Pandora’s Box
A History of the First World War
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Narrated by:
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David de Vries
About this listen
In this monumental history of the First World War, Germany's leading historian of the 20th century's first great catastrophe explains the war's origins, course, and consequences. With an unrivaled combination of depth and global reach, Pandora's Box reveals how profoundly the war shaped the world to come.
Jörn Leonhard treats the clash of arms with a sure feel for grand strategy, the everyday tactics of dynamic movement and slow attrition, the race for ever more destructive technologies, and the grim experiences of frontline soldiers. But the war was much more than a military conflict, or an exclusively European one. Leonhard renders the perspectives of leaders, intellectuals, artists, and ordinary men and women on diverse home fronts as they grappled with the urgency of the moment and the rise of unprecedented political and social pressures. And he tells how the entire world came out of the war utterly changed.
Postwar treaties and economic turbulence transformed geopolitics. Old empires disappeared or confronted harsh new constraints, while emerging countries struggled to find their place in an age of instability. At the same time, sparked and fueled by the shock and suffering of war, radical ideologies in Europe and around the globe swept away orders that had seemed permanent, to establish new relationships among elites, masses, and the state. Heralded on its publication in Germany as a masterpiece of historical narrative and analysis, Pandora's Box makes clear just what dangers were released when the guns first fired in the summer of 1914.
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October 1917, heralded as the culmination of the Russian Revolution, remains a defining moment in world history. Even a hundred years after the events that led to the emergence of the world's first self-proclaimed socialist state, debate continues over whether, as historian E. H. Carr put it decades ago, these earth-shaking days were a "landmark in the emancipation of mankind from past oppression" or "a crime and a disaster."
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Solid overview of events
- By Anonymous User on 06-27-19
By: Laura Engelstein
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No Simple Victory
- World War II in Europe, 1939-1945
- By: Norman Davies
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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If history really belongs to the victor, what happens when there's more than one side declaring victory? That's the conundrum Norman Davies unravels in his groundbreaking book No Simple Victory. Far from being a revisionist history, No Simple Victory instead offers a clear-eyed reappraisal, untangling and setting right the disparate claims made by America, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union in order to get at the startling truth.
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The Best Account of WWII in Europe
- By Nikoli Gogol on 12-27-07
By: Norman Davies
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The Long Shadow
- The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century
- By: David Reynolds
- Narrated by: John FitzGibbon
- Length: 19 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the most violent conflicts in the history of civilization, World War I has been strangely forgotten in American culture. It has become a ghostly war fought in a haze of memory, often seen merely as a distant preamble to World War II. In The Long Shadow critically-acclaimed historian David Reynolds seeks to broaden our vision by assessing the impact of the Great War across the twentieth century. He shows how events in that turbulent century—particularly World War II, the Cold War, and the collapse of Communism—shaped and reshaped attitudes to 1914–18.
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The World According to David Reynolds (feat. WWI)
- By Steve on 02-26-15
By: David Reynolds
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Russia in Revolution
- An Empire in Crisis, 1890 to 1928
- By: S. A. Smith
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The Russian Revolution of 1917 transformed the face of the Russian empire, politically, economically, socially, and culturally and also profoundly affected the course of world history for the rest of the 20th century. Historian S. A. Smith presents a panoramic account of the history of the Russian empire, from the last years of the 19th century, through the First World War and the revolutions of 1917 and the establishment of the Bolshevik regime, to the end of the 1920s.
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Excellent centenary look at the complete revolutio
- By Privet on 09-13-18
By: S. A. Smith
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The First World War
- By: Hew Strachan
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
A century has passed since the outbreak of World War I, yet as military historian Hew Strachan argues in this brilliant and authoritative new book, the legacy of the "war to end all wars" is with us still. The First World War was a truly global conflict from the start, with many of the most decisive battles fought in or directly affecting the Balkans, Africa, and the Ottoman Empire. Even more than World War II, the First World War continues to shape the politics and international relations of our world.
