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The Long Shadow: The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century by David Reynolds

Apr 11, Bfisher rated it really liked it Shelves: The author describes how understanding of the Great War varied among the combatant nations, and how these views evolved during the 20th century, influenced events, and in turn were influenced by events. The author makes some interesting assertions; for example, that the observance of the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising in may have stimulated the Northern Ireland Troubles, whereas the sense of shared trials as Britons during the Great War may have dampened Welsh and Scottish nationalis The author describes how understanding of the Great War varied among the combatant nations, and how these views evolved during the 20th century, influenced events, and in turn were influenced by events.

The author makes some interesting assertions; for example, that the observance of the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising in may have stimulated the Northern Ireland Troubles, whereas the sense of shared trials as Britons during the Great War may have dampened Welsh and Scottish nationalism during most of the 20th century. Primacy was given to the evolution to understanding of the war in Great Britain. Some coverage was given to memory of the war in France and Germany, but not for the other combatants.

Sep 27, Gary rated it liked it. More about pre and post WWI than about the actual event. I learned many things. Jan 30, David Luke rated it it was amazing. A great book about the legacy of WWI. Its particular focus is on the shifting perceptions of the war in the century since it commenced. Superbly written it is a must for anyone interested in the war.

Aug 01, Socraticgadfly rated it it was amazing Shelves: And, he looks beyond World War II to discuss that long shadow. For instance, the 50th anniversary of Easter Sunday jump-started Ian Paisley in Northern Ireland, and the various reactions on the Catholic side there, as well as some splashover into Ireland. Different in Britain and France in some ways. Germany didn't commemorate the war dead for a lost war, and losing World War II only made that worse.

Russia became the USSR, and the Bolsheviks didn't want to commemorate anything about a so-called imperialist war. Certainly in the arts; Reynolds discusses the ongoing grip of Owen, Brooke, et al, on British, or more precisely, English poetry. None of the other countries saw anything like it. On the other hand, modernistic art, while it did get a small bit more grip on post-war than pre-war UK, nonetheless, still never took off like it did on the Continent.

The US is touched on, too. But, since WWI did not see the US at anywhere near the center of fighting activity, and it withdrew from most international affairs afterward, Reynolds doesn't draw too much to it.

I would have liked to have seen a small bit more about Russia, and a fair chunk more about Japan. The book is still 5-star, but, if I could half-star, I'd slot it at 4. Jul 29, Kit rated it it was amazing. The First World War echoes in the past, and as the author notes, is so often overlooked in the shade of the Second War. The 20th century was deeply impacted by both, yet it would be impossible to review the period from on without careful examination of , and the years that stretched between them. David Reynolds does a magnificent job researching this book.

The examination of politics, culture, economics, and societal development is articulate and detailed. He himself notes that our The First World War echoes in the past, and as the author notes, is so often overlooked in the shade of the Second War. He himself notes that our views on events such as the Great War change over time, as we change, and as our memories change both individually and nationally. The impact of the 20th century conflicts on the world I see in the news and online is both evident and constant.

One hundred years removed from the Western Front and I'm thankful to have the chance to examine how much the belligerents have changed, and how much they have not. Very well done, and highly recommended. Jul 01, Bill Wallace rated it really liked it. A fascinating perspective on the Great War, though the packaging neglects to mention that it is strongly Anglocentric rather than international. Once I accepted that discrepancy -- and the apparent underlying premises of British superiority in matters of governance -- I liked it. Only incidentally a history of the war, the book's primary concern is to trace those places the war changed the world, concentrating especially on the rise of Wilsonian nation-identity and nationalism, the acceptance of A fascinating perspective on the Great War, though the packaging neglects to mention that it is strongly Anglocentric rather than international.

Only incidentally a history of the war, the book's primary concern is to trace those places the war changed the world, concentrating especially on the rise of Wilsonian nation-identity and nationalism, the acceptance of violence and even atrocity as policy, and other, less obvious components of our troubled world. The book is broken into two parts, one on the war and its immediate aftermath and one largely focused on World War 2 and the years following. I especially liked the chapters on the reflection of the war in culture -- film, poetry, fiction.

A very different re-consideration of the war that remade the world. May 25, Sandra Ross rated it it was amazing. The structure of the book is what helps logically frame each of the effects - and the legacy - of The Great War on the geopolitical, financial, military, social, and moral outcomes that have cascaded with increasing momentum throughout the entire world since through this day and will continue to cascade with ever-increasing momentum bringing us closer and closer to complete annihilation of everything on the planet, including the human race.

Just reading the previous paragraph should give us all a glimpse into the ever-present effects that World War I, which was ignited by these assassinations in June , has had and will continue to have on the way the world thinks and works throughout its very fabric. Like the Great War itself, the insider's view of these inner workings is violent, horrific, and tragic, fueled by the greed, the lust for power and control, and self-interested gains with no regard, care, or concern for the cost, humanly we are just expendable fodder and the only usefulness we have exists as long as we have money, blood, and life to give, but it doesn't mean we matter at all to anybody - we are simply the pawns who are anonymous and expendable in the power broker's - politics and finance lead the pack - never-ending game of chess or otherwise.

