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Book Report On Guns Of August By Barbara Tuchman

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The Guns of August
Barbara Tuchman

The Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Guns of August, written by Barbara W. Tuchman in 1963 is one of the most recognized books on the Great War. World War One was to be the war to end all wars but at its demise resulted in more problems than before the war began. The world had metamorphosed from an agricultural farmland, to a booming industrial factory, the likes the world has never imagined. The Congress of Vienna subdued most conflict, as the years between 1815-1914 stayed relatively away from major conflicts. But the small conflicts that did occur helped build up tensions. These tensions condensed under the build up of continuous steam in a boiler room where there is no failsafe valve. The steam continued …show more content…

There is very little recordation of the accounts in Austria, Serbia or the East (apart from the battle of Tannenberg) The war ultimately was a battle of attrition and fought in the trenches. It was a series of battles that resulted in favor of the allies. Tuchman in this book divides the first month on the Western Front into the battle of the frontiers (which includes the German violation of Belgium), the significance of the burning of the library at Louvain (the Belgians and all people around the world saw the burning of the library at Louvain as an atrocity), the German turn to the south after violating Belgium and the trench warfare after the battle of the Marne.The Germans saw a strong navy presence in the British Channel and the Mediterranean. Where after Italy becoming neutral, forced the Goeben, a German Dreadnaught to take shelter in the Dardanelles and even gain the Ottoman Empire as an ally. However it seemed as if the Germans used their strong navy only for exclusive moments throughout the war. 5 August saw the battle of Liège where the Germans eventually won. On the Eastern German front the battle of Tannenberg saw a Russian defeat and one of the worst losses for the Russians and saw the apparent suicide of the Russian General Aleksander Samsonov rather than returning home to the

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Ned Blackhawk, Violence over the Land does a great job at depicting how the Early american west was created and all of the violence that the native people endured over many years. For as long as I can remember the American west was all about shooting and gun fights due to how most people in history portray it. However Ned Blackhawk does a great job bringing many hard aspects of the Early American West to light. Blackhawk brings a unique perspective to light discussing how many different empires from the Spanish to American’s bringing hardships, death and diseases to the Indian groups living on the land hinting at the title “Violence over the Land”. He discussed how over time the native population has had a very pauperized life.

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The battle of Fromelles occurred on the 19th of July 1916, with young Australian and British soldiers up against the Germans. It resulted in 5,500 Australians and 2,000 British troops killed or wounded in only a twenty-four-hour period. During this battle no extra land was gained and none of the land already owned was lost. The aim of the battle of Fromelles was to act as a distraction to the Germans so that forces that were allied with the Australians and British could get into position. The battle of Fromelles should feature more prominently in accounts of World War One as it was a severely devastating time for both the families of the soldiers and the soldiers themselves.

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The rifle, a historical fiction book written by Gary Paulsen, is a story about the rifles influence on many people including John Byam. The book starts off in the 18th century telling the story about Cornish McManus, the gunsmith who created of the rifle, training that he had to go through, being trained by the gunsmith John Waynewright. It then goes on to illustrate the months of slow hard work that it took for Cornish to make the beautiful rifle of his dreams that would end up being his life work. It then explains the people the rifle was passed down to and how it affected those people, starting on the influence on John Byam. John Byam starts out in the book as a mysterious man, but, by the end of the book, he has become a war hero and

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Coffman, Edward. The War to End All Wars. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968 “The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I” by Edward M. Coffman writes from the point of view of the soldiers who were actually involved in the battles of World War I. Coffman set out to write a history of the American military experience in World War I, it was apparent he had two major goals in writing this book “The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I.” He starts by telling us how American was not prepared and appeared to be confused in many aspects of the war.

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