The Guns of August Essay

1 The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman A predilection for the high drama of war stories and an appreciation for history as narrative led me explore Barbara W. Tuchman’s The Guns of August , a dramatic, comprehensive and painstakingly detailed account of the beginnings of World War One. Having read her history of fourteenth century Europe, A Distant Mirror, I was eager to see how she would apply her style of taking important individuals of the period and showing how events unfolded through

The Guns of August Barbara Tuchman's Pulitzer prize-winning book about the start of World War I is a fascinating and detailed work that delivers the thoughts and actions of the belligerents and their previously mysterious leaders to life on every page. This military history of the first month of the war is written in a way as to keep the reader interested because of the great detail. The author also manages to write about the events in such a manor as the reader sees them as they happened

Barbara Tuchman’s book, The Guns of August begins in 1910, at King Edward VII of England’s funeral. At the funeral there are nine European kings there to pay their respects. One of the kings is his nephew, German Kaiser Wilhelm. Wilhelm resented how England softened Germany’s rise as a European power, affiliating instead with France, Russia, and Japan. Wilhelm desired power and acknowledgment and used Edward’s funeral to begin calculating. Over the years, Germany prepares for war, making plans to

“The Guns of August” by Barbara W. Tuchman is a military history non-fictional account of the beginning of World War I and was published in 1962. The book is based from firsthand accounts, official communications, and statements made by government officials and military leaders following the war. The author details the political atmosphere which lead to “the great war” and follows through the first steps of the campaigns up until the point where the stagnation of trench warfare took hold. An analysis

The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman paints a vivid portrayal of the Europe, pre-World War I. It discussed the actions of individuals and world leaders and how it plunged the world into The Great War that laid the groundwork for the world as we know it today. As most people understand, myself included, it is a common belief that World War I was only caused by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir apparent to the throne of Austria-Hungary. While this is the trigger event that sent

The Guns of August by Barbra W. Tuchman The Guns of August, written by Barbra W. Tuchman in 1962, is a novel that meticulously depicts the beginnings of the First World War. After negotiations with her publisher, Tuchman states that the purpose of this novel is to tell the story of “the wars first month, which contained all the roots, including the Goeben and the battle of Mons”(xix). The novel is broken up into three main sections: Plans, Outbreak, and Battle. The first five chapters fall under

millions of soldiers and civilians died. Children lost their parents, and wives, their husbands. So unprecedented was this type of vicious warfare that the countries involved were unprepared for one of the worst wars in history. Two books, The Guns of August and All Quiet on the Western Front address and highlight major themes of World War I. The books offer insight to the political and military strategies of France, England, and Germany during the first month of the war, as well as the emotions of

Sarah Coleman March 9, 2017 Period 5 Western Civilization 12 The Guns of August Book Critique The Guns of August, by Barbara W. Tuchman, is about the start of World War I. It starts out talking about how King Edward VII strengthened the nations during his time alive. Along with King Edward strengthening the nations, Lord Palmerston, a Foreign Minister for England, was able to get a few countries to sign a treaty. “The treaty was signed in 1839 by England, France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria” (Tuchman

In Barbara W. Tuchman’s book, The Guns of August, she argues that each competitor in World War I did some very feebleminded things in the first month of war. Tuchman quibbled that the first month was a disaster of headstrong generals, who were determined to stick with military plans that weren’t succeeding. The author explains that both sides lost in the first month because of foolish mistakes. Tuchman presents three mistakes Germany made. The first mistake was that they used terror against the civilian

The Missiles of October is a docudrama created for television play about the Cuban Missile Crisis which happened in 1974. The name elicits the book “The Gun of August” by Barbara Tuchman about the missteps among the important powers and the unsuccessful chances to provide an opponent a natural way out, which guided to the First World War. The teleplay present William Devane as John F. Kennedy and cast Martin Sheen as United State Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Robert Kennedy's book “Thirteen