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Underwhelming at best
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Overall
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Performance
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In 1960, the Imperial War Museum began a momentous task. A team of academics, archivists and volunteers set about tracing ordinary men and women who had lived through one of the most harrowing periods of modern history, the First World War. Veterans were interviewed in details about their day-to-day experiences, on and off the front. The project has since grown to be the most important archive of its kind in the world, and provides a unique account of life during the Great War.
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Astounding listen
- By Matthew on 07-08-14
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Fire and Movement
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A remarkable story of high hopes and crushing disappointment, the campaign contains moments of sheer horror and nerve-shattering excitement; pathos and comic relief; occasional cowardice and much selfless courage - all culminating in the climax of the First Battle of Ypres. And yet, as Peter Hart shows in this gripping and revisionary look at the war's first year, for too long the British part in the 1914 campaigns has been veiled in layers of self-congratulatory myth.
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A refreshing Look At The BEF 1914
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The extraordinary story of British junior officers in the First World War, who led their men out of the trenches and faced a life expectancy of six weeks. During the Great War, many boys went straight from the classroom to the most dangerous job in the world - that of junior officer on the Western Front. Although desperately aware of how many of their predecessors had fallen before them, nearly all stepped forward, unflinchingly, to do their duty. The average life expectancy of a subaltern in the trenches was a mere six weeks.
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A beautiful history, masterfully read.
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The First World War
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It was to be the war to end all wars, and it began at 11:15 on the morning of June 28, 1914, in an outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire called Sarajevo. It would officially end nearly five years later. Unofficially, however, it has never ended: Many of the horrors we live with today are rooted in the First World War. The Great War left millions of civilians and soldiers maimed or dead. It also saw the creation of new technologies of destruction: tanks, planes, and submarines; machine guns and field artillery; poison gas and chemical warfare.
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Awful narrator
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The Roses of No Man's Land
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'On the face of it,' writes Lyn Macdonald, 'no one could have been less equipped for the job than these gently nurtured girls who walked straight out of Edwardian drawing rooms into the manifest horrors of the First World War....' Yet the volunteer nurses rose magnificently to the occasion. In leaking tents and draughty huts they fought another war, a war against agony and death, as men lay suffering from the pain of unimaginable wounds or diseases we can now cure almost instantly.
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Excellent
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Somme
- By: Lyn MacDonald
- Narrated by: Alison Dowling
- Length: 16 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The year 1916 was one of the great turning-points in British history: as the youthful hopes of a generation were crushed in a desperate struggle to survive and traditional attitudes to authority were destroyed for ever. On paper, few battles have ever been so meticulously planned. Yet while there were good political reasons to launch a joint offensive with a French Army demoralised by huge casualties at Verdun, the raw troops on the ground knew nothing of that.
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Another five start listen
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Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914
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The Amazon History Book of the Year 2013 is a magisterial chronicle of the calamity that befell Europe in 1914 as the continent shifted from the glamour of the Edwardian era to the tragedy of total war. Nineteen fourteen was a year of unparalleled change. The year that diplomacy failed, imperial Europe was thrown into its first modernised warfare and white-gloved soldiers rode in their masses across pastoral landscapes into the blaze of machine guns. What followed were the costliest days of the entire war.
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Highly recommended
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From Ypres to Gallipoli
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Performance
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Following the second battle of Ypres, furious fighting continued on all fronts. Casualties were high, conditions dreadful, and life expectancy short. The only break the men had was a brief home leave, or a few days away from the trenches.
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My opinion.
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First World War: 1917
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- By: Sarah Kilgarriff
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- Length: 2 hrs and 8 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The year 1917 was a year of decisive events. Germany raised the stakes at sea; America eventually declared war; the Nivelle offensive almost destroyed the French army; and, following two revolutions in February and October, Russian forces collapsed. For the Allies, despite their successes at Messines and Cambrai, the year was overshadowed by the losses at Passchendaele. Survivors recall their despair as men and horses drowned in mud: 'a viscous, tenacious mud which smelt of death'.
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Very interesting
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Sicily '43
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Code-named Operation HUSKY, the Allied assault on Sicily on 10 July 1943 remains the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted in world history, landing more men in a single day than at any other time. That day, more than 160,000 British, American and Canadian troops were dropped from the sky or came ashore, more than on D-Day just under a year later. It was also preceded by an air campaign that marked a new direction and dominance of the skies by Allies. The subsequent 38-day Battle for Sicily was one of the most dramatic of the entire Second World War.
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Yawn
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Mud, Blood and Poppycock
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- By: Gordon Corrigan
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The popular view of the First World War remains that of Blackadder: incompetent generals sending brave soldiers to their deaths. Alan Clark quoted a German general's remark that the British soldiers were 'lions led by donkeys'. But he made it up. Indeed, many established 'facts' about 1914-18 turn out to be myths woven in the 1960s by young historians on the make. Gordon Corrigan's brilliant, witty history reveals how out of touch we have become with the soldiers of 1914-18. They simply would not recognise the way their generation is depicted on TV or in Pat Barker's novels.
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disappointing
- By Tino on 07-02-20
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The Battle of Britain
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Al Murray
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- Unabridged
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'If Hitler fails to invade or destroy Britain, he has lost the war,' Churchill said in the summer of 1940. He was right. The Battle of Britain was a crucial turning point in the history of the Second World War. Had Britain's defences collapsed, Hitler would have dominated all of Europe and been able to turn his full attention east to the Soviet Union. The German invasion of France and the Low Countries in May 1940 was unlike any the world had ever seen. It hit with a force and aggression that no-one could counter and in just a few short weeks, all in their way crumbled.
