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Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > First World War
Writers at War addresses the most immediate representations of the
First World War in the prose of Ford Madox Ford, May Sinclair,
Siegfried Sassoon and Mary Borden; it interrogates the various ways
in which these writers contended with conveying their war
experience from the temporal and spatial proximity of the warzone
and investigates the multifarious impact of the war on the
(re)development of their aesthetics. It also interrogates to what
extent these texts aligned with or challenged existing social,
cultural, philosophical and aesthetic norms. While this book is
concerned with literary technique, the rich existing scholarship on
questions of gender, trauma and cultural studies on World War I
literature serves as a foundation. This book does not oppose these
perspectives but offers a complementary approach based on close
critical reading. The distinctiveness of this study stems from its
focus on the question of representation and form and on the
specific role of the war in the four authors' literary careers.
This is the first scholarly work concerned exclusively with
theorising prose written from the immediacy of the war. This book
is intended for academics, researchers, PhD candidates,
postgraduates and anyone interested in war literature.
This book is based on original research into intimidation and
violence directed at civilians by combatants during the
revolutionary period in Ireland, considering this from the
perspectives of the British, the Free State and the IRA. The book
combines qualitative and quantitative approaches, and focusses on
County Kerry, which saw high levels of violence. It demonstrates
that violence and intimidation against civilians was more common
than clashes between combatants and that the upsurge in violence in
1920 was a result of the deployment of the Black and Tans and
Auxiliaries, particularly in the autumn and winter of that year.
Despite the limited threat posed by the IRA, the British forces
engaged in unprecedented and unprovoked violence against civilians.
This study stresses the increasing brutality of the subsequent
violence by both sides. The book shows how the British had similar
methods and views as contemporary counter-revolutionary groups in
Europe. IRA violence, however, was, in part, an attempt to impose
homogeneity as, beneath the Irish republican narrative of popular
approval, there lay a recognition that universal backing was never
in fact present. The book is important reading for students and
scholars of the Irish revolution, the social history of Ireland and
inter-war European violence.
This is the first scientific biography of Milan Rastislav Stefanik
(1880-1919) that is focused on analysing the process of how he
became the Slovak national hero. Although he is relatively unknown
internationally, his contemporaries compared him "to Choderlos de
Laclos for the use of military tactics in love affairs, to Lawrence
of Arabia for vision, to Bonaparte for ambition ... and to one of
apostles for conviction". He played the key role in founding an
independent Czechoslovakia in 1918 through his relentless worldwide
travels during the First World War in order to create the
Czechoslovak Army: he visited Serbia and Romania on the eve of
invasion by the Central Powers, Russia before the February
revolution, the United States after it declared war on Germany,
Italy dealing with the consequences of defeat in the Caporetto
battle, and again when Russia plunged into Civil War. Several
historical methods are used to analyse the aforementioned central
research question of this biography such as social capital to
explain his rise in French society, the charismatic leader to
understand how he convinced and won over a relatively large number
of people; more traditional political, military, and diplomatic
history to show his contribution to the founding of Czechoslovakia,
and memory studies to analyse his extraordinary popularity in
Slovakia. By mapping his intriguing life, the book will be of
interest to scholars in a broad range of areas including history of
Central Europe, especially Czechoslovakia, international relations,
social history, French society at the beginning of the 20th century
and biographical research.
During the last two centuries, ethnolinguistic nationalism has been
the norm of nation building and state building in Central Europe.
The number of recognized Slavic languages (in line with the
normative political formula of language = nation = state) gradually
tallied with the number of the Slavic nation-states, especially
after the breakups of Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union and
Yugoslavia. But in the current age of borderless cyberspace,
regional and minority Slavic languages are freely standardized and
used, even when state authorities disapprove. As a result, since
the turn of the 19th century, the number of Slavic languages has
varied widely, from a single Slavic language to as many as 40.
Through the story of Slavic languages, this timely book illustrates
that decisions on what counts as a language are neither permanent
nor stable, arguing that the politics of language is the politics
in Central Europe. The monograph will prove to be an essential
resource for scholars of linguistics and politics in Central
Europe.
First World War-based ex-servicemen's organisations found
themselves facing an existential crisis with the onset of the
Second World War. This book examines how two such groups, the
British and American Legions, adapted cognitively to the emergence
of yet another world war and its veterans in the years 1938 through
1946. With collective identities and socio-political programmes
based in First World War memory, both Legions renegotiated existing
narratives of that war and the lessons they derived from those
narratives as they responded to the unfolding Second World War in
real time. Using the previous war as a "learning experience" for
the new one privileged certain understandings of that conflict over
others, inflecting its meaning for each Legion moving forward.
