Best wwi biographies according to redditors
We found 152 Reddit comments discussing the best wwi biographies. We ranked the 46 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 152 Reddit comments discussing the best wwi biographies. We ranked the 46 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
yeah wages of destruction by adam tooze really spells out in detail how wrong this is. highly recommend
https://www.amazon.com/Wages-Destruction-Making-Breaking-Economy/dp/0143113208
pdf, epub, and mobi files are on libgen and also i have them, if anyone's really interested they can pm me
edit: also the last chapter in margaraet macmillan's paris 1919, which tells the story of the creation of the treaty of versailles, basically makes the case that it didn't really start wwii and the germans could easily have paid of reparations because their payments were literally scaled to their gdp or whatever. like they couldn't rearm and pay, but they could pay.
Erwin Rommel (of WWII fame) served from the start. He has a memoir of his experience that, even while probably self-inflated, shows just how skilled he was as a tactician.
Edit: Crap, I forgot the even crazier one, Storm of Steel. This guy served almost the entire war on the western front, finally getting wounded (not for the first time) in August, 1918, 1.5 months before the war's end. No idea how he made it out, if his stories are even half true.
The best thing to do is to start searching for "eugenics." For some reason that stuff hasn't been buried as much and you can see more of it. And, since links in English are favored by the web over links in German, you get more of an allied perspective on it. You can start here, move on to here, spend a little time here and then dip in here for a little light reading before going down the rabbit hole for ever and ever.
Short answer: no.
Slightly longer answer: The radicalization of Islam in the Middle East ties into the division of the region by the western powers after WWI, and further during the Cold War, when the U.S. (not only, but in particular) supported the rise to power of radical religious figures in opposition to communist/leftist parties & figures who might be sympathetic to the Soviet Union, and therefore potentially threaten U.S./U.K. access to oil in the region. This included aiding in the over-throwing of democratically elected governments in favor of autocratic but U.S./U.K.-favored leaders - most notably the U.S.-led 1953 coup d'etat in Iran, when Mohammad Mosaddegh was overthrown. The 1978 Iranian Revolution began as a popular uprising against the Shah who replaced him.
For more extensive reading on the subject:
Inventing Iraq by Toby Dodge (I have some major issues with Dodge's conclusions post 9/11, but the historical analysis that makes up the majority of the book is solid)
Spies in Arabia by Priya Satia, and Lawrence in Arabia are good histories of imperial ambition during the WWI period and its after-effects
Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan for the political maneuvering of the Western powers
A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin
I also recommend Edward Said, if you're looking for cultural analysis as well as history
He wrote Infantry Attacks.
Probably Paris 1919.
I read this neat book on the subject. The sheer ignorance of the leaders during the peace negotiations (for I cannot stress the negotiations part enough) and the way they made decisions were astoundingly horrible. A snippet I recall is that there was a recorded incident where after ~2.5 hours of discussing what to do with country X, one of the leaders (Wilson maybe? I dont recall who) finally figured out that the country is not located in the balkans but is located in the Mid-East (I forget which country in particular) - basically the finer details elude me but the point stood that they had no fucking idea what they were doing (Lyod George, Clemenceau, Wilson).
If you're interested in a great book about relations at the top level between the Americans and the Brits, I can highly recommend Masters and Commanders, which is about FDR, Churchill, and their respective Chiefs of Staff. I found it to be fascinating.
Their tactics were better than decent. The Germans, Brits and French all developed effective tactics for seizing enemy trenches pretty quickly. That wasn't the problem. The problem is, how do you seize the first enemy line of trenches and hold it while you're under artillery fire and enemy infantry counter attack? You don't have effective radios and artillery is constantly cutting the phone lines you are able to lay. Signaling is difficult because of terrain, weather conditions, smoke created by fires and the fact that if you're visible enough to be seen by your support then you're also probably visible enough to be seen by the enemy. Even if the enemy doesn't counterattack immediately (which they would), how do you get to the second line of trenches under said conditions? How do you coordinate supporting fires and reinforcements when there is quite literally a wall of flying steel (barrage means wall/barricade in French, which is where the term comes from) between you and your start point?
