Sir Hew Strachan, The First Last Stand: The Spring Offensives of 1918

Hew Strachan explores the last major German offensives in the First World War, focusing on the Spring Offensives of 1918.

The Spring Offensives of 1918 were Germany’s last attempt to defeat the British and French armies on the Western Front, where a decisive victory could turn the war in their favor before the American forces could be fully deployed. The goal of the four German offensives were to break through the Allied lines in the Somme region, outflank and divert the British, and defeat them. Yet logistical errors, failures to seize on initiative and weaknesses, as well as the depleted German resources of men and machines, failed turn the tide for the Germans. 

Their failure by the mid-summer left the German army fatally weakened, demoralized and facing its own imminent and inevitable defeat as the 1 million U.S. soldiers began to arrive in France by July.

Award-winning author, historian and military strategist Hew Strachan was the recipient of the 2016 Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. Author of 14 major publications, including the first installment of his groundbreaking three-volume work on the Great War, The First World War (To Arms), Strachan is known for his incredibly detailed and carefully researched writings. His research interests center on the military history and strategic studies, with interest in the First World War and the history of the British Army. Strachan continuously expands the traditional narrow narrative beyond the trenches of the Western Front to consider the conflict's global implications, a method particularly resonant in our increasingly globalized society.