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  • The First World War

  • A Complete History
  • By: Martin Gilbert
  • Narrated by: Roger Clark
  • Length: 33 hrs and 34 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (109 ratings)

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The First World War cover art

The First World War

By: Martin Gilbert
Narrated by: Roger Clark
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Summary

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. It introduced U-boat packs and strategic bombing, unrestricted war on civilians and mistreatment of prisoners. But the war changed our world in far more fundamental ways than these.

In its wake, empires toppled, monarchies fell, and whole populations lost their national identities. As political systems and geographic boundaries were realigned, the social order shifted seismically. Manners and cultural norms; literature and the arts; education and class distinctions; all underwent a vast sea change.

©1994 Martin Gilbert (P)2020 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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What listeners say about The First World War

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    5 out of 5 stars

An interesting taken on the history of the WWI

This history history iris somewhat different in others I have read or listened to. For example, the cause of the Gallipoli campaign has always be blamed on Churchill, which isn't burned out here, along with other battles that were blamded on specific members of the general staff but turned out to be orders from the overall commander who was French.
My only complaint is the reader who pronunciation of some peoples names and places is totally wrong, General Haigh being one whare the "a" is dropped to give Hiegh with the emphasis on the "i", I found this increasingly annoying as the book went on

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely brilliant listening

Loved it, its the ultimate comprehensive history of the first world war, narrator is exceptional loved all 30+ hours of it.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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A good history of WW1

Narrator is rather annoying, play at 1.5 speed this make it easier on the ear.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An excellent book with a sub-par narrator.

This book doesn’t really warrant much comment: it’s a well known and informative work referenced by historians to this day. The narrator however makes me with they’d asked me. I’d have done it for free and would have pronounced the people and places correctly! The divide between simple words he mispronounces and relatively obscure foreign words or place names that he gets correct is perplexing. (It’s Haig, as in Hey-g! Not High-g!)

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Educational if...

It achieved my goal to learn more about the subject but the need to constantly interpret the narrators pronouniation is infuriating and caused me to rewind several times to avoid missing interesting points. If you have little pacience, listening to 30 hours of this is infuriating.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent but narrator distracts one from the tale

Excellent book but the narrator’s peculiar pronunciation of names is most distracting. Nonetheless I’d recommend this to anyone wanting to have a comprehensive overview of The Great War

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great detail

Most great but s
Slightly idiosyncratic series of pronunciations, particularly of names and places. Not a problem.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Substandard Narrator

I agree with previous comments. Gilbert’s book on WW1 is an absolute classic and worthy of a far better rendition than this funerial, over-pompous, apparently sedated presentation. You really must take a stricter view on this aspect - awful! That said, the book is such well-written history that it survives even your deplorable version.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic book. Very powerful, informed& authentic

The book is long, but worth the time. Please don't be put off by the stilted reading style and unforgivable pronunciation errors e.g. Haig should be pronounced like hay - not high. Also it's the Sudetenland - not SudeNtenland!!!!!!!! The reader aside, the content is phenomenal.

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

Moving, emotional and incredibly thorough

Intricate detail interwoven with hundreds of first hand accounts. An excellent and powerful description of the First World War.

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