The main issue was that the offensive technologies (communications, motorized vehicles, light supporting weapons, aerial weapons) hadn't caught up to the defense technologies (barbed wire, concrete pillboxes, heavy machine guns, massed artillery, rail-borne reinforcements). Even if you successfully seized line after line of trench, the enemy could always dig in behind their last line and pour in reinforcements via rail faster than you could break through. With all that said, strategically the allies were idiotic. Continuing to attack fortified German positions again and again and again with very little to show for it is just bad strategic judgement.
I've posted these links before, but if you'd like to educate yourself on WW1 infantry tactics/battle:
Stormtrooper Tactics
Infantry in Battle
To Conquer Hell
Infantry Attacks
Storm of Steel
PS. I know you can find the second one for free on the internet.
I think it is probably this one:
Attacks
https://www.amazon.com/Attacks-Erwin-Rommel/dp/0960273603/ref=la_B001H6J32W_1_1/168-0761651-4922548?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1488196120&sr=1-1
If you want to get more in depth into the "Europeans carving up the Middle East" and have your mind blown by the direct implications for what we are now facing almost 100 years later, I strongly recommend the book "Paris 1919".
In addition to being fascinating, well written and full of colorful characters, it's a refreshing departure from your typical war history book discussing troop movements and precursors. It's unbelievable to learn about the circus of the post war Paris 1919 talks which shaped so much of the world as it emerged from colonialism.
Link: Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375760520/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_OEqZxbNARKF2M
For the lay person just wanting to learn more about the history of the most majestic, and ridiculous warships ever constructed I would suggest:
Dreadnought: A History of the Modern Battleship by Richard Hough, an excellent if slightly older(written in the 60's) overview of the era by one of the 4 or 5 top tier Dreadnought historians. Relatively short, and pretty digestible, especially compared to Massie at times.
The senior surviving officer, Baron Burkard von Müllenheim-Rechberg, also later wrote a book about his time aboard, I have not read it myself, but have seen him quoted extensively, including in the report Jschool linked below. But it may be of interest: https://www.amazon.com/Battleship-Bismarck-Survivors-Expanded-Bluejacket/dp/1557504369?ie=UTF8&redirect=true&tag=bismarck
>Actually compared to WW2 they never really go into detail as to what the end goals were for WW1
No, you just have to know where to look.
What you see happening between 1919 - 1923 is the result of the victor's goals. For an excellent overview of the Entente's goals and implementation, I would suggest Paris 1919. We saw the occupation of the Ruhr, the separation of Prussia, the establishment of Poland and the infamous "corridor", the complete disintegration of the Austrian Empire and the disarming of Germany to a force of 100,000 men, the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the making of the modern Middle East and the loss of Germany's few colonies.
The Central Power's goals were no less sweeping. While this map is definitely a propaganda piece, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk gives you a good idea about Germany's Imperial ambitions. If the Central Powers would have won and obtained sweeping power over the negotiations, a chance I believe the completely missed in 1917 and lost for good thereafter, for Germany ALONE you would have seen:
Keep in mind this doesn't even begin to compete with Turkey's desire for the restoration of their territories in Northern Africa, the annexation of large parts of the Caucuses and the Mediterranean or Austria's plans for the Balkans and Northern Italy.
War aims were such a large factor, that they were the primary factor for continuing the war in Germany even when all hopes were lost. Even as late as late as September 1918, Ludendorff kept the war going because he hoped to annex Belgium and keep a good portion of France they occupied!
With Wings Like Eagles
The Blonde Knight of Germany
Stuka Pilot Be forewarned, the man was an unrepentant Nazi.
Samurai!
Edit: If you want some non-aviation but still military books:
Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918 World War I and Its Violent Climax
The Last Battle
Slaughterhouse 5 Fiction
The Things They Carried
To Hell and Back
holy batman, walls of text...punctuation dear...punctuation.
I would suggest looking tru the Malaysian wiki...my own intrest in Malayan history only extends to WW2, check out The Jungle is Neutral, one of my fav books of the period
>to see some furniture all the way from my home city
Stoke on trent?
