First World War Books

Book SynopsisA masterpiece of humanism, Time Stood Still recounts Paul Cohen-Portheim's years of internment in England as an enemy alien during World War One. A passionate but balanced argument against internment and its inherently dehumanizing effects.

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Book SynopsisHabsburg Sons describes Jewish participation in the Habsburg Army, 1788-1918, concentrating on their role in World War I. Approximately 300,000-350,000 Jews fought in the Austro-Hungarian Armies on all fronts. Of these, 30,000–40,000 died of wounds or illness, approximately 25,000 were officers. At least 17% were taken prisoner in camps all over Russia and Central Asia. Many soldiers were Orthodox Ostjuden, and soldiers came into regular contact with Jewish civilians. Over 130 Feldrabbiner (chaplains) served mainly on Eastern and Italian Fronts. Antisemitism was present but generally not overt. The book uses personal diaries and newspaper articles (most available in English for the first time) to describe their experiences. The comparative experiences of Jews in German, Russian, Italian Armies is also summarized.Trade Review“Like many of Dr. Appelbaum’s previous books, which looked at the Jewish troops and chaplains in the German Army, [Habsburg Sons] reveals a landscape we know almost nothing about: the lives of Jewish soldiers who fought on the side of the Central Powers in World War I. Because of what the Germans and Austrians and their collaborators did to the Jews in World War II, we can hardly picture the patriotic Jewish sons of Germany or Austro-Hungary—but Dr. Appelbaum’s works open that world up for us. He does not simply present a dry history of these soldiers and chaplains. Instead, acting both as author and translator, he develops their story using their own words, from their contemporaneous accounts and later memoirs… [T]he records of how the Jews served their countries and how they felt about their efforts remain a poignant testament of their belief regarding where they belonged and what they were obligated to do.”— Yossi Krausz, Ami MagazineTable of ContentsTable of ContentsForeword: A History of a Bygone Era, by Manfried Rauchensteiner Jewish Soldiers in Habsburg Austria, by Gerald Lamprecht IntroductionPlatesChapter 1. Setting the StageChapter 2. Jews in the Armies of Austro-Hungary before the Great War: A Comparative FrameworkChapter 3. The Kaiser Needs You! Initial Reaction to the Declaration of WarChapter 4. Snapshots from the Eastern Front: Diaries, Memoirs, ReportsChapter 5. Snapshots from Other Fronts: The Balkans, Italy, and PalestineChapter 6. Austro-Hungarian Feldrabbiner: Tallit, Torah, and TobaccoChapter 7. Captives of the Tsar in European Russia, Siberia, and Central AsiaChapter 8. Epilogue. The Fate of Habsburg Jewish Veterans and Their Influence on Postwar EuropeBibliography

