Few pivotal years in history are less understood than that of 1918. It was a momentous period, which began with Germany's desperate gamble to win the Great War through a sequence of offensives on the Western Front. Ian Passingham's graphic new study draws on a wide range of original German, British and French sources, and it features previously unpublished eyewitness accounts and photographs. He boldly reassesses German military doctrine, the strategic thinking behind the offensives and the effectiveness of the stormtroop tactics used. He also considers how the poor state of German military morale and the privations and unrest of the German people contributed to the army's defeat. SALES A compelling new account of the last decisive year of the First World War Controversial reassessment of the reasons for Germany's defeat Close-up view of the fighting, derived from eyewitness accounts Insight into the German army and people in 1918 Powerful study of Ludendorff, the architect of the last German offensives Analysis of the strategic thinking of the German and Allied high commands AUTHOR Ian Passingham is a defence analyst and military historian. His is an authority on the history of the First World War and the battlefields of the Western Front. He has a special interest in the German armed forces between 1871 and the present day and has carried out detailed research on the German Army in both World Wars. His previous books include Pillars of Fire: The Battle of Messines Ridge, June 1917 and All the Kaiser's Men: The Life and Death of the German Army on the Western Front, 1914-1918
