COFFMAN : The war to end all wars (fülszöveg)
Half a century ago, the Armistice that signaled Allied victory in World War I was signed. This comprehensive military history tells more about America's part in fighting and winning that war, both on the battlefields and behind the lines, than any recent work.
All the famous battles in which American troops participated – Belleau Wood, Saint Mihiel, Château-Thierry, the Meuse Argonne, and others – are described, and their heroes brought to life. But the book deals equally with the fledgling air force, and, because victory depended upon control of the Atlantic, with naval personnel who searched out German submarines and kept the supply lines open between the United States and Europe.
Mr. Coffman is also concerned with how this country, completely unprepared to wage a modern war, put itself upon a wartime footing; how industry was organized and the economy transformed; how the draft was operated and recruits and officers trained; how the War Department evolved and how it coped, and often failed to cope, with the emergency and with top-level conflicts over tactics and strategy, both in this country and overseas. He pays close attention to the struggle over whether American forces should be amalgamated into Allied ranks, and to General Pershing's success in maintaining the independence of the American army.
There are, in addition, memorable portraits of America's military leaders, from Secretary of War Newton D. Baker and General John J. Pershing to such great soldiers of the future as Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall, and George S. Patton, Jr. In an attempt to get at the true spirit or "feel" of the time, the author describes privates' reactions to training and battle. The work draws upon unpublished diaries, memoirs and reminiscences, and papers not hitherto available to scholars, and on personal interviews with participants, as well as on the more familiar historical sources. For the first time in any general history, the role of Negro troops during the war is assessed, a record which shows the deep vein of race prejudice present at that time.
The War To End All Wars goes far beyond the popular conception of military history. Many aspects of the war experience which might be termed social history – the effects of the flu epidemic, the life of the ordinary soldier, the demobilization procedures – combine in this richly detailed book to make a balanced study of a subject of growing contemporary interest.
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| KATALÓGUS | TARTALOM |
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