First World War Books

Book SynopsisTable of ContentsIntroduction: Britain and the Military Manpower Problems of the Empire, 1900–1945, by Douglas E. Delaney and Mark Frost 1. The Government That Could Not Say No and Australia's Military Effort, 1914–1918, by Jean Bou 2. Irish Identities in the British Army during the First World War, by Richard S. Grayson 3. Conserving British Manpower during and after the First World War, by Jessica Meyer 4. The Canadian Garrison Artillery Goes to War, 1914–1918, by Roger Sarty 5. "Returning Home to Fight": Bristolians in the Dominion Armies, 1914–1918, by Kent Fedorowich and Charles Booth 6. Martial Race Theory and Recruitment in the Indian Army during Two World Wars, by Kaushik Roy 7. Manpower, Training, and the Battlefield Leadership of British Army Officers in the Era of the Two World Wars, by Gary Sheffield 8. Legitimacy, Consent, and the Mobilization of the British and Commonwealth Armies during the Second World War, by Jonathan Fennell 9. "Enemy Aliens" and the Formation of Australia's 8th Employment Company, by Paul R. Bartrop 10. The Body and Becoming a Soldier in Britain during the Second World War, by Emma Newlands 11. Canada and the Mobilization of Manpower during the Second World War, by Daniel Byers 12. South African Manpower and the Second World War, by Ian van der Waag 13. Manpower Mobilization, and Rehabilitation in New Zealand's Second World War, by Ian McGibbon 14. Caring for British Commonwealth Soldiers in the Aftermath of the Second World War, by Meghan Fitzpatrick Conclusion: The Many Dimensions of Mobilizing Military Manpower, by Douglas E. Delaney and Andrew L. Brown

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the first and only examination of how the British Empire and Commonwealth sustained its soldiers before, during, and after both world wars, a cast of leading military historians explores how the empire mobilized manpower to recruit workers, care for veterans, and transform factory workers and farmers into riflemen. Raising armies is more than counting people, putting them in uniform, and assigning them to formations. It demands efficient measures for recruitment, registration, and assignment. It requires processes for transforming common people into soldiers and then producing officers, staffs, and commanders to lead them. It necessitates balancing the needs of the armed services with industry and agriculture. And, often overlooked but illuminated incisively here, raising armies relies on medical services for mending wounded soldiers and programs and pensions to look after them when demobilized.Manpower and the Armies of the British Empire in the Two WorldTable of ContentsIntroduction: Britain and the Military Manpower Problems of the Empire, 1900–1945, by Douglas E. Delaney and Mark Frost 1. The Government That Could Not Say No and Australia's Military Effort, 1914–1918, by Jean Bou 2. Irish Identities in the British Army during the First World War, by Richard S. Grayson 3. Conserving British Manpower during and after the First World War, by Jessica Meyer 4. The Canadian Garrison Artillery Goes to War, 1914–1918, by Roger Sarty 5. "Returning Home to Fight": Bristolians in the Dominion Armies, 1914–1918, by Kent Fedorowich and Charles Booth 6. Martial Race Theory and Recruitment in the Indian Army during Two World Wars, by Kaushik Roy 7. Manpower, Training, and the Battlefield Leadership of British Army Officers in the Era of the Two World Wars, by Gary Sheffield 8. Legitimacy, Consent, and the Mobilization of the British and Commonwealth Armies during the Second World War, by Jonathan Fennell 9. "Enemy Aliens" and the Formation of Australia's 8th Employment Company, by Paul R. Bartrop 10. The Body and Becoming a Soldier in Britain during the Second World War, by Emma Newlands 11. Canada and the Mobilization of Manpower during the Second World War, by Daniel Byers 12. South African Manpower and the Second World War, by Ian van der Waag 13. Manpower Mobilization, and Rehabilitation in New Zealand's Second World War, by Ian McGibbon 14. Caring for British Commonwealth Soldiers in the Aftermath of the Second World War, by Meghan Fitzpatrick Conclusion: The Many Dimensions of Mobilizing Military Manpower, by Douglas E. Delaney and Andrew L. Brown

Read more less

Book SynopsisChallenging the conventional wisdom that mass mobilization warfare fosters democratic reform and expands economic, social, and political rights, War and Democracy reexamines the effects of war on domestic politics by focusing on how wartime states either negotiate with or coerce organized labor, policies that profoundly affect labor''s beliefs and aspirations. Because labor unions frequently play a central role in advancing democracy and narrowing inequalities, their wartime interactions with the state can have significant consequences for postwar politics.Comparing Britain and Italy during and after World War I, Elizabeth Kier examines the different strategies each government used to mobilize labor for war and finds that total war did little to promote political, civil, or social rights in either country. Italian unions anticipated greater worker management and a land to the peasants program as a result of their wartime service; British labTable of Contents1. Mobilizing Labor for War and Its Implications for Democracy 2. Disciplining Italian Labor 3. Managing British Labor 4. Choosing a Mobilization Strategy: A Counterfactual Analysis 5. Italian Labor's Revolutionary Socialism 6. British Labor's Moderate Socialism 7. Compliance, Revenge, and the Rise of Italian Fascism 8. Revisiting Competing Accounts, and the Failure of British Reform Conclusion: Bringing the Politics of War into the Politics of Peace

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Dying to Learn, Michael Hunzeker develops a novel theory to explain how wartime militaries learn. He focuses on the Western Front, which witnessed three great-power armies struggle to cope with deadlock throughout the First World War, as the British, French, and German armies all pursued the same solutions-assault tactics, combined arms, and elastic defense in depth. By the end of the war, only the German army managed to develop and implement a set of revolutionary offensive, defensive, and combined arms doctrines that in hindsight represented the best way to fight.Hunzeker identifies three organizational variables that determine how fighting militaries generate new ideas, distinguish good ones from bad ones, and implement the best of them across the entire organization. These factors are: the degree to which leadership delegates authority on the battlefield; how effectively the organization retains control over soldier and officer training; andTrade ReviewFrom his detailed case studies, Hunzeker develops a theory of wartime learning. Hunzeker specializes in conventional deterrence, war termination, military adaptation, and simulation design. * Michigan War Studies Review *Dying to Learn is a valuable and impressive academic and practitioner's analysis. It is not easy reading. The author demonstrates the value of institutional, organizational, and doctrinal study, however unexciting the topics are for many. * US Army War College Press *Dying to Learn will be especially relevant to contemporary military service personnel thinking about their own profession as it contends with the complexity of learning in a time of great stress and strain.Hunzeker offers a model to understand wartime learning[.] * Canadian Military History *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Wartime Learning Assessment, Command, and Training Theory Learning on the Western Front The German Army on the Western Front The British Army on the Western Front The French Army on the Western Front Conclusion: Alternative Explanations and Policy Implications

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis is an excellent book that tells the story and evaluates the role of the IOP exceedingly well. * H-Diplo *There has never been a single journal article or scholarly book written about the IOP. McAllister was able to access the archives and correct that oversight. * The Washington Post *Table of ContentsIntroduction: A Wilsonian Life 1. Career Opportunities 2. The Irony of Fate 3. Professor at War 4. The New England Versailles 5. Glory Days 6. The Gathering Storm 7. A Summer Sewing Circle? 8. Lost Visions

