num_pages: 90
description: "A controversial event in British military history, seen by some as a great achievement, by others little short of a disaster." - Gary Sheffield. August 1914. In the sweltering heat, the fate of Europe hangs in the balance. Germany is hurling her forces into a carefully planned invasion of Belgium and France. Bound by an 1839 treaty to protect Belgium from any invader, Britain came to its defence. With the British Expeditionary Force numbering just 120,000 men, and dwarfed by the vast manpower of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II remains unfazed by this ‘contemptible little army’. But the BEF was, man for man, the best-trained army in Europe. It was led by tough and experienced officers who had learned their brutal trade in fierce colonial warfare. Their combat performance in 1914 would cement their place in history. Within days of the BEF’s deployment, the full weight of the German invasion crashed into the thin British line. Faced with overwhelming enemy numbers, and battling alongside unreliable French allies, the BEF was forced into The Great Retreat. ‘The Great Retreat’ is the story of this desperate battle for survival. While Germany was attempting to crush France in one fell swoop, the Allies desperately sought time and space so that they could mount a counterattack to stem the tide. 'The Retreat from Mons in 1914 is a controversial event in British military history, seen by some as a great achievement, by others little short of a disaster. In this excellent short book, Spencer Jones provides a masterly account, offering a nuanced and convincing picture of one of the defining events of Britain's First World War'. - Gary Sheffield, Professor of War Studies at University of Wolverhampton Spencer Jones is a military historian. He received his PhD in 2009 and currently lectures at the University of Wolverhampton. He holds wide-ranging interests in history, with a particular focus on the Anglo-Boer War and the First World War. His other books include ‘Stemming the Officers and Leadership in the British Expeditionary Force 1914’ and ‘From Boer War to World Tactical Reform of the British Army, 1902-1914’.
language: English
title: The Great Retreat of 1914: From Mons to the Marne
publisher: Endeavour Press