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Outstanding narrative of the military action
- By Tad Davis on 04-30-17
By: Hew Strachan
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The Return of Marco Polo's World
- War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-First Century
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
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Drawing on decades of firsthand experience as a foreign correspondent and military embed for The Atlantic, as well as encounters with preeminent realist thinkers, Kaplan outlines the timeless principles that should shape America's role in a turbulent world: a respect for the limits of Western-style democracy; a delineation between American interests and American values; an awareness of the psychological toll of warfare; a projection of power via a strong navy; and more.
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Essays on the Region of the Silk Road
- By Jeff Beardsley on 05-19-18
By: Robert D. Kaplan
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The Third Reich in History and Memory
- By: Richard J. Evans
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In the 70 years since the demise of the Third Reich, there has been a significant transformation in the ways in which the modern world understands Nazism. In this brilliant and eye-opening collection, Richard J. Evans offers a critical commentary on that transformation, exploring how major changes in perspective have informed research and writing on the Third Reich in recent years. Drawing on his most notable writings, Evans reveals the shifting perspectives on Nazism's rise to political power, its economic intricacies, and its subterranean extension into postwar Germany.
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each book is better than the first. your writing is genius
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-24
By: Richard J. Evans
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The Vietnam War
- A Concise International History
- By: Mark Atwood Lawrence
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Hailed as a "pithy and compelling account of an intensely relevant topic" ( Kirkus Reviews), this wide-ranging volume offers a superb account of a key moment in modern U.S. and world history. Drawing upon the latest research in archives in China, Russia, and Vietnam, Mark Lawrence creates an extraordinary, panoramic view of all sides of the war.
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Politically Slanting But Enjoyable Narrative
- By Jonathan Hoyle on 04-11-14
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Forgotten Ally
- China's World War II, 1937 - 1945
- By: Rana Mitter
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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For decades, a major piece of World War II history has gone virtually unwritten. The war began in China two full years before Hitler invaded Poland, and China eventually became the fourth great ally, partner to the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain. Yet its drama of invasion, resistance, slaughter, and political intrigue remains little known in the West.
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Bland
- By Rodney on 01-23-14
By: Rana Mitter
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Britain's War
- Volume 1, Into Battle, 1937-1941
- By: Daniel Todman
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 35 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
The most terrible emergency in Britain's history, the Second World War, required an unprecedented national effort. An exhausted country had to fight an unexpectedly long war and found itself much diminished amongst the victors. The outcome of the war was nonetheless a triumph, not least for a political system that proved well adapted to the demands of a total conflict and for a population who had to make many sacrifices but who were spared most of the horrors experienced in the rest of Europe.
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Great Performance, Biased with out a warning!
- By dell992 on 06-21-16
By: Daniel Todman
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Groundbreaking in its inclusiveness, enthralling in its narrative of a movement whose purpose, in the words of Leon Trotsky, was "to overthrow the world", The Russian Revolution draws conclusions that aroused great controversy. Richard Pipes argues convincingly that the Russian Revolution was an intellectual, rather than a class, uprising; that it was steeped in terror from its very outset; and that it was not a revolution at all but a coup d'etat - "the capture of governmental power by a small minority."
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The window between two equally stifling autocracies - the imperial family and the communists - was open only briefly, in the last couple of years of the 19th century until the end of WWI, by which time the revolution was in full fury. From the last years of Tolstoy until the death of the Tsar and his family, however, Russia experimented with liberalism and cultural openness. Novelists and playwrights blossomed and political ideas were swapped in coffee houses.
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An excellent look at an interesting history.
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The Splintered Empires
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Concluding his acclaimed series on the Eastern Front in World War I, Prit Buttar comprehensively details not only these climactic events, but also the "successor wars" that raged long after the armistice of 1918. New states rose from the ashes of empire and war raged as German forces sought to keep them under the aegis of the Fatherland. These unresolved tensions between the former Great Powers and the new states would ultimately lead to the rise of Hitler and a new, terrible world war only two decades later.
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Explains a lot about
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Russia in Flames
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October 1917, heralded as the culmination of the Russian Revolution, remains a defining moment in world history. Even a hundred years after the events that led to the emergence of the world's first self-proclaimed socialist state, debate continues over whether, as historian E. H. Carr put it decades ago, these earth-shaking days were a "landmark in the emancipation of mankind from past oppression" or "a crime and a disaster."
