Best General History

[dewey]

Hi, I was wondering if somebody could recommend a good general history book on WW1, that includes information on all theatres and campaigns, thank you, Dewey.

[armourersergeant]

This has been discussed befroe try this thread and probably better still this one

There are probably more just type names like Keegan and Gilbert into the search engine and it will bring up some threads.

regards

Arm

[MartinWills]

I would suggest that one criteria which rules out more volumes than perhaps it should is that such a volume needs must include the "sideshows" and places them in context eg:

The Russian Front

The Italian Front

Salonika/Gallipoli/Egypt & Palestine/Mesopotamia

East & South West Africa

Rabaul

Naval Actions Worldwide and the cruises of various commerce raiders

These campaigns serve to underline that it was a "World" war and not just a battle fought on the Western Front. I know that this restricts the choice and pares it down towards books that generalise but you need to do just that to cover the entire conflict.

Alongside the text volume a good atlas or map volume (such as that by Arthur Banks) is a good investment. Modern authors like Gilbert; Strachan and Stevenson offer a good starting point though older volumes like Cruttwell and Edmonds single volume should not be discounted and there are one or two general histories published just after the event which should not be written off, though they do not benefit from modern scholarship and recent advances in hindsight.

In any event single volumes should simply end up encouraging the reader to delve further in more detailed & specific volumes.