Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour : Armistice Day, 1918World War I and Its Violent Climax

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Summary: The definitive book on the Great War
Review: For years I had been terribly dissatisfied in my search for a truly good overview of World War I. That search has ended with the discovery of this absolute triumph by Joseph Persico.
While other authors approach the war as a massive chess game played by scheming generals, with battalions here and regiments there, Perisco focuses on the millions who served and died and were maimed on the front lines. While in the hands of lesser historians these soldiers are mere numbers, Persico personalizes myriad stories. A solider didn't not merely "serve his country" and ultimately "fall in battle." He lived in the trenches among the lice, rats and human filth. He ate bad food, wrote letters home to a mother, fought bravely, perhaps killing an enemy solider (one who thus had a grieving lover left behind) with a bayonet thrust to the heart before himself dying a slow agonizing death after being struck by shrapnel in the neck.
This is war. Those poor souls who are used as pawns in the giant chess games.
No war was ever more wasteful, ever more disastrous than the Great War. Never did so many die so needlessly. The clash of modern warfare against outmoded tactics made the Western Front slaughterhouse.
The single most illustrative fact of this war's insanity is the carnage that happened in the time between the agreement of the armistice and the time it took effect. Those hours when the war was not technically over and many officers sent soldiers into the fray one more time. This is the heart and sould of "Eleventh Hour..."
Persico tells the whole story of the war, from the assassination of Austria's prince that set the wheels in motion, thorough Verdun, the Somme, the U.S. entry and Germany's final failed offensive. But always he flashes forward to the peculiar insanity of the war's last hours.
Persico introduces us to numerous soldiers from both sides and their stories of horror, valor and pain through their letters and diaries. We also are reintroduced to more familiar figures who fought in the war such as Adolph Hitler, Harry Truman, Siegfried Sassoon, and Douglas MacArthur.
Great works of history illuminate the past and tell stories that stay with the listener or reader. They demonstrate thorough research, a grasp of perspective and the historian's ability to reflect. On those counts. "Eleventh Month...." is a masterpiece.
It is at once an excellent starting point, culmination and midway reading in any understanding of World War I.

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Summary: A Readable Book About An Incomprehensible War
Review: I have read a number of histories of World War I. I believe this war was the most important event of the twentieth century, creating world political and social conditions we are still trying to work through today. At this point, 90 years after the start of the war, it is difficult to find an author with a new take on taking us through this history. Mr. Persico has made a valiant attempt and, for the most part, he succeeds.

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year 1918 is, of course, the moment when World War I came to an end. What Mr. Persico does is tell the story of the war with its last day as his starting point. He does this for a couple reasons. First, he wants to make the point that, as the armistice had been signed before this day, the casualties of November 11th were pointless. He then uses the senseless casualties of the last day to bring to life much of the senselessness of the previous four years. He needs to do this to bring the scope of the war into a focus that he can cover in 400 readable pages, using the stories of many individual soldiers to get at the heart of the matter. And we do manage to get a lot of personal stories here: from the great (Foch, Pershing) to the soon to be great (McArthur, Truman, Patton) to the lesser known. And he gives us at least a taste of the German side with, of course, Hitler, Ludendorff and others.

The difficulty with the book is that the jumping around in time and place occasionally makes things difficult to follow. And he often gets away from his "last day" conceit, spending most of his pages on other days which makes his conceit seem somewhat artificial. Though, to his credit, he does tie everything together rather well by the end with a brief but lucid commentary on the effect of the war.

Mr. Persico may not have written the best book on the war but he has given us a fine addition to the literature that can be read in a reasonable amount of time. A quality many tomes on the topic do not share.

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Summary: Highly Recommended Account of a Horrific War
Review: I highly recommend this book. Mr. Persico puts a human face to the staggering and sterile numbers of dead and wounded. The senselessness of the last day of the war (which is the prime focus of this book) only magnifies the futility of the entire war. He also provides enlightening comparisons for many of the war's statistics (casualties on Nov. 11, 1918 were higher than for the Allies on D-Day, and were higher than the average for the war). Included are descriptions of many of the key players (Foch, Pershing, Patton, Haig) that bring to life the war's history and helps to explain some of the senselessness of its pursuit to the final minute. Quotes are aptly provided to illustrate some of the internal debate about the conduct of the war at the highest levels (Lloyd George stating that the losses were so staggering that "If the people knew, the war would be stopped tomorrow.") But more importantly, he introduces the reader to many of the historically faceless soldiers (Private Henry Gunther, Private George Price) who went "over the top" on that last day and lost their lives. He also offers as good as an account and analysis of this war as many other books on World War I. None are without flaws. I believe that more history must be written by authors as Joe Persico who adds a dimension and perspective lacking in other accounts. History is not the special purview of academics, scholars or military historians.

