57 pages • 1 hour read
Barbara W. TuchmanThe Guns Of August
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1962A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
AfterwordChapter Summaries & Analyses
Afterword Summary
In the Afterword, Tuchman takes a look at all the what-ifs she has been pointing out through the course of the book: What if the Germans had not withdrawn two corps to send against the Russians? What if the Germans had not committed too much strength to the left wing? What if the French forces at the Moselle had fallen?
She also summarizes the aftermath: how these first few weeks of the war assured its continuance, and how so many other countries would become involved. She gives numbers of the dead and points out how an entire generation is lost, not only in life, but in disillusionment: “The nations were caught in a trap, a trap made during the first thirty days out of battles that failed to be decisive, a trap from which there was, and has been, no exit” (440).
Afterword Analysis
The Afterword sums up the overarching idea of The Guns of August: that the first offensive—the German rush into Belgium, the French rush into Lorraine, the idea that either could win the war in six weeks—sets the stage for what follows: The war will become one of attrition, combatants from around the world will enter the conflict, but most importantly, the war will continue.
Related Titles
By Barbara W. Tuchman
