The First World War (1914-1918) marked a turning point in modern history and culture and its literary legacy is vast: poetry, fiction and memoirs abound. But the drama of the period is rarely recognised, with only a handful of plays commonly associated with the war."First World War Plays" draws together canonical and lesser-known plays from the First World War to the end of the twentieth century, tracing the ways in which dramatists have engaged with and resisted World War I in their works. Spanning almost a century of conflict, this anthology explores the changing cultural attitudes to warfare, including the significance of the war over time, interwar pacifism, and historical revisionism. The collection includes writing by combatants, as well as playwrights addressing historical events and national memory, by both men and women, and by writers from Great Britain and the United States.Plays from the period, like "Night Watches" by Allan Monkhouse (1916), "Mine Eyes Have Seen" by Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1918) and "Tunnel Trench" by Hubert Griffith (1924), are joined with reflections on the war in "Post Mortem" by Noel Coward (1930, performed 1944) and "Oh What A Lovely War" by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop (1963) as well as later works "The Accrington Pals" by Peter Whelan (1982) and "Sea and Land and Sky "by Abigail Docherty (2010).Accompanied by a general introduction by editor, Dr Mark Rawlinson.

From the late imperial period until 1922, the British and French made private and government loans to Russia, making it the foremost international debtor country in pre-World War I Europe. To finance the modernization of industry, the construction of public works projects, railroad construction, and the development and adventures of the military-industrial complex, Russia's ministers of finance, municipal leaders, and nascent manufacturing class turned, time and time again, to foreign capital. From the forging of the Franco-Russian alliance onwards, Russia's needs were met, first and foremost, its allies and diplomatic partners in the developing Triple Entente. In the case of Russia's relationships with both France and Great Britain, an open pocketbook primed the pump, facilitating the good spirits that fostered agreement. Russia's continued access to those ready lenders ensured that the empire of the Tsars would not be tempted away from its alliance and entente partners. This web of financial and political interdependence affected both foreign policy and domestic society in all three countries. The Russian state was so heavily indebted to its western creditors, rendering those western economies almost prisoners to this debt, that the debtor nation in many ways had the upper hand; the Russian government at times was actually able to dictate policy to its French and British counterparts. Those nations' investing classes-which, in France in particular, spanned not only the upper classes but the middle, rentier class, as well-had such a vast proportion of their savings wrapped up in Russian bonds that any default would have been catastrophic for their own economies. That default came not long after the Bolshevik Revolution brought to power a government who felt no responsibility whatsoever for the debts accrued by the tsars for the purpose of oppressing Russia's workers and peasants. The ensuing effect on allied morale, the French and British economies and, ultimately, on the Anglo-French relationship, was grim and far-reaching. This book will contribute to understandings of the ways that non-governmental and sometimes transnational actors were able to influence both British and French foreign policy and Russian foreign and domestic policy. It will address the role of individual financiers and policy makers-men like Lord Revelstoke, chairman of Baring Brothers, the British and French Rothschild cousins, Edouard Noetzlin of the Banque de Paris et de Pays Bas, and Sergei Witte, Russia's authoritative finance minister during much of this age of expansion; the importance of foreign capital in late imperial Russian policy; and the particular role of British capital and financial investment in the construction and strengthening of the Anglo-Russo-French entente. It will illustrate the interrelationship of political and economic decision-making with the ideas and beliefs that inform security policy. Drawing upon both the traditional archival sources for diplomatic history-the government holdings of Great Britain, France, and Russia-and the non-governmental archival holdings of international finance-this project looks beyond the realm of high politics and state-centered decision making in the formation of foreign policy, offering insights into the forms and functions of diplomatic alliances while elucidating the connections between finance and foreign policy. It is a classic tale of money and power in the modern era-an age of economic interconnectivity and great power interdependency.

A collection of Rudyard Kipling's articles describing the French Frontline during the First World War. Published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Rudyard Kipling's birth.

In the First World War, civilian life played a fundamental part in the war effort; and music was no exception. Performing Propaganda looks at musical life in Paris during the First World War. This conflict was one in which civilian life played a fundamental part in the war effort; and music was no exception. The book examines how Western art music became a central part of the home-front war effort, employed by both musicians and government as a powerful tool of propaganda. It situates French art music of the First World War within its social, cultural and political context, and within the wider temporal framework of the Franco-Prussian and Second World Wars. Drawing on a diverse range of archival material, including concert and operatic programmes, the musical and daily press, documents detailing government involvement in musical activity, and police records, it explores how various facets of French musical life served, in very different ways, as propaganda. In short, it explores why music mattered during a period of prolonged conflict, whether as emotional catalyst, weapon, or tool. This book will be of interest to musicologists, to cultural historians working on early twentieth-century France, and to scholars of the First World War,as well as to a more general readership with an interest in music during times of adversity. RACHEL MOORE is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in Music, University of Oxford.