Pop into any bookstore, buy the Kampung Boy series by LAT, the sequel is Town boy, it shows a lovely pictorial refference to Malaysia in the 60s-70s
Read Freddie Spencer Chapman's book 'The Jungle Is Neutral', having to work out if each resistance group was friendly and if he'd get handed over to the Japanese.
One book I've recently read about Churchill states that his energy was tedious to those around him. He would keep a light buzz, if anything, and keep everyone up into the late hours of the night going over policy. He even strained the patience of career military men. I had always figured he would be a fun guy to be around until I read that. Here's the book.
He also wrote a book himself, Devil at My Heels. Disclaimer: He was my aunt's (wife to dad's brother) uncle.
I've had to remove some links from the main post. Added here:
General works - more advanced material
You should read at least one book from the preceding section before looking at books here. They are a more advanced treatment on the topic that may include viewpoints that are not commonly held.
This book discusses the war in general through transcripts of live discussions between leading historians. An unconventional look at the war which ranges widely while avoiding the academic tone of most books - highly recommended.
Sheffield reinterprets the war, debunking the myths of 'lions led by donkeys' and futility which arose from popular culture and powerfully arguing that the war had to be fought, and was won by a British Army which by 1918 was the most effective fighting force in the world.
This book is a narrative of the war that takes a detailed look at the conscientious objectors and the rise of the socialist movement in the context of the greater war. It is highly focused on British people and events.
An in depth look at the origins of World War I with particular focus on Balkans politics and events such as the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.
Seems to be the only recent English language work on the Italian front that I and it brings to light a long forgotten front that had some of the most extreme fighting in the war.
General works - personal accounts
Online resources
This is also a description of how German stormtroop tactics evolved, but much shorter. It is worth to mention because it is available as a free PDF, and good enough that you will find it quoted in books now and then. Gudmundsson's book is a more comprehensive resource but this one has the benefit of being online and free.
Fiction
The classic novel of WWI experiences
Loosely based on his own experiences, this novel helps bring the war "up close & personal".
Voices of the Great War. I think that would fit your needs quite well! For younger readers it provides first hand accounts woven into a loose chronological order/ topical order that are completely accessible.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forgotten-Voices-Great-War-History/dp/0091888875
In general the Voices books are pretty decent.
I always found WWI to be highly interesting, so I've devoured my fair share of literature. I'll list a few of my favorites. All of these are biographical non-fiction books.
Poilu! - The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918.
This guy lived through the entire war, spending most of it at the front. It details their daily life, but also the poor leadership and his hatred for the war. This one changed my perspective on war itself. A great read! If you're only picking up one, get this one.
Somme Mud - Edward P.F Lynch
Australian private lives through the fighting at Somme Mud, somehow. This one is very captivating, and I might have to re-read it.
Storm of Steel - Ernst Junger
A German account of the war, most of it spent at the front. Apparently there's a 1929 version in which Junger's patriotism and nationalism is conveyed, so I might want to try to get a hold of this edition myself. The newer edition is still a great read.
Sniper on the Eastern Front - Josef "Sepp" Allerberger
Another German account, but this one stands out because of it's focus on the snipers of the war.
These are all I can think of at the moment. I hope I've been able to spark some interest in the subject! If these do not ticke your fancy, there are tons of books covering different aspects of the war. All Quiet on the Western Front is fictional, but still a great read.
Before I read Unbroken, my dad gave me a copy of "Devil At My Heels", Louie's autobiography. I highly recommend giving his personal memoir a read for those who enjoyed Unbroken. I grew up near Torrance, my father heard him speak at a Night of Heroes at his church. Remarkable man, wish I heard his voice.
http://www.amazon.com/Devil-My-Heels-Olympians-Astonishing/dp/0062118854
Louis Zamperini
He just died less than 30 days ago, on July 2, 2014, at the age of 97.
His book, Devil at My Heels was excellent.
