The Greatest Day: How, on the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month, the First World War Finally Came to an End

by: Nicholas Best

Published by: Public Affairs Books

Reviewed by Gene Hayworth

Through captivating, often horrifying eyewitness personal accounts from sources that include Harry S. Truman, Ernest Hemingway, and Adolf Hitler, Nicholas Best has created a fascinating profile of the final week of the First World War. The Greatest Day: How, on the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month, the First World War Finally Came to an End is a significant contribution to the literature celebrating the ninetieth anniversary of Armistice Day 1918, when the gunfire of the War finally ceased.

Best takes his title from a news headline. When the War finally ended, the London Daily Express proclaimed November 11 the “greatest day in history.” But, as the author reports, there were over 11,000 casualties that morning before the cease-fire was declared. Each of the first seven chapters of the book narrates the events of a single day, beginning with Monday, November 4, 1918.Chapters 8, through 11 examine specific hours of the day on the 11th of November. Like observing two sides of a chess match, the book moves back and forth between the battles of the War as perceived from each camp.

There are details of the War from members of the Allied nations as well as views from participants who represent the German perspective. Best is careful to balance the personal accounts in the book between those in power–admirals, lieutenants, and generals–with the stories from many of the unsung heroes of the War: the ground soldiers, pilots, and the crews of warships. Several of these men went on to become important literary figures, like Erich Maria Remarque and Wilfred Owen.

The Greatest Day does not attempt to provide a theoretical analysis of the causes or rationale for the War; instead, it offers a carefully researched, enthralling narrative of the events. The stunning visual detail and painstaking descriptions of the physical spaces Best describes transport the reader to the battlefield.

This book will provide pleasure to amateur and professional historians alike.

Armchair Interviews agrees. This is a 5-star read.