World War I, one of history’s deadliest wars, lasted for a period of time between July 1914 and Novembre 1918. It was the first global war to be declared. This means all of world’s superpowers fought and as a consequence, the entire world was impacted. All the world’s superpowers gathered and formed two groups. First, there was the Allies group, which included France, Britain, and Russia. The Central Powers group consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Austro Hungarian Empire. Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August explores the months leading to and the early months of World War I. Her narrative focused on World War I military history. Tuchman’s overall portrayal of World War I is extraordinary, including the decisions taken by superpowers, and events around the world that influenced the war. Samuel R. Williamson Jr. called it “one of finest works on history …[and a member of] [the best seller list for more 40 weeks”.
Tuchman starts her book with a description of her methods and her thinking behind the work she did. In her first chapter, Tuchman explains the importance of factual and contextual information in accurately describing World War I. Robert Massie wrote a Foreword. Massie discusses Tuchman’s work and writing process. Massie says that Tuchman asked many questions about her work. “[Her] research was to find… what really happened.” Tuchman then asks, “What happened to the prelude, first few months of World War I?” Tuchman further explains her answers to these questions in an author’s comment. Tuchman’s research led her to gather a great deal of information. Tuchman says on page xxiv that she answered the first research question based off of documents that she’s collected and that “all weather conditions…in the next pages [of the book] have documented support”. Documents such as battle order primary sources, telegrams or secret codes and maps were used to answer her question. Tuchman writes on page (xxiv) that in order to answer the second question she was “totally immersed” in military memoirs …[and] had all… thoughts and feelings, whether public or personal, documented. This makes it difficult to identify the exact document that was used to answer the question. She relied on letters, journals, photographs, and memoirs as primary sources. Tuchman departs, however, from the classical historiographical method. Her study resembles a descriptive rather than an analytical history.
Jeanne Lombardo wrote in a review of Tuchman’s book that she used the “historicist technique” to combine the documentary evidence and the powers of her imagination. She then uses this to create a vivid and living picture of what happened and who was involved in August 1914. Tuchman uses her documents to tell a story. Tuchman supports her idea by saying that, “the very fact of transforming the collection of dates, personalities, gun calibers and letters into a coherent narrative ultimately forces the ‘why?’ to surface” (xii). Ulrich Trumpener’s interpretation is important. He states in his book review published in The Journal of Modern History that The Guns of August was a great narrative work, but “as a scholarly contribution to the history of World War I it is less than satisfactory… [Tuchman’s] story is only partially based on the best available evidence…[and contains] oversimplifications.” Trumpener continues to discuss how The Guns of August increasingly left out information regarding certain countries’ contributions to the war. Tuchman acknowledged this in her author’s notes, where she said that there were omissions regarding some fronts. She states, “I felt that the omissions did not fit within my chronological limit and would have been tiresome to include” (xxiv). Her descriptions are all factual and I think that the omissions of certain details were essential. It would have harmed her interpretations of the story and her descriptions.
Tuchman’s study revolves around her belief that World War I was caused by the primary and/or secondary sources she used. Her analysis of these documents gave her many interpretations. She believed there were four main reasons for the war to start. First, there was a misperception that free trade would end wars because people wanted to avoid economic consequences. Tuchman shows this idea in page 12: Lord Esher lectured on The Great Illusion’s lesson at Cambridge University and the Sorbonne. He showed that ‘new economic forces clearly prove the futility of aggressive wars.’ The 20th Century will see a war of such magnitude, said Tuchman, that the inevitable outcomes would include ‘commercial ruin, financial ruin and personal suffering’. This, in turn, would make wars unthinkable. Tuchman demonstrates that wars were considered unthinkable by the economic implications. Tuchman uses the sermons of someone considered highly-educated to support his argument. Tuchman also believed that wars are a result of ideologies. Tuchman believed there was an over-emphasis by countries on the idea that a war should be quick and the need to stay on the offensive. This was illustrated on page 372, in which she wrote: Clausewitz had described the use of terror as a way to shorten a war. Clausewitz’s entire theory of the war hinged on its need to be quick, decisive and short. The civil populations must be included in wars. Tuchman’s quote illustrates that war happened because leaders in the countries involved thought the war would be brief and swift. This example focuses on the Germans’ belief in a short-term war and their need to attack constantly. Tuchman used Clausewitz’s arguments to show the importance of offensive attacks, and a brief war.
Tuchman’s third point was the effect of the treaties. Tuchman highlighted how the alliances and treaties resulted into a kind of domino-effect, which led to more countries joining the war. Tuchman explains this idea at page 63. The government maintained a disingenuous stance that the “conversations” with the military were, to use Haldane’s own words, “just a naturally and informal result of our close relationship with France”. Tuchman describes this idea on page 63: The government maintained the disingenuous position that the military “conversations” were, in Haldane’s words, ‘just a natural and informal outcome of our close friendship with France’. The U.S.-France alliance was a good example of this. She also found that there were contradictions to war, like the fact that technology has advanced but the old traditions are still in place. She talks about this on page 455. Doumergue said that ‘it is more courageous to appear a liar and risk public disfavor interests being killed .’…[This was a statement which sparked heated discussion. Tuchman’s quote explains a heated controversy that occurred at the time. The main focus of this debate was to try and overturn different ethical ideals. Before, it had been believed that dying in battle was better than giving up. However, this was a bad idea for the military because it led to the development of new weapons.
Tuchman wrote The Guns of August after a Macmillan Company publisher, Cecil Scott, asked her to write an account of events during the war. Tuchman expressed her concern in the preface that this book would not be read or be of interest to anyone. She explained that, in moments of depression when writing, she had asked Scott [the publishing company], “Who’s going to read this?” The book was widely read by a wide range of people because it is a well-written study that combines imagination with evidence. This book was a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning about the origins and history of World War I. It also provided a compelling story that kept readers entertained as they learned. Its popularity was due to the feature that some criticised, namely, the descriptive narrative style with imaginative pieces based in fact.
Tuchman’s writing in the text was well suited to the target audience. This also included regular people. People who are normally bored with history can be captivated by a compelling story that is based on facts. Tuchman’s ability of mixing fact and narrative on page nine is an example of Tuchman. Tuchman brings Admiral Troubridge alive. She engages her audience by using a fantastic diction and not just listing the facts. She can also give her reader the information they need to understand what caused World War I. In this example, she used a quote that was taken from an article written about Troubridge. Narrative history uses this technique to capture the reader. Narrative writing is used by authors who want to tell a story chronologically. In this case, it was about the prelude to war. This style is also used by authors who are telling military histories, like Tuchman.
Tuchman did a great job utilizing her sources to prove the economic and militaristic reasons behind the inevitable Global War. Tuchman does an excellent job of analyzing her sources and proving the economics and militaristic factors that led to the Global War.
Works Cited
Lombardo, Jeanne Belisle. “The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman.” Center for Future Consciousness.http://www.centerforfutureconsciousness.com/pdf_files/2008_ Essays/A Review of The Guns of August by Barbara W.pdf. Project MUSE. “Sewanee Review.” Fifty years On: The guns of August, always popular, always flawed. Accessed November 18, 2016. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/497154. Trumpener, Ulrich. The Journal of Modern History. 1 (1963): 94-95. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1899184. Tuchman Barbara W. Guns of August. New York: Ballantine, 2004. .