I agree that this is a great read. To add to this I think another great WWI books is Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger for a German soldier perspective
You might like this book: https://www.amazon.com/Battleship-Bismarck-Survivors-Expanded-Bluejacket/dp/1557504369/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522645408&sr=8-1&keywords=battleship+bismarck
https://www.amazon.com/Paris-1919-Months-Changed-World/dp/0375760520
Paris 1919
I have studied Kaiser Wilhelm extensively.... and by that I mean I have spent 100's of hours picking through documented accounts of his actions from all manner of nations from across the globe. And I am afraid that in my experience studying his majesty I have found nothing but a descent human being who desired nothing to do with war or the atrocities for which he is blamed but has absolutely fuck all to do with. And it genuinely hurts me when people who have made NO effort what so ever to take the time out of their day to study his actions through out his 29 years of reign, arrogantly and without reason or care, judge him based upon what other, ill educated propagandists have judged by. Wilhelm the second was a generous loving and kind heated man who did nothing but the best for everyone around him for the 29 years of his reign. Please I do not mean to offend you when I disagree with you. But please for your own edification take the time to judge him upon the factual actions he took during his reign and not by those who sought to hang him to dry for the obnoxious grotesque greed of the many nations including our own nation during the turmoil of the great war.
Please if you have the time or the inclination I implore you to read or listen to this book that I have found very enlightening and informative in my time studying the great war. And impose judgement only after you have given him a fair and just hearing and tried to understand the situation from historical perspectives.
This book mainly quotes the United states and Britain's foreign secretaries accounts of his doings through out his reign.
You clearly are an intelligent and well meaning human being. And if you are as I believe you are, then you should not taint your own positive qualities, by employing the same decadent lazy opinions of ill educated morons because it is most unbecoming of you. Don't drag yourself down to the intellectual level of most of the population of our country.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Innocence-Kaiser-Wilhelm-II-ebook/dp/B0112FGBQS
Yea, SlyReference basically covers it and I may have been overstating things with China (given their past 100 years in particular). All the same, where Western/European culture ends up from here is an interesting question to me.
A book I really like that's relevant is The Great War and Modern Memory.
Of course the war and its aftermath set the stage for the deaths of the old empires (all gone or changed beyond recognition by 1945), and was a nexus point for the conflicts that would shape the next century - Paris 1919 covers that quite well.
Graves gives a good account of a personal experience of the the war from a British subaltern's point of view. Others giving the bottom up look are from the French soldier's perspective in the trenches 1915-1916 Under Fire: The Story of a Squad by Henri Barbusse free here, another from a German perspective Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger. More graphically violent than All Quiet, but more a memoir than a novel. And unlike Remarque, Jünger was a combat soldier wounded 14 times, Iron Cross 1st Class, youngest recipient of Pour le Mérite (The Blue Max) and when he died in 1998, he was last living Blue Max recipient. From the American Doughboy's perspective, there's Toward the Flame a memoir by Hervey Allen who served in the "bucket of blood" the 28th Keystone Div in the Aisne - Marne offensive and leaves you contemplating being on the receiving end of a flamethrower attack. A harrowing compilation of vignettes running chronologically through each month of the war on the Western Front is The Hazy Red Hell Tom Donovan ed. It has been described as terrifying. I'll not dispute that. A more balanced view of the experiences of the fighting men is Forgotten Voices of the Great War: A New History of WWI in the Words of the Men and Women Who Were There I'm reading that right now.
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amazon.it
amazon.es
amazon.com.br
amazon.nl
amazon.co.jp
amazon.fr
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For those of you with any interest in the horrors of WW1, I recommend a A Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger as a depiction of WW1 battlefields completely devoid of the romance and moralizing that WW1 novels such as All Quiet normally suffer from.
That does! Thank you:) I think it is too! I know most people realy only focus on the Nazi part of it all, but there’s so much to German history! (Like the Barbaric Tribes).
World Wars are super interesting! Have tou ever read All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque? There’s “sequel” to that book called The Road Back. It looks at what happens to a (German) soldier after World War I ended. That’s supposed to be an accurate representation of soldier’s sentiments at the time. Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger is a (German) soldier’s experience during WWI. Holocaust by Bullets, Ordinary Men, Sleepwalkers, Europe’s Last Summer, and A Woman In Berlin are some pretty incredible books about these wars. Don’t know of you’ve heard of them or have read them, but thought I’d made the suggestion! Movie wise I’d say Generation War if you haven’t see it yet:) The Darkest Hour movie was great if you haven’t seen that! I’m planning to watch Babylon Berlin soon. Don’t know if you were looking for suggestions but I thought I’d make some!