Read more less

Book SynopsisWith expert scholars and great sensitivity, Out of Line, Out of Place illuminates and analyzes how the proliferation of internment camps emerged as a biopolitical tool of governance. Although the internment camp developed as a technology of containment, control, and punishment in the latter part of the nineteenth century mainly in colonial settings, it became universal and global during the Great War. Mass internment has long been recognized as a defining experience of World War II, but it was a fundamental experience of World War I as well. More than eight million soldiers became prisoners of war, more than a million civilians became internees, and several millions more were displaced from their homes, with many placed in securitized refugee camps. For the first time, Out of Line, Out of Place brings these different camps together in conversation. Rotem Kowner and Iris Rachamimov emphasize that although there were differences among camps and varied logic of internment in individual countries, there were also striking similarities in how camps operated during the Great War.Trade ReviewThis book has great merit. It compares various case studies in Europe and beyond and, thus, offers a broad picture of internment operations. Such a wide-ranging approach presents the multiple categories of individuals interned, including combatants, enemy aliens, and political prisoners; widespread camp locations; and connections among state practices. The reflections that chapters propose on the global character of this wartime phenomena also helps foster an understanding of the First World War beyond the battlefield and beyond the period of 1914–18. * H-Net *For all these reasons, this book is necessary reading for anyone interested in the history of internment and war captivity. * H-net *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Military, Civilian, and Political Internments: Examining Great War Internments Together, by Iris Rachamimov and Rotem Kowner Part I: Internments in Europe 1. (Dis)entangling the Local, the National, and the International: Civilian Internment in Germany and in German-Occupied France and Belgium in Global Context, by Matthew Stibbe 2. The Captives of the Kaiser: Schutzhaft and Political Prisoners in Germany, by André Keil 3. Securitized Protection: Health Work in Wartime Austria-Hungary and the Making of Refugee Camps, by Doina Anca Cretu 4. Alexandra Palace: A Concentration Camp in the Heart of London, by Assaf Mond 5. Prisoner-of-War Civilian Experience: The Role of Profession among POWs, by Lena Radauer 6. The Face and Race of the Enemy: German POW Photographs as a Weapon of War, by Nancy Fitch Part II: Internments Beyond Europe 7. "Enemies of Our Country": Internment in Canada's Rocky Mountains National Park, 1915–1917, by Bohdan S. Kordan 8. Globalizing Captivity: "Little Germany in China", by Naoko Shimazu 9. German Propaganda and the African and Asian Theaters of the War, by Mahon Murphy Part III: Interwar Repurcussions and Beyond 10. Internment after the War's End: "Humanitarian Camps" in the POW Repatriation Process, 1918–1923, by Hazuki Tate 11. POWs, Civilians, and the Postwar Development of International Humanitarian Law, by Neville Wylie and Sarina Landefeld Conclusion: World War I and Its Internments: Final Remarks, by Iris Rachamimov and Rotem Kowner

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Ottoman Empire was unprepared for the massive conflict of World War I. Lacking the infrastructure and resources necessary to wage a modern war, the empire's statesmen reached beyond the battlefield to sustain their war effort. They placed unprecedented hardships onto the shoulders of the Ottoman people: mass conscription, a state-controlled economy, widespread food shortages, and ethnic cleansing. By war's end, few aspects of Ottoman daily life remained untouched. When the War Came Home reveals the catastrophic impact of this global conflict on ordinary Ottomans. Drawing on a wide range of sources—from petitions, diaries, and newspapers to folk songs and religious texts—Yiğit Akın examines how Ottoman men and women experienced war on the home front as government authorities intervened ever more ruthlessly in their lives. The horrors of war brought home, paired with the empire's growing demands on its people, fundamentally reshaped interactions between Ottoman civilians, the military, and the state writ broadly. Ultimately, Akın argues that even as the empire lost the war on the battlefield, it was the destructiveness of the Ottoman state's wartime policies on the home front that led to the empire's disintegration.Trade Review"When the War Came Home is an authoritative social history among the many recent works on the Ottoman experience of World War I. Based on an imaginative array of sources, Yiğit Akın portrays meticulously and eloquently the upended lives of civilians and soldiers in the morass of the Middle East's fateful war."—Hasan Kayalı, University of California, San Diego"Yiğit Akın's treatment of the Ottoman homefront represents a critical breakthrough in the study of the First World War. Drawing upon highly original and interesting archival sources, as well as previously untapped published material, Akin vividly depicts the many hardships faced by Ottoman civilians during the course of the conflict. The book's artful prose makes it an engaging read for both students and scholars of the war, adding to its critical value for readers well beyond the field of modern Middle Eastern history."—Ryan Gingeras, Naval Postgraduate School"Yiğit Akın has written a pioneering study, examining the long-neglected Ottoman home front during World War I. When the War Came Home illuminates the war's deep social and economic impact on the empire's civilian population."—Mustafa Aksakal, Georgetown University"WW I has long been a topic of interest for Ottoman scholars, but the Ottoman home front has been largely ignored or, at best, unevenly treated. In this book Akın (Tulane Univ.) shows that the length and scale of the war meant that everyone in the Ottoman empire was affected....Akın's research was extensive (he even usedoften-ignored folklore), and it enabled him to provide vivid descriptions ofthose left behind struggling to meet the state's growing material demands, succumbing to starvation and banditry, and becoming increasingly alienated from the state."—R.W. Zens, Choice"Yiğit Akın's book, When the War Came Home: The Ottomans' Great War and the Devastation of an Empire, is a well-researched and sophisticated study of the impact of the Great War on Ottoman politics, society, and culture....Akın's study of the Ottoman civilian experience of the Great War brings to life a rich trove of sources. The book's strong research base, its sophisticated and multidisciplinary analysis, and comparative approach make it a valuable addition to the lively field of Ottoman Great War studies and to the broader scholarship on the history of the Great War."—Najwa Al-Qattan, H-Diplo, H-Net Reviews"Akın's When the War Came Home is an important historical revision that fully portrays the imperial home front for the first time. Moreover, this unique interdisciplinary work reconsiders existing temporal, geographical, and methodological approaches to the study of World War I in the Middle East."––Melanie S. Tanielian, Journal of Interdisciplinary History"Yiğit Akın's fascinating book is an essential read for anyone interested in the history of World War I, the late Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey and is certain to occupy an important place in these fields for many years to come."—Erdem Sönmez, European History QuarterlyTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. From the Balkan Wars to the Great War 2. From the Fields to the Ranks 3. Filling the Ranks, Emptying Homes 4. Feeding the Army, Starving the People 5. In the Home: Wives and Mothers 6. On the Road: Refugees and Deportees Conclusion

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Ottoman Empire was unprepared for the massive conflict of World War I. Lacking the infrastructure and resources necessary to wage a modern war, the empire's statesmen reached beyond the battlefield to sustain their war effort. They placed unprecedented hardships onto the shoulders of the Ottoman people: mass conscription, a state-controlled economy, widespread food shortages, and ethnic cleansing. By war's end, few aspects of Ottoman daily life remained untouched. When the War Came Home reveals the catastrophic impact of this global conflict on ordinary Ottomans. Drawing on a wide range of sources—from petitions, diaries, and newspapers to folk songs and religious texts—Yiğit Akın examines how Ottoman men and women experienced war on the home front as government authorities intervened ever more ruthlessly in their lives. The horrors of war brought home, paired with the empire's growing demands on its people, fundamentally reshaped interactions between Ottoman civilians, the military, and the state writ broadly. Ultimately, Akın argues that even as the empire lost the war on the battlefield, it was the destructiveness of the Ottoman state's wartime policies on the home front that led to the empire's disintegration.Trade Review"When the War Came Home is an authoritative social history among the many recent works on the Ottoman experience of World War I. Based on an imaginative array of sources, Yiğit Akın portrays meticulously and eloquently the upended lives of civilians and soldiers in the morass of the Middle East's fateful war."—Hasan Kayalı, University of California, San Diego"Yiğit Akın's treatment of the Ottoman homefront represents a critical breakthrough in the study of the First World War. Drawing upon highly original and interesting archival sources, as well as previously untapped published material, Akin vividly depicts the many hardships faced by Ottoman civilians during the course of the conflict. The book's artful prose makes it an engaging read for both students and scholars of the war, adding to its critical value for readers well beyond the field of modern Middle Eastern history."—Ryan Gingeras, Naval Postgraduate School"Yiğit Akın has written a pioneering study, examining the long-neglected Ottoman home front during World War I. When the War Came Home illuminates the war's deep social and economic impact on the empire's civilian population."—Mustafa Aksakal, Georgetown University"WW I has long been a topic of interest for Ottoman scholars, but the Ottoman home front has been largely ignored or, at best, unevenly treated. In this book Akın (Tulane Univ.) shows that the length and scale of the war meant that everyone in the Ottoman empire was affected....Akın's research was extensive (he even usedoften-ignored folklore), and it enabled him to provide vivid descriptions ofthose left behind struggling to meet the state's growing material demands, succumbing to starvation and banditry, and becoming increasingly alienated from the state."—R.W. Zens, Choice"Yiğit Akın's book, When the War Came Home: The Ottomans' Great War and the Devastation of an Empire, is a well-researched and sophisticated study of the impact of the Great War on Ottoman politics, society, and culture....Akın's study of the Ottoman civilian experience of the Great War brings to life a rich trove of sources. The book's strong research base, its sophisticated and multidisciplinary analysis, and comparative approach make it a valuable addition to the lively field of Ottoman Great War studies and to the broader scholarship on the history of the Great War."—Najwa Al-Qattan, H-Diplo, H-Net Reviews"Akın's When the War Came Home is an important historical revision that fully portrays the imperial home front for the first time. Moreover, this unique interdisciplinary work reconsiders existing temporal, geographical, and methodological approaches to the study of World War I in the Middle East."––Melanie S. Tanielian, Journal of Interdisciplinary History"Yiğit Akın's fascinating book is an essential read for anyone interested in the history of World War I, the late Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey and is certain to occupy an important place in these fields for many years to come."—Erdem Sönmez, European History QuarterlyTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. From the Balkan Wars to the Great War 2. From the Fields to the Ranks 3. Filling the Ranks, Emptying Homes 4. Feeding the Army, Starving the People 5. In the Home: Wives and Mothers 6. On the Road: Refugees and Deportees Conclusion

