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Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > First World War
Between 1917 and 1919 women enlisted in the Women's Land Army, a
national organisation with the task of increasing domestic food
production. Behind the scenes organisers laboured to not only
recruit an army of women workers, but to also dispel public fears
that Britain's Land Girls would be defeminized and devalued by
their wartime experiences.
Wallach provides a pioneering study of coalition warfare. Using
World War I as a case study, Wallach examines such important
aspects as Allied pre-war planning; the particularistic interests
of coalition partners; human relations; the framework for
coordination mechanisms within coalitions; the application of such
concepts as a general reserve, unified command, and amalgamation of
forces; logistical problems; war finance; and the transition from
war to peace.
In the process, Wallach shows that coalition warfare is among
the most difficult forms to develop and maintain successfully.
Unfortunately, as recent post-Cold War experiences illustrate,
coalition warfare is an ongoing military issue. As such, this book
will be of great interest to military planners as well as students
of the history of World War I.
COLONIAL SETTLERS, ASKARIS AND MASAI SCOUTS. AMBUSH AND BATTLE
AMONG WILD ANIMALS AS DANGEROUS AS THE ENEMY ITSELF. Colonial
neighbours in British & German East Africa fought their war far
from the Western front across country familiar today as the great
game reserves. The East African Mounted Rifles were six squadrons
amalgamated from hastily formed volunteer units such as Bowkers
Horse and the Legion of Frontiersmen. Encounters with enraged
lions, horses camouflaged as zebras, a brief period as marines all
form part of this most unusual account of a most unusual campaign.
An incredible adventure from the Great War
This is a unique and riveting book. The steamer Tara and her crew
spent the early part of WW1 patrolling the Northern Channel between
England and Ireland before a transfer to coastal duties off Egypt
and Libya. There she was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-Boat
operating from a secret base on the Libyan coast. To ensure no
intelligence of it's presence leaked to the British, the Germans
towed the survivors-including this book's author, the Tara's
captain, into captivity at the hands of the Senussi-religious
zealots in league with the Ottoman Turkish forces. Then began a
tortuous ordeal for the crew who suffered abuse, starvation and in
some cases death at the hands of their gaolers. Abortive escape
attempts across the relentless 'Red Desert' followed before rescue
finally came in the form of a dramatic hunt and final assault by
the forty armoured cars of the Duke of Westminster's squadron. An
absolutely essential and gripping read which will be a delight to
all those interested in the fortunes of British seamen, the war in
the Middle East and well told accounts of true adventure.
The East African Campaign through a British Army Doctor's eyes The
author of this book-a practicing doctor in the British Army-had
already served on the Western Front in the early months of the
Great War and had actually become a P. O. W. at the hands of the
German enemy. Now in the East African Campaign he explains-in
writings originally intended for his own family-every aspect of war
in this little reported theatre. We learn about the movements of
troops and battle actions, but also of the character of troops from
many countries and of the African tribes who fought for each side.
We hear of the trials of the motor transport men-dodging ambush and
wild animals equally-and of the adventures of the "behind the
lines" intelligence gatherers living thrilling and dangerous lives
in the bush. Finally we are shown the difficulties of keeping men
healthy and the problems of saving lives under the most arduous
conditions. This is an unusual and interesting perspective on war
from a medical man in Africa.
Different international relations theorists have studied political
change, but all fall short of sufficiently integrating human
reactions, feelings, and responses to change in their theories.
This book adds a social psychological component to the analysis of
why nations, politically organized groups, or states enter into
armed conflict. The Disequilibrium, Polarization, and Crisis Model
is introduced, which draws from prospect theory, realism,
liberalism, and constructivism. The theory considers how humans
react and respond to change in their social, political, and
economic environment. Three case studies, the U.S. Civil War, the
Yugoslav Wars (1991-1995), and the First World War are applied to
illustrate the model s six process stages: status quo, change
creating shifts that lead to disequilibrium, realization of loss,
hanging on to the old status quo, emergence of a rigid system, and
risky decisions leading to violence and war.
