The Western Front: The authoritative history of world war one from the acclaimed author of Passchendaele

There is a certain type of military history book exemplified by Max Hastings and Anthony Beevor in which the author selects a subject with high “brand awareness” such as Stalingrad, the Vietnam War, D-Day etc and creates a “soup to nuts” overview of the subject. The Western Front is certainly well within this particular canon – as it were. Although the canvas is usually large – you will never find a volume on rifle grenades of the British Army 1914-18 by this type of author, by confining it to one albeit large volume, of necessity the reader won’t find much by the way of granular detail. The issue is not so much what goes in but what is left out. Thus Nick Lloyd will spend forty or so pages on the 1918 German Offensives; generally the narrative is at Army level with occasional refences to small actions so the overall effect is that the book acts as a very good primer if the reader was coming to the subject without knowing too much. There are some curious omissions such as the 1915 Shell Scandal and only a passing reference to Jutland surely a major influence on the course of the Western Front given that it allowed a ruinous naval blockade of Germany. On the other hand there is a paragraph on the A7V in action at Villers-Bretonneux possibly out of proportion to it’s significance however I suppose it does add a bit of flavour to the “5th Army moved here, 3rd Army moved there” narrative. Because this has a top down approach there is a concentration on the major players both political and military, this is not really an account of life in the trenches, there are other books to cover that. It is very good at putting the Western Front in the context of the First World War, there are frequent references to what was happening elsewhere both militarily and politically. Do we learn anything new here after all the First World War is awash with books both narrative and analytical on the subject. If you are familiar with the Western Front then there are unlikely to be any revelations nonetheless it’s an immensely readable book. The layout with full pages of a reasonably sized typeface unburdened by footnotes matches perfectly with Nick Lloyds pacey, literate style that at times reads like a thriller is in stark contrast to some of the more turgid and dry military history books so it reads effortlessly. I can imagine this book selling well alongside the latest Beevor/Hastings volumes. Frankly if you want to delve deeper then there are other more specific books available

Well written, detailed, informative book on the Western Front without going into the amazing detail of somebody like Prit Buttar's books on the Eastern Front. If, like me, you're an enthusiastic armchair historian then you'll enjoy this informative book. It covers both sides view of the war as well as political input. Can't wait till the next volume is issued if Covid spares me!

This is a significant reference book with a wealth of information on WW1 and the Western Front.It would be invaluable to a serious historian but, for me, very much an amateur it is heavy reading.Both grandfathers were at the Western Front during WW1 and I’ve been researching this dreadful period in their lives. This book has helped considerably to further my knowledge but it is written in a factual, unexciting style reminiscent of school history books of my youth - at that time my least favourite subject.

This is a great insight into WW1. I grew up only looking at the British perspective of history, but this tells the whole story of the Western Front. We need to consider that much of the damage (Western Front) was done on French land, so we it's important to understand their perspective. We also get to hear the German perspective. Most of this is through the eyes of senior leaders, military and political. But we also get snippets of the lower ranks. All in all it was a horrendous piece of history. Technology and weaponry advanced during this time and manifested into what we now see as modern warfare, with tanks, planes, machine guns and so on. The death toll and future implications were also unspeakable. But going forward, when I wear my poppy in November and attend my local remembrance service, this book will help me contemplate all those deaths and sacrifices by the many and not just the British.One final thing, Field Marshall Robertson is my relative, so it meant a lot to me to hear about his involvement (whether he made right decisions or not)!Thank you to the author and I look forward to the next book which will focus on another area of WW1.

Over the last 30 odd years there has been a tendency for military history to be written from the bottom up with the emphasis being on the fighting soldier and how his experience fits into the broader picture. At its best, this works brilliantly with Max Hastings and Anthony Beevor being leading proponents. At its worst, it becomes, as John Keegan cuttingly said "the historian as copy-typist". In this book this tendency has been reversed with a most definite general's eye view of the action. Very little personal narrative is here with corps. armies and divisions dominating. If you know your WW1 history, there is little new here and there is a problem that it is the first volume of a proposed three volume of the war and there is little in the book (there are exceptions - the impact of the Brusilov offensive upon the Germans at Verdun is one) that places the Western Front in a global context. Maybe that is covered in a future volume. As a overall history of the Western Front it is excellent even though it has the limitations I mentioned. The impact that the Americans had in 1918 is very well covered (and to some extent the political limitations that Pershing was operating under), plus the weaknesses of the British. It is a general's book though. And no, they were not all donkeys.

The book was delivered next day by prime. The book arrived in excellent condition even though it was a used copy. I saved money on a quality used hardback. The author is well respected in his field of study and I look forward to reading about a fascinating part of world history.

A definitive history of the Western Front theatre in the First World War. Drawing on newly discovered sources and first hand accounts of that terrible time and place, this book is the best on the subject.

A very good telling of the collapse of Nazi Germany

this book presents mainly the human side of the main and very much critizised generals of the WWI. We can understand their fears and limited information that made them send thousands of soldiers to a certain death in useless offensives. In this sense it is kind of exculpatory, which makes the book both interesting and limited. The book does not explain, for example, why for years the main allied offensives in the western front were always so predictible and restricted to a narrow area around Flanders, of both difficult terrain and strong enemy defences

In my view, a flat out excellent book. In a book with such a broad scope, there are a number of challenges, in particular - finding the balance between detail and overview; trying to find the optimal number of areas to cover (not too many, not too few); and organizing the sheer amount of information into a coherent narrative. In my view, Lloyd manages all three of these challenges well, and the result is an excellent narrative history of the Western Front of WW1/The First World War. Lloyd touches on events on other fronts that impacted the Western Front situation, but also thankfully has a note that 2 additional books are on the way covering the Eastern Front (set for release in Spring of 2024) and other theaters.This book was perfect for me as someone who has some but not extensive knowledge of WW1/FWW.

This is a very detailed book about combat. The discussion is almost exclusively about the generals, the cities and towns where combat occurred, troop maneuvers, and battle. There's nearly no discussion about politics or diplomacy, or the prelude to the war. So be sure this content is what you want.