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Solid overview of events
- By Anonymous User on 06-27-19
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The Western Front
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The Western Front evokes images of mud-spattered men in waterlogged trenches, shielded from artillery blasts and machine-gun fire by a few feet of dirt. This iconic setting was the most critical arena of the Great War. In this epic narrative history, the first volume in a groundbreaking trilogy on the Great War, Nick Lloyd captures the horrific fighting on the Western Front beginning with the surprise German invasion of Belgium in August 1914 and taking us to the Armistice of November 1918.
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Incisive Overview
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The Great War
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World War I altered the landscape of the modern world in every conceivable arena. Millions died; empires collapsed; new ideologies and political movements arose; poison gas, warplanes, tanks, submarines, and other technologies appeared. "Total war" emerged as a grim, mature reality. In The Great War, Peter Hart provides a masterful combat history of this global conflict.
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Horrible Listen
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Destruction of the Lenin Myth
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An excellent look at an interesting history.
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Explains a lot about
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Russia in Flames
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October 1917, heralded as the culmination of the Russian Revolution, remains a defining moment in world history. Even a hundred years after the events that led to the emergence of the world's first self-proclaimed socialist state, debate continues over whether, as historian E. H. Carr put it decades ago, these earth-shaking days were a "landmark in the emancipation of mankind from past oppression" or "a crime and a disaster."
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Solid overview of events
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The German Revolution of November 1918 is nowadays largely forgotten outside Germany. It is generally regarded as a failure even by those who have heard of it, a missed opportunity that paved the way for the rise of the Nazis and the catastrophe to come. Robert Gerwarth argues here that to view the German Revolution in this way is a serious misjudgment. Not only did it bring down the authoritarian monarchy of the Hohenzollern, it also brought into being the first ever German democracy in an amazingly bloodless way.
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Fresh Historical Perspective
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Understanding Adolf Hitler's ideology provides insights into the mental world of an extremist politics that, over the course of the Third Reich, developed explosive energies culminating in the Second World War and the Holocaust. Too often the theories underlying National Socialism or Nazism are dismissed as an irrational hodgepodge of ideas. Yet that ideology drove Hitler's quest for power in 1933, colored everything in the Third Reich, and transformed him, however briefly, into the most powerful leader in the world.
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Fascinating listen
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A century has passed since the outbreak of World War I, yet as military historian Hew Strachan argues in this brilliant and authoritative new book, the legacy of the "war to end all wars" is with us still. The First World War was a truly global conflict from the start, with many of the most decisive battles fought in or directly affecting the Balkans, Africa, and the Ottoman Empire. Even more than World War II, the First World War continues to shape the politics and international relations of our world.
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Outstanding narrative of the military action
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From the preeminent Hitler biographer, a fascinating and original exploration of how the Third Reich was willing and able to fight to the bitter end of World War II. Countless books have been written about why Nazi Germany lost World War II, yet remarkably little attention has been paid to the equally vital question of how and why it was able to hold out as long as it did.
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Engrossing yet horrifying
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It was to be the war to end all wars, and it began at 11:15 on the morning of June 28, 1914, in an outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire called Sarajevo. It would officially end nearly five years later. Unofficially, however, it has never ended: Many of the horrors we live with today are rooted in the First World War. The Great War left millions of civilians and soldiers maimed or dead. It also saw the creation of new technologies of destruction: tanks, planes, and submarines; machine guns and field artillery; poison gas and chemical warfare.
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Unbiased true facts of the first world war
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The First World War created the modern world. A conflict of unprecedented ferocity, it abruptly ended the relative peace and prosperity of the Victorian era, unleashing such demons of the 20th century as mechanized warfare and mass death. It also helped to usher in the ideas that have shaped our times - modernism in the arts, new approaches to psychology and medicine, radical thoughts about economics and society - and in so doing shattered the faith in rationalism and liberalism that had prevailed in Europe since the Enlightenment.
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Best Military History of First World War
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The Spanish Civil War
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Amid the many catastrophes of the 20th century, the Spanish Civil War continues to exert a particular fascination among history buffs and the layperson alike. This Very Short Introduction integrates the political, social, and cultural history of the Spanish Civil War. It sets out the domestic and international context of the war for a general audience. In addition to tracing the course of war, the book locates the war's origins in the cumulative social and cultural anxieties provoked by a process of rapid, uneven, and accelerating modernism taking place all over Europe.