Read more less

Book SynopsisAt the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, where the victorious Allied powers met to reenvision the map of Europe in the aftermath of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson's influence on the remapping of borders was profound. But it was his impact on the modern political structuring of Eastern Europe that would be perhaps his most enduring international legacy: neither Czechoslovakia nor Yugoslavia exist today, but their geopolitical presence persisted across the twentieth century from the end of World War I to the end of the Cold War. They were created in large part thanks to Wilson's advocacy, and in particular, his Fourteen Points speech of January 1918, which hinged in large part on the concept of national self-determination. But despite his deep involvement in the region's geopolitical transformation, President Wilson never set eyes on Eastern Europe, and never traveled to a single one of the eastern lands whose political destiny he so decisively influenced. Eastern Europe, invented in the age of Enlightenment by the travelers and philosophies of Western Europe, was reinvented on the map of the early twentieth century with the crucial intervention of an American president who deeply invested his political and emotional energies in lands that he would never visit. This book traces how Wilson's emerging definition of national self-determination and his practical application of the principle changed over time as negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference unfolded. Larry Wolff exposes the contradictions between Wilson's principles and their implementation in the peace settlement for Eastern Europe, and sheds light on how his decisions were influenced by both personal relationships and his growing awareness of the history of the Ottoman and Habsburg empires.Trade Review"A significant contribution to the historical scholarship on Woodrow Wilson and his role in peacemaking after World War I. Larry Wolff recognizes both the confusion and the clarity in Wilson's endeavor to implement the principle of national self-determination."—Lloyd Ambrosius, author of Woodrow Wilson and American Internationalism"The multifaceted author Larry Wolff returns to deal with the theme that he confronted in Inventing Eastern Europe, adding now the key element that concerns what we know about Wilson's commitment to the contradictory political construction that became Central Europe from 1919 to 1989."—Il Sole 24 Ore"Wolff's enthralling account traces the way the president's principles clashed with the messy reality of historical frontiers and political rivalries in the region."—Maria Lipman, Foreign Affairs"[A] meticulously researched and compelling book....Making use of a wide range of original sources, including transcripts of conversations among the leaders of the 'Big Four' at Versailles, this work enriches the understanding of Wilsonian statecraft. Highly recommended."—M J. Birkner, CHOICETable of ContentsIntroduction: 1. Woodrow Wilson, the Eastern Question, and the End of the Ottoman Empire 2. "This War of Emancipation": The Wilsonian Deliverance of the "Enslaved" Habsburg Peoples 3. Wilsonian Friendship: Personal Sympathy and Geopolitical Transformation 4. National Majorities and National Minorities in Wilsonian Eastern Europe Conclusion: The Dynamics of Wilsonian Mental Mapping

Read more less

Book SynopsisAt the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, where the victorious Allied powers met to reenvision the map of Europe in the aftermath of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson's influence on the remapping of borders was profound. But it was his impact on the modern political structuring of Eastern Europe that would be perhaps his most enduring international legacy: neither Czechoslovakia nor Yugoslavia exist today, but their geopolitical presence persisted across the twentieth century from the end of World War I to the end of the Cold War. They were created in large part thanks to Wilson's advocacy, and in particular, his Fourteen Points speech of January 1918, which hinged in large part on the concept of national self-determination. But despite his deep involvement in the region's geopolitical transformation, President Wilson never set eyes on Eastern Europe, and never traveled to a single one of the eastern lands whose political destiny he so decisively influenced. Eastern Europe, invented in the age of Enlightenment by the travelers and philosophies of Western Europe, was reinvented on the map of the early twentieth century with the crucial intervention of an American president who deeply invested his political and emotional energies in lands that he would never visit. This book traces how Wilson's emerging definition of national self-determination and his practical application of the principle changed over time as negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference unfolded. Larry Wolff exposes the contradictions between Wilson's principles and their implementation in the peace settlement for Eastern Europe, and sheds light on how his decisions were influenced by both personal relationships and his growing awareness of the history of the Ottoman and Habsburg empires.Trade Review"A significant contribution to the historical scholarship on Woodrow Wilson and his role in peacemaking after World War I. Larry Wolff recognizes both the confusion and the clarity in Wilson's endeavor to implement the principle of national self-determination."—Lloyd Ambrosius, author of Woodrow Wilson and American Internationalism"The multifaceted author Larry Wolff returns to deal with the theme that he confronted in Inventing Eastern Europe, adding now the key element that concerns what we know about Wilson's commitment to the contradictory political construction that became Central Europe from 1919 to 1989."—Il Sole 24 Ore"Wolff's enthralling account traces the way the president's principles clashed with the messy reality of historical frontiers and political rivalries in the region."—Maria Lipman, Foreign Affairs"[A] meticulously researched and compelling book....Making use of a wide range of original sources, including transcripts of conversations among the leaders of the 'Big Four' at Versailles, this work enriches the understanding of Wilsonian statecraft. Highly recommended."—M J. Birkner, CHOICETable of ContentsIntroduction: 1. Woodrow Wilson, the Eastern Question, and the End of the Ottoman Empire 2. "This War of Emancipation": The Wilsonian Deliverance of the "Enslaved" Habsburg Peoples 3. Wilsonian Friendship: Personal Sympathy and Geopolitical Transformation 4. National Majorities and National Minorities in Wilsonian Eastern Europe Conclusion: The Dynamics of Wilsonian Mental Mapping

