Between the ending of the Great War and the start of the Second World War in 1939, the Royal Navy remained the largest in the world. But with the League of Nations seeming to offer a solution to all future conflicts, a country weary of war and without an obvious enemy there seemed no need for a large battlefleet. The strategic focus shifted eastwards, to Japan, with its growing battlefleet as the new threat to the British Empire and to the Royal Navy's supremacy. From 1924 a strategic plan, War Memorandum (Eastern), was written and refined. The plan called for the Royal Navy, still the largest in the world, even after the Washington Naval Treaties, to move eastwards to a defended base at Singapore, cut off Japan and force her battlefleet into a decisive fleet battle. As a strategy War Memorandum (Eastern) had many flaws. Its real importance lay in the fact that it provided a justification for the Royal Navy to maintain its leading position in the world and to be in the forefront of the development of new tactical thinking. Through planning for a war with Japan the Royal Navy was able to test its readiness for a future war. Many of the lessons learnt during this period were ultimately put to good use against a different foe in 1939.

Matters of Conflict looks at the definitive invention of the twentieth century - industrialised war - and its vast and varied material legacy. From trench art and postcards through avant-garde art, museum collections and prosthetic limbs to battlefield landscapes, the book examines the First World War and its significance through the things it left behind. The contributions come from a multidisciplinary perspective, uniting previously compartmentalized disciplines such as anthropology, archaeology, cultural history, museology and art history in their focus on material culture. This innovative, hybrid approach investigates the 'social life' of objects in order to understand them as they move through time and space and intersect the lives of all who came in contact with them.
The resulting survey sets a new agenda for study of the First World War, and ultimately of all twentieth-century conflict.

Great Britain's economic blockade of Germany in World War I was one of the key elements to the victory of the Entente. Though Britain had been the leading exponent of blockades for two centuries, the World War I blockade was not effective at the outbreak of hostilities. Pre-war changes had led to the Admiralty supplanting the Royal Navy's leadership role in favor of direction from the civilian branch of government on the basis of international law.
The struggle between the primacy of international law and military expediency lasted for nearly two years, as the British tried to reconcile their pre-war stance as champion of neutral rights with measures necessary for a successful blockade. Not until 1916 did the operation have the potential to be a decisive factor in the defeat of Germany, when pressure from France, the Royal Navy, Parliament, British popular opinion, and the Admiralty forced the British government to abandon its defense of neutral rights over the interests of the state.
The arrival of the United States as an ally in April 1917 initiated the final evolution of the blockade. The Entente and the United States tightened the blockade with crushing effect on Germany, and by November 1918, it was evidently one of the chief factors behind the victory. This knowledge reinforced the decision to retain the blockade in the months following the armistice in order to force favorable terms from Germany. In both the war and in the peace, the economic blockade performed a critical role in World War I.

Originally published in 1985 The Decision to Disarm Germany offers a fresh approach to Britain's First World War and Paris Peace Conference policy on the question of German military disarmament. It offers interpretations based on extensive research into unpublished records and private papers and provides important new conclusions about British policy. The book shows the interaction of domestic concerns and strategic considerations in the wartime development of British thinking on the issue of post-war German disarmament and in the post-Armistice formulation and implementation of Britain's German disarmament policy. It establishes the crucial interrelationship in British thinking and policy between German disarmament and general disarmament. It also shows the interwar consequences of wartime attitudes and peace conference policy.

Examined in this book in the author's continuing series are the Austro-Hungarian Empire's machinegun, medical, artillery, infantry, cavalry and communication units. Other chapters cover distinguished branches, such as k.u.k. Kriegsmarine (Navy), Seeflieger (Naval Aviation), Generalstab (General Staff) and Beamten (Civil Servants). Also covered are the Bulgarian machinegun, medical, artillery, searchlight, communication and cavalry units. Further chapters cover Bulgarian and other countries medals, orders, and decorations worn by royalty and high ranking command as well by the frontline soldier.

Begun within months of the war's outbreak, and not completed for a further 33 years, the writing of the Official Histories of World War I was a venture of unprecedented scale and complexity. Who, then, was responsible for producing such an enterprise? Did it aim to inform or did it have darker political motivations? Did the authors, who alone had access to records that were to remain classified for decades to come, seek to lay the facts and lessons of the war truthfully before the public? A number of critics have claimed that, on the contrary, the Official Histories were highly partial accounts written to protect reputations and cover up the true scale of British military incompetence. Andrew Green directly challenges these views, examining the progress by which official history was written, the motives and influences of its paymasters, and the literary integrity of its historians. The book focuses on four offical volumes covering arguably the most contentious battles of the war: Gallipoli, the Somme, Third Ypres (Passchendaele) and March 1918. What emerges from this is both a story of these great campaigns and an insight into the political intrigues and conflicting constraints that influenced the official writing of the Great War.

