On a Knife Edge
How Germany Lost the First World War

Fantastic exciting account of ww1 seen from the German standpoint. I have often mused why it was that Germany had lost this war. I had read that early in 1918 they had been on the offensive and yet within 3 months it was all over . I couldn’t imagine how that had happened. This work takes you behind......more

I have just finished my read of "On a Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War," by Holger Afflerbach. It was made available to me in the form of an ARC by Cambridge University Press, and I am very grateful to them. This text examines specifically the commitment of the German High Command an......more

This book concerns how Germany lost the first world war. Not so much the getting thumped on the battlefield, but the various lost chances of being able to negotiate peace. As a result, it feels quite fresh and I learnt a lot from it. Although it's a very readable book, the last 30 pages or so felt a......more

Das wichtigste Wort in Auf Messers Schneide von Holger Afflerbach ist »Unentschieden«. Neben Sieg oder Niederlage wäre es die dritte Möglichkeit gewesen, den Ersten Weltkrieg zu beenden - und die wahrscheinlichste angesichts des Kräfteverhältnisses. Im Verlauf des Krieges wurde die Wahrscheinlichkei......more

Before I started this work, I really had no sense who Holger Afflerbach was, then, when looking over the bibliography, it turns out that about a page and a half of it lists Dr. Afflerbach's own contributions to the field; meaning that this book is the digest of a career. Next, the title does nicely s......more