L. L. Farrar

Short-war Illusion is a thoughtful book. It analyzes how the Great Powers planned for, prepared for and tried to conduct a European war which would last three months or so. However, that strategy failed. The First World War lasted over four years and devastated Europe.

The author, L. L. Farrar, Jr., does a fine job of logically analyzing the actions taken by the Great Powers to conduct a short war. He does not use facts and figures to argue his case. Mr. F. uses logical arguments to demonstrate how the steps taken in the early months of the war either failed to achieve the short war, or proved to be immaterial to preventing a long conflict. For example, by planning for the short war, none of the belligerents had sufficient war material to achieve a quick, total victory or to continue an aggressive campaign after the initial halt. This guarenteed a long war as everyone tried to organized industry to support a long conflict. As the various countries looked for new technology to create the sought after breakthrough, the other side quickly reacted thereby making any advantage short lived.

I found this volume interesting and thought provoking. At times I had to reread some of his arguments to get full understanding of his point. It was actually nice to read a book on this subject that did not overload the reader with figures, charts and data. Well done; presented a different perspective on the early months of the war.… (mehr)