The First World War
A global history of the war that ranges far beyond the Western Front to Africa, the Middle East, and the seas.
The Verdict
Most popular memory of the First World War stops at the mud of Flanders; Hew Strachan's history insists the war was global from the start. Companion to the acclaimed television series, it ranges across Africa, the Middle East, the oceans, and the home fronts, restoring the scale of a conflict that toppled four empires and remade the world far beyond the Western Front. Strachan, one of the war's leading historians, writes with authority and economy, and the result is the best short corrective to a Flanders-shaped understanding of 1914-18.
Who Should Read It
Read it if you want
- The war's genuinely global scale
- Fronts beyond the trenches of France
- A concise, authoritative overview
- The companion to the TV series
Look elsewhere if you want
- A blow-by-blow Western Front narrative
- The soldier's-eye experience
- A long, exhaustive treatment
Why We Rated It 4.4
Historical Context
The First World War (2003) accompanies the television series of the same name and presents a global history of the conflict, emphasising theatres outside the Western Front. Strachan is a leading scholar of the war and author of a multi-volume academic history, of which To Arms is the first part.
Events Covered
Editions & Reading Notes
Read It Alongside
Where to Buy
ISBN: 978-0143035183
Read This Against
The same events seen from a different vantage point. The fullest understanding often lives in the space between accounts that don't agree.
Other Books About the Same Events
Frequently Asked Questions
- How is Strachan's book different from Keegan's?
- Both are single-volume overviews; Strachan stresses the war's global reach beyond the Western Front, while Keegan's is a fuller military narrative.
- Is it linked to a television series?
- Yes — it is the companion volume to the Channel 4 series The First World War.