Victory 1918

Studies of WWI tend to focus on the Western Front with its dramatic altercations at the Somme and Passchendaele. In fact, the war was fought on three continents, three oceans and nine seas. This neglect is particularly problematic in considering the final year of the conflict, when offensives in the Balkans, the Middle East, Italy and the West all ended with decisive victories for the allied powers. Addressing long overlooked campaigns fought in Iran, Palestine and Eastern Europe, Palmer embraces the full scope of the war while emphasizing the period after U.S. entry in the spring of 1917. Palmer (The Banner of Battle, etc.) has a sharp eye for diplomatic mistakes and opportunities missed in the quest to find peace sooner rather than later. Such occasions were plentiful in the final year. An example: Austria's Emperor Charles petitioned for peace on September 14, 1918, nearly two months before the final Armistice. What we now know to have been a genuine offer was seen by the British and Americans as a trick. The human cost: a quarter million mortalities between mid-September and the Armistice. As he ably shifts between the diplomatic big picture and the local horrors of the trenches, Palmer presents the war in all its banality and valor. (Jan.)