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Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > First World War
Experiences of a motor ambulance driver
The author of this book was a Princeton student who became a member
and driver of the American Ambulance Field Service-a group of young
volunteers who travelled to Europe to assist the French war effort
during the Great War before the United States took an active part
in the conflict. His is a personal story derived from diary notes
he made on active service. Although he freely admits to the reader
that he volunteered to see the war and experience some excitement
predictably his actual experiences of the battlefield and the
suffering of French soldiers and civilians alike made a profound
impression upon him. Bryan provides the reader with a clear and
interesting view of the life of an American volunteer driver and
his impressions of war in the trenches with the French Army on the
Western Front. Available in soft cover and hard cover with dust
jacket.
The fall of 2016 saw the release of the widely popular First World
War video game Battlefield 1. Upon the game's initial announcement
and following its subsequent release, Battlefield 1 became the
target of an online racist backlash that targeted the game's
inclusion of soldiers of color. Across social media and online
communities, players loudly proclaimed the historical inaccuracy of
black soldiers in the game and called for changes to be made that
correct what they considered to be a mistake that was influenced by
a supposed political agenda. Through the introduction of the
theoretical framework of the 'White Mythic Space', this book seeks
to investigate the reasons behind the racist rejection of soldiers
of color by Battlefield 1 players in order to answer the question:
Why do individuals reject the presence of people of African descent
in popular representations of history?
The cup that cheers
The First World War was considered the pinnacle in the development
of warfare following the dawn of the industrial age. For the first
time conflict on a global stage was fought on land, on and under
the sea and in the skies. This war of the machines swept away
swathes of humanity by the use of ruthlessly efficient means of
slaughter. Every human resource was needed because it could not be
waged solely by male armies on the fields of battle. This meant
that the role of women in western society would be changed forever.
Women became the industrial workforce, agricultural workers and the
custodians of transport and logistics. Thousands more, from nurses
to drivers, mechanics to entertainers, volunteered to provide
essential services to support the fighting men on the front line.
Many new and established organisations willingly put all their
resources into the war effort. To the troops of the allied armies
these volunteers-both men and women-were little short of angels,
providing for body and spirit under the most difficult
circumstances and their contribution to the morale of the soldiers
in action cannot be over estimated. The Y. M. C. A was at the
forefront of these activities, providing everything from essentials
to much appreciated little luxuries, from the opportunity for a
bath and shave to that mainstay of English or American life, a
good, hot and much needed 'cuppa' tea or coffee, accompanied by a
kind smile or a supportive word. This special Leonaur edition
contains three accounts of these remarkably brave volunteers on the
Western Front. Theirs was essential but often dangerous work and
many of them made the ultimate sacrifice. This fascinating book
relates an often unsung aspect of the Great War, but one which will
be of enormous interest to those who require a complete
understanding of the conflict and are interested in the changing
role of women in the early years of the 20th century.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each
title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our
hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their
spines and fabric head and tail bands.
This is a major new history of the British army during the Great
War written by three leading military historians. Ian Beckett,
Timothy Bowman and Mark Connelly survey operations on the Western
Front and throughout the rest of the world as well as the army's
social history, pre-war and wartime planning and strategy, the
maintenance of discipline and morale and the lasting legacy of the
First World War on the army's development. They assess the
strengths and weaknesses of the army between 1914 and 1918,
engaging with key debates around the adequacy of British
generalship and whether or not there was a significant 'learning
curve' in terms of the development of operational art during the
course of the war. Their findings show how, despite limitations of
initiative and innovation amongst the high command, the British
army did succeed in developing the effective combined arms warfare
necessary for victory in 1918.
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