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Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > First World War
Why, despite the appalling conditions in the trenches of the
Western Front, was the British army almost untouched by major
mutiny during the First World War? Drawing upon an extensive range
of sources, including much previously unpublished archival
material, G. D. Sheffield seeks to answer this question by
examining a crucial but previously neglected factor in the
maintenance of the British army's morale in the First World War:
the relationship between the regimental officer and the ordinary
soldier.
Booth offers a complex portrait of the relation between British Great War culture and modernist writings. She notes that unlike civilians, modernist writers and combatants shared a concern with the divide between language and experience, and draws connections between the sensibility of the modernist writer and the soldier, particularly regarding efforts to describe dying and the dead. Her analysis extends to memorials, posters, and architecture of the Great War, though her emphasis is on literary works by Robert Graves, E.M. Forster, Vera Brittain, and others.
I cannot stop while there are lives to be saved
Edith Cavell
Nurse Edith Cavell was a British Nurse and humanitarian who became
famous during the First World War for not only nursing and saving
the lives of battle casualties with no regard for the nationality
of the combatants, but also for her work in assisting some 200
Allied soldiers to escape incarceration by the victorious German
Army in Belgium during the early stages of the conflict. This
middle aged nurse was discovered by the Germans, who considered her
actions treasonable, abetting the escape of troops who might return
to the battle front. Cavell was subsequently tried by court
marshal, sentenced to be executed and shot by firing squad in
October 1915, aged 50 years. The event was widely reported by the
world press and the effect on the public at large was electric
providing a propaganda triumph for the Allied cause and an equal
disaster for the German cause-although they considered their
actions fair and reasonable by the rules of war. Cavell's influence
on nursing in Belgium has been an enduring one. This book contains
two accounts brought together by Leonaur for interest and good
value. The first, The Martyrdom of Nurse Cavell by William Thomson
Hill, provides an overview of the Cavell story whilst the second,
With Edith Cavell in Belgium by Jacqueline Van Til, was written by
a young nurse who worked closely with Cavell and who had inside
knowledge and personal experience of the dramatic events as they
unfolded. Available in softcover and hardcover with dust jacket.
During a pivotal few months in the middle of the First World War
all sides-Germany, Britain, and America-believed the war could be
concluded. Peace at the end of 1916 would have saved millions of
lives and changed the course of history utterly. Two years into the
most terrible conflict the world had ever known, the warring powers
faced a crisis. There were no good military options. Money, men,
and supplies were running short on all sides. The German chancellor
secretly sought President Woodrow Wilson's mediation to end the
war, just as British ministers and France's president also
concluded that the time was right. The Road Less Traveled describes
how tantalizingly close these far-sighted statesmen came to ending
the war, saving millions of lives, and avoiding the total war that
dimmed hopes for a better world. Theirs was a secret battle that is
only now becoming fully understood, a story of civic courage, awful
responsibility, and how some leaders rose to the occasion while
others shrank from it or chased other ambitions. "Peace is on the
floor waiting to be picked up!" pleaded the German ambassador to
the United States. This book explains both the strategies and
fumbles of people facing a great crossroads of history. The Road
Less Traveled reveals one of the last great mysteries of the Great
War: that it simply never should have lasted so long or cost so
much.
More than 400 photographs detail the American military experience
in World War I on the ground, in the air, and at sea, from
recruitment to the Armistice. This is the premier visual history of
the United States in the Great War to be published during these
centennial years. * Features not only the infamous Doughboys and
Devil Dogs, but also flying aces, doctors and nurses, seamen, and
the German enemy * Color photos of weapons and equipment, uniforms,
insignia, medals, and posters * Richly informative text and
captions by an expert on World War I and battlefield
interpretation.
