The Fortress
The Siege of Przemysl and the Making of Europe's Bloodlands
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Narrated by:
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James Edward Thomas
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By:
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Alexander Watson
About this listen
A prizewinning historian tells the dramatic story of the siege that changed the course of the First World War
In September 1914, just a month into World War I, the Russian army laid siege to the fortress city of Przemysl, the Hapsburg Empire's most important bulwark against invasion. For six months, against storm and starvation, the ragtag garrison bitterly resisted, denying the Russians a quick victory. Only in March 1915 did the city fall, bringing occupation, persecution, and brutal ethnic cleansing.
In The Fortress, historian Alexander Watson tells the story of the battle for Przemysl, showing how it marked the dawn of total war in Europe and how it laid the roots of the bloody century that followed. Vividly told, with close attention to the unfolding of combat in the forts and trenches and to the experiences of civilians trapped in the city, The Fortress offers an unprecedentedly intimate perspective on the eastern front's horror and human tragedy.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2020 Alexander Watson (P)2020 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"[The Fortress] is excellent history, a marvelously readable, though tragic, story of its time and of how the clock can be made to turn backwards under siege conditions; and in its account of the Habsburg commanders' unshakable vanity, philandering and cockiness it has plenty of modern resonances as a parable of arrogant exceptionalism, imperial conceit and perilous isolationism." (The Daily Telegraph (UK))
"Watson's splendid book combines great evocative power (and flashes of sharp humour) with the ethical authority of the best history writing. The story it tells is unsettling, because it resists any attempt to encompass the death and violence of war within a narrative of redemption. It recalls instead a war that never really ended, but rather spilled out into cascades of further violence whose toxic effects are still with us today." (Guardian (UK))
"Watson's account of these men's experience of battle is a brilliant distillation of their letters, diaries and memories. The voices of the siege convey its horror and the terror of men who had to endure it and suppress their fear of death.... The vividly written and well-researched The Fortress is a masterpiece. It deserves to become a classic of military history." (The Times (UK))
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Incisive Overview
- By J.Brock on 01-19-22
By: Nick Lloyd
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Battleground Prussia
- The Assault on Germany’s Eastern Front 1944-45
- By: Prit Buttar
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 23 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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The terrible months between the arrival of the Red Army on German soil and the final collapse of Hitler's regime were like no other in the Second World War. The Soviet Army's intent to take revenge for the horror that the Nazis had wreaked on their people produced a conflict of implacable brutality in which millions perished. From the great battles that marked the Soviet conquest of East and West Prussia to the final surrender in the Vistula estuary, this book recounts in chilling detail the desperate struggle of soldiers and civilians alike.
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WW II Battleground Ignored by Western Historians
- By AJC on 12-16-19
By: Prit Buttar
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The Mighty Endeavor
- American Armed Forces in the European Theater in World War II
- By: Charles B. MacDonald
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 22 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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From the first landings at Casablanca straight through to the crossing of the Elbe River and V-E Day, this book tells the gripping story of the European theater of operations battles of World War II that American soldiers, sailors, and airmen took part in and of the strategy behind them. The book's core is its account of such famous and dramatic episodes as the landings in North Africa, Kasserine Pass, Salerno and Anzio; D-day; the liberation of Paris; the Battle of the Bulge; the crossing of the Rhine; and the race across Germany.
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Great background on US Armed Forces in the ETO and MTO
- By Dan McGrew on 05-16-17
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The First World War
- By: John Keegan
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 20 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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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
- By Stephen F (SPFJR) on 06-13-19
By: John Keegan
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War on the Eastern Front
- The German Soldier in Russia 1941-1945
- By: James Lucas, Robert Kershaw - foreword
- Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Dawn on Sunday, June 22, 1941 saw the opening onslaughts of Operation Barbarossa as German forces stormed forward into the Soviet Union. Few of them were to survive the five long years of bitter struggle. A posting to the Eastern Front during the Second World War was rightly regarded with dread by the German soldiers. They saw epic battles such as Stalingrad and Kursk, and yet it was a daily war of attrition which ultimately proved fatal for Hitler's ambition and the German military machine.
