|
Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > First World War
A fresh, nuanced look at an extraordinary woman and her lifelong
fight for justice. Defying the constraints of her gender and class,
Emily Hobhouse travelled across continents and spoke out against
oppression. A passionate pacifist and a feminist, she opposed both
the 1899-1902 Anglo-Boer War and World War One, leading to
accusations of treason. Elsabe Brits travelled in her footsteps to
bring to life a colourful story of war, heroism and passion,
spanning three continents.
Die boek gee 'n voelvlugoorsig van die vier Suid-Afrikaanse
kolonies gedurende die Eduardiaanse tydperk van 1902–1910. Die
tydperk word deur Karel Schoeman beskou as die “hoogtepunt van die
hele Imperiale gedagte” wat uiteindelik met die uitbreek van die
Eerste Wereldoorlog sou eindig. Die klem val egter nie op die
politieke besluite en ontwikkelinge nie, maar op die persoonlikhede
van leiers- en ander figure, die omstandighede in die vier kolonies
met hulle stede en dorpe, belangrike sosiale gebeurtenisse, die
aanloop tot unifikasie in 1910 en die uitwerking van die belangrike
naturelle grond-wet van 1913 op die lewenswyse van swart mense
direk na Uniewording. Kort maar insiggewende tiperings word gegee
van persoonlikhede so uiteenlopend soos oudpresident Steyn, Lord
Milner, die dramaturg Stephen Black, die bendeleier Robert Foster,
die avontuurlustige Mrs Edith Maturin en die deelsaaier Kas Maine.
Ruim aanhalings uit verskillende bronne verlewendig die bespreking
van alledaagse omstandighede op verskillende plekke in wat later
die Unie van Suid-Afrika sou wees, soos die sketse van Jacob Lub
oor die lewenswyse in Johannesburg, die setlaar Leonard Flemming se
boeke oor sy eensame bestaan op 'n afgelee Vrystaatse plaas, en die
talle verwysings na riksjas in die reisbeskrywings van besoekers
aan Durban. Besonder boeiend is ook die hoofstukke oor die rol van
Joodse smouse en handelaars in onder andere die volstruisveerbedryf
en die toestande in die inrigting vir melaatses op Robbeneiland.
Talle anekdotes en klein kameebeskrywings maak van Imperiale somer
'n besonder interessante leeservaring. Die boek word toegelig met
ruim fotoseksies wat 'n visuele beeld van die era gee.
Based on many unpublished sources, this book narrates the
individual parts played by over 1,500 of those who served with the
1/5th King's Own in the Great War. First seeing action in Flanders
in March 1915, they fought in almost all of the major campaigns on
the Western Front. Initially recruited from Lancaster, Morecambe,
Blackpool and Fleetwood, this battalion was very much a 'family'
unit with many of the men closely related and no less than seven
father-son relationships within the battalion. Though these
relationships helped strengthen the men in times of need, when
casualties were suffered they brought extra heartache to the
battlefield. Often, these tragic outcomes are related in the men's
own words. Using a combination of mainly unpublished sources, this
volume details the deeds of this gallant battalion. Wherever
possible, accurate coordinates have been given for the places men
served, fought and in many cases, were wounded or died. A series of
sketch maps detail the trench locations in which the battalion
fought. An appendix listing nearly 3,500 officers and men who
served with the 1/5th is included and is the most complete
battalion roll ever published.
The Great and Holy War offers the first look at how religion
created and prolonged the First World War. At the one-hundredth
anniversary of the outbreak of the war, historian Philip Jenkins
reveals the powerful religious dimensions of this modern-day
crusade, a period that marked a traumatic crisis for Western
civilization, with effects that echoed throughout the rest of the
twentieth century.
The war was fought by the world's leading Christian nations, who
presented the conflict as a holy war. Thanks to the emergence of
modern media, a steady stream of patriotic and militaristic
rhetoric was given to an unprecedented audience, using language
that spoke of holy war and crusade, of apocalypse and Armageddon.
But this rhetoric was not mere state propaganda. Jenkins reveals
how the widespread belief in angels and apparitions, visions and
the supernatural was a driving force throughout the war and shaped
all three of the major religions--Christianity, Judaism and
Islam--paving the way for modern views of religion and violence.
The disappointed hopes and moral compromises that followed the war
also shaped the political climate of the rest of the century,
giving rise to such phenomena as Nazism, totalitarianism, and
communism.
Connecting numerous remarkable incidents and characters--from
Karl Barth to Carl Jung, the Christmas Truce to the Armenian
Genocide--Jenkins creates a powerful and persuasive narrative that
brings together global politics, history, and spiritual crisis as
never before and shows how religion informed and motivated
circumstances on all sides of the war.
