The Swordbearers

Correlli Barnett made his reputation with these brilliant studies of the key commanders whose decisions determined the course of the First World War. With great insight and penetrating judgement, he investigates: Colonel General von Moltke masterminded the German's initial attack on France in 1914; Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, who commanded the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet; General Petain, the French leader who halted the German advances at Verdun in 1916; and General Erich Ludendorff who led the last great German offensives in the summer of 1918. In this moving and fascinating account, Correlli Barnett describes how these men struggled with events greater than themselves, and shows their moments of clarity and prophecy, of optimistic self-delusion, of uncertainty and despair. The period of their command together spans the war years, and gives a continuous history of the war on the western front.