Read more less

Book SynopsisMoving and inspired book ... An evocative and deeply affecting requiem for what might have been.' - Douglas Smith, author of Rasputin and Former PeopleA World on Edge reveals Europe in 1918, left in ruins by World War I. But with the end of hostilities, a radical new start seems not only possible, but essential, even unavoidable. Unorthodox ideas light up the age like the comets that have recently passed overhead: new politics, new societies, new art and culture, new thinking. The struggle to determine the future has begun.The sculptor Käthe Kollwitz, whose son died in the war, was translating sorrow and loss into art. Ho Chi Minh was working as a dishwasher in Paris and dreaming of liberating Vietnam, his homeland. Captain Harry S. Truman was running a men’s haberdashery in Kansas City, hardly expecting that he was about to go bankrupt – and later become president of the United States. Professor Moina Michael was about to invent the 'remembrance poppy', a symbol of sacrifice that will stand for generations to come. Meanwhile Virginia Woolf had just published her first book and was questioning whether that sacrifice was worth it, while the artist George Grosz was so revolted by the violence on the streets of Berlin that he decides everything is meaningless. For rulers and revolutionaries, a world of power and privilege was dying – while for others, a dream of overthrowing democracy was being born.With novelistic virtuosity, historian Daniel Schönpflug describes this watershed year as it was experienced on the ground – open ended, unfathomable, its outcome unclear. Told from the vantage points of people, famous and ordinary, good and evil, who lived through the turmoil and combining a multitude of acutely observed details, Schönpflug composes a brilliantly conceived panorama of a world suspended between enthusiasm and disappointment, and of a moment in which the window of opportunity was suddenly open, only to quickly close shut once again.Trade Review‘Outstanding . . . a wonderfully stimulating guide to a world that knew it had changed utterly but was fearful about where it was heading.’ * Evening Standard *With great care, a marvellous eye for detail and a highly accomplished style, [Daniel Schönpflug] reveals this time anew and allows readers to rediscover the twentieth century and themselves. A masterpiece. -- Philipp Blom, author of Fracture: Life and Culture in the West, 1918–1938Historian Daniel Schönpflug gives us a kaleidoscope of sparkling stories . . . elegantly composed and beautifully written. -- Alexander Gallus * Die Zeit *For a brief moment a century ago the end of the Great War offered peace and the prospect of a bright new social order to a dark, ravaged Europe. In his moving and inspired book, historian Daniel Schönpflug recreates how these days were experienced by the people who lived them—their struggles, dreams, and desires—and traces the elusive fate of their noble visions. An evocative and deeply affecting requiem for what might have been. -- Douglas Smith, author of Rasputin and Former PeopleThis turbulent era left its mark on the biographies of people fromall walks of life. Schönpflug introduces readers to all theseindividual stories so vividly you could almost think they onlyhappened a few moments ago. -- Sibylle Lewitscharoff, author of Blumenberg

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe First World War was one of the deadliest conflicts in modern history and produced horrors undreamed of by the young men who cheerfully volunteered for a war that was supposed to be over by Christmas. Whether in the patriotic enthusiasm of Rupert Brooke, the disillusionment of Charles Hamilton Sorley, or the bitter denunciations of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, the war produced an astonishing outpouring of powerful poetry. Edited by author and editor Marcus Clapham, the major poets are all represented in this beautiful Macmillan Collector’s Library anthology, Poetry of the First World War, alongside many others whose voices are less well known, and their verse is accompanied by contemporary motifs.Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe noted historian Richard Cobb presents an engaging synthesis of research, combined with highly original observations and analyses of the war years in France. The reader is given access to a unique private chronicle of the relations between occupants and occupés, which provides the "I was there" understanding that is a hallmark of Cobb's well-known ability to humanize history. The author characterizes this work as "an essay in interpretation and imagination, an evocation drawing heavily on literary, or semi-literary, sources and even on autobiography, rather than a straight piece of history. The book is about people, individuals, rather than about institutions and administration." A recognized classic is now back in print.

Read more less

Book Synopsis1918 proved to be the Allies’ year of victory, but what a monumental effort it was! From the moment Germany launched its all-out Spring offensive to win the war, British and Empire troops fought a tenacious and often last-ditch rearguard action. The Germans gambled with their best, battle-hardened men in one desperate offensive after another, searching for a decisive breakthrough that never came. In those dark days of March, April and May 1918, Allied troops were tested as never before, their morale placed under microscopic scrutiny, their will to win examined and re-examined. Once again, the soldiers tell their story, giving their own perceptive thoughts and profoundly moving insights while never forgetting the humour that helped them survive. And when the tables were turned in August, there began a campaign that would throw the enemy across the old ruptured battlefields of 1916 and 1917 and beyond, into open untouched countryside in the full bloom of summer. It took a hundred days of relentless fighting to reach Mons, the Belgian town where it had all started four years before. A century on, best-selling First World War historian Richard van Emden builds on the success of his previous books, The Somme and The Road to Passchendaele, with this next volume including an extraordinary collection of soldiers’ photographs taken on their illegally-held cameras. Utilising an unparalleled collection of memoirs, diaries and letters written by the men who fought, Richard tells the riveting story of 1918, when decisive victory was grasped from near catastrophe.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn War Fever, celebrated sports historians Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith explore the monumental changes taking place in Boston during the Great War through the stories of three men: Karl Muck, the German conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Charles Whittlesey, a Harvard Law Student who was called to service and became an unlikely leader; and perhaps the most famous baseball player of all time, Babe Ruth. Each was cast into the turmoil of the war, and each emerged as a public figure of one sort or another: one a villain, one a hero, one an athlete.Throughout the war, Bostonians lived on high alert; fearing an attack on the city's harbor, mines were anchored in the bay and a wire net stretched across the channels to prevent German submarines from encroaching. In an ethnically diverse city, fraught with tension between interventionists and pacifists, the war unleashed intolerance, hostility, and xenophobia. Together, the stories of these three men reveal how a city and a nation confronted the havoc of a new world order, the struggle to endure the war, and all its unforeseen consequences. At once a gripping narrative of American culture in upheaval and a sweeping account of the conflict, War Fever is narrative history at its best.

Read more less

Book SynopsisPublishing during the 100th Anniversary of the First World War   An NYRB Classics Original   The budding young Hungarian artist Béla Zombory-Moldován was on holiday when the First World War broke out in July 1914. Called up by the army, he soon found himself hundreds of miles away, advancing on Russian lines and facing relentless rifle and artillery fire. Badly wounded, he returned to normal life, which now struck him as unspeakably strange. He had witnessed, he realized, the end of a way of life, of a whole world. Published here for the first time in any language, this extraordinary reminiscence is a powerful addition to the literature of the war that defined the shape of the twentieth century.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisAs the site of royal coronations, Reims cathedral was a monument to French national history and identity. But after German troops bombed the cathedral during World War I, it took on new meaning. The French reimagined it as a martyr of civilisation, as the rupture between the warring states. The resulting battle of words and images stressed the differences between German "Kultur" and French "civilisation". Artists and intelligentsia caricatured this entrenched cultural dichotomy, influencing portrayals of the two nations in the international press. Ultimately, despite a history of mutual respect, the bombing of the cathedral caused all social, scientific, artistic, and cultural ties between Germany and France to be severed for decades. This book explores the structure's breadth of meaning in symbolic, art historical, and historical arenas, including competing claims over the origins of Gothic art and architecture as national style and issues of monument preservation and restoration. It highlights how vulnerable art is during war and how the destruction of national monuments can set the tone for international conflict. Gaehtgens articulates how these nations began to mend their relationship in the decades after World War II, starting with the courageous vision of Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer, and how the cathedral of Reims was eventually transformed into a site of reconciliation and European unification.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe pages of history recall scarcely any parallel episode at once so romantic in character and so extensive in scale." ,Winston S. ChurchillIn 1917, two empires that had dominated much of Europe and Asia teetered on the edge of the abyss, exhausted by the ruinous cost in blood and treasure of the First World War. As Imperial Russia and Habsburg-ruled Austria-Hungary began to succumb, a small group of Czech and Slovak combat veterans stranded in Siberia saw an opportunity to realize their long-held dream of independence.While their plan was audacious and complex, and involved moving their 50,000-strong army by land and sea across three-quarters of the earth's expanse, their commitment to fight for the Allies on the Western Front riveted the attention of Allied London, Paris, and Washington.On their journey across Siberia, a brawl erupted at a remote Trans-Siberian rail station that sparked a wholesale rebellion. The marauding Czecho-Slovak Legion seized control of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and with it Siberia. In the end, this small band of POWs and deserters, whose strength was seen by Leon Trotsky as the chief threat to Soviet rule, helped destroy the Austro-Hungarian Empire and found Czecho-Slovakia.British prime minister David Lloyd George called their adventure one of the greatest epics of history," and former US president Teddy Roosevelt declared that their accomplishments were unparalleled, so far as I know, in ancient or modern warfare."Trade Review"An epic story unknown even to many World War I history buffs...With admirable energy [McNamara] has assembled the story by piecing together archival records and the memoirs of the gallant men who served in the rejuvenated Czech Legion during the fateful spring and summer of 1918...A fascinating narrative." --Wall Street Journal "This incredible story lives up to its billing. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about it, though, is that it's a fable that's remained largely untold. Until now...A captivating tale, brilliantly told." --History of War "Extraordinary... McNamara, an impressive storyteller armed with a treasure of documents only recently available, ably narrates the remarkable feats of these men who fought every inch of the way... A fantastic addition to the shelves of World War I histories." --Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review "In this captivating narrative history, foreign policy scholar McNamara reveals the obscure yet grand story of how a small, motley, and hastily organized army ushered in the founding of the nation of Czechoslovakia." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "A valuable story that is relatively unknown and understood in the West... McNamara's work presents a vital first entry that opens the doors on this integral part of World War I history and the shaping of the Soviet-influenced Eastern European political and social fabric." --Library Journal "Kevin J. McNamara highlights this bizarre and heroic story...Much of his extensive source material is only recently available, and he uses it well. The brave misadventures of the Czech Legion deserve the wider recognition this fascinating history should provide." --Shelf Awareness "The saga of the Czech-Slovak Legion is one of the great unknown stories of the twentieth century. Kevin J. McNamara brings these fighters back to life by presenting their firsthand account of their travails in World War I and the Russian Civil War. His engaging and valuable work should be required reading for students of the period--and for anyone interested in stories of hardship and heroism." --Max Boot, author of Invisible Armies

