warmonger ideology.
The preludes of war. The Balkans. "Serajevo's assassination" as an "excuse" to war. "Falcons" of Wien's court as "gravediggers" of Europe and the support of Wilhelm's germany (II Reich). The outcome of the historical crisis. The Plans of War.
Germany and the war in two fronts. Austria-Hungary and the attempt to "eliminate" Serbia. The russian army. Type of weapons used in the conflict. The economies and the war (role of women in the war). The political direction of the war. Military strategies: strong and weak points of the enemy.
Any help will be extremely appreciated.
EDIT: the books may be in english, spanish and portuguese, no preferences at all ;)
The Guns of August by Tuchman is a must read. It covers the immediate lead up to war, and the first month or so of the fighting. The writing is very engaging, and it is a generally well respected work in the field.
All good recommendations so far. I'll add Robert K Massie's 'Dreadnought' to the list. Not about the actual war, but events leading up to it. Very informative, and a great read.
The first half of "The German Wars" by D J Goodspeed is a very good look at the diplomatic history of Europe between 1870 and 1914. It covers the World War in some detail, but since this book was published in 1977, it is getting long in the tooth. John Keagen's 1998 book "World War I" provides more details about the war itself, but is not quite as good about the lead up to the war.
The third item of our Resources on the side bar is the Book List. The section on World War One is fairly comprehensive. For now, since the Centenial of the Great War starting is this year, expect to see a lot more books about World War One being published this year or in the near future.
DK Publishing also has a good coffee table book about World War One, that has a lot of photographs and detailed information about the weapons and military leaders.