First published in 1918 Whizzbangs and Woodbines presents a candid
portrait of life behind the lines on the Western Front by Reverend
Durell, then Rector of Rotherhithe, and Chief Commissioner of the
Church Army in France.The Church Army, along with its counterparts
the YMCA, TOC-H and Salvation Army played an important part in the
support and morale of soldiers in war. In addition to providing
spiritual support,the Church Army welcomed more than 200,000 men
each day to their recreation huts and provided visits and gifts to
the wounded, tents and hostels near the front lines, drove
ambulances, mobile canteens and kitchen cars.In addition to
voluntary Church services, for those who wished to attend, a simple
salvation from trench life was offered; music, singing, concerts,
card games,billiards and refreshments, all small measures of joy in
the midst of dangers and hardships and as vital to the continued
war effort as bullets and shells. For a packet of woodbines and a
cup of tea was restorative ammunition enough for the average
British Tommy.
First published in 1918, this book is a record of observations and
evidence compiled by the then US Consul in Queenstown, Eire. A rare
study from first-hand accounts. Contains detailed testimonies of
survivors from over fifty vessels attacked and often sunk by German
submarines during the Great War.A vivid and accurate picture of the
tactics and motives of German submarine warfare is provided in the
first part of the book. The second part concentrate son the attack
and sinking of RMS Lusitania. The sinking of the Lusitania remains
a controversial topic with the loss of 1,198 lives on 7May 1915
Georg Bucher, a German infantryman from 1914 had lost almost all of
his closest friends by 1918. The last friend he lost, Riedel, was
crushed by a tank in one of the last battles of the war. This is
his tale in their memory. A sergeant by 1918, Bucher describes
nearly every part of the Western Front - the Marne, Verdun,Somme,
Ypres, the Vosges and the 1918 Spring Offensive in vivid detail. He
illustrates how his psychological state changed over the course of
the war, how a soldier can in a split second turn from a human
being into a killing machine without pity, killing as second
nature, without thought.The raw endurance required to survive the
trenches is narrated in undiluted fashion, no horrors are spared;
the quagmire of 3rd Ypres, unrelenting lice and rats, the stench of
death and descriptions ofa bhorrent actions such as (so Bucher
alleges) French soldiers, under the influence of absinthe,
mutilating some of his company for revenge on the Senegalese.Fans
of 'All Quiet on the Western Front' or 'Storm of Steel' will be
delighted to discover Bucher's work.
The story of the 39th Divisional Field Ambulances beings in the
year of 1915 at various recruiting offices, and continues in a
thin, uncertain stream of variable humanity, finding its way to the
Sussex Downs, facing the sea, at Cow Gap, Eastbourne, Here the
lines of white tents, the whitewashed stones, the martial sounds
and atmosphere welcomed the embryo soldier to the service of his
country, and to fellowship unique and abiding. These embryo
soldiers were to become the men that would be responsible for the
mobile frontline medical units and had special responsibility for
the care of casualties of the Brigades in their Division. Via Ypres
tells of these young men - mostly mere boys and non-militaristic in
their education - faced with the task of preparing to go to war to
take part in the great struggle. These happy, cheerful and perhaps
a bit casual soon-to-be soldiers remained just so once training was
over but also became the gallant and efficient men who were to be
faced with the danger and misery that war cannot help but bring; in
doing so potentially risk their lives to save those of their
comrades.
This is a rare chance to re-discover a contemporary account of a
military conflict which took place a Century ago. The Agony of
Belgium, written in 1914 by Frank Fox, a war correspondent,
recounts events that the modern European mind would probably wish
to forget. The bravery and resilience of the relatively new and
untested Belgian Army, following the rejection of the German
Ultimatum by the King, deserves a wider audience. Throughout this
account the courageous and noble qualities of King Albert in the
dark days come to the fore. Whether at the Front as an active
Commander-in-Chief; with his people during Zeppelin raids and
artillery bombardments at Antwerp; declining refuge in France after
the retreat from Ostend; or rallying his troops for rearguard
actions his conduct was of the finest. His account of the
"frightfulness" of the events in Louvain against the civilian
population- including women and children- and the sacking of
cultural treasures was not at first believed by Officials in
Antwerp. However his reporting of Zeppelin raid shelped to arouse
public opinion in the United States.Fox provides vivid descriptions
of a terrible, and little known, conflict.
Oswald Harcourt-Davis joined the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1916
to become a despatch rider. He was allocated a Triumph motorcycle
at Abbeville France on 18th July 1916 and was attached to the
ANZACs for the duration of the war which saw him motorcycling
around the Somme and Ypres Salient areas. He won his military medal
at Messines.
|
|