The Fortress: The Siege of Przemys l and the Making of Europe’s Bloodlands

In this well-researched chronicle, Watson (Ring of Steel), a history professor at Goldsmiths, University of London, contends that the September 1914–March 1915 siege of Przemys l, a “fortress–city” in the Habsburg Empire province of Galicia (now Poland), altered the course of WWI. By holding out against the Russian imperial army for six months, Watson writes, the garrison’s 130,000 ethnically diverse and mainly middle-aged defenders allowed the Habsburg army to regroup after a series of early defeats, preventing a swift conclusion to the war. But Przemys l’s eventual capitulation, after some 800,000 soldiers had been lost in efforts to relieve the besieged city, “inflicted a hammer blow to the prestige of the Habsburg Empire” and “embolden[ed] neutral powers to join its enemies.” Watson blames Habsburg army general staff chief Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf for failing to modernize Przemys l’s defenses to withstand advances in ordnance technology, and for leaving the Galician frontier “frighteningly exposed to Russian attack.” Once the siege begins, Watson renders Russian and Austro-Hungarian military maneuvers in rich detail, and draws on firsthand accounts to document the terror and suffering of Przemys l’s civilians and soldiers. Military history enthusiasts will relish this detailed retelling of the WWI battle. [em](Feb.) [/em]