Breaking the Second World War down into its constituent events to
trace the evolution of First World War memory through everyday
invocations, this unprecedented comparison of the British and
American Legions illuminates the ways in which differing
international, national, and organisational contexts intersected to
shape this process as well as the common factors affecting it in
both groups. The book will appeal most to researchers of the
ex-service movement, First World War memory, and the cultural
history of the Second World War.
W. Heath Robinson is best known for his hilarious drawings of zany
contraptions, though his work ranged across a wide variety of
topics covering many aspects of British life in the decades
following the First World War. Starting out as a watercolour
artist, he quickly turned to the more lucrative field of book
illustration and developed his forte in satirical drawings and
cartoons. He was regularly commissioned by the editors of Tatler
and The Sketch and in great demand from advertising companies.
Collections of his drawings were subsequently published in many
different editions and became so successful as to transform Heath
Robinson into a household name, celebrated for his eccentric brand
of British humour. Heath Robinson drew many cartoons lampooning the
excesses of the First World War and poking fun at the German army,
bringing welcome comic relief to British soldiers and civilians.
This book presents his complete First World War satire, from
ridiculous weapons such as 'Button Magnets' to aeronautical antics
and a demonstration of how to have a 'Quiet Cup of Tea at the
Front.'
Ruthless Warfare (1998) demonstrates how close the First World War
came to Australia. It has been argued that Australia was
manipulated against its interests into action in WW1 by London -
this unpublished collection of documents from the military division
of the German Archives shows that this was not the case. The German
Navy expected a major confrontation with the British Empire, both
in the North Sea and further afield. German cruisers were expected
to make a significant contribution in the Indian Ocean and the
Western Pacific, pinning down British naval forces and thus
undermining the British fleet's supremacy in the Atlantic. The
damage and disruption to imperial trade would have had serious
consequences for Australia, and these German plans also meant that
a significant military intelligence system was active in the
Antipodes.
First published in 1914, this is a systematic treatment of the
people whose contribution to civilization of the Nile Valley was
for so long a source of controversy.
International contributors from the fields of political science,
cultural studies, history, and literature grapple with both the
local and global impact of World War I on marginal communities in
China, Syria, Europe, Russia, and the Caribbean. Readers can
uncover the neglected stories of this World War I as contributors
draw particular attention to features of the war that are
underrepresented such as Chinese contingent labor, East Prussian
deportees, remittances from Syrian immigrants in the New World to
struggling relatives in the Ottoman Empire, the war effort from
Serbia to Martinique, and other war experiences. By redirecting
focus away from the traditional areas of historical examination,
such as battles on the Western Front and military strategy, this
collection of chapters, international and interdisciplinary in
nature, illustrates the war's omnipresence throughout the world, in
particular its effect on less studied peoples and regions. The
primary objective of this volume is to examine World War I through
the lens of its forgotten participants, neglected stories, and
underrepresented peoples.
A classic text that has been updated across the chapters, giving
students a broad perspective on all the work done since the text
was originally written, as well as the original perspective. A new
introduction examines the topics and arguments that historians have
raised since the original text was written, explaining what is new
about them and their impact on the original text, giving students
the tools to anaylse the context of the new material. Includes a
new timeline, and fully updated further reading, providing extended
context for students reading the text.
In a unique collection of international and interdisciplinary
research, this book focuses on commemorative events around the
world on the same day: 11 November 2018, the centenary of Armistice
Day, the end of the First World War. It argues that we need to move
beyond discourse, narrative and how historical events are
represented to fully understand what commemoration does, socially,
politically and culturally. Adopting an experiential reframing
treats sensory, affective and emotional feelings as fundamental to
how we collectively understand shared histories, and through them,
shared identities. The volume features 15 case studies from ten
countries, covering a variety of settings and national contexts
specific to the First World War. Together the chapters demonstrate
that a new conceptualisation of commemoration is needed: one that
attends to how it feels.
This is a comprehensive new operational military history of the
Ottoman army during the First World War. Drawing from archives,
official military histories, personal war narratives and sizable
Turkish secondary literature, it tells the incredible story of the
Ottoman army's struggle from the mountains of the Caucasus to the
deserts of Arabia and the bloody shores of Gallipoli. The Ottoman
army, by opening new fronts, diverted and kept sizeable units of
British, Russian and French forces away from the main theatres and
even sent reinforcements to Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria. Against
all odds the Ottoman army ultimately achieved some striking
successes, not only on the battlefield, but in their total
mobilization of the empire's meagre human and economic resources.
However, even by the terrible standards of the First World War,
these achievements came at a terrible price in casualties and,
ultimately, loss of territory. Thus, instead of improving the
integrity and security of the empire, the war effectively
dismantled it and created situations and problems hitherto
undreamed of by a besieged Ottoman leadership. In a unique account,
Uyar revises our understanding of the war in the Middle East.
