Slitherine

quote:

Ultimately it was Germany's invasion of neutral Belgium, required by the von Schlieffen Plan's attempt to outflank France's defensive Maginot Line, that triggered Britain's guarantee of protection for Belgium signed in 1839 at the Treaty of London.

quote:

ORIGINAL: belechannas

That sounds like it could be Ienaga's book.

As for the book in the original post by Pike, I bought it, and I can say with confidence that it probably isn't the "definitive" history of anything.

The book is riddled with typos, and glaring factual errors.

For some reason, he feels compelled to begin his account of "Hirohito's War" with the US Declaration of Independence, and duly attempts to recount all of world history from the late 18th century up through the 1930's. The Trail of Tears, the Second Schleswig War (1864), the Armenian genocide of WWI and First and Second Balkan wars of 1912-13, among other irrelevancies, all get their mention in the rambling and totally unfocused first chapter.

In describing the outbreak of WWI, he tells us:

quote:

Ultimately it was Germany's invasion of neutral Belgium, required by the von Schlieffen Plan's attempt to outflank France's defensive Maginot Line, that triggered Britain's guarantee of protection for Belgium signed in 1839 at the Treaty of London.

That's right, the 1914 Schlieffen Plan was an attempt to outflank the Maginot Line, which wouldn't exist for another 15 years, and was built on territory that Germany controlled in 1914...



Another glaring factual error occurs shortly afterward, when he says that Wilson made his "14 Points Declaration" in the speech when he landed in Europe for the Versailles conference (which would have been in 1919). In fact, the 14 Points were proposed in an address to a joint session of Congress, in January 1918.



This is not a professional work of history. I'm returning it for a refund.