The opening shots of a great conflict

The German plan of attack in 1914 involved a giant 'hooking' movement commencing within Germany itself and then advancing through Luxembourg and neutral Belgium towards the Continental channel ports before arcing south-east to embrace the French heartland. France would be taken from the rear of Verdun on the River Meuse to Orleans on the Loire. Paris-caught squarely in the middle of this giant sweep-would be literally enveloped. History shows that the plan did not go the way the Germans intended and their advance, stopped by the French and the B. E. F, meant the war became stalemate of trenches, wire and mud, a war of attrition that led to the eventual defeat of Germany. Initially, however, it seemed as though nothing could prevent the advance of the vast juggernaut of that was the German army. The first stages of the Great War went very much according to plan and the first nation casualty was Belgium. The war quite literally rolled over this small nation and students of the conflict have tended to overlook these important events as a tiny nation fought to defend itself against hopeless odds. The author of this book was an American journalist who was present in Europe at the time these events were taking place, he saw the campaign unfold with his own eyes and has recorded what he saw for posterity. This is an interesting book, about the outbreak of hostilities to the arrival on the field of battle of the British Army, told from an unusual perspective.

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