The Great War is still seen as a mostly European war. The Middle
Eastern theater is, at best, considered a sideshow written from the
western perspective. This book fills an important gap in the
literature by giving an insight through annotated translations from
five Ottoman memoirs, previously not available in English, of
actors who witnessed the last few years of Turkish presence in the
Arab lands. It provides the historical background to many of the
crises in the Middle East today, such as the Arab-Israeli
confrontation, the conflict-ridden emergence of Syria and Lebanon,
the struggle over the holy places of Islam in the Hejaz, and the
mutual prejudices of Arabs and Turks about each other.
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.
Over 185,000 British military servicemen were captured by the
Germans during the First World War and incarcerated as prisoners of
war (POWs). In this original investigation into their experiences
of captivity, Wilkinson uses official and private British source
material to explore how these servicemen were challenged by, and
responded to, their wartime fate. Examining the psychological
anguish associated with captivity, and physical trials, such as the
controlling camp spaces; harsh routines and regimes; the lack of
material necessities; and, for many, forced labour demands, he asks
if, how and with what effects British POWs were able to respond to
such challenges. The culmination of this research reveals a range
of coping strategies embracing resistance; leadership and
organisation; networks of support; and links with 'home worlds'.
British Prisoners of War in First World War Germany offers an
original insight into First World War captivity, the German POW
camps, and the mentalities and perceptions of the British
servicemen held within.
From the Treaty of Versailles to the 2018 centenary and beyond, the
history of the First World War has been continually written and
rewritten, studied and contested, producing a rich historiography
shaped by the social and cultural circumstances of its creation.
Writing the Great War provides a groundbreaking survey of this vast
body of work, assembling contributions on a variety of national and
regional historiographies from some of the most prominent scholars
in the field. By analyzing perceptions of the war in contexts
ranging from Nazi Germany to India's struggle for independence,
this is an illuminating collective study of the complex interplay
of memory and history.
Empires, Soldiers, and Citizens 2/e offers a vivid range of
eyewitness perspectives - from female munitions workers to Indian
troops in France - which explore the social, cultural, and military
dimensions of World War I. This second edition includes added
material to reflect the very latest historical thinking. * Combines
documents and themes that have proven successful in the first
edition with new sources and topics that are currently at the
forefront of historical debate and research * Now features 59 new
documents which illustrate the imperial dimensions of the conflict
and broaden the coverage of 'war culture' and developments in
Eastern Europe * Documents have been included which pay particular
attention to the experiences and perspectives of ordinary people,
whose voices are often underrepresented in broad accounts * The
bibliography has been expanded and completely updated, complemented
by a new series of maps and illustrations
The motorised wheels of war begin to turn
In 1914 as the B. E. F was quickly hurried to the battle lines-by
whatever means possible-British troops were amused to see familiar
commercial vehicles trundle past, resplendent with their colourful
advertisements for household products. The French civilian
population was equally amused, bemused and occasionally confused by
this incongruous sight. The Great War, with powered flying
machines, submarines, motor transport and tanks, was the first
major mechanised war. The invention of the internal combustion
engine metamorphosed the waging of war. Motor transport could
efficiently move both men and materials, the dispatch rider was no
longer the glittering aide-de-camp but a drab, goggled corporal on
a motorcycle, and weapons of destruction could be carried behind
the steel plating of motorised armoured cars and tanks. This
subject fascinates those interested in the history of modern
warfare and to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First
World War in 1914, the Leonaur Editors have compiled this special
three-in-one book about the Great War from the perspective of 'the
motor.' The first title here is an excellent overview of the
subject, accompanied by useful illustrations and diagrams, which
covers each aspect of the motor at war. Next is a manufactures
catalogue with detailed views and elevations of the very commercial
vehicles that carried British troops to the front in 1914. The
final piece is an extract about motor transport and armoured
vehicles in the first decades of the 20th century. This is a useful
reference guide for all military vehicle enthusiasts.
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.
2017 is the 100th anniversary of America's declaration of war
against Germany. Many historians take a diminutive stance regarding
America's involvement but it cannot be underestimated by any means.