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 first year of war on the Western Front
The quality of medical and nursing care available to British soldiers on campaign had improved immeasurably since the days of the Crimean War in the middle of the nineteenth century when Florence Nightingale and her nurses had cared for wounded men who could scarcely believe that her presence was not other worldly. By the time of the First World War the organisation of medical care had become a fixture of the military establishment, though, of course, this was to be a war like no other. The reader joins the author of this book in the first days of the conflict and through the pages of her diary we follow her experiences on the Western Front as she cared for the wounded from the actions on the Aisne through the First Battle of Ypres and to the fighting to the middle of 1915. This book was originally published anonymously during wartime, but today most sources attribute the diary to Kathleen Luard. Clearly she was a dedicated nurse and her writings take the reader to the heart of a war of mud and attrition, revealing the incredible work she and her colleagues undertook to care for their beloved 'Tommies'-particularly on the ambulance trains which collected the wounded from the front line to transport them to base hospitals and close to the firing line in Field Ambulance stations where her accounts of the plight of the wounded makes poignant and touching reading. An essential source work of the Great war from the female perspective.
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.

In the search for the deeper causes of the 'War to end all wars' the reading public has been presented with countless titles by military, diplomatic and intellectual historians. Some of these have, however, been motivated by a desire to show how their authors would have preferred the past events to have been, so as to promote some present-day agenda. This is the fallacy of 'presentism'. John Moses was trained at the Universities of Munich and Erlangen by professors committed to the Rankean tradition of showing 'how it actually was', as far as humanly possible, based on diligent archival research and with the strictest objectivity and emotional detachment. Consequently, both Moses and Overlack have been at pains to identify the essential peculiarity of the Kaiser's Germany and have focused sharply on the question of how its war planning impinged on Australasia.

A great war correspondent reports from the Great War
Richard Harding Davis is well regarded as a writer of fiction, but it is for his work and writings as a journalist-particularly when covering the battle front-that posterity has awarded him the accolade 'the first famous American war correspondent.' Davis' first experience as a war correspondent was during the Spanish-American War and he later covered the Boer War in South Africa. The outbreak of the Great War saw him travelling to Europe and once there his pursuit of the story and vital information propelled him through many theatres of the conflict. The passage of time filters away those who have experienced momentous events until the few who are remembered are those who have left a written record. Each account is beyond value when their number is finite, but occasionally we are blessed not only with an invaluable account but also a fine author to convey it. By this time Davis had perfected his craft and these two books brought together by Leonaur for good value demonstrate that perfectly. They are augmented here with some of Davis' letters sent during the Great War. This was to be Davis' last campaign on returning home to New York he fell ill and died suddenly in 1916 aged just 52 years old. Available in softcover and hardback with dust jacket for collectors.

War in the East African bush
The First World War was inevitably a global conflict because the rush by the principal powers of Europe to establish trading bases and colonies, principally during the 19th century, guaranteed it would be so. In Africa, German and British settlers were close neighbours and at the outbreak of hostilities were ready for immediate confrontation. National and imperial forces were dispatched to augment local military operations. This book concerns the struggle for East Africa. It was written, drawing on memory and diary entries, by a British senior staff officer, a brigadier-general, who was central to the organisation of the British campaign and who has left posterity a concise, thorough and detailed historical overview of it from the British perspective. This book qualifies as a campaign history rather than a first hand account and is recommended to readers seeking that perspective on this interesting 'sideshow' theatre of the war.
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.

On April 25th 1915, during the First World War, the famous Anzacs landed ashore at Gallipoli. At the exact same moment, leading figures of Armenian life in the Ottoman Empire were being arrested in vast numbers. That dark day marks the simultaneous birth of a national story - and the beginning of a genocide. When We Dead Awaken - the first narrative history of the Armenian Genocide in decades - draws these two landmark historical events together. James Robins explores the accounts of Anzac Prisoners of War who witnessed the genocide, the experiences of soldiers who risked their lives to defend refugees, and Australia and New Zealand's participation in the enormous post-war Armenian relief movement. By exploring the vital political implications of this unexplored history, When We Dead Awaken questions the national folklore of Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey - and the mythology of Anzac Day itself.