WINNER OF THE SOCIETY FOR MILITARY HISTORY'S DISTINGUISHED BOOK AWARD 2021

SHORTLISTED FOR THE GILDER LEHRMAN PRIZE FOR MILITARY HISTORY AND THE BRITISH ARMY MILITARY BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

A BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019, AND FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020

'A masterpiece. It deserves to become a classic of military history' Lawrence James, The Times

From the prize-winning author of Ring of Steel, a gripping history of the First World War's longest and most terrible siege

In the autumn of 1914 Europe was at war. The battling powers had already suffered casualties on a scale previously unimaginable. On both the Western and Eastern fronts elaborate war plans lay in ruins and had been discarded in favour of desperate improvisation. In the West this resulted in the remorseless world of the trenches; in the East all eyes were focused on the old, beleaguered Austro-Hungarian fortress of Przemysl.

The siege that unfolded at Przemysl was the longest of the whole war. In the defence of the fortress and the struggle to relieve it Austria-Hungary suffered some 800,000 casualties. Almost unknown in the West, this was one of the great turning points of the conflict. If the Russians had broken through they could have invaded Central Europe, but by the time the fortress fell their strength was so sapped they could go no further.

Alexander Watson, prize-winning author of Ring of Steel, has written one of the great epics of the First World War. Comparable to Stalingrad in 1942-3, Przemysl shaped the course of Europe's future. Neither Russians nor Austro-Hungarians ever recovered militarily from their disasters. Using a huge range of sources, Watson brilliantly recreates a world of long-gone empires, broken armies and a cut-off community sliding into chaos. The siege was central to the war itself, but also a chilling harbinger of what would engulf the entire region in the coming decades, as nationalism, anti-semitism and an exterminatory fury took hold.

'If you read one military history book this year, make it Alexander Watson's The Fortress' Tony Barber, Financial Times

• We started tracking this book on August 3, 2019.
• This book was £12.99 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 27 times in the past 1,925 days.
• The current price of this book is £7.99 last checked 39 minutes ago.
• This book is at its lowest price in the past six months.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is £6.99.
• The lowest price to date was £6.99 last reached on January 5, 2024.
• This book has been £6.99 5 times since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was £12.99 last reached on August 3, 2019.
• This book has been £12.99 one time since we started tracking it.

• HistoryRussia
• HistoryEurope

• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 313 Pages
• File Size: 35,922 KB