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Not the usual Battle of Britain narrative.
- By Ian David Williamson on 20-05-20
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Normandy ‘44
- D-Day and the Battle for France
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 24 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Renowned World War Two historian James Holland presents an entirely new perspective on one of the most important moments in recent history. Unflinchingly examining the brutality and violence that characterised the campaign, it's time to draw some radically different conclusions. D-Day and the 76 days of bitter fighting in Normandy that followed have come to be seen as a defining episode in the Second World War. Its story has been endlessly retold, and yet it remains a narrative burdened by both myth and assumed knowledge.
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New perspectives on D-Day
- By Ian David Williamson on 28-05-19
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First World War: 1918
- Voices from the BBC Archive
- By: Sarah Kilgarriff
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 2 hrs and 12 mins
- Original Recording
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A unique collection of historic recordings in which the last brutal encounters of the war and the mixed emotions of the armistice are remembered by troops from both sides. By the end of March 1918, Germany's Spring Offensive had thrown British forces back over the old Somme battlefields. But this last push failed, and with the stalemate of trench warfare broken, the Allies swept from near defeat to victory. However, their joy was tempered by sorrow. Too many would not come home.
Summary
On 1 July 1916, Douglas Haig's army launched the "Big Push" that was supposed finally to bring an end to the stalemate on the Western Front. What happened next was a human catastrophe: scrambling over the top into the face of the German machine guns and artillery fire, 19,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers were killed, the greatest loss in a single day ever sustained by the British Army. The battle did not stop there, however. It dragged on for another four months, leaving the battlefield strewn with the bodies of over a million men, and all for the sake of just a few miles of land.
The Somme has remained a byword for the futility of war ever since. In this major new history of the war, Peter Hart describes how the battle looked from the point of view of those who fought it. Using never-heard-before interviews taken from the Imperial War Museum oral archives this will be a unique audio full of passion, joy, and heart rending stories.
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What listeners say about The Somme
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- David
- 09-01-07
The Somme
This facinating account of the Battle of the Somme had me totally absorbed from the first moment. Although Tim Piggott-Smith is an inspired choice as narrator it is, as both Jason and Jonathan point out in their reviews, hearing the actual voices of those who took part in the conflict that makes this a 5 Star recommendation.
Although, as Jonathan also points out, accounts of the numerous battles can lead to some confusion, I found that an internet search for a map of the Somme battlefield helped me greatly understand the (painfully) slow advance the British and Commonwealth forces achieved during the four month campaign. Highly recommended.
11 people found this helpful
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Overall
- J-H2O
- 18-07-06
The Somme
This is a 'must have' for anyone even slightly interested in learning more about this time. It links commentary with actual archive interviews and is certainly enough to make any listener stop, think and begin to appreciate how lucky (and how thankful to the brave) you are to be about now rather than then.
Although some of the commentary appears much the same, relating to battle upon battle upon battle, it does go some way to illustrating what happened day after day and it desbribes vividly the futility of the situation.
Perhaps a morbid subject for some but I enjoyed listening very much and would highly recommend this title.
8 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jason
- 30-07-06
The Somme
This is a must audiobook for anybody who has a interest in World War 1. The detail is great with personal accounts from all soldiers' who fought in the great war from conscripts to top military brass and also from both sides but the best of all is to hear the actual tales from the soldiers' themselves in their own voice which gives it it's authenticity and a connection from the past that we should all never forget.
14 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Christopher
- 21-12-08
Makes you think
I'd heard of the "Battle of The Somme" through various sources, but never quite understood what it was all about. I now have a much clearer understanding of this part of the First World War. Hearing the eye witness accounts (narrated by the actual people who were there) really brings the topic to life. It removes the "just a textbook" feel to this very important and sadening period of history. Any time you forget what Remembrance Day is all about, listen to this and you'll be thoroughly reminded of what these soldiers had to endure to ensure our freedom & liberty.
6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 29-01-12
Utterly Brilliant
Combines deep research with a balanced respect for all combatants. Not only uses appropriate voice actors for regional/international participants but recordings of veterans interviews. Poignant and effective
4 people found this helpful
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- Patrick
- 06-07-16
Grim reminder of War's barbarity
Wonderfully written, marvellously read, my 4 stars reflect the difficulty of following this in audio, a written version, or, even better, a video presenation, could have superimposed maps.
Today, General Blair apologises for Iraq, plus ca change.........
1 person found this helpful
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- Ruth
- 09-11-20
Very Moving
A Harrowing story of the Somme Battlefield.
It was made more poignant by the voices of the men that were there on the terrible long months of battle. Well narrated. Not an easy listen, but worthwhile to see the pointless of the Great War.
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- Jim Maynard
- 21-03-20
Somme. Peter Hart
well presented and structured. with the voices of the veterans it really brings it home..
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- Winston
- 16-04-18
Fantastic account.
What a brilliant book, the accounts from those who fought and those who died are brilliantly used to illustrate the points made. Highly highly recommended.
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- geoff luck
- 19-02-18
fine book
this is a comprehensive and well read book, that puts you in a pensive frame of mind...