World War I: The Essential Reference Guide

by Spencer C. Tucker (Editor)

Overview

With its authoritative reference entries, multiple introductory and perspective essays, primary source documents, detailed chronology, and bibliography, this single-volume reference provides all the key information readers need to understand this monumental conflict.

World War I was an epic conflict that toppled centuries-old empires, transformed the Middle East and Russia, and helped elevate the United States to prominence as a world power. In essence, understanding the reasons for and outcomes of the First World War provides a cornerstone for knowledge of all modern history. In World War I: The Essential Reference Guide, detailed reference entries, a comprehensive overview essay, plus additional examinations of the causes and consequences of the conflict provide readers with the context needed to understand all aspects of World War I.

Important primary source documents like the Zimmerman Telegram and Balfour Declaration are included and accompanied by explanations that supply readers with key historical perspective. Biographies on major political and military leaders, such as Wilhelm II, Woodrow Wilson, Nicholas II, John Pershing, and Ferdinand Foch, offer insight into the people who played key roles in the conflict. Entries on the key confrontations of the war—many accompanied by maps—showcase the strategies of both sides in their attempts to emerge victorious, and the bibliography presents a wealth of options to students looking to conduct further research on World War I.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440841217
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/16/2016
Series:	Non-Series
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Spencer C. Tucker retired in 2003 after 36 years of university teaching, the last six as holder of the John Biggs Chair in Military History at the Virginia Military Institute. He is currently Senior Fellow in Military History for ABC-CLIO Publishing.

Table of Contents

Entry List ix

Primary Documents List xiii

Introduction xv

Overview of World War I xvii

Causes of World War I xxvii

Consequences of World War I xxxiii

General Maps xli

A-Z Entries 1

Primary Documents 275

Appendix: Historical Dilemma Essays 325

Chronology 343

Bibliography 363

About the Editor 373

Editor and Contributors List 375

Index 379

Editorial Reviews

With clearly written prose and a range of resources, Tucker's book lives up to its title claim as an essential reference guide for high school and college students looking for a start to a research project or any reader who is seeking a better understanding of the Great War and its ramifications.” —Booklist

“[A]n engaging collection of historical dilemma essays that will be handy for students deliberating over possible research topics. This reference guide is expressly designed and useful for . . . preliminary research and topic discovery for academic papers. . . . Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates; general readers.” —Choice

“Top Community College Resource, February 2017” —Choice

From the Publisher

11/01/2016
Tucker (formerly Virginia Military Inst.) begins this work with an informative overview of the Great War and two insightful chapters on its causes and consequences. Next are 83 articles of one to two pages on the conflict's most prominent battles, participants, terms, and treaties. All entries are signed and include resources for further reading. Maps, photographs, selected primary documents, an extensive chronology, a detailed bibliography, and a comprehensive index supplement the text. The monthly chronology is particularly noteworthy, as it tracks events on an almost daily basis, providing users with a sense of how situations unfolded over the war's duration. At the same time, the guide's many maps lay out battle campaigns precisely and clearly. All 54 contributors, primarily military historians and specialists from American universities and war colleges, write in a credible, descriptive, judicious, and readable style. This title does not replace narrative classics such as Winston Churchill's The World Crisis, John Keegan's The First World War, or Hew Strachan's The First World War. Instead, like Colin Nicholson's The Longman Companion to the First World War, it is a commendable ready reference that admirably reaches its intended audience. VERDICT A quality reference work that condenses a monumental amount of information in an accessible, concise, and instructive manner. For general readers and student researchers.—Rob Tench, Old Dominion Univ. Lib., Norfolk, VA

Library Journal