Incredibly readable history of the first month of World War One. Recounts the battles of the opening month of the Great War in great detail, while also focusing on the characters of the major figures & decision makers. Despite all of the detail, Tuchman manages to keep the pages turning. 

General Joffre is kind of the main character of the chapters about the war in France, similar to how Enguerrand de Coucy was treated as the main character of a Distant Mirror, which at first seems a little odd, considering how little Joffre revealed of his inner workings, especially compared to many other generals and politicians of the time. But perhaps similar to De Coucy (a figure obscure enough, Tuchman noted, that even his likeness was lost to history), Joffres's opacity is what made him an interesting figure to focus on, providing more opportunity for speculation than others who voiced their inner thoughts at the time or memorialized them afterward. 

Tuchman is unsparing in her judgments of all of the generals & politicians she characterizes, especially the German & Russian leadership. There is an incredible description of Czar Nicholas II, calling him an “empty headed autocrat” whose “impression of imperturbability he conveyed was in reality apathy”. 

The pictures included are really great. I find the picture of Czar Nicholas with his elder cousin Grand Duke Nicholas especially striking. Czar Nicholas is having a smoke staring off into space, while his older, taller cousin, who the Czar has just appointed commander-in-chief, is talking at him. The Grand Duke looks serious—is he lecturing? Making small talk? Czar Nicolas is almost certainly not paying attention. I was amused how Joffre looks like Rankin & Bass Santa in all of the photos of him. 

A major revelation to me is how much the entry of the Ottoman Empire into the Great War was on the personal initiative of Admiral Souchon, commander of the German Mediterranean naval Squadron. Tuchman made it sound like he was the only one who had the idea that bringing his ships the Goeben & Breslau, to the Turks would bring them into the war. I also didn't realize that the series of raids on Russia's Black Sea coast which marked the Ottoman Empire's entry into the war was also Souchon's own initiative.