The Guns of August

Barbara W. Tuchman's history of the first month of World War I begins at King Edward VII's funeral in May 1910, which she uses to introduce Europe's monarchs and their ties. The rest falls into three parts. Plans sets out the prewar strategies of Germany, France, Britain and Russia, from the Schlieffen Plan to Joffre's Plan XVII. Outbreak tracks August 1 to 4, 1914, hour by hour, through mobilization orders, the ultimatum to Belgium and the declarations of war. Battle covers the Western Front, East Prussia and the war at sea up to the start of the First Battle of the Marne. Published in 1962, and in Britain as August 1914, it won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

Elon Musk included it in a set of audiobook recommendations he posted on X, and James Mattis listed it in an appendix to Call Sign Chaos. Appian chief executive Matt Calkins said a thoroughly studied conflict like World War I shows how tensions get resolved, and that business rivalries reveal similar chains of mistakes.