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Book SynopsisHabsburg Sons describes Jewish participation in the Habsburg Army, 1788-1918, concentrating on their role in World War I. Approximately 300,000-350,000 Jews fought in the Austro-Hungarian Armies on all fronts. Of these, 30,000–40,000 died of wounds or illness, approximately 25,000 were officers. At least 17% were taken prisoner in camps all over Russia and Central Asia. Many soldiers were Orthodox Ostjuden, and soldiers came into regular contact with Jewish civilians. Over 130 Feldrabbiner (chaplains) served mainly on Eastern and Italian Fronts. Antisemitism was present but generally not overt. The book uses personal diaries and newspaper articles (most available in English for the first time) to describe their experiences. The comparative experiences of Jews in German, Russian, Italian Armies is also summarized.Trade Review“Like many of Dr. Appelbaum’s previous books, which looked at the Jewish troops and chaplains in the German Army, [Habsburg Sons] reveals a landscape we know almost nothing about: the lives of Jewish soldiers who fought on the side of the Central Powers in World War I. Because of what the Germans and Austrians and their collaborators did to the Jews in World War II, we can hardly picture the patriotic Jewish sons of Germany or Austro-Hungary—but Dr. Appelbaum’s works open that world up for us. He does not simply present a dry history of these soldiers and chaplains. Instead, acting both as author and translator, he develops their story using their own words, from their contemporaneous accounts and later memoirs… [T]he records of how the Jews served their countries and how they felt about their efforts remain a poignant testament of their belief regarding where they belonged and what they were obligated to do.”— Yossi Krausz, Ami MagazineTable of ContentsTable of ContentsForeword: A History of a Bygone Era, by Manfried Rauchensteiner Jewish Soldiers in Habsburg Austria, by Gerald Lamprecht IntroductionPlatesChapter 1. Setting the StageChapter 2. Jews in the Armies of Austro-Hungary before the Great War: A Comparative FrameworkChapter 3. The Kaiser Needs You! Initial Reaction to the Declaration of WarChapter 4. Snapshots from the Eastern Front: Diaries, Memoirs, ReportsChapter 5. Snapshots from Other Fronts: The Balkans, Italy, and PalestineChapter 6. Austro-Hungarian Feldrabbiner: Tallit, Torah, and TobaccoChapter 7. Captives of the Tsar in European Russia, Siberia, and Central AsiaChapter 8. Epilogue. The Fate of Habsburg Jewish Veterans and Their Influence on Postwar EuropeBibliography

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Book SynopsisAlexander Aitken was an ordinary soldier with an extraordinary mind. The student who enlisted in 1915 was a mathematical genius who could multiply nine-digit numbers in his head. He took a violin with him to Gallipoli (where field telephone wire substituted for an E-string) and practiced Bach on the Western Front. Aitken also loved poetry and knew the Aeneid and Paradise Lost by heart. His powers of memory were dazzling. When a vital roll-book was lost with the dead, he was able to dictate the full name, regimental number, next of kin and address of next of kin for every member of his former platoon-a total of fifty-six men. Everything he saw, he could remember. Aitken began to write about his experiences in 1917 as a wounded out-patient in Dunedin Hospital. Every few years, when the war trauma caught up with him, he revisited the manuscript, which was eventually published as Gallipoli to the Somme in 1963. Aitken writes with a unique combination of restraint, subtlety, and an almost photographic vividness. He was elected fellow of the Royal Society of Literature on the strength of this single work-a book recognised by its first reviewers as a literary memoir of the Great War to put alongside those by Graves, Blunden and Sassoon. Long out of print, this is by some distance the most perceptive memoir of the First World War by a New Zealand soldier. For this edition, Alex Calder has written a new introduction, annotated the text, compiled a selection of images, and added a commemorative index identifying the soldiers with whom Aitken served.Trade Review`Deeply moving . . . an epic of devotion and sacrifice.'- Sir Bernard Fergusson

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Book SynopsisA major new account of Britain’s military strategy between 1914–1945, including the two world wars and everything betweenTrade Review“Robin Prior’s assessment of the workings, strengths, and weaknesses of civil-military relationships and their impact on military outcomes in both wars is trenchant and challenging.”—William Philpott, Times Literary Supplement “How Britain’s Armed Forces coped in two world wars is the subject of Conquer We Must: A Military History of Britain, 1914–1945, by Robin Prior, which exposes the constant tension, whether in conflict or in peace, between politicians and service chiefs.”—Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph, “Best History Books 2022” Shortlisted for the 2023 Military History Matters Book of the Year “[A] tremendous, sweeping study of power in wartime.”—Allan Allport, Literary Review “[A] magisterial analysis of the Britain between 1914 and 1945.”—Robert Lyman, Aspects of History “In sum, this is an enlightening, uplifting and altogether magnificent book.”—Allan Mallinson, Country Life “Intensively researched using both military and political archives, it is revealing and thought-provoking.”—Choice “A superb and highly readable account. . . . That Britain ultimately made an effective and successful partnership between politicians and soldiers, seen most explicitly in the personalities of Churchill and Brooke, lies at the heart of this engaging book. . . . I couldn’t put it down, and neither will you.”—Robert Lyman, Aspects of History “[Conquer We Must] is both interesting and important . . . an informed contribution based on sound scholarship and interpretation of the facts at hand.”—Christopher Harrison, Journal of Military History “Any book by Robin Prior is an event, and this is no exception. Conquer We Must is a well-researched and trenchantly argued tour de force. Historians of Britain’s military effort in the two world wars will be busy debating his ideas for years to come.”—Gary Sheffield, author of Forgotten Victory “This is a gripping account of how relations between the military and the politicians shaped the outcome of Britain’s two world wars, revealing just how much the experience of 1914–18 informed decision-making in 1939–45. Robin Prior provides incisive arguments for what went wrong for the British and what, crucially, went right and why.”—Heather Jones, author of For King and Country “This book is the result of decades of research and writing on Britain at war in the twentieth century. Authoritative and insightful, a classic piece of military history by one of the finest exponents of the genre.”—David G. Morgan-Owen, author of The Fear of Invasion “A very impressive and vivid piece of work which pulls together a lifetime of scholarship by one of our finest military historians.”—Jonathan Boff, author of Haig’s Enemy