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhen the United States officially entered World War I in 1917, it was woefully underprepared for chemical warfare, in which the British, French, and Germans had been engaged since 1915. In response, the U.S. Army created an entirely new branch: the Chemical Warfare Service. The army turned to trained chemists and engineers to lead the charge—and called on an array of others, including baseball players, to fill out the ranks.The Gas and Flame Men is the first full account of Major League ballplayers who served in the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I. Four players, two club executives, and a manager served in the small and hastily formed branch, six of them as gas officers. Remarkably, five of the seven—Christy Mathewson, Branch Rickey, Ty Cobb, George Sisler, and Eppa “Jeptha” Rixey—are now enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York. The son of a sixth Hall of Famer, player and manager Ned Hanlon, was a young officer killed in action in France with the First Gas Regiment. Prominent chemical soldiers also included veteran Major League catcher and future manager George “Gabby” Street and Boston Braves president and former Harvard football coach Percy D. Haughton.The Gas and Flame Men explores how these famous baseball men, along with an eclectic mix of polo players, collegiate baseball and football stars, professors, architects, and prominent social figures all came together in the Chemical Warfare Service. Jim Leeke examines their service and its long-term effects on their physical and mental health—and on Major League Baseball and the world of sports. The Gas and Flame Men also addresses historical inaccuracies and misperceptions surrounding Christy Mathewson’s early death from tuberculosis in 1925, long attributed to wartime gas exposure. Trade Review"Historian Leeke . . . offers a meticulous and informative account of the Chemical Warfare Service, an army unit hastily formed when the U.S. entered WWI to catch up to the conflict's extensive reliance on new weapons like flamethrowers and poison gas. . . . [The Gas and Flame Men is] an enjoyable and distinctive blend of war story and sports chronicle. It will appeal especially to baseball history buffs."—Publishers Weekly“Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, Eppa Rixey, and Branch Rickey—all members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Gas and Flame Men during the Great War. Jim Leeke knows the connection between baseball and the war better than anybody. He’ll keep you turning pages as he tells their stories, and more.”—Jan Finkel, 2012 recipient of SABR’s Bob Davids Award“Jim Leeke scores again with The Gas and Flame Men, delivering a fascinating account of America’s World War I response to German chemical warfare and the important part a group of Major League Baseball stars and other key sports figures played in it.”—Rick Huhn, author of The Chalmers Race: Ty Cobb, Napoleon Lajoie, and the Controversial 1910 Batting Title That Became a National Obsession“To steal a baseball term, The Gas and Flame Men is an out-of-the-park grand slam. No one knows more than Jim Leeke about the intersection of America’s national pastime and the Great War. A wonderful story you won’t want to put down.”—Mitchell Yockelson, author of Forty-Seven Days: How Pershing’s Warriors Came of Age to Defeat the German Army in World War ITable of ContentsList of Illustrations 1. Nashville 2. Gabby 3. Frightfulness 4. Winter 5. Good Scout 6. CWS 7. France 8. Summer 9. Final Innings 10. Shipping Out 11. Autumn 12. Coignes 13. Homecomings 14. Saranac Lake 15. Cooperstown Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisBy the end of World War I, 45,000 Australians had died on the Western Front. Some bodies had been hastily buried mid-battle in massed graves; others were mutilated beyond recognition. Often men were simply listed as 'Missing in Action' because nobody knew for sure.Lieutenant Robert Burns was one of the missing, and now that the guns had fallen silent his father wanted to know what had become of his son. He wasn't the only one looking for answers. A loud clamour arose from Australia for information and the need for the dead to be buried respectfully. Many of the Australians charged with the grisly task of finding and reburying the dead were deeply flawed. Each had his own reasons for preferring to remain in France instead of returning home. In the end there was a great scandal, with allegations of 'body hoaxing' and gross misappropriation of money and army possessions leading to two highly secretive inquiries. Untold until now, Missing in Action is the compelling and unexpected story of those dark days and darker deeds and a father's desperate search for his son's remains.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAdolf Hitler, writing in Mein Kampf, was scathing in his condemnation of German propaganda in World War I, declaring that Germany failed to recognise that the mobilization of public opinion was a weapon of the first order. This, despite the fact that propaganda had been regarded by the German leadership, arguably for the first time, as an intrinsic part of the war effort. In this book, David Welch fully examines German society - politics, propaganda, public opinion and total war - in the Great War. Drawing on a wide range of sources - posters, newspapers, journals, film, Parliamentary debates, police and military reports and private papers - he argues that the moral collapse of Germany was due less to the failure to disseminate propaganda than to the inability of the military authorities and the Kaiser to reinforce this propaganda, and to acknowledge the importance of public opinion in forging an effective link between leadership and the people.Trade Review"This is the most important book about German information policy, including censorship, 1914-18, ever written. David Welch has written a brilliant book about the uses of propaganda by Germany in World War I to instruct, uplift and control domestic opinion in a time of total war." David Culbert, Professor of History, Louisiana State University, USA. "..throws fresh light not only on the propaganda history of the Great War, but also on why the German people were able and willing to sustain their support for their government's war effort. David Welch has made yet another significant contribution to the history of the Twentieth Century - the people's century, the century of total war and of the communications revolution." Philip M. Taylor (1954-2010), Professor of International Communications, University of Leeds, UK ."..its contribution to the growing historiography of the First World War and its social, cultural and intellectual impact is clear. This book will appeal to general readers in European history as well as specialists in German history or the First World War and is now among the important works dealing with the origins of propaganda as a factor in modern politics." Vejas Liulevicius, "Journal of Modern History"."..[an] extraordinarily wide-ranging, intelligent and authoritative study...an outstanding piece of historical scholarship. Throughout the book, Welch sustains a complex and subtle analysis that provides his readers with an entirely new understanding of both the devastating German experience of the First World War on the home front and the ill-considered domestic policies that were, to such a large extent, responsible for their experience." Nicholas Reeves, "Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television"Table of ContentsPreface to the paperback edition Introduction Days of Decision: Germany on the Eve of War The Mobilization of the Masses War Aims The Crucible of War Dissenting Voices: Pacifism, Feminist Ferment and the Women’s Movement War Aims Again Civilians ‘Fall-In’ Defeat and revolution Conclusion: ‘The Sins of Omission’

