The World Crisis, 1911-1918 - Abridged by Winston Churchill (Paperback)

About the Book

Now in trade paperback and repackaged for the first time in more than 75 years, this is Churchill's definitive history of the first World War. 48 maps, plans & diagrams.

Book Synopsis

As first lord of the admiralty and minister for war and air, Churchill stood resolute at the center of international affairs. In this classic account, he dramatically details how the tides of despair and triumph flowed and ebbed as the political and military leaders of the time navigated the dangerous currents of world conflict.

Churchill vividly recounts the major campaigns that shaped the war: the furious attacks of the Marne, the naval maneuvers off Jutland, Verdun's "soul-stirring frenzy," and the surprising victory of Chemins des Dames. Here, too, he re-creates the dawn of modern warfare: the buzz of airplanes overhead, trench combat, artillery thunder, and the threat of chemical warfare. In Churchill's inimitable voice we hear how "the war to end all wars" instead gave birth to every war that would follow, including the current war in Iraq. Written with unprecedented flair and knowledge of the events, The World Crisis remains the single greatest history of World War I, essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the twentieth century.

Review Quotes

"The World Crisis is at once an outstandingly readable history of the First World War -- the seminal drama of modern times -- and an eyewitness account, especially of its opening years. Whether as a statesman or an author, Churchill was a giant; and The World Crisis towers over most other books about the Great War."
-- David Fromkin, author of A Peace to End All Peace

"In this remarkable work, Churchill, as a maker and a writer of history, explores the confusions and complexities of World War I, eerily foreshadowing the later global struggle he would fight alongside Franklin Roosevelt. In a new century, the book remains essential reading, as fresh and compelling as ever, for the central issue it addresses -- how a free people should chart their way through a world of conflicting interests -- is always with us."
-- Jon Meacham, bestselling author of Franklin and Winston

"Winston Churchill's personality suffuses The World Crisis, not only in its arguments but also in its masterful prose. The book, however, aspires to be even more than that -- a general history of the war that shaped the twentieth century as well as the attitudes of one of the century's most powerful personalities."
-- Hew Strachan, author of The First World War

About the Author

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was prime minister of Great Britain from 1940-1945 and 1951-1955. A prolific writer, whose works include The Second World War and A History of the English Speaking Peoples, Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953.

Sir Martin Gilbert was named Winston Churchill's official biographer in 1968. He was the author of seventy-five books, among them the single-volume Churchill: A Life, his twin histories The First World War and The Second World War, the comprehensive Israel: A History, and his three-volume History of the Twentieth Century. An Honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and a Distinguished Fellow of Hillsdale College, Michigan, he was knighted in 1995 'for services to British history and international relations', and in 1999 he was awarded a Doctorate of Literature by the University of Oxford for the totality of his published work. Martin Gilbert died in 2015.