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Book SynopsisA prince in one of Russia''s most exalted noble families, Grigorii N. Trubetskoi was a unique and contradictory figure during World War I. A lifelong civil servant and publicist, he began his diplomatic career in Constantinople, where he served as first secretary of the embassy there for several years. He became one of the leaders of an important political orientation among the liberals that began to express opposition to the tsar, not only on questions of political freedom and domestic political reform, but also by criticizing the tsar''s foreign policy on nationalistic grounds. Trubetskoi possessed significant influence over Russian foreign policy and was instrumental in pushing the regime toward an aggressive annexationist stand in the Balkans. When the Russian ambassador to Serbia died suddenly in June of 1914, Trubetskoi was appointed as his replacementsituating him at the center of Russian diplomacy during the decisive period of Russia''s entry into the war. His account of thiTrade ReviewA very important memoir. Very few others had the intimate view of Russian foreign policy and its leadership that Trubetskoi had. -- Ronald P. Bobroff, Oglethorpe University

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Book SynopsisFighting Anzacs have metamorphosed from flesh and blood into mythic icons. The war they fought in is distant and the resistance to it within Australia has been forgotten. In the Shadow of Gallipoli corrects this historical amnesia by looking at what was happening on the Australian home front during WWI. It shows that the war was a disaster, and many Australians knew it. Discontent and dissent grew into major revolt. Bollard considers the wartime strike wave, including the Great Strike of 1917, alongside the impact of international political events including the Easter Rising in Ireland and the Russian Revolution. The first year of peace was tumultuous as strikes and riots involving returned Anzacs shook Australia throughout 1919. This book uncovers the history that has been obscured by the shadow of Anzac. This is history from below at its best.