UK link
Canadian link
Australian link
Indian link
Andrew Roberts came out with a biography last year, and it's fantastic. Martin Gilbert was Churchill's official biographer, so look for something by him. William Manchester wrote a three-volume biography of Churchill which is a fantastic read.
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Those are all really long, so if you want shorter books about his life, here are two which I found fascinating: Churchill in the Trenches and Winston Churchill Reporting. They're both about his life before WWII, which I find fascinating.
​
Also, if you want something by Churchill himself, pick up a copy of My Early Life by him.
>A lot of Allies considered him a military man and not a war criminal, he was definitely not on par with the others.
Lots of truth in this. His book infantry attacks was widely read and accepted. He was a military genius and people respected that.
http://www.amazon.com/Infantry-Attacks-Zenith-Military-Classics/dp/0760337152
No, any historian would not agree. I don't know where you get your info from, but "pulling shit out of my ass" does not equal "most historians agree".
Your problem is that I DID the research. I'm a research biologist holding a PhD, who was trained in critical thinking and research. I also have an avid interest in history, so guess what, I read a lot. A bit more than you do, apparently, judging by your comments... (I'm still amazed by the North Korea stuff... Please elaborate.) Here are a couple of the best books on WWI. Perhaps they would help you.
http://www.amazon.com/Sleepwalkers-How-Europe-Went-1914-ebook/dp/B008B1BL4E/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395256616&sr=1-2
http://www.amazon.com/War-that-Ended-Peace-abandoned-ebook/dp/B00CNQ9PFK/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395256616&sr=1-4
http://www.amazon.com/Catastrophe-1914-Europe-Goes-War-ebook/dp/B00C4BA4C2/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395256616&sr=1-5
http://www.amazon.com/Guns-August-Classic-Bestselling-Outbreak-ebook/dp/B002TXZS8A/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395256616&sr=1-6
http://www.amazon.com/Paris-1919-Months-Changed-World-ebook/dp/B000XUBC7C/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395256616&sr=1-11
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/143980.The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_British_Empire
Your naive, and frankly, idiotic image of the US stepping in... well that is just hilarious. All this after more than 150 years of imperialism. Ask people in Latin America or the Middle East about how benevolent your country was. And YOU want me to do research. Amazing.
Erwin Rommel's "Infantry Attacks"
Nothing has changed really...
When the Great Red Dawn is Shining, by Christopher Morry.
Memoirs of a Blue Puttee by A.J. Stacey.
Blue Puttee at War by Sydney Frost.
Grand Bank Soldier by Bert Riggs.
Robert Massie has 3 amazing books about WWI. Dreadnought about Anglo-German naval rivalry, Nicholas and Alexandra, about the last Czar and the russian perspective, and Castles of Steel, about the naval war. All of them are fantastic and read like novels.
Another excellent book is Paris 1919, about the end of the war, and how Woodrow Wilson ruined everything.
$7.93 of digitized WWI pilot memoirs and the like:
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0104NTVIE/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2O9L2BWM0KQXG&coliid=I3MMSFF9QRJT9K
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00FOGG3E2/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2O9L2BWM0KQXG&coliid=I1RDTZB0PCD9KU
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00DN5U7ES/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2O9L2BWM0KQXG&coliid=I2LBO5ZXT4DL4J
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0013NHLAK/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2O9L2BWM0KQXG&coliid=I31UWDQHNO1OZH
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B017KTYCW0/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2O9L2BWM0KQXG&coliid=I2ANJFHFDNBFOV
That these types of things are available makes me happy!
For the First World War, this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eleventh-Month-Day-Hour-Armistice/dp/0375760458 is a good book. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitcheners-Last-Volunteer-Allingham-Surviving-ebook/dp/B004K6MEDG?ie=UTF8&btkr=1&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect this is also an excellent read. What an amazing life! Harry Patch's autobiography is also good: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Fighting-Tommy-Trenches-1898-2009-ebook/dp/B003FI37QI?ie=UTF8&keywords=Harry%20Patch&qid=1462133612&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1
Edit: Added links
Penguin recently released this edition which I had pre-ordered
Storm of Steel: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143108255/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_l9a7xbQ4251BF
The art is gorgeous
Ah, the racism inherent in Zionism.