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As exciting as a Communist Party meeting...
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By the time the First World War ended in 1918, eight million people had died in what had been perhaps the most apocalyptic episode the world had known. This Very Short Introduction audiobook provides a concise and insightful history of the Great War - from the state of Europe in 1914, to the role of the US, the collapse of Russia, and the eventual surrender of the Central Powers.
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Eight Days in May
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On April 30, 1945, in a bunker deep beneath the Old Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler and his newly wedded wife, Eva Braun, killed themselves. But Nazi Germany lived on, however briefly. The subsequent eight days were among the most turbulent in history, witnessing not only the final battles of World War II and the collapse of the Wehrmacht, but the near-total disintegration of the once-mighty Third Reich.
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Interesting history incompetently read
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The Napoleonic Wars
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The Napoleonic Wars saw fighting on an unprecedented scale in Europe and the Americas. It took the wealth of the British Empire, combined with the might of the continental armies, almost two decades to bring down one of the world's greatest military leaders and the empire that he had created. Napoleon's ultimate defeat was to determine the history of Europe for almost 100 years. From the frozen wastelands of Russia, through the brutal fighting in the Peninsula to the blood-soaked battlefield of Waterloo, this book tells the story of the dramatic rise and fall of the Napoleonic Empire.
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No description of battles
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Stalin in Power
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In 1929, Stalin plunged Soviet Russia into a coercive "revolution from above", a decade-long effort to amass military-industrial power for a new war. He forced 25 million peasant families into state-run collectives and transformed the Communist Party into a servile instrument. In 1939, he concluded the pact with Hitler that enabled him to grasp at Eastern Europe while Hitler made war in the West.
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How to become a dictator
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What listeners say about Pandora’s Box
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Patrick Currie
- 06-17-19
Ahhhhhhmazing.....
What gem, a true wealth of information. Examines nearly every aspect of life at the turn of the century heading into the war and even hoes beyond 1918.... a true masterpiece!!!!
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- Fridtjof
- 08-11-21
The best WW1 history book
To understand the WW1 and its implications, this book is the key. Its encompassing narrative, loads of details and descriptions of the kong lines of history makes this book a must.
I would recomend it as a must read!
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- R. A. Jackson
- 06-07-20
Best 1 Voume WW1 History I've Read Since College
This is a fantastic book. It represents a complete history of the war with a thorough coverage of its world and moment in history – and not once did the narrative become tedious. The writing, the material, and the English translation remained crisp throughout. The author, Jorn Leonhard, examines battles and strategies on all fronts and in all theaters; even those beyond Europe and the Middle East and into the Pacific, Africa, and the southwest Atlantic. In addition, Leonhard describes the cultural and social geography of the regions, societies, cultures, and political systems that formed the environment or "setting" of the war.
Although I would (and below I do) quibble with Leonhard about some of the specific examples used to support his general points, the particular relationships, comparative positions of individuals, and societies he has highlighted to demonstrate his broader observations work very well. Leonhard's presentation of his themes and arguments remain sound from the start through the conclusion. This is a solid work of scholarship and I also applaud the translator, Patrick Camille, for maintaining a vivid prose style into the English version. I enjoyed this book a great deal and I will soon re-read it.
The weakest portions of the narrative rest in the initial discussions concerning the background to the outbreak of the war and later in his examination of the Versailles peace talks. The consequences of the war on world history and on the subsequent histories of the combatants and the wide range of peoples and circumstances overall is excellent. The entire main narrative of the war years from its outbreak to it repercussions across Europe and elsewhere, the military actions and decisions, the political actions and decisions along with cultural, social, and economic realities and considerations make for interesting and informative reading.