It's often hard for us as individuals to back out to the big-picture reality of the world we live in and understand that we, as individuals, are not even a blip on the radar of those who seek to control the world through humanly-devised political, financial, military, societal, and, yes, even religious systems whose sole aim is oppression, conquest, and destruction until there is at long last one human being left standing who can declare themselves the definitive King or Queen of the Hill. But that is the overarching long shadow that the Great War casts over its aftermath.

Having said that, however, doesn't mean that each one of us doesn't have the responsibility to reject everything this shadow casts and dare to be different, by acquiring knowledge that doesn't come from the prejudicial and mostly-untrue "reliable sources" that clamor for our attention day and night through their many words and their attention-getting outrageousness.

It is foolish and ignorant to fall for most of what we hear and see in snippets all around us, because it is garbage and trash that has nothing behind it, but is simply intended to enslave us to a system of lies. Each of us has the responsibility to know and learn, through rigorous work and discerning through all the information what is actually true and what is actually false this means not taking someone else's word or interpretation of the past and adopting it as our own, but actually finding out for ourselves from credible original, authentic, and genuine sources , about the past, to understand the scope of the past, and to know how it affects the present and the future.

Then we need to apply that to our own lives and how we live them. In many ways, what we face in life is a system that is no different than what an insect faces with a spider web. The web is beautiful, intriguing, and looks perfect. It's tempting for an insect to want to get closer to examine it and maybe just alight on one of its strong bridges for moment to rest and admire it. Suddenly, from nowhere it seems, the spider who built the web appears. It is bigger than the insect and the insect suddenly has an inkling that it needs to leave.

It tries, but it can't move because of the sticky substance on the bridge it has attached itself to, which now entraps it and condemns it to certain destruction because there is no way out. Our responsibility to knowledge, understanding, critical thinking, and discernment, as opposed to chosen ignorance and being captivated by "pretty things" and the beguiling lies that often appeal to the baser nature of our hearts we try to hide these and present a different face, but the very choices we make reveal them even if we don't realize it is the only antidote to being lured into and trapped in this spider web that will destroy us.

That is the point of history. And World War I is actually recent history, even though it's many years before our lifetimes, when we think in terms of the whole history of humans. Because its effects and legacy impact our lives, collectively and individually, to this day, and will continue to do so, it is imperative that we understand how we got from there to here. This is a fascinating assessment of the First World War. Reynolds seeks to review the events of the war with a new eye, his conclusions are driven by the assessment of evidence rather than being driven by long-hold prejudices or political perspectives.

This is esssential reading for anyone seeking to understand the First World War and also seeking to understand much of the reaminder of 20th Century European History. Aug 14, Philip Chaston rated it really liked it. Reasoned review of Great War perspectives and the peculiar combination of emotionalism and remembrance in the UK: An interesting and insightful account of the impact of the Great War over the past century. It's very readable although I did find a few sections dragging a bit. In particular, I found repeated sections on poetry, memorials, and meta-history a bit dry. Definitely worth a read.

Jul 24, Kim rated it really liked it. This was harder to read than a lot of the nonfiction I read.

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I learned a lot from it. Dec 06, Louise rated it liked it. The book decreased in value for me when the author started to discuss the books I had read and formed my own opinion on. Part one was of much more interest to me than part two. Aug 21, Imogen rated it really liked it Shelves: I didn't expect to get a better understanding of Britain's fraught feelings towards the EU from this book, but I did and a whole lot more besides. May 31, Todd Stockslager rated it liked it Shelves: In the long run, the trench wins With the assassination of a mid level royalty in a mid level city in Eastern Europe, entangling alliances and inept political decision making sent the world spiraling into the first major 20th Century conflict.

Known then as the Great War, it would prove to be just the first and not even the largest of the wars to come. Reynolds seeks to trace the outline of the shadow of this Great War on the landscape to come after it, and to show how the future wo Review title: Reynolds seeks to trace the outline of the shadow of this Great War on the landscape to come after it, and to show how the future would cast its own shadow of influences and interpretations backward over it.

Johnson cautions the reader of the fallacy and folly of viewing these years after the war as the interest years between the two World Wars, which is a perspective available to us only by hindsight and was not a factor in the perception of the Great War by contemporaries who had lived through it.

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Johnson devotes chapters to these legacies in nations and empire, economics, politics and peace movements, and civilization how did the war shape dud modern art movement, and more early how did the evils of the war drive rise of greater evils in Italy and then Germany? Johnson's approach is unique in not focusing on the causes of the war, or the history of the war itself although he tells enough of the history to set his stage but on its influence in the post war years. While his narrative is interesting, what it doesn't do is prove casualty.

Certainly events in the past influence the present but are those influences causal or merely casual? Johnson doesn't speak definitely on the question, which may be the safest approach but isn't the the most impactful. In the second half, entitled "Refractions", Reynolds turns the telescope around to look backwards at how remembrances of the war after the fact changed perceptions of the war. Here he posits that the overshadowing of the first by the second and subsequent major conflicts had a major influence in the war countries, politicians, military leaders, and ordinary people remembered and commemorated the Great War.

