Artillery was the decisive weapon of the Great War it dominated the battlefields. Yet the history of artillery during the conflict has been neglected, and its impact on the fighting is inadequately understood. Paul Strong and Sanders Marble, in this important and highly readable study, seek to balance the account. Their work shows that artillery was central to the tactics of the belligerent nations throughout the long course of the conflict, in attack and in defence. They describe, in vivid detail, how in theory and practice the use of artillery developed in different ways among the opposing armies, and they reveal how artillerymen on all sides coped with the extraordinary challenges that confronted them on the battlefield. 30 illustrations

Author Biography

Paul Edward Strong is a government researcher and historian whose work has focused on the evolution of command systems throughout history. He has made a special study of the coordination of the offensives of 1918 and is currently writing a study of warfare, governance and the role of leadership. Sanders Marble is a historian based at the US Army's Office of Medical History. He is a leading expert on the history of artillery tactics during the Great War and he has also made a special study of military medicine.