A Mad Catastrophe
The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire
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Narrated by:
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Geoffrey Wawro
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By:
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Geoffrey Wawro
About this listen
The Austro-Hungarian army that marched east and south to confront the Russians and Serbs in the opening campaigns of World War I had a glorious past but a pitiful present. Speaking a mystifying array of languages and lugging outdated weapons, the Austrian troops were hopelessly unprepared for the industrialized warfare that would shortly consume Europe. As prizewinning historian Geoffrey Wawro explains in A Mad Catastrophe, the doomed Austrian conscripts were an unfortunate microcosm of the Austro-Hungarian Empire itself - both equally ripe for destruction.
After the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, Germany goaded the Empire into a war with Russia and Serbia. With the Germans massing their forces in the west to engage the French and the British, everything - the course of the war and the fate of empires and alliances from Constantinople to London - hinged on the Habsburgs’ ability to crush Serbia and keep the Russians at bay. However, Austria-Hungary had been rotting from within for years, hollowed out by repression, cynicism, and corruption at the highest levels. Commanded by a dying emperor, Franz Joseph I, and a querulous celebrity general, Conrad von Hötzendorf, the Austro-Hungarians managed to bungle everything: their ultimatum to the Serbs, their declarations of war, their mobilization, and the pivotal battles in Galicia and Serbia. By the end of 1914, the Habsburg army lay in ruins and the outcome of the war seemed all but decided.
Drawing on deep archival research, Wawro charts the decline of the Empire before the war and reconstructs the great battles in the east and the Balkans in thrilling and tragic detail. A Mad Catastrophe is a riveting account of a neglected face of World War I, revealing how a once-mighty empire collapsed in the trenches of Serbia and the Eastern Front, changing the course of European history.
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- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
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In August 1942, an overconfident Adolf Hitler would attempt to invade Stalin's namesake city on the Volga. The battle of Stalingrad is extraordinary in every way: the triumphant invader fought to a standstill; then the Soviet trap sprung, surrounding their attackers; and the terrible siege, with Germans starving and freezing, forced to fight on by a disbelieving Hitler.
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Audible! Pls provide Michael Tudor Barnes
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By: Antony Beevor
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The Guns of August
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- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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In this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, historian Barbara Tuchman brings to life the people and events that led up to World War I. This was the last gasp of the Gilded Age, of Kings and Kaisers and Czars, of pointed or plumed hats, colored uniforms, and all the pomp and romance that went along with war. How quickly it all changed...and how horrible it became.
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Wonderful
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For God and Kaiser
- The Imperial Austrian Army, 1619-1918
- By: Richard Bassett
- Narrated by: Aaron Blain
- Length: 28 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The definitive history of Austria’s multinational army and its immense role during three centuries of European military history. Among the finest examples of deeply researched military history, For God and Kaiser is a major account of the Habsburg army. It shows how the Imperial Austrian Army, time and again, was a decisive factor in the story of Europe, the balance of international power, and the defense of Christendom...it was the first pan-European army made up of different nationalities and faiths, counting among its soldiers not only Christians but also Muslims, and Jews.
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excellent insight
- By Nicholas on 08-04-19
By: Richard Bassett
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Amazing Detail, Amazing Story!
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This Kind of War
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This Kind of War is a monumental study of the conflict that began in June 1950. Successive generations of U.S. military officers have considered this book an indispensable part of their education. T. R. Fehrenbach's narrative brings to life the harrowing and bloody battles that were fought up and down the Korean Peninsula.
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Great narrative, frustrating redundancy
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In the spring of 1864, Robert E. Lee faced a new adversary: Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. Named commander of all Union armies in March, Grant quickly went on the offensive against Lee in Virginia. On May 4th, Grant's army struck hard across the Rapidan River into north central Virginia, with Lee's army contesting every mile. They fought for 40 days until, finally, the Union army crossed the James River and began the siege of Petersburg. The campaign cost 90,000 men - the largest loss the war had seen.
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Skip this! Get Catton's Stillness at Appomattox
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On October 8, 1862, Union and Confederate forces clashed near Perryville, Kentucky, in what would be the largest battle ever fought on Kentucky soil. The climax of a campaign that began two months before in Northern Mississippi, Perryville came to be recognized as the high water mark of the western Confederacy. Some said the hard-fought battle, forever remembered by participants for its sheer savagery and for their commanders' confusion, was the worst battle of the war, losing the last chance to bring the Commonwealth into the Confederacy.
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Pitiful narration
- By Charles on 10-22-17
By: Kenneth W. Noe
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Born to Battle
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Born to Battle examines the Civil War’s complex and decisive western theater through the exploits of its greatest figures: Ulysses S. Grant and Nathan Bedford Forrest. These two opposing giants squared off in some of the most epic campaigns of the war, starting at Shiloh and continuing through Perryville, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga - battles in which the Union would slowly but surely divide the western Confederacy, setting the stage for the final showdowns of this bloody and protracted conflict.
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Band of Giants
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Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin are known to all; men like Morgan, Greene, and Wayne are less familiar. Yet the dreams of the politicians and theorists became real only because fighting men were willing to take on the grim, risky, brutal work of war. The soldiers of the American Revolution were a diverse lot: merchants and mechanics, farmers and fishermen, paragons and drunkards. Most were ardent amateurs.