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Summary: An amazing account of the cruelest of wars
Review: I was quite surprised at the negative review given to this book by a fellow reader. I could not disagree more with the criticisms cited. Essentially, this has turned out to be one of the best books I have read about the Great War. This period in history is endlessly fascinating to me and I will read any new book published on the topic, without fail. I was hooked from page one, with the author, Joseph E. Persico, weaving a fascinating chronicle of this cruel conflict, back and forth, from its surprisingly violent last hours to subsequent events that ultimately lead to the final outcome. Hardly confusing, this style is seamlessly executed and lends a dramatic re-telling of events that have shaped world history to this day. Additionally, Persico offers character studies of a few famous figures not normally associated with the First World War - Adolf Hitler, Douglas MacArthur and George Patton - and their roles in this conflict. I highly recommend this brilliantly written book, whether you are a novice to the story of the Great War or someone with an enduring fascination like myself.

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Summary: Nothing New....
Review: I'm not really sure what point Mr Persico was trying to make with this book; he's firmly in the tradition of those who focus on the literary and folk memories of the Great War as senseless waste but the structure he chooses is pretty confusing and I'm not sure adds anything new to the debate. Ultimately all war can be viewed as senseless; a more interesting subject could be why 1914-1918 remains commonly viewed as such as opposed to the Second World War which was far more expensive in terms of the number of deaths and the scale of the destruction.

For a good summary of the latest thinking by military historians (as opposed to literature professors such as Persico, Mosier and Fussell), try "Forgotten Victory" by Gary Sheffield.

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Summary: disappointing
Review: interesting idea for a book, but in that case write a book that corresponds to the title. the interspersing of a oversimplistic outline of the war up until the last day does not work. why? because the author bases his narrative/anecdotes largely on the discredited 'lions led by donkeys' view that was current in the writings of alan clark and ajp taylor more than thirty years ago. glaring omissions too - hardly a mention of the all arms battles towards the end of 1918 carried out by the BEF, such as the crossing of the st. quentin canal in september, where tanks, infantry, artillery, radio, and air support were used in a way that would still be familar to commanders today. the auhor prefer to consider AEF commanders using the same old discarded tactics.. and as to the extensive use of poetry to describe the situation on the western front, one might as well read shakespeare's henry V and believe that you know everything there is to know about the 100 years war. i read this book to the end, but the oversimplifications and flawed analysis annoyed the hell out of me. i dare say that a decent high school student could come up with a better summary of the period 1914-1918. yes there was great loss in this war, but to take the last 6 hours as an example of futility, and then try to make out like the preceding 4 years were just the same is a leap of imagination that the discerning reader should not make. the reasons for this war have been better explained elsewhere, the author does not offer any alternatives to the attritional policy that ALL governments followed, and to be honest, if the author does not appear to understand WHY the war was fought at all, then it is hard to give any credence to the conclusions he (tentitively) reaches about the rights or wrongs of continuing the fighting until the very last moment

john terraine and gary sheffield - amongst others - debunk some of the myths propagated in this book...read sheffield's forgotten victory if you want an informd view of the 14/18 war







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Summary: If you had 1 book to read about the Great War, this isn't it
Review: Think of John Keegan's 'The First World War' as a pen and ink drawing of the First World War. John Perisco's "11 11 11" provides color, texture and shading to the northwest corner of the drawing, namely the Western Front.

It's an interesting concept, finding the theme of senseless slaughter on the last day of the war and using it as the narrative thread to unite the whole war. Think of this book as a bookend to Tuchman's "The Guns of August", which deals with statesman, generals and the beginning of the War. This book deals primarily with the men on the front line and the war's end.

Tuchman is a better writer, and her narrative is more cohesive. But I still found this book very engrossing and readable, told mostly from the soldier's point of view.

Perisco makes some declarative statements I question. For example, he says the great influenza pandemic of 1918 was called the Spanish Influenza "for no justified reason" and "the pandemic may have originated in the American military post at Fort Riley, Kansas." History points to San Sebastian on the northern coast of Spain as one of the first places with an identified outbreak of the flu in 1918, so "for no justified reason" seems a little harsh. I know of no history that claims that Fort Riley, Kansas was the origin of the flu in the United States, let alone for the entire world.

But this is an enjoyable narrative that gives the reader a sense of what the war was like for the men who fought it on the Western Front, with bits of history about Churchill, Pershing, Hitler, Haig and many others that make for a very enjoyable read.

It isn't the greatest, most comprehensive or cohesive book about The Great War, but read it as companion to other histories and you won't be disappointed.



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Summary: The final day...
Review: This book details the final hours of World War I, as well as giving a generally good but broad account of the war as a whole. I'm sure that much of the information regarding the final day has been presented before, but this is the first time that I have read it. I found it very interesting and tragic to learn about the horrible events of that final day. It is absolutely astounding to learn that the generals, particularly the Americans, insisted on pressing the offensive at a large cost of lives even though they knew that the war would end in hours. If you are looking for a good primer on World War I, or want to learn about a tragic episode of a tragic war, get this book. Recommended!