The First World War's centenary generated a mass of commemorative
activity worldwide. Officially and unofficially; individually,
collectively and commercially; locally, nationally and
internationally, efforts were made to respond to the legacies of
this vast conflict. This book explores some of these responses from
areas previously tied to the British Empire, including Australia,
Britain, Canada, India and New Zealand. Showcasing insights from
historians of commemoration and heritage professionals it provides
revealing insider and outsider perspectives of the centenary. How
far did commemoration become celebration, and how merited were such
responses? To what extent did the centenary serve wider social and
political functions? Was it a time for new knowledge and
understanding of the events of a century ago, for recovery of lost
or marginalised voices, or for confirming existing cliches? And
what can be learned from the experience of this centenary that
might inform the approach to future commemorative activities? The
contributors to this book grapple with these questions, coming to
different answers and demonstrating the connections and
disconnections between those involved in building public knowledge
of the 'war to end all wars'.
The Titanic. The Britannic. The Olympic. They are some of the most
famous ships in history, but for the wrong reasons. The Olympic
Class liners were conceived as the largest, grandest ships ever to
set sail. Of the three ships built, the first only lost the record
for being the largest because she was beaten by the second, and
they were both beaten by the third. The class was meant to secure
the White Star Line's reputation as the greatest shipping company
on earth. Instead, with the loss of both the Titanic and the
Britannic in their first year of service, it guaranteed White
Star's infamy. This unique book tells the extraordinary story of
these three extraordinary ships from the bottom up, starting with
their conception and construction (and later their modification)
and following their very different careers. Behind the technical
details of these magnificent ships lies a tragic human story - not
just of the lives lost aboard the Titanic and Britannic, but of the
designers pushing the limits beyond what was actually possible,
engineers unable to prepare for every twist of fate, and ship
owners and crew who truly believed a ship could be unsinkable. This
fascinating story is told with rare photographs, new
computer-generated recreations of the ships, and unique wreck
images that explore how well the ships were designed and built.
Simon Mills offers unparalleled access to shipbuilders Harland
& Wolff's specification book for the Olympic Class, including
original blueprints and - being made widely available for the first
time - large fold-out technical drawings showing how these
extensive plans were meant to be seen.
The Amazon History Book of the Year 2013 is a magisterial chronicle
of the calamity that befell Europe in 1914 as the continent shifted
from the glamour of the Edwardian era to the tragedy of total war.
In 1914, Europe plunged into the 20th century's first terrible act
of self-immolation - what was then called The Great War. On the eve
of its centenary, Max Hastings seeks to explain both how the
conflict came about and what befell millions of men and women
during the first months of strife. He finds the evidence
overwhelming, that Austria and Germany must accept principal blame
for the outbreak. While what followed was a vast tragedy, he argues
passionately against the 'poets' view', that the war was not worth
winning. It was vital to the freedom of Europe, he says, that the
Kaiser's Germany should be defeated. His narrative of the early
battles will astonish those whose images of the war are simply of
mud, wire, trenches and steel helmets. Hastings describes how the
French Army marched into action amid virgin rural landscapes, in
uniforms of red and blue, led by mounted officers, with flags
flying and bands playing. The bloodiest day of the entire Western
war fell on 22 August 1914, when the French lost 27,000 dead. Four
days later, at Le Cateau the British fought an extraordinary action
against the oncoming Germans, one of the last of its kind in
history. In October, at terrible cost they held the allied line
against massive German assaults in the first battle of Ypres.The
author also describes the brutal struggles in Serbia, East Prussia
and Galicia, where by Christmas the Germans, Austrians, Russians
and Serbs had inflicted on each other three million casualties.
This book offers answers to the huge and fascinating question 'what
happened to Europe in 1914?', through Max Hastings's accustomed
blend of top-down and bottom-up accounts from a multitude of
statesmen and generals, peasants, housewives and private soldiers
of seven nations. His narrative pricks myths and offers some
striking and controversial judgements. For a host of readers
gripped by the author's last international best-seller 'All Hell
Let Loose', this will seem a worthy successor.
The civilian police during the First World War in Great Britain
were central to the control of the population at home. This book
will show the detail and challenges of police work during the First
World War and how this impacted on ordinary people's daily lives.
The aim is to tell the story of the police as they saw themselves
through the pages of their best-known journal, The Police Review
and Parade Gossip, in addition to a wide range of other published,
archival and private sources.