Read more less

Book SynopsisWinner of the Military History Matters Book of the Year Award 2019 By August 1918, the outcome of the Great War was not in doubt: the Allies would win. But what was unclear was how this defeat would play out - would the Germans hold on, prolonging the fighting deep into 1919, with the loss of hundreds of thousands more young lives, or could the war be won in 1918? In The Last Battle, Peter Hart, author of Gallipoli and The Great War, and oral historian at the Imperial War Museum, brings to life the dramatic final weeks of the war, as men fought to secure victory, with survival seemingly only days, or hours away. Drawing on the experience of both generals and ordinary soldiers, and dwelling with equal weight on strategy, tactics and individual experience, this is a powerful and detailed account of history's greatest endgame.Trade ReviewThis superbly written history demonstrates conclusively the skill and professionalism of the British Army in 1918. -- Simon Shaw * Mail on Sunday *A superb account of the tactics that finally brought victory on the Western Front. The Last Battle pays just tribute to the allied military achievement of 1918, too often forgotten in our preoccupation with earlier horrors. -- Max Hastings * The Times *Thought provoking, erudite, yet eminently readable and entertaining: Peter Hart is a historian and author at the peak of his powers -- Richard van EmdenA fantastic book...If you're going to read one book on 1918 for this centenary, there's no doubt that Peter's book is it. -- Paul Reed * World at War *A thoroughly readable, yet authoritative, account of one of the most dramatic periods of 20th Century history, one which deserves to be far better known. It deserves a place on the bookshelf of every serious student of the Great War and I cannot recommend it too strongly. -- Jack Sheldon, author of The Germany Army on the Somme 1914-1916Peter Hart has a happy knack of blending a high-level of abstraction (the politics, grand strategy and operational) with the personal and minute, and making it work for the reader... The narrative is highly educational and The Last Battle certainly makes for a good read. -- Chris Baker * The Long, Long Trail *Well written, with an exceptional collection of personal narratives, this book provides a fascinating look at the last four months of World War I. -- Jerry D. Lenaburg, Senior Military AnalystThis is an excellent highly readable book that should appeal to all students of military history and a worthy addition to the author's previous titles. -- Stephen McGreal, HistorianA consistent writer who has the skill of a fine storyteller...Hopefully we will see more from Peter in good time, and if you are wise enough to read The Last Battle, it should lead you to his earlier work. You will not be disappointed. -- Mark Barnes * War History Online *Arguably the most significant book produced in the centenary year of the Armistice and is a masterfully written and constructed work...a book which is not only more than praiseworthy but is one which will stand as the definitive work on perhaps the most important period of the entire war. -- Andy Saunders * Britain at War *A superb account of the tactics that won the First World War on the Western Front. * Sunday Times Culture *Peter Hart, in his commendable book...offers us a first-class analysis as to why the British Army succeeded operationally...One of the best books, among the very large number that the First World War centenary has produced, at describing how soldiers actually think and feel, written by a historian who has a rare intuition for his subject. -- Barney White-Spunner * Country Life *At last we have a book that really does these events justice...Hart skilfully navigates the reader through the rival national narratives that each claim credit as architects of the final victory...Hart has delivered a well balanced, enlightening history that enables the reader to make sense of an exciting but potentially confusing chapter of the war. -- Mike Peters * Soldier Magazine, Pick of the Month *Hart is an accomplished historian displaying a sound knowledge of the war, its challenges and difficulties, and the manner in which they were overcome. Like his other books, The Last Battle: Endgame on the Western Front,1918 embraces the human face of war within a largely operational narrative that is balanced and fair in its commentary, and gives credit where credit is due... Once picked up, it will be hard to put down. * Brigadier Chris Roberts *A superb account of the tactics that won the First World War on the Western Front. * Sunday Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisBlack Tommies is the first book entirely dedicated to the part played by soldiers of African descent in the British regular army during the First World War. If African colonial troops have been ignored by historians, the existence of any substantial narrative around Black British soldiers enlisting in the United Kingdom during the First World War is equally unknown, even in military circles. Much more material is now coming to light, such as the oral testimony of veterans, and the author has researched widely to gather fresh and original material for this fascinating book from primary documentary sources in archives to private material kept in the metaphorical (and actual) shoe boxes of descendants of black Tommies. Reflecting the global nature of the conflict, Black Tommies takes us on a journey from Africa to the Caribbean and North America to the streets of British port cities such as Cardiff, Liverpool and those of North Eastern England. This exciting book also explodes the myth of Second Lieutenant Walter Tull being the first, or only, black officer in the British Army and endeavours to give the narrative of black soldiers a firm basis for future scholars to build upon by tackling an area of British history previously ignored.Trade ReviewReviews 'The book has many strengths, notably the extensive utilization of archival sources and private family letters and images. It also helps to elucidate the operation of social Darwinism in British society and in the military.... I would recommend this book to those interested in such fields as the British Empire, military history, and world history. They will find this book captivating.' Paul Brenard, H-War'This is a well researched and written title on a forgotten part of the Great War and is highly recommended.' Paul Reed, WW1 Centenary'The book has many strengths, notably the extensive utilization of archival sources and private family letters and images....I would recommend this book to those interested in such fields as the British Empire, military history, and world history. They will find this book captivating.' Paul Brenard Chiudza Banda, H-Net Reviews'Costello has produced a well-written, interesting, and pioneering book that will undoubtedly serve as a base for future research on Britain’s black servicemen of the First World War and, one hopes, beyond.' Tim Stapleton, Journal of British Studies‘Costello’s well-researched and engagingly written study shows clearly how, while small in numbers, British born or naturalised black soldiers contributed to the war itself, as well as to life in British ports, and British officers’ perceptions of race during the war years…Costello’s book is engagingly written and will appeal to a wide readership, both inside and outside the academy.’Oliver Coates, Journal of African Military History Table of Contents Acknowledgements List of illustrations Introduction Chapter One: Whose War? Chapter Two: The Invisible Army-The Search Chapter Three: Black Volunteers-The Empire and Beyond Chapter Four: Black Officers, White Soldiers Chapter Five: The Empire Arrives-Conscription Chapter Six: The Return of the Heroes Epilogue Notes and References

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1915, the biggest plane yet seen in Britain took flight, a twin-engine monster with a 100-foot wingspan. Handley Page bombers attacked German cities, disrupting the enemy's industry and crippling its war effort. The men that flew in the 'Bloody Paralysers' were the forerunners of Bomber Command in World War 2 and their story is told in their own words.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Lion and the Rose tells the story of an infantry battalion in the Great War. Based on many unpublished sources, the book narrates the individual parts played by nearly 2,000 of those who served with the 4th King's Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment from the day that war was declared in 1914 until the armistice in 1918 and in a few cases, the stories of men whose war continued long afterwards. The battalion first saw action in Festubert in May 1915 and went on to fight on the Somme, the Ypres Salient and Gillemont Farm, though the battalion's epic stand at Givenchy on 9 April 1918 must rate as one of the greatest defensive actions of the war. Using contemporary combat reports, many of the major actions are described down to individual platoon level. The Lion and the Rose does not just concentrate on the major battles, but also examines everyday life in the trenches. Appendices give the most complete battalion roll to date and list those awarded medals for their bravery and also those nominated unsuccessfully for recognition.

