The Tanks of the World Wars

The History of Tank Warfare During World War I and World War II

By: Charles River Editors

Narrated by: Colin Fluxman

One of the most important breakthroughs in military technology associated with World War I, and certainly the one that continues to capture the public imagination, was the introduction of a war machine that came to dominate the face of land battles throughout most of the 20th century: the tank. As a concept, it was not revolutionary; in fact, it harkened back to classical antiquity and to the Middle Ages, such as the covered battering rams and testudos that had made frequent appearances on ancient battlefields. In essence, it was designed to solve the age-old problem of protecting infantry from enemy projectiles while remaining mobile.

The tanks of World War I, revolutionary (and initially terrifying) as they were, had their limitations. A standard tank would literally consume its own weight in spare parts, and they were painfully slow compared to more modern iterations. They were also lightly armed - usually with machine guns or light guns at most - and some poorly designed models tended to “ditch” themselves, sometimes irretrievably, in wider trenches. However, as a mobile bastion for infantry to shelter behind in the advance, and as a psychological weapon, they were significant.

All major powers, and many minor ones, learned their lesson in World War I. During the interwar period (late 1918 to mid-1939), a wide variety of tanks and anti-tank weapons were developed by a number of different countries, and those nations that did not have their own models hastened to purchase some from the more advanced countries. These tanks would shape the war that was to come.

World War II was thus the culmination of a quarter century of tank development, and it would also be the first major test of tanks in mobile warfare, during which they had to face other tanks. However, many of the tanks were constructed with the static warfare of the Western Front in mind and were thus slow and had short operational ranges. Others were too light to face opposing tanks or the new generation of anti-tank weapons that hadn’t existed in World War I. The unsuitability of these tank models for this new kind of warfare was quickly recognized, and the belligerent powers scrambled to create better designs. As each new, improved model came off the assembly lines, the opposing powers rushed to create a tank that could beat it. In that regard, World War II was also a war between rival engineers.

©2018 Charles River Editors (P)2018 Charles River Editors

lots of info, poor quality.

Sounds mostly like a regurgitation of facts from other references with many technical errors. Still a nice summary of most of the important tanks of the time period.

Slow to start but quite interesting

3.5 / 5

Covering both World Wars and the development and deployment of the tank is never going to be the most exciting of books. By it's very nature it is going to have lots of facts and figures. That is what you get here. there is discussions of dimensions, strength, weaknesses, etc. of various tanks. It gives you comparisons and tactics used. It tells you the thickness of various armour plates. 'This one was 40 mm, with tank has 70 mm armour'. You can get lost in the details.

Going through the World War One section the book is a little slow, and harder to get through. Much like the war itself there isn't a whole lot of movement at times. Once it moves into World War Two it gets better, with full discussions of tanks battles and various tanks types (as the technology did change fairly rapidly). WW2 had a much higher reliance on tanks, and it tells a much more interesting story. Once the book gets into this there is more of a narrative flow, following events of the war, and thus is makes for a more interesting book

It might be worthwhile that as you go through this book you have the internet to use as a cheat sheet. Look up images of each tank as they are mentioned, so that you can understand exactly what is being described. Because sometimes it is hard to grasp exactly without the aid of visuals supplementing the audio.

Narration by Colin Fluxman is good. he has a nice, proper English accent that works well with the content. He is clear, well paced and easy to follow. No obvious issues with the narration or production.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this review voluntarily.

Fiat made tanks!!!

I would give this book 5 stars for that tidbit of knowledge if for nothing else. I must say though the entire book was thoroughly enjoyable. While it is a fact laden history of tanks, makes, models, when made, where made, armor thickness in various places, successes in engineering, failing in engineering, battlefield statistics, etc. yet nonetheless I listened raptly to the whole thing. My 12 years old son caught bits of it on our car rides and loved it. This is a must for fans of Weinberg, war history and I’d go so far as to even say for car fanatics. And if you don’t read this at least retain this. It of knowledge and look up the images. FIAT MADE TANKS!!! I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher

Superb look at a piece of History

The Tanks of the World Wars: The History of Tank Warfare During World War I and World War II
Highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys history. The development of the tank changed the 20th century.
Well written and researched. Narrated well in an easy to listen to style.
I was given a free copy of this audiobook at my own request, and voluntarily leave this review.

Everything you need to know

This is the second book I’ve read/listened to by Charles River Editors and I would listen to another.
This book has an exhaustive amount of info..from tank specifications, to military tactics, to political peoples involvement from many countries. Despite being less than a five hour listen, I think the amount of information is too much to take in at one listen. It’s a great insight into the development and use of the tank that I think has never really been expanded upon. For myself, a grandchild of those that fought in WWII, I knew of the impact the use of a tank could have, but not the reality of it.

This is the first book I’ve listened to by this narrator ( Colin Fluxman ) and I would listen to another. He read this content well and helped keep my interest.

There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence or swearing.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.

A Brief History of Tanks

Whether your interested in tanks and want to learn about their history, tactics and importance in World War I and II or are just interested in World War I and II this is a great audiobook for both of those interests. This audiobook succinctly covers the origin of tanks, how they changed over World War I and II as well as how tactics changed over that period due to their advantages and disadvantages and how countries sought to use them. I really hope the author has made a similar book that covers after World War II to recent years.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.