On a Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War
Cambridge Military Histories
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Narrated by:
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Elliot Fitzpatrick
About this listen
Was the outcome of the First World War on a knife edge? In this major new account of German wartime politics and strategy Holger Afflerbach argues that the outcome of the war was actually in the balance until relatively late in the war.
Using new evidence from diaries, letters, and memoirs, he fundamentally revises our understanding of German strategy from the decision to go to war and the failure of the western offensive to the radicalization of Germany's war effort under Hindenburg and Ludendorff and the ultimate collapse of the Central Powers. He uncovers the struggles in wartime Germany between supporters of peace and hardliners who wanted to fight to the finish. He suggests that Germany was not nearly as committed to all-out conquest as previous accounts argue. Numerous German peace advances could have offered the opportunity to end the war before it dragged Europe into the abyss.
©2022 Holger Afflerbach (P)2024 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
Now extensively revised in this ninth edition, A History of Russia covers the entire span of the country's history, from ancient times to the post-communist present. Keeping with the hallmark of the text, Riasanovsky and Steinberg examine all aspects of Russia's history—political, international, military, economic, social, and cultural—with a commitment to objectivity, fairness, and balance, and to reflecting recent research and new trends in scholarly interpretation.
By: Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, and others
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The Wehrmacht's Last Stand: The German Campaigns of 1944-1945
- Modern War Studies
- By: Robert M. Citino
- Narrated by: Tom Beyer
- Length: 25 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
By 1943, the war was lost, and most German officers knew it. What kept the German army going in an increasingly hopeless situation? Where some historians have found explanations in the power of Hitler or the role of ideology, Robert M. Citino, the world's leading scholar on the subject, posits a more straightforward solution: Bewegungskrieg, the way of war cultivated by the Germans over the course of history. In this book, Citino charts the path by which Bewegungskrieg, or a "war of movement," inexorably led to Nazi Germany's defeat.
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The fake English with a pseudo German accent,
- By Neil on 11-29-24
By: Robert M. Citino
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Italy Reborn
- From Fascism to Democracy
- By: Mark Gilbert
- Narrated by: Michael Langan
- Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1945, post-fascist Italy was devastated by war, and its reputation in the international arena was nil. Yet by December 1955, when Italy was admitted to the United Nations, the nation had contested three acrimonious but free general elections, had a flourishing press, and was a leader in the rebuilding of Europe.
By: Mark Gilbert
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The Price of Glory
- Verdun 1916
- By: Alistair Horne
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The battle of Verdun lasted ten months. It was a battle in which at least 700,000 men fell, along a front of fifteen miles. Its aim was less to defeat the enemy than bleed him to death and a battleground whose once fertile terrain is even now a haunted wilderness. Alistair Horne's classic work, continuously in print for over fifty years, is a profoundly moving, sympathetic study of the battle and the men who fought there. It shows that Verdun is a key to understanding the First World War.
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Epic Account, Masterful in Its Scope, Power and Resonance
- By Ted Shealy on 05-01-24
By: Alistair Horne
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Republic
- Britain's Revolutionary Decade, 1649–1660
- By: Alice Hunt
- Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
England's unique republican experiment - imposed on Scotland and Ireland, too - may have been shortlived, but it has had a lasting impact on British monarchy, politics, religion and culture, and on the story the British continue to tell about themselves. It is a period that, for a long time, history chose to forget, or recalled as a failure. Here, in thrilling detail, Alice Hunt brings the republic and its extraordinary cast of characters, from politicians to poets and prophets, back to life.
By: Alice Hunt
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The Eastern Front
- A History of the Great War 1914-1918
- By: Nick Lloyd
- Narrated by: Elliot Fitzpatrick
- Length: 22 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Drawing on the latest scholarship as well as eyewitness reports, diary entries, and memoirs, Lloyd moves from the great battles of 1914 to the final collapse of the Central Powers in 1918, showing how a local struggle between Austria-Hungary and Serbia spiraled into a massive conflagration that pulled in Germany, Russia, Italy, Romania, and Bulgaria.
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The sense of tragic inevitabilities and complexities of the entire conflict is made painfully clear
- By Johannes Rojahn on 01-05-25
By: Nick Lloyd
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A History of Russia
- 9th Edition
- By: Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, Mark D. Steinberg
- Narrated by: Rich Miller
- Length: 33 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Now extensively revised in this ninth edition, A History of Russia covers the entire span of the country's history, from ancient times to the post-communist present. Keeping with the hallmark of the text, Riasanovsky and Steinberg examine all aspects of Russia's history—political, international, military, economic, social, and cultural—with a commitment to objectivity, fairness, and balance, and to reflecting recent research and new trends in scholarly interpretation.
