The Guns of August

14 June 2010 | Book Review

To be able to tell a story in such a way that it grips the reader from beginning to end, to be able to fill a book with an enthralling narrative that is never boring or trite is by itself a significant feat that not too many authors pull off. To do it by chronicling events of which we know the outcome already very well is pure brilliance. Doing it while faithfully sticking to historical reality and true facts, in a work of non-fiction, must surely indicate rare genius.

Barbara Tuchman does exactly that in “The Guns of August”, one of her most well-known books and indeed the one that made her truly famous. I have lost count of how many times I have read the book, yet I never tire of rereading it.

In her time, some pretentious historians and other haughty critics chided her for not being a formally educated historian with an academic career and it is hard to escape the notion that when she had to endure their portentous and arrogant comments, resentment, jealousy, envy of her success were amongst the prevalent motivations at the root of their snooty remarks. I happen to have a history degree too and will simply say that she was at least as serious, dedicated and capable in her research as any PhD I have ever come across.

There is a certain type of historian (perhaps even a majority) who adhere to what I would call the school of dry facts. Their works are endless litanies of data they have collected which barely deserve the designation “narrative”. They do so because of the mistaken idea that by weaving all those facts into a compelling story, they would be colouring them. I am not advocating that historians should turn facts into a work of fiction, of course not. But the reality as it was, had colour. It was not black and white. Barbara Tuchman carried out meticulous research and collected data, checked sources and did all the things any good historian should do. But she ordered and presented them in a way that genuinely brings to life the facts and makes the reader believe he or she is part of the events. Tuchman does not make it up when she writes: ”So gorgeous was the spectacle on the May morning of 1910 when nine Kings rode in the funeral of Edward VII of England that the crowd, waiting in hushed and black-clad awe, could not keep back gasps of admiration. In scarlet and blue and green and purple, three by three the sovereigns rode through the palace gates, with plumed helmets, gold braid, crimson sashes, and jeweled orders flashing in the sun.” Instead, she relates, faithfully, the facts as reported by the daily press, memoirs and other accounts by those who were there and which she painstakingly collected and analysed before carefully compiling her book.

“The Guns of August” recounts the events of the first few weeks of the First World War. At that time, the war had not yet become the monstrous stalemate that would devour a generation and destroy a way of life. It was the last manifestation of a world to be overtaken by the realities of modern warfare that it did not yet understand. From the grave of the Schlieffen Plan and Plan 17 emerged the spectre of trench warfare and industrialised conflict. It is a fascinating, authentic and enlightening narrative; an unsurpassed account of a truly mesmerizing, yet horrific episode of human history. We should never forget it and “The Guns of August” will make sure we don't.