Nets, mines and bullets
Very rarely, as we warm our hands by a coal fire or eat our fish
supper, do we think about what it took to heat our rooms or fill
our plates. We may feel grateful that the task was fortunately
undertaken by others-that it is something we would not wish to do
ourselves-but nothing more. The life of the fishermen of Northern
waters is, and always has been, a perilous one, many brave sailors
have drowned in pursuit of food for our nation. When war came the
fishing fleet, aware of its duty, did not dry dock and hang its
nets until peace returned. It still set out to fish, aware that the
perils of its trade would be worsened by the presence of an enemy
that knows that a hungry nation will be subdued more quickly. It
would have been enough if that was all British fishermen had done,
but they also gathered intelligence, cleared mines, fought actions
from armed fishing vessels and many other incredible acts of
courage and devotion. These were not men whose achievements were
seen as glamorous, but they were nonetheless brave, unsung heroes
in war as well as in peace. This book details the actions of
British Fishermen in Northern waters during the First World War; it
is, of course, an account so full of action and incident that it is
essential reading for those interested in the study of maritime
warfare.
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.
An insightful account of the devastating impact of the Great War,
upon the already fragile British colonial African state of Northern
Rhodesia. Deploying extensive archival and rare evidence from
surviving African veterans, it investigates African resistance at
this time.
In October 1911, Winston S. Churchill was an accomplished young
Liberal politician who, as the newly appointed First Lord of the
Admiralty, still wore his ambition and emotion on his sleeve.
Robert L. Borden was the new Canadian Prime Minister, less
emotional and much older than Churchill. They became companions in
an attempt to provide naval security for the British Empire as a
naval crisis loomed with Germany. Their scheme for Canada to
provide three Dreadnought battleships for the Royal Navy as part of
an Imperial squadron was hotly debated by the Canadian Parliament
and rejected by the Senate. It was one of the most divisive debates
in Canadian parliamentary history. Churchill invested considerable
time and effort in trying to deliver the scheme and even believed
he might need to resign when it failed. The decision had great
implications for the future, leading to the crises in shipbuilding
foreshadowing the outbreak of WW1.
The commander of the BEF's view of the Great War
This book, written by Sir John French, concerns his period of
command during the first period of the Great War. Predictably, as
in many commander's memoirs it displays much partiality as to his
own actions and those of others. This is particularly noteworthy
since the consensus view of the history of the time does not
judge-with much justification-French kindly. At the outbreak of the
war French was the obvious choice for command and his views
accorded with the government establishment if not with more forward
thinking military men under his command. Fast moving German
offensives revealed French's military strategy with its faith in
inflexible defensive strongpoints to be hopelessly out of date.
Events overtook him and were it not for Smith-Dorrien's aggressive
action during the First Battle of Mons-for which seemingly French
never forgave him-the BEF could easily have been overwhelmed.
French became increasing out of touch and indecisive and was
replaced in 1915 by Haig. This book is far from a balanced history,
but is an important account of how a nineteenth century soldier saw
his twentieth century war. It also contains much factual
information on the dispositions of troops and actions in what was a
fluid stage of the conflict.
In Jewish Integration in the German Army in the First World War
David J. Fine offers a surprising portrayal of Jewish officers in
the German army as integrated and comfortably identified as both
Jews and Germans. Fine explores how both Judaism and Christianity
were experienced by Jewish soldiers at the front, making an
important contribution to the study of the experience of religion
in war. Fine shows how the encounter of German Jewish soldiers with
the old world of the shtetl on the eastern front tested both their
German and Jewish identities. Finally, utilizing published and
unpublished sources including letters, diaries, memoirs, military
service records, press accounts, photographs, drawings and tomb
stone inscriptions, the author argues that antisemitism was not a
primary factor in the war experience of Jewish soldiers.