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Book SynopsisForeword by His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales Hospital ships filled the harbour of Le Havre as the 75th Mississauga Battalion arrived on 13 August 1916. Those soldiers who survived would spend almost three years in a tiny corner of northeastern France and northwestern Belgium (Flanders), where many of their comrades still lie. And they would serve in many of the most horrific battles of that long, bloody conflict - Saint Eloi, the Somme, Arras, Vimy, Hill 70, Lens, Passchendaele, Amiens, Drocourt-Quéant, Canal du Nord, Cambrai, and Valenciennes. This book tells the story of the 75th Battalion (later the Toronto Scottish Regiment) and the five thousand men who formed it - most from Toronto - from all walks of life. They included professionals, university graduates, white- and blue-collar workers, labourers, and the unemployed, some illiterate. They left a comfortable existence in the prosperous, strongly pro-British provincial capital for life in the trenches of France and Flanders. Tommy Church, mayor of Toronto from 1915 to 1921, sought to include his city's name in the unit's name because of the many city officials and local residents who served in it. Three years later Church accepted the 75th's now heavily emblazoned colours for safekeeping at City Hall from Lieutenant-Colonel Colin Harbottle, who returned with his bloodied but successful survivors. The author pulls no punches in recounting their labours, triumphs, and travails. Timothy J. Stewart undertook exhaustive research for this first-ever history of the 75th, drawing from archival sources (focusing on critical decisions by Brigadier Victor Oldum, General Officer Commanding 11th Brigade), diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, and interviews.Trade Review"This book explores the role of the 75th Battalion during the Great War. It is particularly useful in correcting some misunderstandings about the 75th in battle, especially at Vimy and Passchendaele. It also analyses Toronto's militia before the war, providing new insight into the intersection of citizen-soldiers in society. Stewart takes the story forward beyond demobilization in 1919 and reconstructs the enduring bonds of comradeship and how veterans reflected upon their war experience over time." -- Tim Cook, C.M., Canadian War Museum"To understand how and why a battle or campaign developed the way it did, it is essential to study the ground, and Tim Stewart has certainly done that. I accompanied him on two tours of the Western Front (and as the grandson of a soldier of the 243rd Overseas Battalion of the CEF I felt privileged to do so) where in meticulous detail he walked the ground of the 75th Battalion's actions from its blooding on the Somme in 1916 to the victorious advance of the Battle of Amiens in 1918. With a population of less than eight million in 1914 Canada mobilised 620,000 men, and 60,000 of them were killed in that titanic struggle. Tim has produced a fitting tribute to those men of the 75th, volunteers all, who answered the call in the darkest days of the Empire." - Gordon Corrigan MBE, author Mud, Blood and Poppycock: Britain and the First World War"Tim Stewart's account of the 75th (Mississauga) Battalion CEF during and after the Great War sheds new light on the most formative and perhaps even the most important years in the history of The Toronto Scottish Regiment, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own. Indeed it was in those early years in France and Flanders that the spirit, ethos and reputation of our proud regiment were forged and it is the example set by Lieutenant Colonel Beckett and the officers and men of the 75th Battalion that we continue to follow to this day. Stewart's account is gripping, candid, and ultimately befitting of the story of this proud regiment. I have no doubt that this book will become mandatory reading for all soldiers of the Toronto Scottish and those seeking to fully understand the contributions made by those men of Toronto and its surrounding areas who served in the 'war to end all wars.' " - Graham Walsh, Director, Lieutenant Colonel , Commanding Officer, The Toronto Scottish Regiment, (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own)"The Fighting 75th is a rich tribute, beautifully illustrated, with vignettes culled from thousands of hours of research. ... Stewart documents their stories with genuine warmth and a police reporter's eye for detail." -- Holly Doan -- Blacklock's ReporterEven before one picks up this history it's clear that this is a beautiful book and a labour of love. A true bibliophile will hold this book with reverential hands and promise to care for it accordingly. The quality of its manufacture, at least, demands no less.... Toronto's Fighting 75th is a fine examination of one battalion of the CEF and the people behind it. Members of the Toronto Scottish will find the book a treasure, and they won't be the only ones. The only flaw of the book is one that very few modern writers could rectify: that after 100 years, we still don't really understand what drove these very ordinary Canadians forward and made them such formidable fighting men. -- John Thompson -- The Fife and Drum, 20180401

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Book SynopsisIn the summer of 1915 the Royal Naval Air Service found itself engaged in an unexpected war at sea, the fight to prevent the German submarine fleet from disrupting the flow of vital supplies to the British Isles, necessary for the conduct of the war. It was a war that had to be won because by the spring of 1917 the U-boat campaign against Allied merchant shipping was close to bringing the British war effort to the point of collapse. Airships of the RNAS played a vital part in this new war at sea. This book tells the story of the young men who ventured out over the often hostile waters around the British Isles in airships, who were expected to hunt down the German submarines and to attack them with the hopelessly inadequate weapons at their disposal. The story is told by those who took part in this new form of warfare, through pieces written by them or via interviews with veterans. It covers the entire experience of being an airship pilot, from initial training, through their numerous adventures while flying these frail craft over the coastal waters of the British Isles, to the final victory in 1918.

