Pity Of War Explaining World War I(ISBN=9780465057122) mobi 下载 fb2 夸克云 azw3 网盘 pdf pmlz

A landmark work of history that challenges our most basic

assumptions about the causes and consequences of the First World

War

In The Pity of War, Niall Ferguson makes a simple and

provocative argument: that the human atrocity known as the Great

War was entirely England's fault. Britain, according to Ferguson,

entered into war based on nave assumptions of German aims-and

England's entry into the war transformed a Continental conflict

into a world war, which they then badly mishandled, necessitating

American involvement. The war was not inevitable, Ferguson argues,

but rather the result of the mistaken decisions of individuals who

would later claim to have been in the grip of huge impersonal

forces.

That the war was wicked, horrific, inhuman, is memorialized in

part by the poetry of men like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon,

but also by cold statistics. More British soldiers were killed in

the first day of the Battle of the Somme than Americans in the

Vietnam War; indeed, the total British fatalities in that single

battle-some 420,000-exceeds the entire American fatalities for both

World Wars. And yet, as Ferguson writes, while the war itself was a

disastrous folly, the great majority of men who fought it did so

with enthusiasm. Ferguson vividly brings back to life this

terrifying period, not through dry citation of chronological

chapter and verse but through a series of brilliant chapters

focusing on key ways in which we now view the First World War.

For anyone wanting to understand why wars are fought, why men

are willing to fight them, and why the world is as it is today,

there is no sharper nor more stimulating guide than Niall

Ferguson's The Pity of War.

Figures

Tables

Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Notes on the Illustrations

Introduction

The Myths of Militarism

Empires, Ententes and Edwardian Appeasement

Britains War of Illusions

Arms and Men

Public Finance and National Security

The Last Days of Mankind: 28 June4 August 1914

The August Days: The Myth of War Enthusiasm

The Press Gang

Economic Capability: The Advantage Squandered

Strategy, Tactics and the Net Body Count

Maximum Slaughter at Minimum Expense: War Finance

The Death Instinct: Why Men Fought

The Captors Dilemma

How (not) to Pay for the War

Conclusion: Alternatives to Armageddon

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Niall Ferguson is fellow and tutor in modern history at Jesus

College, Oxford. He is the author of Paper and Iron and The House

of Rothschilds and the editor of Virtual History: Alternatives and

Counterfactuals.

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媒体评论

"A rich and provocative book, evocative and heartbreaking.

Ferguson is a talented writer and a versatile scholar." --

The

Atlantic Monthly

"An illuminating synthesis of current knowledge on the war. The

reader will find plenty of fresh information and challenging ideas

on the conflict's most important aspects." --

The New York Times

Book Review

"Brings for the first time the carnage of 1914-18 into sharp,

unmystified focus.

This is analytical history at its mordant best. With all its

other merits, The Pity of War is also a work of grace and feeling."

--

The Economist

"[Niall Ferguson is] the most talked-about British historian of his

generation." --

The New York Times

书籍介绍

A landmark work of history that challenges our most basic assumptions about the causes and consequences of the First World War In The Pity of War, Niall Ferguson makes a simple and provocative argument: that the human atrocity known as the Great War was entirely England's fault. Britain, according to Ferguson, entered into war based on nave assumptions of German aims-and England's entry into the war transformed a Continental conflict into a world war, which they then badly mishandled, necessitating American involvement. The war was not inevitable, Ferguson argues, but rather the result of the mistaken decisions of individuals who would later claim to have been in the grip of huge impersonal forces. That the war was wicked, horrific, inhuman, is memorialized in part by the poetry of men like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, but also by cold statistics. More British soldiers were killed in the first day of the Battle of the Somme than Americans in the Vietnam War; indeed, the total British fatalities in that single battle-some 420,000-exceeds the entire American fatalities for both World Wars. And yet, as Ferguson writes, while the war itself was a disastrous folly, the great majority of men who fought it did so with enthusiasm. Ferguson vividly brings back to life this terrifying period, not through dry citation of chronological chapter and verse but through a series of brilliant chapters focusing on key ways in which we now view the First World War. For anyone wanting to understand why wars are fought, why men are willing to fight them, and why the world is as it is today, there is no sharper nor more stimulating guide than Niall Ferguson's The Pity of War.