There are two details or particular considerations which I believe could have strengthened Leonhard's general observations about certain developments. Leonhard does not include Clemenceau's consistent efforts to obtain British and American guarantees to support France's territorial borders against any future rise in German militarism during the Versailles negotiations. The debates on Clemenceau’s suggestion of this revealed a great deal which supports the author’s points regarding the conflicting views and aims among the leading allied negotiators. The meetings between the Big Three (France, the USA, and Britain) on this subject highlighted the clear differences of perspective. This difference was most pronounced between Clemenceau and Wilson, and only to a lesser degree, for George. Clemenceau's desire for something more practical and more direct than the League of Nations to enhance the security of France evidences the strongest support for Leonhard’s argument that France did not come out of the war with great confidence in its future security.
Wilson’s response that such an arrangement would have no meaning supports the author’s assessment of Wilson and America’s future actions just as well. Wilson argued that such a commitment on the part of the US and Britain would simply initiate the same problems that caused the war and be contrary to the purpose of creating the League of Nations. A short discussion of this moment in the Allied negotiations would have clearly illuminated Leonhard's points about the practicality of the Versailles Treaty and the difficulties the diplomats at Versailles faced in developing a successful treaty which could stabilize the forces unleashed by the war while accommodating a new era in world diplomacy. For all practical purposes, France was left as the defender of an order it never once felt it had the power or the support to defend.
The other consideration the author should have used to greater effect pertains to the background section of the work. The annexation of Alsace and Lorraine by Germany after the 1870 war created a wound between the two nations which would not heal. People as diverse as Otto von Bismarck and Karl Marx warned that the annexation would create a permanent barrier to reconciliation between the two states. The hostility over what the French referred to as “our two lost daughters” and “the hole in the Vosges” became a central fixture in the diplomacy of Europe after 1870. A great degree of the complexity of Bismarck’s diplomacy resulted from the permanence of that single problem. The diplomatic environment created by that event would have contributed mightily to Leonhard's background narrative.
Of all that was presented in this book, I only have one comment which is negative. I do not know if this is from the translator or the writer, but a word like "leitmotif" should be used far more sparingly than it was used in this narrative. It is the kind of word which draws a great deal of attention to itself so, using it too frequently minimizes the importance and impact of the word when it gets used and its strength is appropriate.
All 5 stars on this book and I look forward to reading it again. Likely, I will get the Kindle edition to go with the Audible edition.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Ron&Bridget
- 01-02-22
Doctorate Level Stuff
A purely scholarly work. This book will not bring you joy but will illuminate your brain. Jorn Leonhard delivers a detailed, broad and refined analysis of the era surrounding the first world war and especially the long ending to the war. The reader must truly commit to the long haul - every word is important from beginning to end with no wasted space. To truly understand the whole picture, the reader must listen carefully to every well researched word for Leonhard brings every story back around to a complete point by the end of the work. Any student of WWII should begin their study with this book about WWI. By the end, it will be clear to the reader why, to a large degree, WWI caused WWII.
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- Kim Hamacher
- 03-10-24
I appreciated the social context provided
Reaches beyond the heads of state and the generals to give a fuller more nuanced account of WWI and the years surrounding it
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- chris
- 02-26-19
Excellent reading of a complex book
This is an excellent but complex book which is a brilliant analysis of the Great War.
I was impressed by the reader and his efforts to bring this potentially difficult work to life.
This really is a must listen for those interested in a deeper analysis of the origins, conduct and effects of the war.
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16 people found this helpful
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- Emily Reed
- 11-05-20
Dave Hunter
I have listened to this book twice and may even consider listening a third time. It is remarkable how much of today’s world was created during the First World War.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Ep
- 12-25-22
Exceptionally thorough and insightful
I learned a lot. From the consequences of the collapse of the Ottoman and Austro Hungarian empires, to the extraordinary violence on the western and eastern fronts and the international impact of the British and French involvement of troops from their colonies…and much more. Great narration to boot.
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- Bryan
- 10-24-19
informative but hard to follow
It throws a tremendous amount of information at you but the firehose is hard to drink from. what makes it particularly difficult to follow is the constant movement back and forth through time. but even while working out, I still learned a lot, I just definitely still missed a lot
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4 people found this helpful
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- Ray
- 10-14-19
Comprehensive Book
The book begins and ends strong, but in the middle is the massive amount of detail that accompanies all WW1 books. It's easy to get lost the minutia of the battles, especially because of the length if the book. However, this book covers the political aspects of the war better than most and overall is a good listen.
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