supremacy 1914 strategy guide austria hungary

Some British participants in the Battle of the Somme Reynolds is making a broader point than “the victors write the history.” At its simplest, that precept can mean only that reports on the outcome of battles tends to be self-serving.

Reynolds, on the other hand, wants to show us exactly how the historical reconstruction of WWI – i.e., the deliberate formation of the collective memory of the war – was used by each country to reshape what happened into a narrative that could justify not only what came before the war, but what came next. Similarly, such an evidentiary approach is generally taken to explain the factors contributing to the short hiatus between WWI and WWII. But such an analysis is uncommon to most accounts of WWI, which focus on specific treaties, leaders, social movements, and battles. It is not revolutionary of course to claim that history is contingent, or that it is used by those in power for their own ends. He also illustrates the ways in which the history of WWI was interpreted, first of all to serve the social and political agendas of the combatants at the time, and second, to readjust the understanding of the conflict in light of WWII. Reynolds employs a number of broad themes (nationalism, imperialism, capitalism, etc.) not only to document the wide range of effects of the war. In fact, it is so loaded with facts and background and insights and references that one can lose sight of the major thesis of the book, which is a shame, because it is an important one. It is difficult to summarize because its scope is so vast. It is divided into two halves: (1) legacies (direct outcomes of the war) and (2) refractions (changes in the ways in which the war was perceived). The Long Shadow is an extremely ambitious book that, as its subtitle avers, attempts to trace the influence of the First World War to the present day. But what actually caused the war and how did our understanding of it evolve over time? Other countries bound by treaties followed suit. One month after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand while he was visiting Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on this date in history.

Supremacy 1914 strategy guide austria hungary