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Book SynopsisThe battle for Vimy Ridge one hundred years ago has been characterized as a defining moment in Canadian history. The idea of thousands of Canadian young men dying together in the mud and tangled wire of northern France was, and still is, considered by many as nation-building.Tom Goodman generally accepted this view until he discovered a rich trove of letters between his grandmother and Archie Polson, the uncle he has never met. Reading through the exchanges, Goodman came to realize that war is sometimes about winning, but it is always about loss. He has now collected many of these letters, along with his own contextual narrative, so that we can see the true cost of war to a family and a country.

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Book SynopsisA joint operation between Britain and France in 1916, the Battle of the Somme was an attempt to gain territory and dent Germanys military strength. By the end of the action, very little ground had been won: the Allied Forces had made just 12 km. For this slight gain, more than a million lives were lost. There were more than 400,000 British, 200,000 French, and 500,000 German casualties during the fighting. _Twelve Days on the Somme_ is a memoir of the last spell of frontline duty performed by the 2nd Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment. Written by Sidney Rogerson, a young officer in B Company, it gives an extraordinarily frank and often moving account of what it was really like to fight through one of the most notorious battles of the First World War. Its special message, however, is that, contrary to received assumptions and the popular works of writers like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, men could face up to the terrible ordeal such a battle presented with resilience, good humour and without loss of morale. This is a classic work whose reprinting is long overdue. This edition includes a new introduction by Malcolm Brown and a Foreword by Rogerson's son Commander Jeremy Rogerson.

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Book SynopsisThe Palestine campaign of 1917 saw Britain’s armed forces rise from defeat to achieve stunning victory. After two failed attempts in the spring, at the end of the year they broke through the Ottoman line with an innovative mixture of old and new technology and tactics, and managed to advance over 50 miles, from Gaza to Jerusalem, in only two months. As well as discussions of military strategy, Stuart Hadaway’s gripping narrative of the campaign gives a broad account of the men on both sides who lived and fought in the harsh desert conditions of Palestine, facing not only brave and determined enemies, but also the environment itself: heat, disease and an ever-present thirst.Involving Ottoman, ANZAC, British and Arab forces, the campaign saw great empires manoeuvring for the coveted Holy Land. It was Britain’s victory in 1917, however, that redrew the maps of the Middle East and shaped the political climate for the century to come.

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Book SynopsisThe first book to detail the forgotten work of the Royal Navy Auxiliary Patrol Station on the Isles of Scilly.

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Book SynopsisA broad selection of over 200 photographs recording the French army during the Great War.

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Book SynopsisProfessor Fischer's great work is possibly the most important book of any sort, probably the most important historical book, certainly the most controversial book, to come out of Germany since the war.

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Book SynopsisThe poet and critic Edmund Blunden was born in Yalding, Kent in 1896. He studied at Oxford, was professor of English literature at Tokyo from 1924-7 and fellow of Merton College, Oxford from 1931. He joined the staff of 'The Times Literary Supplement' in 1943, and from 1953 lectured at the University of Hong Kong. From1966-8 he was professor of poetry at Oxford.Trade ReviewAn established classic ... accurate and detailed in observation of the war scene and its human figures -- D. J. Enright

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Book SynopsisExplores the military wristwatches produced during WWI for the United States military use.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewMost evocative is Bennette's ascertainment that dissenters, whether traumatized or not, often found ways to voice their dissent—she argues that they exercised 'personal agency'—to military psychiatrists. A welcome addition to World War I studies. * Choice *Drawing from meticulous research into patient records, Bennette complicates the picture [of conscientious objection as medical pathology]. * Foreign Affairs *Diagnosing Dissent is well-written and researched. Bennette's use of patient case files not only makes her arguments more compelling but also provides detailed and telling anecdotes about individual soldiers' lives that balance out the potentially sterile, cold language of contemporary psychiatric literature. * The Journal of Military History *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Antecedents: Psychiatry, the Military, and Pacifism in Late Imperial Germany 2. Hysterics and Other Patients: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Negotiation 3. Deserters: Delinquency, Psychological Disorder, and Dissent 4. Conscientious Objectors: Objects of Examination and Subjects with Agency Epilogue

