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This Episode:
/u/elos_ discusses some of the prominent and popular ideas about The Great War, particular in the anglosphere. Covered are the notion of "lions led by donkeys" and the idea of marching lockstep into machine gun fire, as well as the expected time an average soldier would spend in a combat zone. Key, however, is challenging the idea that WWI was a static and senseless conflict, instead of a dynamic engagement whose tactics and strategy were rooted in practical considerations.
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Thanks all!
Coming up next fortnight: /u/elos_ returns for part two, discussing how WW1 evolved following the 1916 Battle of the Somme, and kept changing right up until the armistice.
My reading list for WWI for anyone interested. It starts out pretty slow (first time!) but it really starts to come into itself 15 or so minutes in! :)
Pyrrhic Victory: French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert Doughty
The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary, 1914-1918 by Holger Herwig
The Marne: The Opening of the First World War by Holger Herwig
Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front, 1914-1918 by Richard Holmes
How Jerusalem Was Won by W.T. Massey
Australian Light Horse: A Study Of The Evolution Of Tactical And Operational Maneuver by Major Edwin Kennedy Jr
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
Hot Blood and Cold Steel: Life in the British Trenches in the First World War by Andy Simpson
The First Day on the Somme by Martin Middlebrook
The Kaisers Battle by Martin Middlebrook
Through German Eyes: The British and the Somme 1916 by Christopher Duffy
Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting The Great War 1917-1918 Volume Two by Tim Cook
Battle Tactics of the Western Front: The British Army`s Art of Attack, 1916-18 by Paddy Griffith
To Win A War: 1918 The Year Of Victory by John Terrain
The Great War: Myth and Memory by Dan Todman
War of Attrition: Fighting the First World War by William Phillpot
The Smoke and the Fire: Myths and Anti-Myths of War, 1861-1945 by John Terraine
The First World War by John Keegan
Baptism of Fire: The Second Battle of Ypres and the Forging of Canada, April 1915 by Nathan Greenfield
Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea by Robert K. Massie
Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 by Christopher Clark
Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War by Christopher Clark
Financing the First World War by Hew Strachan
The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War by Hew Strachan
The First World War: Volume I: To Arms by Hew Strachan
A very good post, I can't wait to see people unhappy with what you say because it is undoing the damage of Dan Carlin's WW1 series.
I'll definitely be giving this a listen. I have enjoyed Dan Carlins First World War series, but he seems very keen on the Lions led by Donkeys approach.
Is the YouTube a work in progress? I only see old episodes out there now.
/u/elos_
Could you expand upon the section about the population decline and the other reasons for it? Namely what would have killed the same number of people and were you saying that the demographics of those killed would have been the same? Also what were the other significant population drops you mentioned caused by?
The argument didn't seem very convincing to me at all in the podcast but that could definitely just have been the limit of time and format.
First podcast I listened to all the way through in a very, very long time.
Any chance there will be a soundcloud edition of the podcast in the future?
Keep up the great work!
/u/elos_ Generally I find this to be a great episode and a really fruitful discussion of the subject of world war I. However coming from an anti-war perspective I have to add that I really think it is innapropriate to refer to one of the most brutal events in the 20th century that ultimately led to arguably the most brutal of all as a useful thing for anyone. Especially when it concerns interests of entities of such abstract nature as nation states.
Will you guys being doing anything about the Armenian genocide?