A History of the Great War, Volume One

John Buchan (1875 - 1940)

This is the first of a four-volume history of the First World War, covering the period from its outbreak in the summer of 1914 to the campaign in Neuve Chapelle of March 1915. The author, John Buchan, was most widely known as the writer of the spy-thriller, The Thirty-Nine Steps; and he was also a politician and a diplomat. According to the writer in his preface, this work appeared originally in twenty-four volumes between February 1915 and July 1919, and was thus partially contemporaneous with the war itself. The volume starts with the triggering event, i.e., the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand; then the author gave a general background of the world's political and social situations that contributed to the more deep-rooted cause to the final showdown between the antagonistic powers. For the rest of the volume, the author narrated, in a chronological fashion, the major individual battles that had been fought; and the gradual escalation of the armed conflicts that were to spread ultimately to almost every part of the world. Details were given to the relative power and military preparation of each belligerent in an emerging battle, the topography of the battle theatre, a blow-by-blow account of the actual fighting, and the strategical significance of its aftermath. There are also interluding chapters to take stock of the overall situation after a series of major campaigns had been played out. In general, the author took a rather formal approach by describing the war from a more macroscopic level, packed with factual details, but from the perspective of a patriotic British national. (DavidReader)

Genre(s): War & Military

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 00 Preface DavidReader
00:09:39
Play 01 Introduction DavidReader
00:32:14
Play 02 Chap. 1 DavidReader
00:09:54
Play 03 Chap. 2 (I) DavidReader
00:11:42
Play 04 Chap. 2 (II) DavidReader
01:03:13
Play 05 Chap. 2 (III) DavidReader
00:42:27
Play 06 Chap. 2 (IV) DavidReader
00:20:58
Play 07 Chap. 3 (I) DavidReader
00:43:10
Play 08 Chap. 3 (II) DavidReader
00:48:14
Play 09 Chap. 4 (I) DavidReader
00:47:47
Play 10 Chap. 4 (II) DavidReader
00:23:00
Play 11 Chap. 4 (III) DavidReader
00:31:47
Play 12 Chap. 5 (I) DavidReader
00:28:39
Play 13 Chap. 5 (II) DavidReader
00:37:51
Play 14 Chap. 6 (I) DavidReader
00:37:00
Play 15 Chap. 6 (II) DavidReader
00:37:24
Play 16 Chap. 7 (I) DavidReader
00:14:57
Play 17 Chap. 7 (II) DavidReader
00:36:15
Play 18 Chap. 8 DavidReader
00:50:06
Play 19 Chap. 9 DavidReader
00:41:44
Play 20 Chap. 10 (I) DavidReader
00:43:36
Play 21 Chap. 10 (II) DavidReader
00:29:16
Play 22 Chap. 11 DavidReader
00:41:21
Play 23 Chap. 12 (I) DavidReader
00:26:44
Play 24 Chap. 12 (II) DavidReader
00:30:54
Play 25 Chap. 13 (I) DavidReader
00:18:04
Play 26 Chap. 13 (II) DavidReader
00:41:33
Play 27 Chap. 14 DavidReader
00:49:49
Play 28 Chap. 15 (I) DavidReader
00:28:54
Play 29 Chap. 15 (II) DavidReader
00:32:02
Play 30 Chap. 16 (I) DavidReader
00:44:41
Play 31 Chap. 16 (II) DavidReader
00:39:10
Play 32 Chap. 16 (III) DavidReader
00:53:02
Play 33 Chap. 17 (I) DavidReader
00:32:29
Play 34 Chap. 17 (II) DavidReader
00:39:00
Play 35 Chap. 17 (III) DavidReader
00:41:57
Play 36 Chap. 18 (I) DavidReader
00:40:16
Play 37 Chap. 18 (II) DavidReader
00:33:04
Play 38 Chap. 18 (III) DavidReader
00:28:18
Play 39 Chap. 19 DavidReader
00:31:09
Play 40 Chap. 20 DavidReader
00:39:44
Play 41 Chap. 21 DavidReader
00:42:45
Play 42 Chap. 22 DavidReader
00:50:46
Play 43 Chap. 23 (I) DavidReader
00:24:23
Play 44 Chap. 23 (II) DavidReader
00:34:42
Play 45 Chap. 24 (I) DavidReader
00:26:58
Play 46 Chap. 24 (II) DavidReader
00:33:44
Play 47 Chap. 25 DavidReader
00:33:26