1918

A Very British Victory

By: Peter Hart

Narrated by: Clive Mantle, Peter Hart

In every sense, 1918 was the climactic year of the Great War on the Western Front. The battles fought during that spring dwarfed those at the Somme and at Passchendaele.The casualties on both sides were unprecedented, and the weapons and tactics used were the culmination of four years' bloody experience.

This epic account of the events of 1918 is the first major reappraisal of the end of the war for more than 20 years, and describes what is in some respects a forgotten chapter in history. The soldiers who returned to Britain in November 1918 were not the martyrs or victims of popular memory - they were a victorious army and were greeted as heroes.

As the oral historian at the Imperial War Museum, Peter Hart has had unprecedented access to material never before seen or heard. He uses this vast wealth of sources to describe the entire course of the year, at all levels of command, from the terrifying German attacks in the spring to the victorious parades after the Armistice was signed. As a chronicle of the Great War's brutal climax it is unparalleled in its scope and depth.

©2008 Peter Hart (P)2008 Orion Publishing Group Ltd

Irritating narration

I found some of the accents used by the narrator to be irritating, particularly the cartoonish German accent given to Ludendorff

1918: a one sided twisting of history

The worst piece of world one history I've read to date.
The author seems to be extremely blinded by the propaganda of the time, dismissing any counter argument. Painfully concentrated on the western front (the other fronts were meaningless sideshows according to the author) and British war effort (Americans didn't do a lot, French were merely following the British...)

On top of that, the narration - by the author - where he tried to emulate a German, or French accent in English are, plainly laughable and insulting.

If you want a good, interesting, and balanced account of the western front in ww1, listen to Dan Carlin's modcasts. They do the job way better.