Mud, Blood and Poppycock

The popular view of the First World War remains that of 'Blackadder': incompetent generals sending our soldiers to their deaths. Alan Clark quoted a German general's remark that the British soldiers were 'lions led by donkeys'. But he made it up. Indeed, many established 'facts' about 1914-18 turn out to be myths woven in the 1960s by young historians on the make. Gordon Corrigan's brilliant, witty new history reveals how out of touch we have become with the events of 1914-18. First, he shows how necessary our commitment was, contrary to Niall Ferguson's THE PITY OF WAR. He reveals that the British embraced technology more quickly and more effectively than the Germans, no more so than in our adoption of the tank. And his depiction of the army at war rests on his own life-long career as an infantry officer.