With Our Backs to the Wall
  • Published: 16 July 2012
  • ISBN: 9780141020792
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 752
  • RRP: $45.00
Categories:

With Our Backs to the Wall

Victory and Defeat in 1918

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EBook
6 Jul 2011
Paperback
16 Jul 2012
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The key book for understanding the terrible events commemorated throughout the 2018 centenary year

FINANCIAL TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR and DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOKS OF THE YEAR

Shortlisted for the 2012 DUKE OF WESTMINSTER MEDAL FOR MILITARY LITERATURE

At the end of 1917 Britain and France faced a strategic nightmare. Their great offensives against Germany had been calamitous, leaving hundreds of thousands of young men dead and wounded for negligible territorial gains. Despite America's entry into the war the US army remained tiny, the Italian army had been routed, and Russia had dropped out of the conflict. The Central Powers now dominated Central and Eastern Europe, and Germany could move over forty divisions to the Western Front. Yet only one year later, on 11 November 1918, the fighting ended in a decisive Allied victory.

Stevenson's rich and compelling book retells the story of 1918, and with penetrating original research goes to the very roots of this instrumental turning point in modern history.
  • Published: 16 July 2012
  • ISBN: 9780141020792
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 752
  • RRP: $45.00
Categories:

Also by David Stevenson

1914-1918: The History of the First World War
1914-1918
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Praise for With Our Backs to the Wall

It is impossible ... to exaggerate how impressive this book is

David Crane, The Spectator

Brilliant and comprehensive ... a major contribution

A. W. Purdue, The Times Higher Education Supplement

This is, as one would expect from a historian of Stevenson's great learning and analytical power, a masterly study

The Sunday Telegraph

An immensely useful study, emphasising the crucial importance of morale, political stability and trust

Max Egremont, Literary Review

Stevenson brings to his study a formidable authority and mastery of the sources, and judgments that seem admirably measured and nuanced

Max Hastings, Sunday Times

A fascinating military narrative ... masterly

William Anthony Hay, Wall Street Journal

A magnificent and exhaustive account of the war's final year ... Stevenson has a deserved reputation as one of the world's leading authorities on the war

Tony Barber, Financial Times

A magisterial single volume synthesis of all the themes to deliver a punchy, incisive reboot of WW1 history that is never a dull read

Warships International Fleet Review

An outstanding contribution

Frank Ellis, Quarterly Review

A monumental study deserving of a wide readership by scholars and generalists alike

Library Journal

Stevenson's grand scope, his international perspective, and his reliable judgements, combined with crystal-clear writing, have produced an exemplary book, a formidable contribution to our understanding of the Great War and the twentieth century

English Historical Review

The strength of the book lies in his ability to weave together astute analysis of the antagonists' abilities and weaknesses ... Told with verve and analytical vigour, Stevenson's book is a compelling and authoritative study of one of the most significant turning points in 20th-century military history

Robert Gerwath, The Irish Times

Stevenson's detailed, lucid description of the development and maturation of that ability reflects encyclopedic mastery of published and archival sources while synergizing military, economic, political, and social-cultural factors. It is a professor's page-turner. It is also a door-opener to any reader seeking to understand the Great War's last stage

Publishers Weekly