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in-depth, revealing of occurrences seldom taught
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The Early Morning of War: Bull Run, 1861 (Campaigns and Commanders Series)
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When Union and Confederate forces squared off along Bull Run on July 21, 1861, the Federals expected this first major military campaign would bring an early end to the Civil War. But when Confederate troops launched a strong counterattack, both sides realized the war would be longer and costlier than anticipated. First Bull Run, or First Manassas, set the stage for four years of bloody conflict that forever changed the political, social, and economic fabric of the nation. It also introduced the commanders, tactics, and weaponry that would define the American way of war through the turn of the twentieth century.
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Best book of this early battle
- By Bradley Behrhorst on 09-02-22
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Look elsewhere
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What listeners say about A Mad Catastrophe
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- Ahmir Khan
- 06-19-16
Osterreich? Osterwrong!
Ok, so that was a cheesy headline, but that's all I could think of!
This is a really fascinating book delving into the final death knell of the Austrian Empire, with an emphasis on its disastrous performance in the first 1-2 years of The Great War. The author is the narrator, so you can clearly hear his own incredulity and disgust with just how unprepared this formerly great empire was for the war, the complete disregard for its citizens in pursing this war, and the separation from reality its military and political leaders had from the disaster that was unfolding on the ground. This is a kind of "Guns of August" of the Austrian front, detailing just how wrong everything was going for the Austrians in the first part of the war, and how this was a result of bad policy and eventually foretold the destruction of this empire. It's mind boggling, with the benefit of hindsight, at just how pathetic the Austrians were: under-powered and numerically less artillery, officers not speaking the same language as their men, Napoleonic war techniques of charging headlong into machine guns and artillery, terrible troop morale and a high command that could not make up their mind about what to do, except to "stress the offensive". Given the numbers of men involved, it's horrible, sad stuff.
My only (minor) quibbles is that sometimes the author will repeat himself, in particular when assailing the Austrian Chief of Staff, Conrad, but Conrad really is just ridiculous and horrible, so I can accept that. I would have loved to hear a bit more about the decay of the Empire prior to the war. It seems that when they lose the German confederation in the Austrian Prussian War, that is when they go from a German-centric Empire with other non-German holdings to being a minority in their own empire. This to me is really the beginning of the end.
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- Mike
- 07-25-16
Austrian Madness revealed
It is indeed fascinating to read/listen to the Austrian Empires madness in even thinking of war,when they were so unprepared.Vanity of vanities,vanity of vanities personified.If you are a history buff,listen to this.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-20-15
A masterful look at the origins of World War I
An excellent analysis of the origins of World War I and Austria's shockingly incompetent conduct of the war in the early years. Two minus stars for the author's reading of his own work, he has passion but lacks the polish of a professional narrator.
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1 person found this helpful
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- JB
- 03-08-18
Great story teller
Loved it and had a hard time putting it down. Thank you so much J.W.
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- Anonymous User
- 10-22-22
Excellent
Outstanding book. Information that has not been available in English. I have learned a lot. Coherent, Excellent writing and narration. Highly recommended
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- Robert
- 11-20-14
A tale of folly that carries its self to the end.
Where does A Mad Catastrophe rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
This work goes right along side some of Barbra Tuchman's works. It maintains a good focus on its subject and cites sources throughout, nothing better than a bit of the Polybian ethic in a history.I rank it among the better histories and I am glad to have stumbled upon this detailed work.
What other book might you compare A Mad Catastrophe to and why?
The March of Folly by Barbra W. Tuchman, but with a less scattered gaze.
What about Geoffrey Wawro’s performance did you like?
He is obviously passionate about his work and is given to incline and decline his tone for emphasis at the points which he sees as critical to the narrative. As the author he has good insight into when this should be done. It is like and extended book TV reading. I'm all for authors reading their own work, Ray Bradbury did it with Fahrenheit 451 if you'd like more this ilk.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The Slavs struggle for independence.
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- Ben/Kara C.
- 12-22-22
Good Looking at the Austrian side of WW1
Author strives to write “The Guns of August” for the Eastern Front, and does a fairly good job of it. It can be difficult to follow all the geographic details without a map in front of you, but that is just the nature of books like this. Overall a very good detailed look at the Austria side of WW1.
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- Scott
- 02-27-15
Great content, mediocre speaker.
Still worth your time if you wish to learn more about the Austrian fronts of the Great War. Damn Hungary
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Story
- Kindle Customer
- 02-27-21
Good story, but mediocre narrator.
I greatly enjoyed the book, but a large portion of the time the narrator was speaking like an asthmatic after a marathon. To the narrator's credit, he did have some quite good sections.
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Performance
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Story
- Paul Bogle
- 04-01-22
Detailed, Emphatic, Redundant
In A Mad Catastrophe the author offers episodes and examples of Imperial-sized ineptitude. The message crystalizes early on, the indictment of Austria/Hungary's rot and hubris evident. The narrative of blame does not reach the heart, however, and as read by the author, serves merely to boggle the mind. With this approach, the one-pointed message about high-level stupidity in a splintering, decaying empire pounded out over and over, the effect is somewhat boring and numbing.
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