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  • The Great Retreat of 1914

  • From Mons to the Marne
  • By: Spencer Jones
  • Narrated by: Philip Franks
  • Length: 2 hrs and 30 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (116 ratings)
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The Great Retreat of 1914

By: Spencer Jones
Narrated by: Philip Franks
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Summary

August 1914: In the sweltering heat, the fate of Europe hangs in the balance. Germany is hurling her forces into a carefully planned invasion of Belgium and France. Bound by an 1839 treaty to protect Belgium from any invader, Britain came to its defence.

With the British Expeditionary Force numbering just 120,000 men, and dwarfed by the vast manpower of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II remains unfazed by this ‘contemptible little army'. But the BEF was, man for man, the best trained army in Europe. It was led by tough and experienced officers who had learned their brutal trade in fierce colonial warfare. Their combat performance in 1914 would cement their place in history. Within days of the BEF’s deployment, the full weight of the German invasion crashed into the thin British line. Faced with overwhelming enemy numbers, and battling alongside unreliable French allies, the BEF was forced into The Great Retreat. The Great Retreat is the story of this desperate battle for survival. While Germany was attempting to crush France in one fell swoop, the Allies desperately sought time and space so that they could mount a counterattack to stem the tide.

©2014 Spencer Jones (P)2014 Audible Studios
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about The Great Retreat of 1914

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  • Overall
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A must listen!!

A well out together account and most interesting. Well worth a listen! Would listen to further from this author

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Compelling stuff

Good insight into critical battle and retreat no need for odd attempts at German and French accents when narrating quotes belittles their
input.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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excellent listen

Easy shortish listen.
The narrater makes all the diffence to me.
accurate and factual.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent description of the battle and well read .

Excellent description of the battle and well read , even with the attempts at different accents. Very useful

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Enlightening

I’m pleasantly surprised how some of the negative views I may have had about things I probably didn’t know about have been changed by this book
Very interesting and enlightening well written and well narrated excellent

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A good history of the retreat

I enjoyed this. a relatively short listen but had all the relevant characters and actions and is well read by Phillip Frank's. enjoyable couple of hours.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A great short retelling of the story

An excellent "broad brush strokes" telling of the retreat from Mons. Despite the brevity, it includes stories that larger volumes ignore. Highly recommended.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Account

I really enjoyed this narration. It serves as a good introduction to the topic and is a very reasonable length.

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  • J
  • 15-10-14

A Great Advance!

This audiobook provided a great advance in my understanding of the early days of the First World War. It was incredibly well narrated by Philip Franks and the only issue I had with the audiobook in general was that it wasn't long enough!

Providing quite an unbiased view of all of the parties involved the book was extremely adept at providing an informative look at a very tumultuous time without sounding like a boring fact heavy book.

I would recommend this most highly to anyone with even a passing interest in the Great War as it will provide an intriguing and illuminating overview of the early days of one of the bloodiest conflicts in history.

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Good

Would have preferred more details of the specific people in actions mentioned. However I am sure that is covered in other books relating to the early stages of the conflict. The book is very good as an introduction to an often overlooked extremely important first stages of the war.

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