By: Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, and others
-
The Wehrmacht's Last Stand: The German Campaigns of 1944-1945
- Modern War Studies
- By: Robert M. Citino
- Narrated by: Tom Beyer
- Length: 25 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By 1943, the war was lost, and most German officers knew it. What kept the German army going in an increasingly hopeless situation? Where some historians have found explanations in the power of Hitler or the role of ideology, Robert M. Citino, the world's leading scholar on the subject, posits a more straightforward solution: Bewegungskrieg, the way of war cultivated by the Germans over the course of history. In this book, Citino charts the path by which Bewegungskrieg, or a "war of movement," inexorably led to Nazi Germany's defeat.
-
-
The fake English with a pseudo German accent,
- By Neil on 11-29-24
By: Robert M. Citino
-
Italy Reborn
- From Fascism to Democracy
- By: Mark Gilbert
- Narrated by: Michael Langan
- Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1945, post-fascist Italy was devastated by war, and its reputation in the international arena was nil. Yet by December 1955, when Italy was admitted to the United Nations, the nation had contested three acrimonious but free general elections, had a flourishing press, and was a leader in the rebuilding of Europe.
By: Mark Gilbert
-
The Price of Glory
- Verdun 1916
- By: Alistair Horne
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The battle of Verdun lasted ten months. It was a battle in which at least 700,000 men fell, along a front of fifteen miles. Its aim was less to defeat the enemy than bleed him to death and a battleground whose once fertile terrain is even now a haunted wilderness. Alistair Horne's classic work, continuously in print for over fifty years, is a profoundly moving, sympathetic study of the battle and the men who fought there. It shows that Verdun is a key to understanding the First World War.
-
-
Epic Account, Masterful in Its Scope, Power and Resonance
- By Ted Shealy on 05-01-24
By: Alistair Horne
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Hero City
- Leningrad 1943–44
- By: Prit Buttar
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
- Length: 22 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At the height of World War II the people of Leningrad endured a bitter 900-day siege. Prit Buttar tells the story of how the siege was finally broken. The Red Army had suffered multiple setbacks in the preceding two years but achieved a partial success by breaking the blockage in early 1943. However, this was followed by further failed attempts to lift the siege completely. This compelling history uses original Russian source material to vividly describe the deprivations visited upon those trapped. But it also details the tactical successes and strategic failures of both sides.
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Another great Prit Buttar book
- By Gary on 10-13-24
By: Prit Buttar
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The Blood Telegram
- Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide
- By: Gary J. Bass
- Narrated by: Dennis Heath
- Length: 16 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
This magnificent history provides the first full account of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger’s secret support for Pakistan in 1971 as it committed shocking atrocities in Bangladesh—which led to war between India and Pakistan, shaped the fate of Asia, and left major strategic consequences for the world today.
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Very Informative
- By Nazim on 01-05-25
By: Gary J. Bass
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To Run the World
- The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power
- By: Sergey Radchenko
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 30 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this new history of the conflict that defined the postwar era, Sergey Radchenko provides a deep dive into the psychology of the Kremlin's decision-making. He reveals how the Soviet struggle with the United States and China reflected its irreconcilable ambitions as a self-proclaimed superpower and the leader of global revolution. This tension drove Soviet policies from Stalin's postwar scramble for territory to Khrushchev's reckless overseas adventurism and nuclear brinksmanship, Brezhnev's jockeying for influence in the third world, and Gorbachev's failed attempts to reinvent Moscow.
By: Sergey Radchenko
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Bismarck's War
- The Franco-Prussian War and the Making of Modern Europe
- By: Rachel Chrastil
- Narrated by: Sarah Borges
- Length: 17 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Among the conflicts that convulsed Europe during the nineteenth century, none was more startling and consequential than the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. Deliberately engineered by Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the war succeeded in shattering French supremacy, deposing Napoleon III, and uniting a new German Empire. But it also produced brutal military innovations and a precarious new imbalance of power that together set the stage for the devastating world wars of the next century. In Bismarck’s War, historian Rachel Chrastil chronicles events on the battlefield in full.
