The Guns of August
by Barbara Tuchman
“Europe was a head of swords piled up as delicately as jackstraws, one could not be moved without moving the others.”
“Human beings, like plans, prove fallible in the presence of those ingredients that are missing in maneuvers – danger, death, and live ammunition.”
“That vexing problem of war presented by the refusal of the enemy to behave as expected in his own best interest beset them.”
History books, especially dense history books with a large cast of characters can make for a difficult read. This is especially true when one has little interest in the subject matter, the historical era, or familiarity with the topic at hand. Therefore, I usually do not recommend these books to general audiences. Barbara Tuchman’s Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece, The Guns of August is an exception. This book should be on every gentleman’s must-read list. It is fast paced, full of colorful characters, epic battles, and is chock full of important lessons which are still applicable today. We learn about leadership (good and bad), the pitfalls of ego and how hubris can bring down a nation. Additionally, one cannot begin to understand modern geo-politics without a solid knowledge of World War I, whose origins lie with the pivotal events of August 1914. Put into motion was a catastrophe that resulted in over thirty million casualties, the demise of three empires, the rise of Soviet Russia, the carving up of the Middle East, and the seeds for the Second World War.
The Guns of August details this consequential first month of the First World War, when battle plans were put into action with disastrous results. We follow the German, French, Austrian, Serbian, Russian, Belgian, and British armies as they marched to their doom. We follow the generals and politicians responsible for turning this epic tragedy into a horrific reality. The book finishes its compelling narrative just as the Battle of the Marne begins, in early September 1914. Of note, Tuchman only briefly touches on the diplomatic failures of the July Crisis – the pivotal events that made a regional issue a global war (if anyone is interested in this topic, I recommend Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark or July 1914 by Sean McMeekin). The book’s real focus is how the war initially unfolded and how strictly followed battle plans made deviations an impossibility.
Tuchman uses The Guns of August to explain how a system of interconnected alliances and inflexible war plans (along with a healthy degree of nationalist bravado) provided the ingredients for the carnage and destruction that followed. While the historical lessons one can draw from this book are plentiful, Tuchman is at her best illustrating the folly which occurs when one is unable to deviate from their plans (or beliefs, mindset, opinions, viewpoints, courses of action). Case in point, the German Army’s singular fixation on the so-called “Schlieffen Plan,” which was their way of mobilizing to defeat both France and Russia in a two-front war. The plan was so precise that specific units’ movement were prescribed down an exact train’s timetable. And the Germans were unable to pivot if the situation changed. Tuchman describes one scene in which the Kaiser questioned General Von Moltke on the deployment just as the Schlieffen Plan was put into motion: “’Your Majesty,’ Moltke said to him now, ‘it cannot be done. The deployment of millions cannot be improvised…their arrangements took a whole year of intricate labor to complete…’ And Moltke closed upon that rigid phrase…the inevitable phrase when military plans dictate policy, ‘and once settled it cannot be altered.’”
Similarly, the French Army’s Plan 17 was religiously adhered to. The French plan was so specific and even contained assumptions about guns and reloading times (which were faulty). Tuchman explains that “France was committed to Plan 17 as her only design for decisive victory, and Plan 17 demanded the offensive – now and no later. The only alternative would have been to change at once to the defense of the frontier. In terms of the training, the planning, the thinking, the spirit of the French military organization, this was unthinkable.” Hundreds of thousands of young French soldiers paid the price for their leader’s adherence to the Plan.
Littered throughout the book are examples of armies’ discounting valuable intelligence because it did not fit within their views of reality. The Germans dismissed reports that the British Expeditionary Force had landed in Belgium – because this situation was not accounted for in the plan. The British ignored intel about the size and scope of the German advance as exaggerated. Likewise, the French leadership did not believe the mass of Germany’s offensive through Belgium because Plan 17 did not assume it.
The Guns of August is a cautionary tale about inflexibility and clinging to assumptions so strongly that one is incapable of changing their mind. When circumstances or information change, one should not hold onto prior beliefs. In battle, in business, in politics and in life, the inability to question assumptions and ignore contrary thought can have dire consequences. So, which truths do you cling to? What do you do when new data surfaces and your prior considerations are challenged? Do you have plans of action that may need adjusting? How will you cope when the battlefield changes? Remember what can happen if you remain forever inflexible and unmoving? Refer to The Guns of August for the answer.