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Teutonic Titans: Hindenburg, Ludendorff, and the Kaiser's Military Elite' covers the era 1847-1955-heavily illustrated with over 500 images of German Emperor Wilhelm II's First World War marshals and generals, emphasizing their lives, careers, battles, and campaigns. The book covers both Western and Eastern Fronts, as well as the Balkans, Baltics, Middle, and Far East. It is also heavily detailed with maps, cartoons, graphics, and photographs, plus descriptions of strategies, tactics, weapons, statistics on all losses, and results. Period cartoons add to the vast array of photographic sources worldwide: United States National Archives and Library of Congress, Washington and College Park, Maryland; Imperial War Museum London: Bundesarchiv, Bonn, and also His Majesty's own albums at Doorn House, Holland, many of them previously unpublished. German Crown Prince Wilhelm and Bavarian Crown Prince Rupprecht, all German Chiefs of General Staff and War Ministers are detailed as well, plus all top Allied leaders and commanders: Woodrow Wilson, John J. Pershing; David Lloyd George, King George V, Sir Douglas Haig, and Sir John French among them; Tsar Nicholas II, Grand Duke Michael, and more; Frenchmen Henri Petain, Joffre, Foch, and Weygand; as well as those of Serbia, Italy, Greece, Rumania, and Bulgaria.Table of ContentsPreface; Acknowledgments; Timeline of Events; 1 Stage, 1847-1914; 2 East, 1914-18; 3 Middle East, 1914-18; 4 Balkan States, 1916-18; 5 Baltic States, 1916-18; 6 West, 1914-18; 7 Armistice and Revolution, 1918-20; 8 Weimar Republic, 1921-31; 9 Nazis, 1932-34; 10 Scepters, 1935-36; 11 Swastikas, 1937-45; 12 Imperial & Royal Exits, 1951-55; Bibliography.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Missing of the Somme has become a classic meditation upon war and remembrance. It weaves a network of myth and memory, photos and films, poetry and sculptures, graveyards and ceremonies that illuminate our understanding of, and relationship to, the Great War.Trade ReviewThe great Great War book of our time * * Observer * *Articulates a response to the Great War which many feel, but no one has analysed so scrupulously * * Spectator * *A penetrating meditation upon war and remembrance * * Daily Telegraph * *Dyer is excellent on the different ambitions and effects of municipal memorials, and on photographs and paintings -- Sebastian Faulks * * Mail on Sunday * *A gentle, patient, loving book. It is about mourning and memory, about how the Great War has been represented - and our sense of it shaped and defined - by different artistic media * * Guardian * *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe story of Allied victory in the Holy Land, far from the carnage of the Western Front but a crucial, morale-boosting success under the aggressive and forward-thinking General Allenby. Three battles for the control of the key fortress-city of Gaza took place in 1917 between the `British' force [with units from across the Empire, most notably the ANZACs] and the Turks. The Allies were repulsed twice but on theirthird attempt, under the newly appointed General Allenby, a veteran of the Western Front where he was a vocal critic of Haig's command, finally penetrated Turkish lines, captured southern Palestine and, as instructed by Lloyd George, took Jerusalem in time for Christmas, ending 400 years of Ottoman occupation. This third battle, similar in many ways to the contemporaneous fighting in France, is at the heart of this account, with consideration of intelligence, espionage, air-warfare, and diplomatic and political elements, not to mention the logistical and medical aspects of the campaign, particularly water. The generally overlooked Turkish defence, in the face of vastly superior numbers, is also assessed. Far from laying out and executing a pre-ordained plan, Allenby, who is probably still best remembered as T. E. Lawrence's commanding officer in Arabia, was flexible and adaptable, responding to developmentsas they occurred. JOHN D. GRAINGER is the author of numerous books on military history, ranging from the Roman period to the twentieth century.Trade ReviewAn excellent book. * ISRAEL BOOK REVIEW *First-class history. 10/10. * THE GREAT WAR *Grainger's analysis is informed, critical, readable and supported by a wealth of unpublished and printed primary material. [...] Makes good use of soldiers' experiences bringing to life the human dimension to the fighting in southern Palestine. * JOURNAL OF MILITARY HISTORY *Extremely good value as it is, like all books from this publisher, of high quality. [...] The one book on Palestine in the Great War that I would select. * THE BULLETIN OF THE MILITARY HISTORICAL SOCIETY *At last a brilliant detailed work on Palestine which explains the whole campaign and uses the words of the British, Anzac and Turkish forces who were there. An excellent and very informative read. * ARMCHAIR AUCTIONS *Grainger's analysis of battle tactics, from both British and Turkish perspectives, will captivate military buffs. Recommended. * CHOICE *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA rethinking of the factors which led to the American entry into the war. The complicated situation which led to the American entry into the First World War in 1917 is often explained from the perspective of public opinion, US domestic politics, or financial and economic opportunity. This book, however,reasserts the importance of diplomats and diplomacy. Based on extensive original research, the book provides a detailed examination of British, German, and American diplomacy in the period 1914-17. It argues that British and German diplomacy in this period followed the same patterns as had been established in the preceding decades. It goes on to consider key issues which concerned diplomats, including the international legality of Britain's economic blockade of Germany, Germany's use of unrestricted submarine warfare, peace initiatives, and Germany's attempt to manipulate in its favour the long history of distrust in Mexican-American relations. Overall, the book demonstrates thatdiplomats and diplomacy played a key role, thereby providing a fresh and original approach to this crucially important subject. JUSTIN QUINN OLMSTEAD is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Central Oklahoma.Trade ReviewAmid a wide-ranging body of work on US involvement in World War I, Olmstead's book supplies a fresh angle of exploration, predicated not on a series of individual events but on an underlying network of diplomacy that coursed through international relations. Those interested in US diplomatic history or the factors that influenced the United States to enter World War I will find the book especially relevant. -- H-NET REVIEWSTable of ContentsIntroduction Traditions in Foreign Policy and Diplomacy The United States and Britain's Blockade The Diplomacy of U-Boat Warfare The Peace Option Diplomatic Acquisition via Mexico Epilogue Bibliographical Essay Bibliography

Read more less

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 ReviewAlways 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 StandardBy 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' * TLS. *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 *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWorld War I was the first truly global conflict and its effects were felt across the British Empire. When war broke out in 1914, Great Britain had the largest empire, encompassing one quarter of the population of the world. Many colonial citizens were to be enlisted into the war effort and shipped from their homes in Africa, Asia and Australasia to fight on the battlefields of the Western Front. What was the experience of war like for citizens of empire, whether combatants or not? How did the empire affect countries administered by Great Britain but geographically located tens of thousands of miles from the conflict? In this book, John Connor tells the story of the people whose lives were profoundly affected by ‘someone else’s war’ – dragged, against their will, into a geopolitical conflict vastly removed from their normal lives.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements Map Introduction – The British Empire and World War I 1. 1914: The Emden in the Indian Ocean 2. Shipping, Trade and Rationing 3. 1915: The Three Battles of Aubers Ridge, France 4. Making Munitions 5. 1916: The East African Campaign 6. Dissent 7. 1917: The Battle of Messines 8. Volunteers and Conscripts 9. 1918: The Battles of Amiens and Megiddo 10. Farmers and Agriculture Notes World War I Timeline Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhen war broke out in 1914 conscription seemed unnecessary; there was no shortage of volunteers ready to lay down their lives for England. In this book Caroline Dakers explores exactly what 'England' meant to the men and women who fought, died, survived. She suggests that, with a little subliminal help from literature, art and propaganda, the British volunteer, whether factory worker, farm hand or public school boy, felt that he was fighting for a vision of 'old England' - village, church, meadow and carthorse, rather than city, factory, commerce and motor car. Drawing on a wide range of unpublished papers and family archives, Dakers recreates the world of the countryside at war, through chapters on agriculture (literally 'the home front'), and life and death in the manor house, vicarage, school and farm. And while all this was being fought for, the French countryside was being smashed into a quagmire. This is the most complete picture yet of the impact of the World War I on rural England; a war which, if only in the ubiquitous village war memorials, still reverberates today.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Preface to the Paperback Edition Introduction Over by Christmas Writers and Artists in the Countryside In the Manor House In the Village On the Farm: The Fight for Food In Foreign Fields Aftermath: The Countryside at Peace References Bibliography Inde