It was the reason that brought Germany to it is knees and forced
them to accept an armistice that was a victory of sorts achieved
over the German forces and their allies. There is global renewed
interest in World War One. All the protagonists are long dead but
many of their relatives are still with us. This volume will draw
you into the whole experience from the home front to the hell of
the trenches. These are the voices of those who were never heard
but their suffering and their involvement was total and
uncompromising, and now finally they can breathe again. They are
not forgotten.
The year 1916 witnessed two events that would profoundly shape both
politics and commemoration in Ireland over the course of the
following century. Although the Easter Rising and the Battle of the
Somme were important historical events in their own right, their
significance also lay in how they came to be understood as iconic
moments in the emergence of Northern Ireland and the Irish
Republic. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach drawing on
history, politics, anthropology and cultural studies, this volume
explores how the memory of these two foundational events has been
constructed, mythologised and revised over the course of the past
century. The aim is not merely to understand how the Rising and the
Somme came to exert a central place in how the past is viewed in
Ireland, but to explore wider questions about the relationship
between history, commemoration and memory.
Glasgow men on the Western Front
As every student of the Great War is aware, the escalating scale of
the conflict on the Western Front required the formation of new
battalions-a new citizen army formed to be equal to the size of the
challenge. This is the unit history of one of them, The Seventeenth
Highland Light Infantry (Glasgow Chamber of Commerce) Battalion. As
its name suggests it was but one of many additional battalions
raised in Scotland which would bear the name of an old regiment of
the British Army in this case the 71st Foot, the HLI. Many of these
battalions, particularly those raised in large urban centres, took
on the character of their place and community of origin. This
battalion's sister unit, the Sixteenth, for example was styled,
'The Glasgow Boy's Brigade' Battalion. The Glasgow men were
dispatched to France and into the trenches with all its hardships,
grinding routine and frequent raiding. The battalion served through
the Battle of the Somme and went on the see action around Hulluch,
Beaumont-Hamel and the Ypres Salient among others. This invaluable
book also contains honours and award rolls making it invaluable for
genealogists. Available in softcover and hard over with dust
jacket.
The execution of British matron Edith Cavell by occupying German
forces was portrayed by the allies as one of the key atrocities of
the Great War. This book recovers and interprets the worldwide
reaction to Cavell's death, exploring its contextual relationship
within imperial and international history, as well women's history
and gender history.
How did overseas Europeans participate in the two world wars'
effort? Which were the tensions around mobilization? How did the
war affect their identity and their descendants? What were their
mobilization's effects on the relationship with the adopted
homelands? These closely intertwined issues connect to the central
argument of the book: war exerted a crucial influence on the
configuration - and reconfiguration - of those European
communities' national or ethnic identities and made evident their
transnational nature. Through different case studies, this volume
approached the multi-faceted, complex, and fluid nature of
immigrant collective identities under the pressures and challenges
of total wars. Contributors are: Juan Pablo Artinian, Juan Luis
Carrellan Ruiz, Hernan M. Diaz, Norman Fraser Brown, Marcelo
Huernos, Milagros Martinez-Flener, Norman Fraser Brown, German C.
Friedmann, Maria Ines Tato, and Stefan Rinke.
This book deals with an aspect of the Great War that has been
largely overlooked: the war reportage written based on British and
American authors' experiences at the Western Front. It focuses on
how the liminal experience of the First World War was portrayed in
a series of works of literary journalism at different stages of the
conflict, from the summer of 1914 to the Armistice in November
1918. Sara Prieto explores a number of representative texts written
by a series of civilian eyewitness who have been passed over in
earlier studies of literature and journalism in the Great War. The
texts under discussion are situated in the 'liminal zone', as they
were written in the middle of a transitional period, half-way
between two radically different literary styles: the romantic and
idealising ante bellum tradition, and the cynical and disillusioned
modernist school of writing. They are also the product of the
various stages of a physical and moral journey which took several
authors into the fantastic albeit nightmarish world of the Western
Front, where their understanding of reality was transformed beyond
anything they could have anticipated.
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