I'm not even going to blame ignorance here, because I think it is literally impossible that you are ignorant of World War I and it's aftermath, and how it shaped the borders of the modern world. You literally have to have your head up your ass to not know the history here. The only way to miss it is to be in willful denial; an essential strategy is your engaged in a generations long enterprise to push out a native population in order to establish a state based on religion an ethnic background.
People who aren't racist shit and are looking for a better understanding of the modern world will find this book helpful :
http://www.amazon.com/Paris-1919-Months-Changed-World/dp/0375760520/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404942751&sr=8-1&keywords=paris+1919
Forgotten Voices of The Great War and Forgotten Voices of World War 2 by Max Hastings are exactly what you are looking for.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forgotten-Voices-Great-War-History/dp/0091888875
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forgotten-Voices-Second-World-War/dp/0091897351
Waaaayyy too late, but he was a pretty badass tactician. He was a First World War vet and was awarded the Frederician [Pour le Mérite] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pour_le_M%C3%A9rite) for valor, and [wrote a book] (http://www.amazon.com/Attacks-Erwin-Rommel/dp/0960273603) about it in the 1930s which still circulates among US military.
Edit: see u/kami 232's comment below
Paris 1919 has several chapters that deal explicitly with the creation of the modern middle east after WWI. An extremely good starting point.
Talks about a lot of other things too like how the allies treated the newly created Soviet Union that goes a long way into understanding Russia's attitudes even today.
It is a must read book in my mind for understanding modern history.
Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History 6-part podcast on WW1 is something you should listen to if you’re interested in this part of history. Also, the audiobook for A Storm of Steel is really good at portraying the Western Front from a German conscript’s perspective.
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-50-blueprint-for-armageddon-i/
https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Steel-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0143108255
http://www.amazon.com/Rickenbacker-An-Autobiography-Edward-V/dp/0137810059
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1283972/Bravery-British-WWI-suicide-club-fighter-pilots-took-Germany-Red-Baron-15-hours-training-lasted-average-just-11-days.html#ixzz212B4WjKC
http://survivor-story.com/francesco-baracca-was-italys-top-fighter-pilot-in-ww1-was-italys-top-fighter-pilot-in-ww1/
http://www.amazon.com/No-Parachute-Classic-Account-War-ebook/dp/B00IYSGMJ8/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421368890&sr=1-2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wO8oWYLhT6o
http://www.usaww1.com/World_War_1_Fighter_Pilots.php4
Here you go. Sorry it requires a bit of reading, I hope you can find someone to read it to you.
Not sure if it's your style, but this is excellent.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Generals-MacArthur-Marshall-Winning-ebook/dp/B00TCI404I
Is it Devil At My Heels by Louis Zamperini and David Rensin?
Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World. Describes the peace negotiations following the end of World War I.
If you're interested in WWI, have you read Paris 1919? Definitely worth picking up if you haven't.
For World War 1 I would say the best book to read is Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan.
She is specifically a World War 1 historian specifically on the causes of World War 1. Her book on the Paris Peace agreement that ended World War 1 is a bit more unique than most World War 1 history books. In it she explains the conflicts and problems that all of the parties involved had with the agreement and the discussions that were going on.
People often think of World War 1 as this battle between five powerful nations but there were in fact a large number of minor nations who were at the peace talks and unhappy with the outcome. The result of World War 1 was the disintegration of the Russian and Ottoman Empires (two historic enemies) and the creation of a vast number of micro states across their borders.
Okay, first of all it would help if you narrow your search down to a specific country, since many different nations employed Cossack riders over time. You have Poland, Lithuania, Imperial Russia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Belarus, and Ukraine to name name most. However, and correct me if I'm wrong, I believe you are referring to the Russian Cossacks.
