The authors have addressed one of the great omissions by historians covering WWI. This is a well-researched study of a subject that has received far less than its deserved attention. The photo-plate section is well selected and maps in the body of the book help in the understanding of this unfamiliar part of WWI – Very Highly Recommended.
NAME: Under the Devil's Eye, The British Military Experience in Macedonia 1915-1918 FILE: R2572 AUTHOR: Alan Wakefield, Simon Moody PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword BINDING: soft back PAGES: 264 PRICE: £14.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: WWI, World War I, World War1, First World War, The Great War, Europe, Balkans, Mediterranean, Turkey, Macedonia, Greece, Serbians, Bulgarians, Russia ISBN: 1-47389-03-6 IMAGE: B2572.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/ybhk65ag LINKS: DESCRIPTION: The authors have addressed one of the great omissions by historians covering WWI. This is a well-researched study of a subject that has received far less than its deserved attention. The photo-plate section is well selected and maps in the body of the book help in the understanding of this unfamiliar part of WWI – Very Highly Recommended. Historians have largely ignored the campaigns and battles of WWI that were fought in the Mediterranean, Italy, the Balkans and in the Middle East. Gallipoli has received some attention, although even here the coverage is rather less than the campaign merited. Lawrence of Arabia has perhaps received more coverage than merited, certainly at the time, thanks the services of a journalist who created the legend. All of the other actions are almost airbrushed from history, even though they had an important impact at the time and have continued to crop up during the last hundred years as the consequences of not giving the area the attention it deserved politically. The carnage on the Western Front was so enormous that it has blotted out most of the other areas of combat during WWI. The preoccupation with defeating Germany relegated Austria and Turkey to minor footnotes, even though they saw some of the most energetic actions of the war. Similarly little attention has been paid to Africa, were a small German force caused the British so much inconvenience. The authors had worked hard to research and present a theatre of war that has much of interest. Normally, reviewing WWI histories prompts a reviewer to comment on the fresh insights or lack thereof. In the case of this new and enticing book, it offers fresh insight because there has been virtually no previous insight offered by historians, other than in previous editions of this work. The first edition was published by Sutton, at a time when that respected publisher was going through a series of changes and may not have focussed enough resource to promoting this book. It is almost as strange that this book has not prompted other historians to action, as it is that the subject was previously ignored. Usually, when a book of this quality emerges, it interests other historians who look for what may have been missed by the pioneering text. In this case, it seems that historians have treated the book as a definitive history of its subject and simply acquired copies to complete an area missing in their libraries. It is certainly a book that historians and enthusiasts should not miss.