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewMorrow's encyclopedic examination of aviation's part in World War I concentrates on aircraft engine and airframe production, but the emotional content of contemporary accounts rises to the surface to put a human face on the brutal use of an infant technology.... a serious yet readable history of this vital part of the conflict, meant for any reader. - Library Journal ""A comprehensive study of the totality of the air war in its military, political, industrial, and cultural aspects distinguish this book from other treatments of military aviation during this period.... Morrow's efforts have yielded new insights into the evolution of military aviation and corrected previous oversights. The author's attention to developments in production and logistics, as well as events at the front, provide the most complete understanding of the development of air power and its role in the Great War."" - American Historical Review

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Book SynopsisAlmost 100 years after the Treaty of Versailles was signed, World War I continues to be badly understood and greatly oversimplified. This work contains a selection of articles and book chapters written by major scholars of World War I, giving readers perspectives on the war that are both historical and contemporary.Trade ReviewThe Great War of 1914-1918 is increasingly understood as the defining event of the twentieth century. . . . Neiberg has done a remarkable job of covering all the appropriate bases and tipping his intellectual hat to the major schools of thought past and present. -- Dennis Showalter,author of Patton and Rommel: Men of War in the Twentieth CenturyThis first-rate collection of primary documents and excerpts from leading historical works on World War I allows students to enter directly into current debates surrounding the wars meaning and significance. These selections provide a window into the varied wartime experiences of statesmen, generals, women, and soldiers, challenging students to discard over-simplistic interpretations of the war. -- Jennifer D. Keene,author of Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America. . . [A] valuable text to introduce students to the broad parameters of World War I. Students whose intellectual appetites are whetted by this collection will appreciate the extensive list of books matched to each category at the end of the book. * The Journal of Military History *Neiberg offers an excellent primer for anyone studying the Great War. The book’s strength is its scope. As they proceed from & Part One: Causes to & Part Six: Peace (with most sections offering two primary and two secondary sources), readers will learn from both sides about major leaders, the home front, soldiers and officers in battle, and the politics of peace. * Library Journal *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsMaps Timeline of Major EventsBrief Biographies of Important Figures Mentioned in the Text Introduction Causes1.1 The Great Illusion1.2 Germany and the Next War 1.3 The "Willy-Nicky" Telegrams 1.4 The Circus Rider of Europe 1.5 The Army and the Nationalist Revival Soldiers2.1 The Good Soldier Schweik 2.2 Her Privates We 2.3 A Soldier's Notebook 2.4 O?cer-Man Relations: The Other Ranks' Perspective 2.5 "War Enthusiasm": Volunteers, Departing Soldiers, and Victory Celebrations2.6 Foch's General Countero?ensive, Part IArmageddon3.1 The Destruction of Louvain 3.2 The Historic First of July 3.3 Between Mutiny and Obedience 3.4 The Live and Let Live System Home Fronts4.1 Letters from a Lost Generation 4.2 An English Wife in Berlin 4.3 Home Fires Burning 4.4 The Politics of Race The End of the War5.1 The Fourteen Points5.2 Views on a Prospective Armistice 5.3 The Military Collapse of the German Empire 5.4 Diggers and Doughboys: Australian and American Troop Interaction on the Western FrontPeace6.1 Peacemaking6.2 British Diplomacy6.3 A Peace to End All Peace 6.4 The Kings Depart Further Reading Index About the Editor