In 1925, Lewis R Freeman became a correspondent for the United States Navy Fleet, living and working among them. Traveling all around the Pacific Ocean, Freeman observed both the environment and his fellow travelers. Separated into three sections, Stories of the Ships is a collection of narratives about this time in Freeman's life, depicting firsthand experiences and retelling the accounts and tales of the men that served in the Navy around this time. The first section, titled, Stories of the Ships introduces Freeman's background as a correspondent and discusses the temperament of the sailors. This section also includes the tale of an old ship that sailed through most of the seven seas-the Cornwall. The next section, Life in the Fleet chronicles Freeman's day-to-day adventures, explaining his routines, responsibilities, and revealing his conversations with the crew members and captains. With nine chapters, this section contains the most stories and is the largest section of the book. Finally, the last section before the endnotes, America Arrives, examines the relationship between America and other countries such as France and Britain through the conversations and attitudes of the sailors from those other countries. Freeman recounts several discussions where he was referred to being unlike other Americans. With these three sections and the endnotes, Stories of the Ships provides a thorough account of the many years Lewis R. Freeman spent as a correspondent. Through the depiction of real-life conversations and experiences collected around the globe, Stories of the Ships by Lewis R. Freeman is a fascinating narrative that gives modern day audiences an intimate and authentic perspective on nautical life. With the focus on the United States Navy Fleet, Freeman provides privileged information on the innerworkings of the U.S Navy during the 20th century. This edition of Stories of the Ships by Lewis R. Freeman features a striking new cover design and is printed in a modern and readable font. With these accommodations, Stories of the Ships is restored to modern standards, while preserving the original mastery of Lewis R. Freeman.

This is a rich yet succinct account of an underexplored story: the consequences of the Great War for the region which ignited it. It offers a fascinating tapestry: the collapse of Empires, the birth of Turkey and Yugoslavia, Greece as both victor and loser, Bulgaria's humiliating defeat; bitter memories, forced migrations, territorial implications and collective national amnesias. The legacies live on. The contributions in this volume significantly enhance the debate about how the Great War is remembered in South East Europe, and why it still evokes such strong emotions and reactions, more than a century after its beginnings.

Given the destruction and suffering caused by more than four years of industrialised warfare and economic hardship, scholars have tended to focus on the nationalism and hatred in the belligerent countries, holding that it led to a fundamental rupture of any sense of European commonality and unity. It is the central aim of this volume to correct this view and to highlight that many observers saw the conflict as a 'European civil war', and to discuss what this meant for discourses about Europe. Bringing together a remarkable range of compelling and highly original topics, this collection explores notions, images, and ideas of Europe in the midst of catastrophe.

More than eight decades later, the Great War - particularly the great battles such as the Somme and Verdun - continues to fascinate us and cast long shadows over our world today. In this volume, Peter Simkins re-examines the early years of the war's Western Front, shedding interesting new light on the nature, course, and effects of the fighting in France and Belgium from 1914 to 1916.

Originally published in 1981 and now re-issued with a new Preface, this book contains contributions on key issues such as the origins of the First World War, the psychological impact of that war on the Germans, the enigmatic personality of Walter Rathenau, anti-semitism and paramilitarism, as well as German Ostpolitik during the Weimar period. The collapse of the Weimar Republic is re-examined and this is followed by an analysis of the social basis of the SS leadership corps, German reactions to the defeat in 1945 as observed by the British authorities and finally a wide-ranging comparatiste essay on why Germany did not experience a 20th century revolution in spite of the tremendous upheavals it suffered.

An Irish Independent book of the year.

Did the Versailles Peace Treaty cause World War II?

The Versailles Peace Treaty ― the pact that ended World War I between the German empire and the Allies ― has long been regarded as one of the key causes of World War II. Its requirements for massive reparation payments, it is argued, crippled Germany’s economy, de-stabilised the country’s political life, and paved the way for Hitler.

Here, Jürgen Tampke disputes this commonplace view, suggesting that Germany got away with its responsibility for World War I, that the treaty was nowhere near as punitive as people think, and that the German hyper-inflation of the 1920s was a deliberate policy to minimise the cost of paying reparations.

