Summary of John Keegan's The First World War

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 The first World War was a tragic and unnecessary conflict. It was unnecessary because the train of events that led to its outbreak might have been broken at any point during the five weeks of crisis that preceded the first clash of arms, had prudence or common goodwill found a voice.

#2 There are many ceremonial monuments in French and British communities that commemorate the dead of the Second World War. The cross that stands at the crossroads in my West Country village was raised to commemorate the men who did not return from the First World War, but their number is twice that of those killed in the Second.

#3 The Germans, who could not decently mourn their four million dead of the Second World War, found a materially equivalent difficulty in arranging an appropriately symbolic expression of grief for their fallen of the First World War, as many lay on foreign soil.

#4 The war’s effects were felt by the entire world, not just the warring countries. The German war generation was comparable to the French, suffering from the same casualties and losses.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669381600

IRB Media

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Insights on John Keegan's The First World War

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The first World War was a tragic and unnecessary conflict. It was unnecessary because the train of events that led to its outbreak might have been broken at any point during the five weeks of crisis that preceded the first clash of arms, had prudence or common goodwill found a voice.

#2

There are many ceremonial monuments in French and British communities that commemorate the dead of the Second World War. The cross that stands at the crossroads in my West Country village was raised to commemorate the men who did not return from the First World War, but their number is twice that of those killed in the Second.

#3

The Germans, who could not decently mourn their four million dead of the Second World War, found a materially equivalent difficulty in arranging an appropriately symbolic expression of grief for their fallen of the First World War, as many lay on foreign soil.

#4

The war’s effects were felt by the entire world, not just the warring countries. The German war generation was comparable to the French, suffering from the same casualties and losses.

#5

The First World War, compared to the Second, did little material damage. It was a rural conflict, and the fields over which it was fought were quickly returned to agriculture or pasturage. It inflicted no harm to Europe’s cultural heritage that was not easily repaired.

#6

However, it damaged European civilization, the rational and liberal civilization of the European enlightenment, permanently. Within fifteen years of the war’s end, totalitarianism was on the rise, and within twenty years, Europe was once again gripped by the fear of a new war.

#7

The Second World War, when it came in 1939, was the result of the First. It was the continuation of the same circumstances and causes, and the same personalities were at play. The battlefields were the same, as were the rivers Meuse and Bzura.

#8

In Europe in the summer of 1914, a peaceful productivity existed due to international exchange and cooperation. The Great Illusion, written by Norman Angell, demonstrated that the disruption of international credit would either deter war or bring it to an end.

#9

The predominance of the London Stock Exchange fed the belief that any interruption of the smooth, daily equalization of debit and credit would destroy not only confidence in the monetary mechanism, but the system itself.

#10

The interdependence of nations was a condition of the world’s life in the first years of the twentieth century. The acceptance of this idea was far beyond just bankers. The revolution in communications, which required international co-operation, necessitated these associations.

#11

The international working man’s movements, which were led by Karl Marx in 1864, preached social revolution. They drove governments to enact labour welfare laws to protect themselves from revolution.

#12

Europe’s educated classes held much of its culture in common, and they were able to act together when they chose. They could also think and feel together. Europe’s university graduates shared a corpus of thought and knowledge, and their commonality of outlook preserved something recognisable as a single European culture.

#13

The most important visitor to Sarajevo in 1914 was Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne. He was travelling within his own territory, but the members of the royal houses of Europe were great international travellers and their acquaintanceship was an important bond between states.

#14

The decision of Tsar Nicholas II in 1899 to convene an international conference dedicated not only to strengthening the limitation of armaments, but also to the founding of an international court for the settlement of disputes between states by arbitration, was a creative innovation.

#15

There was a fear of war in the abstract, but it was more prevalent among the political classes in every major country that their position was threatened in some way or another.

#16

The rivalries between the European powers were exacerbated by Germany, which had built a fleet capable of challenging the British navy in the Second Naval Law of 1900. The race to build the largest battleships was the most important and popular element of British public policy in 1906.

#17

The opening years of the twentieth century saw European policy guided not by the search for a secure means of averting conflict, but by the quest for security in military superiority. This meant building larger armies and navies, and acquiring more and heavier guns.

#18

The first five years after a conscript’s discharge from duty were spent in a reserve unit of his regiment. He was then enrolled in a unit of the secondary reserve, or Landwehr, for the next fifteen years.

#19

The European armies were made up of a variety of different units, but there was a central uniformity to their organization. The division was the core fighting organization, and it consisted of twelve battalions of infantry and twelve batteries of artillery, 12,000 rifles and seventy-two guns.

#20

The potentiality of modern communications failed those dedicated to waging war, but it failed those dedicated to preserving the peace as well. The diplomats in charge of the countries during the July crisis were unable to control or contain the events that were taking place.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

Marlborough’s plan to save Holland in 1704 was to draw the