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Book SynopsisLyn Andrews'' tale of nursing in the field during World War I is haunting and unforgettable. If you enjoy the novels of Kate Thompson and Donna Douglas, you''ll love LIVERPOOL ANGELS. Born at the turn of the twentieth century, Mae Strickland is only a few days old when her mother suddenly dies. Her aunt Maggie brings Mae up together with her own children, Eddie and Alice, and the girls become like sisters. In spite of Mae''s unhappy start, life feels full of promise.Then, as the First World War looms, everything changes. While the local men - including young Eddie - leave to fight, Mae and Alice train as field nurses. As they travel to the front line in the wake of family tragedy, nothing can prepare them for the hardship that lies ahead.Yet there is solace to be found amid the wreckage of the war, and for both, romance is on the horizon. But it will take great courage for Mae and Alice to follow their hearts. Can love win out in the end?Trade ReviewHer mix of Irish and Liverpool backdrops have won this strong saga writer an assured place in theSunday Times top 10... she's great! - Sarah Broadhurst, Bookseller

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Book SynopsisWhen modern readers think of Hermann Goring, what probably comes to mind is the overweight drug addict and convicted war criminal who cheated the hangman's noose at Nuremberg by committing suicide just hours before he was due to be hanged. Or perhaps there is the image of his powerful German air force in the Second World War---the Luftwaffe---bombing defenceless European cities and towns in the early part of the war, until it was defeated by the British Royal Air Force in the epic Battle of Britain in 1940. Perhaps the reader might think of Goring the debauched art collector who pirated captured collections all over Nazi Europe during the Occupation years. All of these images are correct, but here we see another Hermann Goring: the slim, dashing fighter pilot and combat ace of an earlier struggle, the Great War, or World War I of 1914-18, which he began as an infantry officer fighting the French Army in the 1914 Battle of the Frontiers. During a hospitalization, his friend Bruno Lorzer convinced him to become an aerial observer-photographer, photographing the mighty French fortress of Verdun. He did, and began these never-before-seen personal photo albums of men and aircraft at war: up close.

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Book SynopsisAll the guns examined in this new paperback edition of Machine Guns of World War 1 belong to the class known as "automatic" and seven classic World War 1 weapons are illustrated in some 250 colour photographs. Detailed sequences shows them in close-up:during step-by-step field stripping, and during handling, loading and live firing trials with ball ammunition, by gunners wearing period uniforms to put these historic guns in their visual context.Trade Review"A very valuable contribution to the study of the Great War." * Tank Journal *"Robert Bruce has produced a fantastic combination of highly detailed text, constructional and background information, together with realist live firing sequences. This book is a must for anyone with an interest in the weapons, uniforms and equipment from this period." * The Armourer *

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Book SynopsisChilling... To Hell and Back should be required reading in every chancellery, every editorial cockpit and every place where peevish Euroskeptics do their thinking…. Kershaw documents each and every ‘ism’ of his analysis with extraordinary detail and passionate humanism.—The New York Times Book ReviewThe Penguin History of Europe series reaches the twentieth century with acclaimed scholar Ian Kershaw’s long-anticipated analysis of the pivotal years of World War I and World War II. The European catastrophe, the long continuous period from 1914 to 1949, was unprecedented in human history—an extraordinarily dramatic, often traumatic, and endlessly fascinating period of upheaval and transformation. This new volume in the Penguin History of Europe series offers comprehensive coverage of this tumultuous era. Beginning with the outbreak of World War I through the rise of Hitler and the aftermath of