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A Must Read for WW2 Buffs
- By Tactical Terry on 03-05-21
By: James Lucas, and others
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Fire and Movement
- The British Expeditionary Force and the Campaign of 1914
- By: Peter Hart
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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A remarkable story of high hopes and crushing disappointment, the campaign contains moments of sheer horror and nerve-shattering excitement; pathos and comic relief; occasional cowardice and much selfless courage - all culminating in the climax of the First Battle of Ypres. And yet, as Peter Hart shows in this gripping and revisionary look at the war's first year, for too long the British part in the 1914 campaigns has been veiled in layers of self-congratulatory myth.
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stop doing accents on quotes
- By Eric on 02-01-15
By: Peter Hart
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Retreat from Moscow
- A New History of Germany’s Winter Campaign, 1941-1942
- By: David Stahel
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Germany's winter campaign of 1941-1942 has commonly been seen as its "first defeat". In Retreat from Moscow, David Stahel argues that, in fact, it was its first strategic success in the east. Though the Red Army managed to push the Wehrmacht back from Moscow, the Germans lost far fewer men (one to six), frustrated their enemy's strategic plan, and emerged in the spring unbroken and poised to recapture the initiative.
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Nothing new on the Eastern front basically!
- By philippe jacob on 03-28-20
By: David Stahel
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The Great War
- A Combat History of the First World War
- By: Peter Hart
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 22 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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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
- By Eric Ring on 11-16-21
By: Peter Hart
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A Mad Catastrophe
- The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire
- By: Geoffrey Wawro
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Wawro
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Wawro's Diatribe Against A-H Military Leadership
- By Placeholder on 08-30-14
By: Geoffrey Wawro
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A Frozen Hell
- The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940
- By: William R. Trotter
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1939, tiny Finland waged war - the kind of war that spawns legends - against the mighty Soviet Union, and yet, their epic struggle has been largely ignored. Guerrillas on skis, heroic single-handed attacks on tanks, unfathomable endurance, and the charismatic leadership of one of this century's true military geniuses - these are the elements of both the Finnish victory and a gripping tale of war.
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Causes and consequences of ruso-finish 1939 war
- By William R. Todd-Mancillas (Name includes hyphen and capitalized M). on 04-06-18
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The Confederacy's Last Hurrah
- Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville
- By: Wiley Sword
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 22 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Though he barely escaped expulsion from West Point, John Bell Hood quickly rose through the ranks of the Confederate army. With bold leadership in the battles of Gaines' Mill and Antietam, Hood won favor with Confederate president Jefferson Davis. But his fortunes in war took a tragic turn when he assumed command of the Confederate Army of Tennessee. After the fall of Atlanta, Hood marched his troops north in an attempt to draw Union army general William T. Sherman from his devastating "March to the Sea." But the ploy proved ruinous for the South.
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Oh dear, pronunciation again
- By Charles on 08-07-20
By: Wiley Sword
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A World Undone
- The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918
- By: G. J. Meyer
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 27 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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On a summer day in 1914, a nineteen-year-old Serbian nationalist gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. While the world slumbered, monumental forces were shaken. In less than a month, a combination of ambition, deceit, fear, jealousy, missed opportunities, and miscalculation sent Austro-Hungarian troops marching into Serbia, German troops streaming toward Paris, and a vast Russian army into war, with England as its ally. As crowds cheered their armies on, no one could guess what lay ahead in the First World War.
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A great book!
- By Jodi Bernard on 07-11-23
By: G. J. Meyer
What listeners say about The Fortress
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- John D.
- 05-10-23
Fascinating story about eastern and Central Europe
As an American the history we learn doesn’t focus much in central or Eastern Europe so this book was all the more interesting for me. We’ll researched, written and narrated. Enjoyed it very much.
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