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The World at War, 1914–1945 by Jeremy Black (Review) Robert Niebuhr The World at War, 1914–1945 by Jeremy Black (review) Robert Niebuhr Marine Corps History, Volume 6, Number 1, Summer 2020, pp. 80-81 (Review) Published by Marine Corps University Press For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/796457/summary [ Access provided at 30 Sep 2021 23:08 GMT with no institutional affiliation ] This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 80 MARINE CORPS HISTORY VOL. 6, NO. 1 Robert Niebuhr, PhD The World at War, 1914–1945. By Jeremy Black. (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2019. Pp. 351. $98.00 cloth; $39.00 paperback; $37.00 e-book.) Scholarship on World War II is prodigious and the spends significant time looking at the late nineteenth continued interest for both students and the general century and trying to understand topics such as the public alike is proof that more works will be forthcom- worldview and influence of Pan-Germans and Marx- ing in the foreseeable future. One of the questions, of ists, and then link Hitler’s experience in World War course, for any author writing on this period to ask is I with his deliberate moves to prompt World War II. how they can contribute to such a well-covered field. Black’s work offers something broader in scope Archives have been combed through for decades now, yet stays close to military aspects to show the conti- and only a handful of topics—such as prisoners—re- nuities between these wars. The book has a clear or- main understudied. The purpose of The World at War, ganization schema and remains consistent across the 1914–1945, however, transcends World War II and tries chapters in terms of content covered. With a focus to build a sense of continuity in the way we under- on the causes of the two conflicts and then a detailed stand the broader period from 1914 until 1945. section on land, sea, and air warfare in World War I, Author Jeremy Black rightly mentions how the the interwar period, and World War II, the book is “attempt to provide a common narrative” that links predictable (in a good way) and lends itself to under- the world wars has been problematic so far (p. 1). Fritz standing the period through important similarities. Fischer’s scholarship, most notably in Germany’s War The author does a nice job reminding the reader at Aims in the First World War (trans. 1967), remains di- various points of these similarities, which helps serve visive, as have some of the works encouraged by the to keep the narrative engaging and on track with the Fischer thesis, including Daniel Jonah Goldhagen’s book’s purpose. Additionally, what makes this book Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the interesting is the attempt to offer a global view on this Holocaust (1996). Goldhagen, of course, tries to ex- larger period and not favor the Eurocentric outlook plain why Germans in particular were anti-Semitic that dominates the field. The World at War, 1914–1945 is and prone to violence, which is not altogether diffi- a well-written and informative book that tries to step cult, given events such as the September Plan of 1915. beyond the sorts of controversies that have appeared Imperial Germany’s fumbling of power politics boldly in the past when considering the first half of the twen- stated or foreshadowed ideas such as Lebensraum, an tieth century. A sober analysis of a prodigious amount economic reorganization of Europe, and the sort of ra- of detail and data go a long way toward making this cialist ideas that culminated in the Holocaust. Numer- book worth reading. It also begs the reader to use the ous other scholars implicitly link the world wars when information presented as a launching pad to ask more they teach on Adolf Hitler, for example. Joachim Fest’s questions. dated yet impeccable biography of the Nazi dictator This reviewer does, however, note that while the global approach was refreshing, the coverage seemed Dr. Robert Niebuhr teaches at Barrett Honors College, Arizona State spotty at times. Black does a nice job mentioning the University in Tempe. He is author of The Search for a Cold War Legiti- importance of China in this period, but other coun- macy: Foreign Policy and Tito’s Yugoslavia (2018) and the forthcoming book entitled ¡Vamos a Avanzar!: The Chaco War and Bolivia’s Political Transfor- tries’ coverage seem hastily included. Brazil appears mation, 1900–1952. a couple of times, which makes sense, since it took SUMMER 2020 81 part in both world wars; but nothing in-depth was on the Chaco War might have encouraged the reader discussed, nor did the author point the reader toward to pursue the idea of continuity and consider further further scholarship on Brazil’s contribution, especially areas of comparison in the theme of globalized war. in World War II. The Spanish Civil War factored into One other area that seemed to beg for more the interwar section, yet again the author might have information was in how military thinking evolved talked more about how all of the participants or spon- from 1914 to 1945. Black covers this when he men- sors learned from the various campaigns. Black men- tions Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky, for instance, and the tions aspects of what the Germans gained, but this ideas of deep battle alongside a reference to the Stor- was only part of the story. Speaking more broadly, mtroopers of World War I and the blitzkrieg that the there was a missed opportunity in taking the global Germans employed later. Yet, there was a bit more approach, or at least pointing readers to consider that could have been included, or references made other related topics following a modest overview. For for further reading. For example, that author might example, the Chaco War, fought between Bolivia and have discussed how Charles de Gaulle developed ideas Paraguay (1932–35), served as a sort of bridge between on deep/mechanized battle techniques but how the the two world wars. Both sides relied on technology French famously failed to employ the sort of training such as tanks, airplanes (as bombers, fighters, and re- among noncommissioned officers to enact such com- con), machine guns, and artillery, and employed veter- plex battlefield maneuvers as the Germans did. Just as ans of World War I (mainly German commanders and Omer Bartov’s work has shown how the German war White Russian émigrés). Furthermore, from a strate- machine wore down once these noncommissioned of- gic perspective, the Chaco War proved that most tech- ficers died in the Soviet Union by the end of 1942, nology favored the defender, yet commanders relied Black shows that the German failures at the Marne stubbornly on morale or faith to overcome the obvi- were largely owing to an inability to prosecute com- ous. This was of course similar to the world wars, ex- plicated plans while relying on foot and horsepower. cept when offensive forces consisted of highly trained Finally, in terms of audience, this book is likely and disciplined soldiers. Following that, the logistics the most useful to students who need to cover a lot factored into the Chaco War’s success and replicated of background information on the period of 1914–45. the German failure at the Marne and the inability to This can come in handy as a great reference book to prosecute World War II deep inside Russia. Few peo- cite all sorts of tidbits and to direct readers to more ple know of the Chaco War, so it was not a surprise to information on certain larger topics. This text might see its omission; yet, this is precisely where new schol- be useful in some undergraduate courses, as well, es- arship on well-known topics can break new ground. pecially survey courses on modern military history; Black might have reiterated some general thoughts on it would definitely be a valuable resource as recom- the Chaco War and its similarities to the world wars. mended reading, but especially for those students do- Ernst Röhm, after all, helped train the Bolivian Army ing some sort of extended paper or thesis. for a short time before returning to lead to the Stur- • 1775 • mabteilung (SA). Citing some of the established works .
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