This is a controversial and important work of revisionist history, which challenges one of the greatest misconceptions of our times.

First published in 1940, the original blurb reads: Here is an inquiry how to make a just and lasting peace when the danger of further aggression by Herr Hitler's Germany has been removed. A feature of the book is the stress it lays on Germany's part in forming and fostering a new world order. When the World War ended, cries of "Hang the Kaiser" and "Squeeze the German Orange" hampered the peacemakers and helped to spoil the peace. If that mistake is not to be repeated, public opinion must be prepared for whatever apparent sacrifices may be involved in passing from the old civilization to the new. And if the foundations of the new system are to be well and truly laid, they must rest not only upon the undertakings of governments, but also upon the convictions and the sentiments, the thoughts and the feelings, of individual men and women. To that end people should begin now to think over and discuss with one another how the errors of Versailles are to be avoided and how we are to do better this time. This book by Dr Maxwell Garnett, for 18 years the secretary of the League of Nations Union and Dr H. F. Koeppler will help such thought and talk to prepare the way of lasting peace. Dr Koeppler shows how essential is Anglo-French solidarity in the interests of Germany herself. For the rest he is chiefly concerned with the conflict between German democracy and Prussian Junkerdom as he defines it. He suggests how this conflict may be resolved when the Nazi disciples of the Junkers have left the scene and how Germany may then play an equal part in a new Europe.

The Great War is a landmark history that firmly places the First World War in the context of imperialism. Set to overturn conventional accounts of what happened during this, the first truly international conflict, it extends the study of the First World War beyond the confines of Europe and the Western Front. By recounting the experiences of people from the colonies especially those brought into the war effort either as volunteers or through conscription, John Morrow's magisterial work also unveils the impact of the war in Asia, India and Africa. From the origins of World War One to its bloody (and largely unknown) aftermath, The Great War is distinguished by its long chronological coverage, first person battle and home front accounts, its pan European and global emphasis and the integration of cultural considerations with political.

Warrant for Genocide provides a unique, interdisciplinary approach to understanding the underlying causes of the World War I Armenian genocide. It traces genocide to the origin and history of the long-standing Turko-Armenian discord with the massacres treated as a means to resolve the conflict between a powerful, dominant group and a weak, vulnerable minority.

The World War I destruction of the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire was neither an accident nor an aberration. The seeds of the large-scale deportations and massacres of Armenians can be found in the 1919u1920 Turkish Courts Martial documents of leaders of the Young Turk Ittihadist regime. These were replete with xenophobic nationalism, calls for the use of arms to achieve that end, and references to Islam to incite the masses against Armenians. The utmost secrecy, camouflage, and deflection with respect to their plans were evident in what was not said. This was a drastic departure by the regime from its publicly proclaimed posture of egalitarianism, heralding the dawn of a new era of multiethnic harmony and accord in the decaying empire.

Dadrian carefully details these calculated deliberations and the concomitant shift from Ottomanism to Turkism in the radical wing of the regime. He illustrates how this rekindled enmities between dominant Turks and subject minorities. The desire to neutralize or eliminate the opposition helped pave the way to a new and radical nationality policy. To Dadrian, the act of genocide was a draconian method of resolving a lingering conflict.

No analysis of the Armenian genocide can be adequate without understanding the origin, elements, evolution, and escalation of the Turko-Armenian conflict. Dadrian details this admirably, showing that in the final analysis, the Armenian genocide was a cataclysmic by-product of this conflict. Genocide and Holocaust scholars, Armenian area specialists, and human rights activists will consider this an essential addition to the literature.

Originally published in 1963, this book examines the territorial settlement with Germany at the end of the First World War. It approaches it from the standpoint of British official attitudes and policy in order to discover the pre-Paris-Peace-Conference evolution of British governmental thinking on German boundary issues: to bring out the relationship between British attitudes and those of their allies and to determine British influence on the drafting of the territorial provisions of the ill-fated Treaty of Versailles.

The final volume in a four part set covering the First World War, this book includes the Allied attempts to capture Constantinople, the bloody campaigning in Northern Italy, the defence of the Suez Canal and the defeat of the Turkish army in Palestine. The war in North Africa is also covered.

