Germany Ascendant

The Eastern Front 1915

Germany Ascendant cover

Description

A detailed and absorbing narrative of the campaigns fought on the 'forgotten' Eastern Front of the Great War, vividly illustrating that these campaigns were no less costly, tragic and important than the catastrophes of the Somme, Verdun and Passchendaele.

The massive offensives on the Eastern Front during 1915 are too often overshadowed by the events in Western Europe, but the scale and ferocity of the clashes between Imperial Germany, Habsburg Austria-Hungary and Tsarist Russia were greater than anything seen on the Western Front and ultimately as important to the final outcome of the war.

With the Russians hamstrung by weak supply lines and the Austro-Hungarian leadership committed to a strategy of offensive drives despite diminishing manpower and adverse terrain, the fighting in early 1915 was a costly and futile exercise. By the summer, the Central Powers, increasingly dominated by Germany, had begun to gain the advantage, but even the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive of 1915 – which ultimately resulted in the retreat of Russian forces from Poland – failed to bring the conflict to a conclusion.

Now with the work of internationally renowned Eastern Front expert Prit Buttar, this fascinating story is finally being told. From the bitter fighting in the Carpathian Mountains, to the sweeping advances through Serbia and the almost medieval battle for the fortress of Przemysl, this is a staggeringly ambitious history of some of the most important moments of the First World War.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Author's Note
Dramatis Personae

Introduction
1. The Combatants
2. The First Carpathian Campaign
3. Winter in Masuria
4. Springtime: Slaughter and Disappointment
5. Mackensen's Breakthrough
6. The Exploitation
7. Lemberg
8. Decisions and Departures
9. The Great Retreat
10. Volhynia: The End of the Leash
11. The Fall of Serbia
12. The Burden of War

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Product details

Published Aug 20 2015
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 464
ISBN 9781472813558
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations 16pp plate section in black and white
Series General Military
Short code GNM
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Prit Buttar

Prit Buttar studied medicine at Oxford and London…

Resources

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