The First World War was the first truly global conflict which left
its mark on every nation of the world. Few communities or families
escaped its devastating reach with many mourning the loss of entire
generations. Those that returned often refused to speak of their
experiences and today we often see the same old images or newsreel
footage to give us an insight of the life experienced in the 'Great
War'. Stereo photography and stereo viewers had been something of a
craze for the Victorians, most of whom would never see for
themselves the magnificence of far off and exotic locations from
around the globe. Stereo photography was an amazing technology that
didn't just allow them to see a view but to immerse themselves in
that location as if they were there themselves. By the time of the
First World War many of the more affluent households would have had
a stereo viewer and some stereoscopic cards to keep themselves
amused. As the war began, a number of companies were already busy
capturing the world in stereo for the enjoyment and education of
their customers. As hostilities increased they scrambled to get the
best photographs to record the war. This book is a collection of
some of those photographs presented both as original stereo pairs
for those with a suitable viewer and as anaglyph images suitable
for viewing with the supplied glasses. They offer a unique
photographic journey through the war that documents its bloody
progression and allows us to glimpse first hand, a realistic view
only previously available to those that were there. (Please note
that it's important when viewing the images that the glasses are
worn with the Red lens over the left eye and the Blue lens over the
right eye).
This set of essays introduces readers to new historical research on
the creation of the new order in East-Central Europe in the period
immediately following 1918. The book offers insights into the
political, diplomatic, military, economic and cultural conditions
out of which the New Europe was born. Experts from various
countries take into account three perspectives. They give equal
attention to both the Western and Eastern fronts; they recognise
that on 11 November 1918, the War ended only on the Western front
and violence continued in multiple forms over the next five years;
and they show how state-building after 1918 in Central and Eastern
Europe was marked by a mixture of innovation and instability. Thus,
the volume focuses on three kinds of narratives: those related to
conflicts and violence, those related to the recasting of civil
life in new structures and institutions, and those related to
remembrance and representations of these years in the public
sphere. Taking a step towards writing a fully European history of
the Great War and its aftermath, the volume offers an original
approach to this decisive period in 20th-century European history.
A unique and vivid first hand account of a young soldier, one of
the millions who fought in World War I. Walter Williams volunteered
at age fifteen and after completing his initial training in
Shrewsbury, passed through the notorious training camp at Etaples
before being plunged into the horrors of trench warfare. He fought
in some of the major battles of the war including Passchendaele,
the Somme and Vimy Ridge - and was badly wounded during the final
attack on the Hindenburg line in September 1918, when he was hit by
machine-gun fire from an enemy plane. After spending some months in
a French hospital in Dieppe, he was repatriated to England where he
made a full recovery. Walter's story was captured on an ancient
reel-to-reel tape recorder during long conversations with his two
nephews, Michael and Derek, who went on to research and verify the
events he described before producing this remarkable story. Walter
died in 1998, by which time he was one of the last veterans of
World War I.
The book is a sociocultural microhistory of migrants. From the
1880s to the 1930s, it traces the lives of the occupants of a
housing complex located just north of the French capital, in the
heart of the Plaine-Saint-Denis. Starting in the 1870s, that
industrial suburb became a magnet for working-class migrants of
diverse origins, from within France and abroad. The author examines
how the inhabitants of that particular place identified themselves
and others. The study looks at the role played, in the construction
of social difference, by interpersonal contacts, institutional
interactions and migration. The objective of the book is to carry
out an original experiment: applying microhistorical methods to the
history of modern migrations. Beyond its own material history, the
tenement is an observation point: it was deliberately selected for
its high degree of demographic diversity, which contrasts with the
typical objects of the traditional, ethnicity-based scholarship on
migration. The micro lens allows for the reconstruction of the
itineraries, interactions, and representations of the tenement's
occupants, in both their singularity and their structural context.
Through its many individual stories, the book restores a degree of
complexity that is often overlooked by historical accounts at
broader levels.
The Palestine campaign of 1917 saw Britain's armed forces rise from
defeat to achieve stunning victory. After two failed attempts in
the spring, at the end of the year they broke through the Ottoman
line with an innovative mixture of old and new technology and
tactics, and managed to advance over 50 miles in only two months,
all the way from Gaza to Jerusalem. As well as discussions of
military strategy, this gripping narrative of the 1917 campaign
gives a broad account of the men on both sides who lived and fought
in the harsh desert conditions of Palestine, facing not only brave
and determined enemies, but also the environment itself: heat,
disease and an ever-present thirst. Involving Ottoman, ANZAC,
British and Arab forces, the campaign saw great empires manoeuvring
for the coveted Holy Land. It was Britain's victory in 1917,
however, that redrew the maps of the Middle East and shaped the
political climate for the century to come. The repercussions of the
1917 Palestine campaign continue to be felt today. Stuart Hadaway,
in this highly readable book, re-examines this crucial point in
time when the fate of the Holy Land was changed beyond recognition.
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