Essay: The Guns of August

I. Introduction
A. Purpose of the novel
The Guns of August is one of the most exciting literary works by Barbara W. Tuchman that primarily offers readers an insight into the first month of the First World War . Barbara’s 1962 edition primarily aims to highlight the martial battles and military wars of the main rivals in the war, mainly the great powers, including Germany, Great Britain, Russia, France, and other big nations. Most fundamentally, the book gives an account of the earliest events of the First World War, ranging from the decisions to enter the battlefield, to the onset of the Franco-British invasion that ceased the Germans from advancing to France, which essentially marked the end of the war. The outcome is a long four years of trench fighting. Tuchman discusses several things like the strategies, plans, global events, as well as other world sentiments before and after the conflict.
B. Author’s Qualifications and Viewpoint
Barbara, a Pulitzer Prize winner, is an outstanding author, who inspiringly and brilliantly won the hearts of many by her literary intelligence on The Guns of August. As a researcher and journalist in history matters, Barbara’s focus was mainly on popular history. Regarding her best-selling book The Guns of August, Barbara expresses her irritation and discontent of the causes and the progression of the First World War, arguing that it could have been avoided in the first place, a move that could have saved the millions of lives lost. She presents a captivating narration of the scenes of the battlefield, the strategic issues that caused the war, as well as the powerful individuals behind the escalation of the fight. Barbara’s intelligence and talent in literature is indicated by her use of critical, lucid, witty, and appropriate language and judgments.
II. Critical Summary
A. The thesis of the Novel
Barbara’s primary objective of writing The Guns of August is to give the reader a glimpse of the first month of the First World War, including how it started, the reasons, and how it could have been avoided but the parties never took this initiative.
B. Summary
Tuchman, as a researcher, historian, and polished writer highlights chronologically the events that lead to and the individuals that played a central role in the conflicts. She builds on her thesis by laying the occurrence of these events wittingly one by one. Tuchman, in the opening chapter, begins by taking readers to a special memorial service of King Edward VII in 1910.  Tuchman narrates that the royal burial was graced by many dignitaries, including nine kings, including Kaiser Wilhelm II, Edwards’s nephew and the king of Germany. In this chapter, Tuchman narrates the then global existing political alliances as well as the politics of royalty. Also, she mentions imperialism, national competition, as well as social Darwinism as some of the main issues dominant in the days leading up to the First World War (1914-1918).
In the next three sections, Barbara explains some of the plans, including military arrangements, which were executed by the Great Powers in versatile Europe. Some of these plans range from France’s aggressive Plan XVII, German’s Schlieffen strategy, Russia’s attitude to an imminent continental conflict, as well as French and British preparations. Afterward, the author discusses the outbreak of the war, with special mention of the actual event that triggered it. Tuchman writes that on the eve of June 28, 1914, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, a designated successor to the Austria-Hungary kingdom, together with his spouse Sophie, the Duchess of Hohenberg, sparked a global outburst that later culminated into a full-blown international conflict. She primarily ridicules the failure of the European diplomats and politicians to stop the escalation of the war.
In the next sections, which arguably form the chunk of Barbara’s work, she discusses the ‘battles’ as well as the strategic planning of the two main war fronts: the Eastern and the Western. Some of the notable absentees in her discussion are the Balkans and Australia. Tuchman interlocks these flow of events with analysis of the detrimental impacts of the selfishness in a majority of global leaders, who ironically were responsible for the slowdown of the conflicts. She arguably criticizes these failures and blames them for propelling the war to the point of no return. Tuchman’s most notable coverage is the Western Front, which mentions all the battles that took place in western Europe. This takes into account German’s annexation of the northeast of Belgium as well as other parts of the west, including Alsace. Also, there is the invasion of France by the BEF (British Expeditionary Force).
Besides, Tuchman mentions all the key players of the war, ranging from the German generals to the French, British, Russian, and Belgian commanders, detailing their personalities, characteristics, weaknesses, as well as strengths. Some of these notable figures include Germany’s Wilhelm II Kaiser, France’s Joseph Joffre, and Britain’s Lord Kitchener. Besides widely mentioning Russia and Germany in the novel, Tuchman also focuses on the war at sea involving America’s Navy, the fighting in Paris, and many others. In her conclusion, she briefly provides her sentiments on the war in general as well as the First Battle of the Marne. She laments the outcome of the warfare that claimed approximately between 5,000 and 50,000 lives each day.
III. Style and Presentation, including the organization of the novel and writing style
For easy readability and navigation through the 518-page book, Tuchman opted to break down the entire content into chapters, an idea that assisted her in developing her thesis. For example, the first chapter (stretching from pages 15 to 30) primarily focuses on the royal burial of Edward VII of the UK. Chapters two to five (found between pages 33 and 87), on the other hand, mentions the plans before the war. The rest of the sections discuss the Battle, Mediterranean bout, the Western Front, the Eastern Front (Russia and Germany), and many others.
It is also vital to acknowledge Tuchman’s impeccable writing style, including the clear paragraph structures, use of narration, readability, word choice, as well as the outstanding length of the book. Her mastery of the English language is unquestionable. For example, in page one of the first chapter, she says, “So gorgeous was the spectacle on the May morning of 1990 when nine kings rode in the funeral of Edward VII of England.”
IV. Conclusion
A. Historical contribution of the novel
In summary, it is clear that Tuchman’s contribution to the understanding of the events that lead to the First World War and the history, including European leaders, is extraordinary. The book significantly answers the questions that have long been debated, and troublesome-What were the real causes of World War One? And could the conflict have been avoided? Tuchman in his account agrees that several miscalculations resulted to the War, including economic, failure to reflect on the political backlash, the overdependence on the offensive and morale, as well as the speculative thought in quick warfare.
B. Overall worth of the novel
The Guns of August is an accurate reflection of popular history, reflecting on the leadership and issues that surrounded the First World War. The book does not only suit history students but also provides a wide range of knowledge to political science and economics students, especially concerning the impact of bad governance and decision making on the economy and stability of the world. Without a doubt, Tuchman has managed to offer an account of the first month of the First World War, including how it started, the reasons behind it, and how it could have been avoided.