The front-line soldiers of the First World War endured appalling
conditions in the trenches and suffered unprecedented slaughter in
battle. Their morale, as much as the strategy of their commanders,
played the crucial part in determining the outcome of `the war to
end all wars'. J. G. Fuller examines the experience of the soldiers
of the British and Dominion armies. How did the troops regard their
plight? What did they think they were fighting for? Dr Fuller draws
on a variety of contemporary sources, including over a hundred
magazines produced by the soldiers themselves. This is the first
scholarly analysis of the trench journalism which played an
important role in the lives of the ordinary soldiers. Other themes
explored include the nature of patriotism, discipline, living
conditions, and leisure activities such as sport, concert parties,
and the music hall. Dr Fuller's vivid and detailed study throws new
light on the question of warfare, and in particular how the British
and Dominion armies differed from those of their allies and
opponents, which were wracked by mutiny or defeat as the war went
on.
The First World War in Computer Games analyses the depiction of
combat, the landscape of the trenches, and concepts of how the war
ended through computer games. This book explores how computer games
are at the forefront of new representations of the First World War.
The New Nationalism and the First World War is an edited volume
dedicated to a transnational study of the features of the
turn-of-the-century nationalism, its manifestations in social and
political arenas and the arts, and its influence on the development
of the global-scale conflict that was the First World War.
Short Flights With the Cloud Cavalry
by "Spin"
Cavalry of the Clouds
by "Contact"
Air Combat over the trenches by those who fought
The first hand accounts of the experiences of men in time of war
always make fascinating reading. Their stories are, of course,
always as varied as the individuals concerned and the eras to which
they belonged, whether they were soldiers, sailors or airmen, the
branch of their service, their nationalities, the conflict in which
they were participants and in which theatre they fought. This is
what makes military history so fascinating. Sometimes many men
report a common experience that abided for decades. Occasionally we
hear, across time, the voices of a few notable men who fought their
own war in their own special way and once their time had past
history would never know their like again. That is especially true
of the pilots of the First World war. The machinery of flight was a
new technology. The aircraft were raw, basic, flimsy and unproven
machines and both they and the brave men who piloted them were
fighting their first conflict while learning and evolving their
skills and equipment, quite literally, as they fought and died. The
dogfight days of the early biplanes, triplanes and early mono
winged fighters would be short, but their images together with
those of the iconic airships which they ultimately destroyed will
remain indelibly imprinted on the history of conflict and the
development of man's mastery of the air. Heroes to a man, these
trailblazers were almost always young, carefree, well educated and
modest young men full of the joy of living and commitment to their
aircraft and to flying. This special Leonaur edition contains the
writings of two such men from the Royal Air Force, written
anonymously during wartime, which take the reader back to those
dangerous and epic delays of aerial combat over the muddy trenches
of the Western Front in Europe during the Great War. Available in
softcover and hardback with dustjacket for collectors.
The epic battle of the Marine Fusiliers in the Great War
The men of the French Fusiliers Marins were always bound to draw
public attention because irrespective of their proud military
tradition, which often had them fighting alongside the celebrated
French Foreign Legion, their distinctive uniform set them apart
from the ordinary 'poilus' of the French infantry. The 'naval
style' uniform of the men with their characteristic jaunty red
pompomed hats and their officers in naval finery made them a unit
guaranteed to draw attention and inspire admiration and romance.
The role of this unit should not be confused with that of British
Royal Marines. They were not intended to be sea going soldiers but
to serve as land based infantry primarily in defence of naval
stations and in campaigns where amphibious landings and naval
support was essential. In the opening stages of the First World War
between the middle of October and the middle of November 1914,
these remarkable troops fought at Dixmude in Flanders, against the
overwhelming tide of the German Army, in a fierce action that
upheld their finest traditions, but all but annihilated them. This
book is the account of that battle.
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.
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