I just finished reading “The Guns of August” by Barbara Tuchman, which offers a good history of the beginning of war. But it focuses mainly on the Western Front, and apart from a chapter on Tannenberg, doesn’t really say much at all about the war in the east.
So, what are some comparable books on the Eastern Front and how the war there progressed?
Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s 1914 is brilliant from a soldier’s-eye view, but it’s a fictionalisation rather than a strict history.
You might try posing here
http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX/.ee6c3c5/12438
with more of a description of the type of book and coverage you’re after.
Good luck!
Again – not certain whether you seek strictly-factual stuff only, or whether fiction would also be admissible for you. If the latter: I can recommend the novel The Case of Sergeant Grischa by the German author Arnold Zweig, published 1927 – I’ve read said novel in English translation. Gives IMO, an excellent “feel” of how things were on WW1’s Eastern Front.
I’m looking more for non-fiction, but these novels sound pretty interesting.
I asked a related question in a thread a couple of years ago but didn’t get any replies…
Some possibilities:
The Eastern Front 1914-1917 by Norman Stone
Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914 by Prit Buttar
Germany Ascendant: The Eastern Front 1915 by Prit Buttar
Russia’s Last Gasp: The Eastern Front 1916-17 by Prit Buttar
The Eastern Front, 1914-1920: From Tannenberg to the Russo-Polish War by Michael Neiberg
The Russian Army in the Great War: The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 by David Stone
Thank you. Sounds like the Michael Neiberg book best fits my wants, despite various caveats mentioned in some Amazon reviews.