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If you've not listened to Dan Carlin's 6-part series on the Great War, take the time to do so. The "whys" and "hows" of World War I are much harder to get your

by crikli 11y ago

If you've not listened to Dan Carlin's 6-part series on the Great War, take the time to do so. The "whys" and "hows" of World War I are much harder to get your head around than WWII...it's just much less linear. Not only does he do an excellent job of making the mechanics of the war understandable, he draws the element of humanity into stark relief by interspersing explanations of troop movements with first hand accounts of the suffering and carnage men sustained. Episode IV focuses on Verdun and can be listened to as a stand alone episode but the rest of the series is very much worth the time. http://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-53-blueprint-for-armageddon-iv/ http://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-53-bluepri...

vlunkr 11y ago
The entire series is probably over 20 hours, but it is well worth the time.
jmatthew3 11y ago
Totally agree.
mitchty 11y ago
Agreed on Dan Carlin and if i may add TheGreatWar youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar They have videos from the british pathé and do week to week 100 years ago to today recaps. There is a lot of stuff and it won't end for a few years. Also interesting is they cover things like the infantry uniforms, the guns in use at the time etc.. Highly recommended.
azernik 11y ago
And if you prefer very long and dense text, I'd strongly recommend John Keegan's "The First World War" - similar to your description, it really gets into the human reality of the war with first-hand sources.
- ghaff 11y ago
  >very long and dense text, It really isn't by the standards of history books though. It's very readable because it does get into the human reality as opposed to endless facts. It's probably the best single book on WWI that I've come across.
Balgair 11y ago
Oh lord, Carlin is so very good at this. Teasers to get you to listen: Carlin's comparison of something as simple as the uniforms at the beginning and end is great. The initial movements were with these gauche Napoleonic clothes: Red feathers in tall hats, bright blue coats, shiny shoes and whatnot. At the end, all pretense had left. Modern war and the very functional uniforms were here to stay. Carlin's recounting of the German march into Belgium. He talks of an American account of a Belgian town on the border with Germany. The army that came though had to do so for over a day. There was a long unbroken march that went on for 24 hours, that was how many troops the Germans had come through just one town. The metal on their boots sparked off the cobblestones causing a drumming march of sparks all night. His accounts of Paschendale. The gas had turned the mud a toxic yellow. He recounts descriptions of the battlefield as a marshmallow. German boys would just sink into the mud and become unable to be pulled out in the toxic sludge. Their screams would last days as they succumbed to the mud. Carlin goes into some detail of the smell of Pachendale as a result. No more true description of Hell itself can be found. My god, what a good series to scare any person away from war. It really was as if Hell itself came out of the interior of the earth. It was a giant art experiment or something to as accurately as possible make Dante's Inferno real and then improvise. It really is hard to realize the horror.
VLM 11y ago
Another good WWI podcast was the "July Crisis Series" a couple years back on the "When Diplomacy Fails" podcast. Worth the time investment.
thearn4 11y ago
DC is a great storyteller, something missing in many other history themed audiobooks/podcasts/etc. My favorite series of his is either "Wrath Of The Khans" or "Ghosts of the Ostfront". The WWI series was also fantastic, but did feel like he kind of sped the pacing up in the last episode a bit, discussing the end of the war. I have a feeling after some of the previous series had run on so long, he wanted to cap this one at 6 even-length episodes.
- crikli 11y ago
  Agreed regarding Carlin's storytelling ability. I tried to get into The History of Rome podcast after Blueprint for Armageddon and just couldn't engage. Got spoiled by Dan. I too was disappointed in the speed with which the last two years of the war were covered. Of course being an American I wanted to hear more about Pershing, the Marines and the Battle of Bellau Wood, Frank Duke, Eddie Rickenbacker, etc. I recall reading/hearing an interview with Carlin prior to the release of the last episode where he explained that they were going to finish the series up even if it meant it was a 15 hour sixth episode. So you're right, I think they were definitely rushing the last couple of years. I think it's a testament to the complexity of the war, though that the first two years really required 15 hours to explain adequately. I'm on my third listening through and still feel like there's so much I don't have straight yet.
afarrell 11y ago
The book Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman is also fantastic.

by crikli 11y ago

vlunkr 11y ago

The entire series is probably over 20 hours, but it is well worth the time.

jmatthew3 11y ago

Totally agree.

mitchty 11y ago

Agreed on Dan Carlin and if i may add TheGreatWar youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar They have videos from the british pathé and do week to week 100 years ago to today recaps. There is a lot of stuff and it won't end for a few years. Also interesting is they cover things like the infantry uniforms, the guns in use at the time etc.. Highly recommended.

azernik 11y ago

And if you prefer very long and dense text, I'd strongly recommend John Keegan's "The First World War" - similar to your description, it really gets into the human reality of the war with first-hand sources.

ghaff 11y ago
>very long and dense text, It really isn't by the standards of history books though. It's very readable because it does get into the human reality as opposed to endless facts. It's probably the best single book on WWI that I've come across.

Balgair 11y ago

Oh lord, Carlin is so very good at this. Teasers to get you to listen: Carlin's comparison of something as simple as the uniforms at the beginning and end is great. The initial movements were with these gauche Napoleonic clothes: Red feathers in tall hats, bright blue coats, shiny shoes and whatnot. At the end, all pretense had left. Modern war and the very functional uniforms were here to stay. Carlin's recounting of the German march into Belgium. He talks of an American account of a Belgian town on the border with Germany. The army that came though had to do so for over a day. There was a long unbroken march that went on for 24 hours, that was how many troops the Germans had come through just one town. The metal on their boots sparked off the cobblestones causing a drumming march of sparks all night. His accounts of Paschendale. The gas had turned the mud a toxic yellow. He recounts descriptions of the battlefield as a marshmallow. German boys would just sink into the mud and become unable to be pulled out in the toxic sludge. Their screams would last days as they succumbed to the mud. Carlin goes into some detail of the smell of Pachendale as a result. No more true description of Hell itself can be found. My god, what a good series to scare any person away from war. It really was as if Hell itself came out of the interior of the earth. It was a giant art experiment or something to as accurately as possible make Dante's Inferno real and then improvise. It really is hard to realize the horror.

VLM 11y ago

Another good WWI podcast was the "July Crisis Series" a couple years back on the "When Diplomacy Fails" podcast. Worth the time investment.

thearn4 11y ago

DC is a great storyteller, something missing in many other history themed audiobooks/podcasts/etc. My favorite series of his is either "Wrath Of The Khans" or "Ghosts of the Ostfront". The WWI series was also fantastic, but did feel like he kind of sped the pacing up in the last episode a bit, discussing the end of the war. I have a feeling after some of the previous series had run on so long, he wanted to cap this one at 6 even-length episodes.

crikli 11y ago
Agreed regarding Carlin's storytelling ability. I tried to get into The History of Rome podcast after Blueprint for Armageddon and just couldn't engage. Got spoiled by Dan. I too was disappointed in the speed with which the last two years of the war were covered. Of course being an American I wanted to hear more about Pershing, the Marines and the Battle of Bellau Wood, Frank Duke, Eddie Rickenbacker, etc. I recall reading/hearing an interview with Carlin prior to the release of the last episode where he explained that they were going to finish the series up even if it meant it was a 15 hour sixth episode. So you're right, I think they were definitely rushing the last couple of years. I think it's a testament to the complexity of the war, though that the first two years really required 15 hours to explain adequately. I'm on my third listening through and still feel like there's so much I don't have straight yet.

afarrell 11y ago

The book Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman is also fantastic.