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Book SynopsisOn 1 July 1916, after a five-day bombardment, 11 British and 5 French divisions launched their long-awaited 'Big Push' on German positions on high ground above the Rivers Ancre and Somme on the Western Front. Some ground was gained, but at a terrible cost. In killing-grounds whose names are indelibly imprinted on 20th-century memory, German machine-guns – manned by troops who had sat out the storm of shellfire in deep dugouts – inflicted terrible losses on the British infantry. The British Fourth Army lost 57,470 casualties, the French Sixth Army suffered 1,590 casualties and the German 2nd Army 10,000. And this was but the prelude to 141 days of slaughter that would witness the deaths of between 750,000 and 1 million troops. Andrew Roberts evokes the pity and the horror of the blackest day in the history of the British army – a summer's day-turned-hell-on-earth by modern military technology – in the words of casualties, survivors, and the bereaved. Trade Review'Always highly readable, gives a succinct and cohesive overview of the day, and is hearteningly even-handed' Spectator.'Let's be honest about Somme historiography; it either comes drenched in pitying tears or in posturing outrage, but both occlude. Roberts has played it straight with a clean and lucid overview so that one can actually see and understand what happened on that day' The Times.'The book's opening chapters on the strategy and tactics of the battle provide an excellent, succinct summary of the constraints within which it was planned. Roberts rightly stresses the subordination of British planning to that of the French, and sensibly eschews the British desire to say it was undertaken to save their allies at Verdun' Evening Standard.'The shattering story of the blackest day in the history of the British Army, the first day of the Somme Offensive, through the words of casualties, survivors, and the bereaved' Military History Monthly.'A well-written, clear, moving introduction to the slaughter on the Somme and its place in wider conflict' Sunday Times.'Blending deep scholarly skill with a real literary talent' Dan Jones, Evening Standard.'By dealing with just the first day of the battle, its strategic background, tactical thinking and significance, he has produced a most digestible narrative commentary' Country Life.'Roberts's vividly written, crisply authoritative account of the first day of the battle is full of details that stick stubbornly in the mind' Daily Mail.'The best thing about this excellent book is the depth of its detail. Once the battle proper starts, Roberts describes the fighting almost regiment by regiment' Literary Review.'A short, elegantly written and above all accessible book, solidly based on recent scholarship augmented by primary research ... this is a welcome, and often very moving, contribution to the debate on a battle that, a hundred years on, remains deeply controversial' Times Literary Supplement.'Roberts explains, with great judgement, why it happened and how it happened ... He helps us to remember' i newspaper.'Roberts's succinct treatment is confined to the battle's first day ... Tragedy, not melodrama, is Roberts' commemorative homage to the bravery of hundreds of thousands who did their duty, fought, died, or were maimed' The New Criterion.'A very objective book and Roberts does not get bogged down in blame as many books about the Somme do ... [He] evokes the horror of 1st July 1916 by deftly balancing the facts with personal accounts and experiences' Eleanor Baggley, Centenary News.'[A] limpid, sober account both of the battle and of the personalities involved in its conduct' The Tablet.'Highly emotive reading' History of War.

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Book SynopsisHow did German intelligence agents in the First World War use dead fish to pass on vital information to their operatives? What did an advertisement for a dog in The Times have to do with the movement of British troops into Egypt? And why did British personnel become suspicious about the trousers hanging on a Belgian woman’s washing line? During the First World War, spymasters and their networks of secret agents developed many ingenious – and occasionally hilarious – methods of communication. Puffs of smoke from a chimney, stacks of bread in a bakery window, even knitted woollen jumpers were all used to convey secret messages decipherable only by well-trained eyes. Melanie King retells the astonishing story of these and many other tricks of the espionage trade, now long forgotten, through the memoirs of eight spies. Among them are British intelligence officers working undercover in France and Germany, including a former officer from the Metropolitan Police who once hunted Jack the Ripper. There is also the German Secret Service officer, codenamed Agricola, who spied on the Eastern Front, an American newspaperman and an Austrian agent who disguised himself as everything from a Jewish pedlar to a Russian officer. Drawing on the words of many of the spies themselves, Secrets in a Dead Fish is a fascinating compendium of clever and original ruses that casts new light into the murky world of espionage during the First World War.

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Book SynopsisIn this new biography, published to coincide with the 100th anniversary of her execution, Mata Hari is revealed in all of her flawed eccentricity; a woman whose adult life was a fantastical web of lies and half-truths.

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