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe First World War has often suffered from comparison to the Second, in terms of both public interest and the significance ascribed to it by scholars in the shaping of modern Britain. This is especially so for the relationship between the Left and these two wars. For the Left, the Second World War can be seen as a time of triumph: a united stand against fascism followed by a landslide election win and a radical, reforming Labour government. The First World War is more complex. Given the gratuitous cost in lives, the failure of a ‘fit country for heroes to live in’ to materialise, the deep recessions and unemployment of the inter-war years, and the botched peace settlements which served only to precipitate another war, the Left has tended to view the conflict as an unmitigated disaster and unpardonable waste. This has led to a tendency on the Left to see the later conflict as the ‘good’ war, fought against an obvious evil, and the earlier conflict as an imperialist blunder; the result of backroom scheming, secret pacts and a thirst for colonies. This book hopes to move away from a concentration on machinations at the elite levels of the labour movement, on events inside Parliament and intellectual developments; there is a focus on less well-visited material.Trade ReviewReviews 'The first substantial text to concentrate on the importance of the patriotic dimension to the political beliefs of labour leaders, members of parliament, and a variety of ethical socialists and Marxists, thereby filling an important gap in the historiography of the British labour movement by exploring the relationship between socialists and patriotism during the Great War.' Keith Gildart, University of Wolverhampton'This is an important contribution to the ever-fascinating subject of the history of the British left with particular attention to the development of the Labor party. It is also timely as we are in the process of marking the centenary of the First World War and how it affected British society. Swift argues convincingly for its significance not only in dramatically changing the nature of the British left but also for sowing the seeds for the post–Second World War welfare state. [...] There is an impressive use of primary sources, both personal and institutional, most notably the records of the War Emergency: Workers National Committee. There are wonderfully detailed accounts of activity in support of the war in constituencies, as well as other war-related events involving the working class and local leaders.' Peter Stansky,Journal of British Studies'Through extensive use of the papers of the War Emergency Workers’ National Committee (WNC) and other trade union papers and journals, Swift offers a fresh look at pressing local concerns about such issues as food and fuel prices, pensions, and housing. He argues persuasively that during the war, the Labour Party gained a broad range of members, adopted a positive view of the role of the British state, and successfully made the case that its vision of the British economy, society, and politics was compatible with the nation’s values, laying the foundation for its achievements after WW II. Summing up: Recommended' A. H. Plunkett, CHOICE‘The study is at its best when it examines the nature of the Labour movement’s war effort, as in the work of the Workers’ National Committee – collecting information, exposing abuses, airing grievances, lobbying the government, demonstrating the value of the Labour Party at local level, keeping the various components of the party working together.’Socialist History'[Smith provides] a useful synopsis of this scholarship for historians not already familiar with it. Where Smith differs from much of this scholarship and where his greatest contribution lies, is in his examination of how Labour's experience of World War I contributed intimately to this transformation of British politics.' Jonathan Weier, Labour/Le Travail'Swift provides an important counter-narartive. [...] Unlike so much of the literature, [Swift] focuses on what the labour movement held in common, rather than on internal differences.' Duncan Bowie, The ChartistTable of ContentsList of Tables and GraphsList of IllustrationsAbbreviationsAcknowledgementsIntroduction1 ‘If this is to be a jingo, then I am a jingo’ – Labour Patriotism before 19142 ‘I’d sooner blackleg my union than blackleg my country’ – Labour Patriotism, 1914–18 August 1914 The Workers’ National Committee and Labour Support for the War Who Were the Labour Patriots? Workers and Trade Unions Anti-Germanism Labour Heroes3 ‘Middle-class peace men?’– Labour and the Anti-War Agitation Conscription, 1916–18 Wartime Strikes, 1915–18 The Anti-War Movement, 1915–18 The Leeds and Stockholm Conferences4 ‘Our Platform is Broad Enough and our Movement Big Enough’ – The War and Recruits to Labour The Conversion of Liberal and Conservative Elites Labour, Soldiers, and Ex-Servicemen The War and the Appeal to the New Electorate5 ‘The experiments are not found wanting’ – Labour and the Wartime State The Wartime Growth of the British State Labour and the Workers during the War The Impact of the War on the Relationship between the British Left and the State6 ‘The greatest democratic force British politics have known’ – Labour Cohesion and the War The Trade Unions and the Labour Party Labour and Women’s Organisations The Co-operative Movement and Labour Socialist Societies and the Labour Party The Rise and Decline of the Ultra-PatriotsConclusionBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn a time of great need for Britain, a small coterie of influential businessmen gained access to secret information on industrial mobilisation as advisers to the Principal Supply Officers Committee. They provided the state with priceless advice, but, as “insiders” utilised their access to information to build a business empire at a fraction of the normal costs. Outsiders, in contrast, lacked influence and were forced together into a defensive “ring” – or cartel – which effectively fixed prices for British warships. By the 1930s, the cartel grew into one of the most sophisticated profiteering groups of its day. This book examines the relationship between the private naval armaments industry, businessmen, and the British government defence planners between the wars. It reassesses the concept of the military-industrial complex through the impact of disarmament upon private industry, the role of leading industrialists in supply and procurement policy, and the successes and failings of government organisation. It blends together political, naval, and business history in new ways, and, by situating the business activities of industrialists alongside their work as government advisors, sheds new light on the operation of the British state. This is the story of how these men profited while effectively saving the National Government from itself.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThough largely invisible in histories of the First World War, over 550,000 men in the ranks of the Indian army were non-combatants. From the porters, stevedores and construction workers in the Coolie Corps to those who maintained supply lines and removed the wounded from the battlefield, Radhika Singha recovers the story of this unacknowledged service. The labour regimes built on the backs of these ‘coolies’ sustained the military infrastructure of empire; their deployment in interregional arenas bent to the demands of global war. Viewed as racially subordinate and subject to 'non-martial' caste designations, they fought back against their status, using the warring powers’ need for manpower as leverage to challenge traditional service hierarchies and wage differentials. 'The Coolie's Great War' views that global conflict through the lens of Indian labour, constructing a distinct geography of the war--from tribal settlements and colonial jails, beyond India's frontiers, to the battlefronts of France and Mesopotamia.Trade Review'The Coolie’s Great War is a tough read; not only because of its subject matter but also because of the extensive research and details pulsating through its pages. Bloated with archival accounts and evidence, the book does a commendable service in honouring the ones whose blood, sweat, and tears slid into the unknown.' -- The Daily Star

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1915, at the height of World War I, the Central Powers sent a secret mission, led by Oskar Ritter von Niedermayer and Werner Otto von Hentig, to the court of the emir of Afghanistan, Habibullah Khan. Jointly operated by the governments of Germany and Turkey, the aim of the mission was to persuade the emir to declare full independence from the British Empire, enter the war on the side of the Central Powers and attack British India. Britain saw this mission as a serious and credible threat - so much so that they tried to intercept the travellers in Persia en route to Kabul and subsequently implemented their own intelligence mission to ensure that Afghanistan would retain its neutral position. Jules Stewart provides a gripping account of the expedition, highlighting a previously little-known aspect of World War I.Table of ContentsThe Kaiser, the Amir and the Viceroy We’re Off to Join the Circus Into the Fearful Wasteland Saved by the War The Hindu Conspiracy The Germans are Back

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis27,000 French people were killed on 22nd August 1914, the bloodiest day in French history.This is four times more than at Waterloo, and as many in total as during the eight years of the Algerian War. Even more than the Battle of the Marne, Verdun or the Chemin des Dames. How did these men perish? In what circumstances? Does this deadly cataclysm at the very beginning of the conflict reflect the consequences of poor individual and collective choices, tactical, strategic or organizational mistakes, or quite simply bad luck?A record number of deaths in a single day unprecedented in French history cannot be a mere statistical oddity. It is the ambition of this work to provide some explanations, as well as ideas for how military strategists of the twenty-first century can avoid the combat lethality of the previous century.

Read more less