The Guns of August

Barbara Tuchman (1912-1989) was the daughter of a prominent Jewish magazine mogul and granddaughter of Woodrow Wilson’s ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. She was a cosmopolitan young woman living in New York City, and she graduated from Radcliffe with a degree in history and literature. Because of her lived experience through WWI and WWII, she focused her historical journalism on World War I and international relations. She won many accolades for her work, including the St. Louis Literary Award and two Pulitzer Prizes.

Albert is king of Belgium at the time of the German invasion. He refuses to capitulate to the kaiser and the German threat, and his resistance slows the German movement, giving time for the French to prepare. The Belgian resistance frustrates the German army and shows the rest of the world that it can be resisted. This resistance comes at a price: The German army murders villagers and burns villages in their frustration. However, these actions cost Germany dearly as well. The rest of the world hears of the German atrocities, losing them allies and strengthening the spines of those already at war with them.