The Pity of War

Explaining World War I

By: Niall Ferguson

Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm

From a best-selling historian, a daringly revisionist history of World War I

The Pity of War makes a simple and provocative argument: the human atrocity known as the Great War was entirely England's fault. According to Niall Ferguson, England entered into war based on naive assumptions of German aims, thereby transforming a Continental conflict into a world war, which it then badly mishandled, necessitating American involvement. The war was not inevitable, Ferguson argues, but rather was the result of the mistaken decisions of individuals who would later claim to have been in the grip of huge impersonal forces.

That the war was wicked, horrific, and inhuman is memorialized in part by the poetry of men like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, but also by cold statistics. Indeed, more British soldiers were killed in the first day of the Battle of the Somme than Americans in the Vietnam War. And yet, as Ferguson writes, while the war itself was a disastrous folly, the great majority of men who fought it did so with little reluctance and with some enthusiasm. For anyone wanting to understand why wars are fought, why men are willing to fight them and why the world is as it is today, there is no sharper or more stimulating guide than Niall Ferguson's The Pity of War.

©2008 Niall Ferguson (P)2020 Basic Books

Fresh insights and obliterating old assumptions

This is an excellent analysis and commentary on well studied topic of World War I,, that has shaped much of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The economic, social, and cultural examinations, were particularly surprising, and engaging.

The author succeeded in overcoming the common temptation of coloring WWI with the subsequent WW II, making the space for a clearer analysis of cause and effects.

Thank you, Niall Ferguson, for a great book.

History of the War by Topic

In each chapter, the author addresses a single topic of the war, including financing the war, the armaments industry in each country, morale of frontline soldiers, what drove men to volunteer in 1914, the draft, literature produced by the men at the front, how the armistice led to the collapse of the German army. A well-sourced, detailed look at different aspects of the war.

Thought provoking.

This is overall a great book. As another reviewer mentioned, this book isn’t for a person looking to learn about ww1 and the main events and timeline. Rather this is a great book to read after you have read a few other books on ww1. To me each chapter is unique and provides a thought provoking question- it’s as though you are in a classroom lecture discussing the war and focusing on a unique aspect of it, looking beneath the general ‘facts’ of the war.

One tip I would give for people who have a hard time comprehending what they read. Read the conclusion chapter first. Each of the chapters in the book focuses on a specific question. The concluding chapter provides a 1-2 paragraph summary of each of the chapters that is nice to read. He goes into lots of details in each chapter to make his case, so sometimes you can get a little lost.

All around, definitely a top 5 book to read on WW1 if you want to get into the nuances of events and not just regurgitate the ‘facts’.

Required Reading for All Students of History.

A treatise on the greatest blunder of European Civilization, published in the final year of the 20th century and indeed, the entire 2nd millenium A.D., "The Pity of War" is an indispensable work which those seeking to understand the catastrophe of the Great War, MUST read and understand.

Author Niall Fergusson methodically dispells the most common myths cited about the war and questions whether, as it seemed to those alive at the time, the first European conflagration of the 1900s WAS in fact "inevitable" coming to the conclusion that: "No, war was not *inevitable*, BUT...".

Through his analysis of the biographical, domestic/geo-political, economic, personal sentiment (from the lowliest private to the kings and prime ministers themselves), conduct and the aftermath of WW1, Fergusson concludes that besides the United States, the First World War was an unnecessary catastrophe that left every combatant nation worse off than they had been previous to the war- setting Europe back at least several decades.

As the quintessential historian on the life and work of one Georgian man (Ioseb Djhugashvilli) Stephen Kotkin likes to say, "war is usually a miscalculation", and no more obvious example can be found than the paranoid, capricious, and self-serving calculations made by the European leaders that sleep-walked their armies into the worst war since the fall of Rome in 476 A.D., and important lessons for the present and future are plentiful in this definitive work.

Elegant Narrative - Answers to Compelling Questions

This book answers many of the big, important questions about the war rather than being a straight narrative. It’s written in an elegant style that is entertaining and invigoratingly fresh considering the near ancient topic. It’s worth a read if you’re interested in World War 1.

muy aburrido

Me parece que el historiador trató de narrar la Primera Guerra Mundial desde otro punto de vista me pareció poco útil y aburrido

Exhaustive

Ferguson is unique among authors, allowing the facts and evidences to tell the story. A remarkable read which challenges the reader to a more informed understanding of history and the accidental ways we create it.

Great analysis

I like all Ferguson books that I read so far and this is no different.

The book provides a full analysis of the war, its causes and consequences. Sometimes, as in most of Ferguson writings, it gets too detailed and perhaps more useful for historians.

Anyhow the book has a great storyline and a masterpiece final chapter of conclusions.

Ferguson wouldn’t know history if it hit him in the head

Niall Ferguson is rightly regarded by historians (including myself) as a right wing hack who uses facts to create a false narrative. His anti communist vendetta is clear in his treatment and lumping together of all socialists. He fundamentally misunderstands the socialist theory of why the war started, and always straw mans socialists whenever they appear. While he does point out the fact that War wasn’t universally heralded as good, overall his history is utter drivel. If I hadn’t needed to read this for a class, I would never have. Unless you are assigned this book, DO NOT READ IT.