Magnificent but not War

Magnificent but not War

In a blatant attempt to increase my post count I thought it may be interesting to include a few book reviews of my latest reads.  With this year's battlefield trip to Ypres and, hopefully, Waterloo getting ever closer a friend kindly loaned me a copy of Magnificent but not War by John Dixon focusing on the Second Battle of Ypres.

I will happily admit to knowing relatively little about the subject, my main interests in the First World War involve the opening and closing months when warfare was relatively mobile.  I was aware, however, that the battle involved one of the rare German offensives on the Western Front and also the first use of poisoned gas.

It has to be said that the book concentrates almost exclusively on the British view of the battle, there is very little on the French involvement other than that they panicked when gassed and failed to appear for numerous counter attacks leaving the plucky Brits to go it alone.  The Belgians hardly even feature.  Similarly, the Germans only appear when attacking, you could almost liken their role to the aliens in a game of "Space Invaders", continually being beaten off but reappearing in even greater numbers although we learn almost nothing about them.  It would have been interesting, for example, to know why the Germans attacked in the first place and what their objectives were.

A minor stylistic point concerns frequent references to General Sir John French and the French.  There are numerous sentences stating "and French said to the French" or "the French asked French for support" which can become a little confusing.

These minor quibbles aside the book was an informative read and clearly defined the British role in a battle that is often overshadowed by the Somme or Passschendaele.  There are also plenty of helpful maps.  Unfortunately, I think you need to look elsewhere for an overall account of the battle and, as such, I would rate the book as seven out of ten.