Review: Great Format!  Big Picture World War One Overview
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 10, 2012
I really like these "History in an Hour" formatted books.  They are designed to give you a chronological overview of key events in history, in this case, World War One.  They also give an excellent summary of key players in the event.  All this is presented in a format which could easily be read in one or two sittings.The style is one which can be best described as somewhere between a Wikipedia entry and a textbook.  All of the major battles are covered.  There is very little personal commentary regarding the events, just the facts. The book begins with Archduke Ferdinand's assassination and ends with the Armistice being signed.  There is no information about what led up to the war or what came after.  That material is left for other books.The other important thing about this particular book is the nature of its subject matter. World War One tends to be a war that is overlooked in history classes since it was overshadowed by the much larger World War Two and subsequent history.  This book is a great way to help see the big picture beginning of 100 years of constant war.One could look at the assassination of Ferdinand as the start of a century of Complete World War which we are still fighting; one in which killing has become mechanized, efficient and thorough.  World War One set the stage for World War Two with the rise of Hitler in response to the hated reparations and other humiliations imposed on Germany by the allies in Versailles.  The roots of the Cold War, Korea, Vietnam are related to the rise of Communism strengthened as a result of Russian participation on the eastern front during both wars.  Much of the trouble we face in the Middle East and other parts of the world are related to how British, German, French and Italian colonialism created false borders and exploited native populations to serve the causes of the colonialists in Europe. The chronicle of WWI sweeps across Serbia, Bosnia, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Greece, Turkey, Hungary, Egypt, Japan, Australia, the United States...the list goes on and on.  Mighty empires like the Ottoman Empire fell, while new ones arose.None of this is in this book, but the format of the book is big picture oriented and as you see name after name of familiar places from today's news it becomes, in a big picture sense, much easier to see the threads connecting things together and gives you a sense of how exactly the world has become a very dangerous and unstable place.If you are not too familiar with World War One, I believe it would be worthwhile to dedicate a night or two of reading to this book.