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It's rare I don't finish a book...
- By Chris Corsini on 09-26-23
By: Rachel Chrastil
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The House of War
- The Struggle between Christendom and the Caliphate
- By: Sir Simon Mayall
- Narrated by: Sir Simon Mayall
- Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the taking of the holy city of Jerusalem in the 7th century AD by Caliph Umar, to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I, Christian popes, emperors and kings, and Muslim caliphs and sultans were locked in a 1300-year battle for political, military, ideological, economic and religious supremacy. The House of War offers a wide, sweeping narrative, encompassing the broad historical and religious context of this period, while focussing on some of the key, pivotal sieges and battles, and on the protagonists, political and military.
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A Fresh View of War
- By Rebecca Hill on 01-17-25
By: Sir Simon Mayall
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America First
- Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh in the Shadow of War
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Bestselling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist H. W. Brands narrates the fierce debate over America's role in the world in the runup to World War II through its two most important figures: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who advocated intervention, and his isolationist nemesis, aviator and popular hero Charles Lindbergh.
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Another American History Pearl from H.W. Brands
- By Paul W. Brazis on 10-05-24
By: H. W. Brands
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The Farthest Valley
- Escaping the Chinese Trap at the Chosin Reservoir
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Without the Marines the entire United Nations core strength was at risk of collapse which would have changed the outcome of the Korean War. This is a compelling history of the Marines’ incredible tenacity and of woeful combat leadership as the Chinese gambled away their men’s lives and ultimately victory.
By: Joseph Wheelan
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Death of the Wehrmacht
- The German Campaigns of 1942
- By: Robert M. Citino
- Narrated by: Tom Beyer
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the overwhelming operational victories at Kerch and Kharkov in May to the catastrophic defeats at El Alamein and Stalingrad, Death of the Wehrmacht offers an eye-opening new view of that decisive year. Building upon his widely respected critique in The German Way of War, Citino shows how the campaigns of 1942 fit within the centuries-old patterns of Prussian/German warmaking and ultimately doomed Hitler's expansionist ambitions.
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Lucidity!
- By Anonymous User on 08-02-24
By: Robert M. Citino
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The Stalin Affair
- The Impossible Alliance That Won the War
- By: Giles Milton
- Narrated by: Giles Milton
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Enter Averell Harriman: a railroad magnate and, at the start of the war, the fourth-richest man in America. At Roosevelt’s behest, he traveled to Britain to serve as a liaison between the president and Churchill and to spearhead what became known as the Harriman Mission. Together with his fashionable young daughter Kathy, an unforgettable cast of British diplomats, and Churchill himself, he would eventually manage to wrangle Stalin into the partnership the Allies needed to defeat Hitler.
By: Giles Milton
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The Path to Blitzkrieg
- Doctrine and Training in the German Army, 1920 - 1939
- By: Robert M. Citino
- Narrated by: Mark Ashby
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the wake of World War I, the German army lay in ruins - defeated in the war, sundered by domestic upheaval, and punished by the Treaty of Versailles. A mere 20 years later, Germany possessed one of the finest military machines in the world, capable of launching a stunning blitzkrieg attack against Poland in 1939. Well-known military historian Robert M. Citino shows how Germany accomplished this astonishing reversal and developed the doctrine, tactics, and technologies that its military would use to devastating effect in World War II.
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Thorough review of Reichswehr in Weimar years
- By Rodney W. Schmisseur on 06-19-24
By: Robert M. Citino
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King of the Gunrunners
- How a Philadelphia Fruit Importer Inspired a Revolution and Provoked the Spanish-American War
- By: James W. Miller
- Narrated by: Jim Denison
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In King of the Gunrunners, author James W. Miller reveals the untold story of a forgotten American whose adventures helped pave the way for the United States' emergence as an international power. This volume presents the story of Hart, the defiant king of the Cuban gunrunners, who prolonged a revolution, provoked a war, and left an indelible mark on history.
By: James W. Miller
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The Last Tsar
- The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs
- By: Tsuyoshi Hasegawa
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Tsar Nicholas II fell from power in 1917, Imperial Russia faced a series of overlapping crises, from war to social unrest. Though Nicholas’s life is often described as tragic, it was not fate that doomed the Romanovs—it was poor leadership and a blinkered faith in autocracy. Based on a trove of new archival discoveries, The Last Tsar narrates how Nicholas’s resistance to reform doomed the monarchy.