In this second volume devoted to the Western Front of World War I, Peter Simkins describes the last great battles of attrition at Arras, on the Aisne, and at Passchendaele in 1917. The book moves on to relate the successive offenses launched by Germany during the spring and summer of 1918 in an effort to achieve victory or a favorable peace before American manpower proved decisive. Questioning and debunking several myths and assumptions about the conduct of war on the Western Front, the author also looks at the aftermath and legacy of the 'war to end wars'.

'J.P.T. Bury's classic history takes the reader on a switchback ride across violently changing regimes and republics, cultural and artistic movements.' - BBC History Magazine

With the aid of almost 100 photographs from the news archives of Mirrorpix, this book offers readers the opportunity to read a critique and review of the inspirational, moving, shocking and sometimes humorous words of the men and women who experienced The Great War first hand. This book presents a poignant, nostalgic record of the lives of military commanders, ordinary soldiers, politicians, royalty and civilian families whose lives were torn asunder in a four-year conflict that redrew the map of the world.

The year 1916 has recently been identified as "a tipping point for the intensification of protests, riots, uprisings and even revolutions." Many of these constituted a challenge to the international pre-war order of empires, and thus collectively represent a global anti-imperial moment, which was the revolutionary counterpart to the later diplomatic attempt to construct a new world order in the so-called Wilsonian moment. Chief among such events was the Easter Rising in Ireland, an occurrence that took on worldwide significance as a challenge to the established order. This is the first collection of specialist studies that aims at interpreting the global significance of the year 1916 in the decline of empires.

For Home and Empire is the first book to compare voluntary wartime mobilization on the Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand home fronts. Steve Marti shows that collective acts of patriotism strengthened communal bonds, while reinforcing class, race, and gender boundaries. Which jurisdiction should provide for a soldier's wife if she moved from Hobart to northern Tasmania? Should Welsh women in Vancouver purchase comforts for hometown soldiers or Welsh ones? Should Maori enlist with a local or an Indigenous battalion? Such questions highlighted the diverging interests of local communities, the dominion governments, and the Empire. Marti applies a settler colonial framework to reveal the geographical and social divides that separated communities as they organized for war.

Explores the international consequences of the ending of the First World War

The Austro-Hungarian and the Ottoman Empire collapsed in the wake of the war and the boundaries of Europe were redrawn. Many subsequent international crises in the late twentieth century can be traced back to decisions taken in these critical years. The text deals with all the peace treaties and international agreements worked out between 1919 and the Locarno Pact of 1925. Erik Goldstein also looks at the international organizations and practices which came into existence at this time, including the establishment of a Permanent Court of International Justice, the creation of an International Labor Organization, the principle of war crimes, and the idea of arms control.

The genocide of Armenians by Turks during the First World War was one of the most horrendous deeds of modern times and a precursor of the genocidal acts that have marked the rest of the twentieth century. Despite the worldwide attention the atrocities received at the time, the massacre has not remained a part of the world's historical consciousness. The parallels between the Jewish and Armenian situations and the reactions of the Jewish community in Palestine (the Yishuv) to the Armenian genocide, which was muted and largely self-interested, are explored by Yair Auron. In attempting to assess and interpret these disparate reactions, Auron maintains a fairminded balance in assessing claims of altruism and self-interest, expressed in universal, not merely Jewish, terms.

While not denying the uniqueness of the Holocaust, Auron carefully distinguishes it from the Armenian genocide reviewing existing theories and relating Armenian and Jewish experience to ongoing issues of politics and identity. As a groundbreaking work of comparative history, this volume will be read by Armenian area specialists, historians of Zionism and Israel, and students of genocide. Yair Auron is senior lecturer at The Open University of Israel and the Kibbutzim College of Education. He is the author, in Hebrew, of Jewish-Israeli Identity, Sensitivity to World Suffering: Genocide in the Twentieth Century, We Are All German Jews, and Jewish Radicals in France during the Sixties and Seventies (published in French as well)

This work shows the importance of analysing the low politics of areas that have traditionally been dominated by high politics. The role of bodies such as the Liberal Summer School and the Women's Liberal Federation are examined, along with the work of thinkers such as JM Keynes and Ramsay Muir. The text should make two major contributions to our knowledge of the role of international relations in British politics in the inter-war years. First, by analyzing the Liberal Party's principles and policies on international relations, it offers a perspective on British Liberalism. Second, by exploring the Liberal Party's alternative to the Baldwin-Chamberlain policy of appeasement, it enters the historical debate on the options open to Britain in the 1930s, and shows that there was a Liberal alternative to appeasement.