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The Great Retreat of 1914

From Mons to the Marne

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The Great Retreat of 1914

By: Spencer Jones
Narrated by: Philip Franks
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About this listen

August 1914: In the sweltering heat, the fate of Europe hangs in the balance. Germany is hurling her forces into a carefully planned invasion of Belgium and France. Bound by an 1839 treaty to protect Belgium from any invader, Britain came to its defence.

With the British Expeditionary Force numbering just 120,000 men, and dwarfed by the vast manpower of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II remains unfazed by this ‘contemptible little army'. But the BEF was, man for man, the best trained army in Europe. It was led by tough and experienced officers who had learned their brutal trade in fierce colonial warfare. Their combat performance in 1914 would cement their place in history. Within days of the BEF’s deployment, the full weight of the German invasion crashed into the thin British line. Faced with overwhelming enemy numbers, and battling alongside unreliable French allies, the BEF was forced into The Great Retreat. The Great Retreat is the story of this desperate battle for survival. While Germany was attempting to crush France in one fell swoop, the Allies desperately sought time and space so that they could mount a counterattack to stem the tide.

©2014 Spencer Jones (P)2014 Audible Studios Military Belgium War

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All stars
Most relevant  
Good insight into critical battle and retreat no need for odd attempts at German and French accents when narrating quotes belittles their
input.

Compelling stuff

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A well out together account and most interesting. Well worth a listen! Would listen to further from this author

A must listen!!

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I’m pleasantly surprised how some of the negative views I may have had about things I probably didn’t know about have been changed by this book
Very interesting and enlightening well written and well narrated excellent

Enlightening

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I enjoyed this. a relatively short listen but had all the relevant characters and actions and is well read by Phillip Frank's. enjoyable couple of hours.

A good history of the retreat

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An excellent "broad brush strokes" telling of the retreat from Mons. Despite the brevity, it includes stories that larger volumes ignore. Highly recommended.

A great short retelling of the story

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I really enjoyed this narration. It serves as a good introduction to the topic and is a very reasonable length.

Excellent Account

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The title of this book explains accurately what it is about. The chapters are short, and they include the perspectives of British generals, soldiers and historians. Conflicting perspectives are provided, enabling the reader to make up his own mind.

The narration is quick, and the tone of the narration is that of a report.

Accurately Titled

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Thoroughly enjoyed this little piece of history, did like the snipit about Haig, certainly makes you wonder how he got to where he did; which was on the backs of the men who stood the first piece of ground. Well worth a listen to. And excellent narration which helps it come to life. Thoroughly recommend this audiobook.

Should not be forgot.

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This audiobook provided a great advance in my understanding of the early days of the First World War. It was incredibly well narrated by Philip Franks and the only issue I had with the audiobook in general was that it wasn't long enough!

Providing quite an unbiased view of all of the parties involved the book was extremely adept at providing an informative look at a very tumultuous time without sounding like a boring fact heavy book.

I would recommend this most highly to anyone with even a passing interest in the Great War as it will provide an intriguing and illuminating overview of the early days of one of the bloodiest conflicts in history.

A Great Advance!

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Would have preferred more details of the specific people in actions mentioned. However I am sure that is covered in other books relating to the early stages of the conflict. The book is very good as an introduction to an often overlooked extremely important first stages of the war.

Good

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