One major thread here is the interruption of the Russian Revolution which directly impacted the War, then the post-war Soviet consolidation leading to the Stalinist regime with its internal terrorism and great famine of collectivism, followed almost immediately by the immense sacrifice of Russian soldiers and civilians in the Second World War and the the Cold War that froze Eastern Europe and Asiatic Russia for another 40 years, all of which also froze Russian remembrances and studies of the Great War.

A second major thread is British post-war experience which focused on one tragic day early in the war the battle of the Somme which was then and since recognized as a disasterous and unnecessary waste of the youth and soul of the British army. This drove remembrance toward co memorization of the individual "Tommy", oral and family histories of the events of the war, and a mini-industry of war time poetry, much of it by soldiers in the trenches.


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Johnson documents how this influenced official national memories and anniversary celebrations of the war, up through and even especially as late as the 50th anniversary of the war, when a peak of interest lead to and was influenced by the new power of television to reach audiences and reshape histories to match. With an approach that is at times novel but at other times seems simply narratively pedestrian, The Long shadow is worth reading but not as inspiring or engaging as I had hoped. But it is a unique antidote to the over documented topics of the causes of the war, and to the standard "how it happened" accounts of the war itself.

Jan 23, Caroline rated it it was amazing. Whilst many, both lay-readers and historians, think of WWII as the defining event of the 20th century, David Reynolds here argues the case for the First World War as the fulcrum on which the century pivoted, exploring the legacies, the 'long shadow' that the War cast over everything that came after.

In this book he explores not just the impact the War had on the years and generations that came In Britain especially the First World War is still referred to almost interchangeably as the Great War. In this book he explores not just the impact the War had on the years and generations that came after it - the political, economic, cultural and sociological effects, the positives and the negatives - but also the way we have come to view the War, particularly the difference in perspective afforded in the wake of WWII.

We have grown so used to thinking of the Western Front in terms of sacrifice, waste, futility, that we have forgotten that those fighting at the time didn't necessary see it in those terms, even on into the 20s and 30s. It was only after the world erupted once again, and people came to realise that the 'War to End All Wars' had ended nothing at all, and had in fact only given rise to yet more death and conflict, that people's perceptions began to change. We view the War with the benefit of hindsight, rather than on its own merits.


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  • The First World War changed the world, not just in that the manner of its ending laid the seeds for that even more destructive conflict nearly thirty years later. Repercussions that we are still dealing with today had their direct roots in the First World War. America began its rise as a superpower. The history of Ireland, both Republic and Northern, and the Troubles, stem from those years, both the Easter Rising and the decimation of the Ulster divisions at the Somme.

    The British Empire and its relationship to its Dominions was transformed, the Empire itself expanded, those Dominions established a new identity independent from the Mother Country, most notably in the case of Australia and Gallipoli. The Middle East was reshaped, new boundary lines drawn in the sand, particularly in Palestine and Iraq. The balance of power in Africa and East Asia was shifted. The massive Russian losses toppled the tsar from his throne, the Bolsheviks seizing power and giving birth to the Soviet Union. New countries were created in Europe, countries such as Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.

    When listed like this, and laid out so cogently by David Reynolds, it is hard to argue that the First World War deserves its designation as the Great War, that war that changed the world - and it is a shame that in Britain we have to come to remember it in such simplistic terms, defined only by a handful of war poets, red poppies and the Cenotaph. One only hopes that in this centenary year and in the years to come, we can come to a more nuanced and wider-ranging understanding of the war and its impact, its shadow, rather than our narrow British-centric view.

    Jun 19, Marks54 rated it really liked it. This book starts with the premises that WWI was the most disruptive event of the 20th century and that the war fundamentally shaped the world and continues to do so up until the present -- one hundred years after the shootings in Sarajevo. Based on these premises, Reynolds has written a book to carefully work through all of the major ways in which WWI had these effects. While Reynolds' objective is fairly easy to grasp in general, even a small amount of thought about this shows it to be an immen This book starts with the premises that WWI was the most disruptive event of the 20th century and that the war fundamentally shaped the world and continues to do so up until the present -- one hundred years after the shootings in Sarajevo.

    While Reynolds' objective is fairly easy to grasp in general, even a small amount of thought about this shows it to be an immense undertaking - a focused history of Europe in the 20th century tracing out the links from the Great War. Reynolds is a professor at Cambridge and the book has a general focus on Great Britain.

    All the major actors are there however, and the book is largely successful. It is a very impressive work of scholarship.

    The Long Shadow: The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century

    After I got through the beginning, I was initially skeptical. It struck me that it would be very easy to write a general history of Europe in the 20th century, which would lead to a long book that was not very valuable in your were already familiar with the history. That did not occur, however, and while some sections were more memorable and convincing than others, the author is clear and consistent in carrying out his objectives. The narrative is especially valuable in two ways. Western Fiction 10 Pack: The Flying U Westerns.

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