Lendle

The First World War changed the world forever but what if it had shaped a much different future? A century after the battles of the First World War ended, their consequences remain imprinted on the political maps of Europe and much of the Middle East. Dive deep into history as the background to the Allied triumph and its aftermath is examined. Might the Armistice in the forest of Compiegne have come sooner? How near did Germany come to denouncing the Armistice and resume fighting in 1919?But Palmer also looks beyond what happened in France and Flanders as there were four armistices that autumn. The Great War was a global conflict, with battlefronts on three continents. Retracing the path to Compiegne through the four-year struggle allows the reader to consider if a broader strategic vision might have brought an earlier victory.Victory 1918 is a masterful survey of one of history's great turning points, and offers a fresh interpretation of the war which, more than any other, determined the character of the twentieth century.Praise for Alan Palmer 'Alan Palmer writes the sort of history that dons did before "accessible" became an academic insult. It is cool, rational, scholarly, literate.' - Sir John Keegan‘A fine piece of narrative history, a combination of suspense and scholarship which actually makes you wonder will he make it?’ - Antonia Fraser’s Book of the Year, Sunday Times‘Alan Palmer has done justice to [the] epic events with a lively, vivid narrative, written with the appropriate style and panache.’ - Lawrence James‘Palmer’s style is as good as his judgement is daring.’ – The TimesAlan Palmer was Head of the History Department at Highgate School from 1953 to 1969, when he gave up his post to concentrate on historical writing and research. He has written some thirty narrative histories, historical reference books or biographies. In 1980 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.