Nicholas Best

This is a brilliant day by day account of the last 8 days of the First World War from Monday 4 November to Monday 11 November. It effortlessly combines third person narrative and first person accounts from both famous and ordinary observers of the events from all sides and in a wide range of countries across the world as they happen into a dramatic and gripping account that reads like a novel. We read of the mixed emotions of soldiers on the Western Front, a mixture of relief and disbelief at the advent of peace, though also frustration (especially though not exclusively from US sources) that they would not have a chance to militarily defeat the Germans; rather the Armistice would allow Germany to claim they were never actually defeated, while its severely draconian terms would breed massive resentment. This indeed became part of the myth of the stab in the back that Hitler later exploited. We hear from civilians, pacifists and conscientious objectors as the war rolls through its last days and they reacted differently after it ended. We read of the negotiations towards the Armistice and the false news of an Armistice on 7 November that got round the world before it was revealed to be a few days premature. This is not just a military account. There are massive political changes in Germany, the final end of the Hohenzollerns as Kaiser Wilhelm is increasingly compelled by force of circumstance to recognise that he and his dynasty are doomed and that many of his subjects are turning to Bolshevism (though by no means all of course and unlike in Russia this was short-lived). It is sobering to realise that only 8 months earlier things would have been very different, if the German offensive of spring 1918, which came within sight of Paris, had succeeded.

After a chapter a day for the 4-10 November, there are four chapters covering the 11th: early morning; 11am; afternoon; and evening. Fighting continued right up until 11am: "In scores of different places along the front line, soldiers were still fighting and dying as the hands moved towards 11 o’clock. Some had no idea the war was about to stop. Others did know, but didn’t care. They still had ammunition to fire off, objectives to take, friends and family to avenge. Others just carried on fighting because that was what they had been ordered to do. The habit died hard in men who had never done anything else." But sometimes this was conscious: "A shameful number of American majors and colonels had chosen to press on regardless, rather than call their men off and risk damaging their careers. They were still sending troops into action, knowing perfectly well that the fighting would stop in a couple of hours and any further sacrifice was needless. They would rather their men died than have a permanent black mark on their promotion prospects". On the other hand, many held back, not wanting to risk death at the last moment. Over 2,700 men were killed on the Western Front on 11 November (not all of them before 11am, some fighting continued afterwards due to ignorance of the Armistice, or even just due to a stopped watch). They included: Private George Ellison, who was hit by and died at ten to eleven, almost certainly the last British fatality of the war; while Canadian Private George Price was killed by a shot at two minutes to eleven.

This was a great and hugely readable account and very far from being a dry military history (unlike some histories of the Great War I have read).… (mehr)

This is a grippingly written account of the events that took place between Saturday 28 April and Wednesday 2 May 1945 as the war in Europe came to an end. The stories are mostly very familiar: the capture and death of Mussolini and his mistress; the liberations of Bergen-Belsen and Dachau; and most famously of course Hitler's ignominious end in the Reichs Chancellery bunker as his Third Reich shrank to a few Berlin streets, then floors within buildings and finally to the bunker itself, as the city was blasted by the Red Army as they closed in on victory. The familiar stories are told in a lively style, with quotes from leading participants, including some who wrote later memoirs of their part in these dramatic events such as Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge (whose memoir was the basis of the film Downfall) and his bodyguard Rochus Misch. The narrative is also enlivened by accounts of the experiences of a wide range of people who later became famous in a wide range of fields, such as Sophia Loren (who is aunt to Mussolini's granddaughter), Spike Milligan, Robert Runcie, Bob Dole, Willie Whitelaw, Karol Wojtyla (future Pope John Paul II), Josef Ratzinger (future Pope Benedict XVI) and Gunter Grass. A great read.… (mehr)

This is possibly as good a concise history of Kenya (and East Africa) as you'll find anywhere. Best gallops through almost 100 years of history - from the late 1800's to 1978 - with a series of pen portraits of extraordinary characters, and some very sharp analysis of colonial and local politics. In the midst of this rich material the author only barely touches upon the sex and murder scandals of the British aristocratic settlers in the area known as 'Happy Valley'. The story of those events is more than adequately covered by James Fox in his 'White Mischief' and Erroll Trzebinski's 'The Life and Death of Lord Erroll'.

While the scandals made those books good reading, and boosted their sales, Best is telling a much larger story here. It is the collision between colonialism and the aspiration for land and independence among the local peoples, culminating in the Mau Mau Rebellion. You begin to understand that behind the stories of courage and vision that the colonial powers brought to Kenya, there was an immense injustice as well. Best doesn't 'bang the drum' on this, but introduces this theme very subtly by telling the stories of those who suffered that injustice, alongside the stories of the colonialists. And you realize by the end of the story that Best comes down firmly on the side of justice, and history.

It must be said at this point that the title of Best's book, 'Happy Valley' might have been foisted upon him by his publisher in order to cash in on the continuing salacious interest in those events. But the reader would be deceived, and Best's skill and his admiration for Kenya and its achievements would be ill served if the reader thought this was another book that was going to simply regurgitate tales of cross-dressing and bathroom parties of the jaded (white) elite.

But there's no shortage of local gossip in Best's book. Indeed it is a bit unerving to read some of those details, mentioned as 'asides' to this seemingly seriously researched (and immensely readable) history. Best doesn't qualify his observations or cite sources when mentioning some of this material and you wonder if he is perhaps not being serious enough to be writing a serious history. But then, and you almost have to read between the lines, you realize that Best grew up in Kenya, and that he doesn't need to quote references or hedge about whether some of this material is perhaps exaggerated or plain wrong. These stories are the stories of his life, that surrounded him as he grew up, and coming from a Kenyan (and not a London academic) I was much happier to accept them at face value.

This is a very good history of the colonial and the early post-colonial period of Kenya. It does not go into huge amounts of detail, but what is there seems to be accurate, and tells the essential story. It would be an excellent introduction to Kenyan history, and a book to branch out from to further reading (there is a good bibliography). The title is a little misleading, but only in the sense that the book is much, much, better than the title and its associations suggests. Highly recommended.… (mehr)