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In that case, or just in general, here are some links:
The History and Origins of the Cossacks
Uniforms
Ranks
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General Information on a Soldier's Kit:
Britain
Austria-Hungary
Serbia
Canada
Germany
Unites States
Japan
France
Italy
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In general, Wikipedia has a decent amount of information on a soldiers during the Great War (Whether they were fighting for Germany, Britain, America, Russia, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, Japan, France, Belgium, Serbia, Romania, Italy, and so on), so just check Wikipedia out. Books-wise, I am a less in touch. I do recommend Storm of Steel and All Quiet on the Western Front (both memoirs of a German Soldier) and Goodbye to All That (Memoirs of a British Soldier). Cheers!
Really recommending the Forgotten Voices of the Somme for a British perspective on the whole battle, including the first day. I think it's best to learn about the Somme from a soldiers' perspective and this book is a great starting point. There is a similar book called Forgotten Voices of the Great War which is a book of British solders' stories and extracts from letters regarding the whole of the war.
Also, contrary to popular belief, I really like the Pen and Sword Military books on snipers, artillery and horses as they are not as detailed as some of the books I've read but a nice bit of easy reading if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by some of the more advanced suggestions above.
German perspective
Infantry Attacks by Erwin Rommel
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The best personal account of the war I have read. Not as well-written as Junger's book (that is also very good btw) but good for the many detailed descriptions, including sketches he made right after the events, of tactical battles he was in. Not so much about troops freezing in trenches and having no food, although there is some about that, but a lot of insight in how a small-unit officer had to act in combat and how much more was going on in battles than the stereotypical massed assaults.
Conduct of the War
Command or Control? Training and Tactics in the British and German Armies 1888-1918 by Martin Samuels (1996)
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Very detailed analysis with good examples highlighting differences in doctrine and training before and during the war. A bit heavy, but it explains many things, and good analysis of what happened in a few battles and why.
Stormtroop Tactics - Innovation in the German Army 1914-1918 by Bruce I Gudmundsson (1995)
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Not only about the stormtroopers, but also German (infantry) tactics in general and how they evolved. It starts out with a description of a German attack in 1940, and then goes back to 1914 to explain in detail how the tactics used in 1940 evolved.
Dynamics of Doctrine, by Timothy T Lupfer
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This is also a description of how German stormtroop tactics evolved, but much shorter. It is worth to mention because it is available as a free PDF, and good enough that you will find it quoted in books now and then. I prefer the Gudmundsson book, but this isn't a bad (free) introduction to the topic as I remember it (was several years since I read it).
Specific Battles
Loos 1915 by Nick Lloyd (2008)
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Very good and detailed description of the battle. Of all the books on typical BEF trench battles I read this is the one I liked the best.
Operation Albion: The German Conquest of the Baltic Islands by Michael B. Barrett (2008)
link
Amazing operation. One of the biggest, if not the biggest, amphibious assaults in the war, and it is barely ever mentioned (I had never heard about it to be honest before someone on a forum mentioned this book). It is not only the details about the many battles on land and at sea that took place, but the book also has a lot of the tragedy of the disintegrating Russian units. Much of the book is based on researching previously closed Russian/Soviet archives and I hope we will see more fascinating books on things that happened on the eastern front we never heard about.
Irwin Rommel was an infantry lieutenant in WWI, and wrote Attacks, a fascinating book on his experiences.
There are some amazing stories of grenade fights on near-vertical mountainsides. Highly recommend!
The best original, contemporary source on this topic I've ever read by a conservative who loathed Nazism: Diary of a Man in Despair. Just don't make the mistake I made once upon a time, where I said I thought it was actually more powerful than The Diary of Anne Frank.
>There's nothing about that in the articles you linked.
yes, you need to read actual books to learn history, not just Wikipedia.
>Career State Department Ambassadors and staff are testifying that the Guiliani group's activities are unofficial, irregular
Yep. they're bitching that the president didn't listen to them.
>and unprecedented.
if they're saying that, they're lying.
> At this point the debate is simply you asserting that career officials are all mistaken.
Sure, try this or this, or this, or frankly, almost any of the hundreds of books on american diplomacy in ww1 and ww2 that you obviously haven't read yet for some reason have strong opinions about.
https://media.giphy.com/media/3oz8xLd9DJq2l2VFtu/giphy.gif
Lies dieses Buch. Schulen lehren nicht die ganze Erzählung.