Kitchener’s Army
Kitchener’s Army

Author: Peter Simkins

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2007-08-30

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 1844155854

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Numbering over five million men, Britain's army in the First World War was the biggest in the country's history. Remarkably, nearly half those men who served in it were volunteers. 2,466,719 men enlisted between August 1914 and December 1915, many in response to the appeals of the Field-Marshal Lord Kitchener. How did Britain succeed in creating a mass army, almost from scratch, in the middle of a major war ? What compelled so many men to volunteer ' and what happened to them once they had taken the King's shilling ? Peter Simkins describes how Kitchener's New Armies were raised and reviews the main political, economic and social effects of the recruiting campaign. He examines the experiences and impressions of the officers and men who made up the New Armies. As well as analysing their motives for enlisting, he explores how they were fed, housed, equipped and trained before they set off for active service abroad. Drawing upon a wide variety of sources, ranging from government papers to the diaries and letters of individual soldiers, he questions long-held assumptions about the 'rush to the colours' and the nature of patriotism in 1914. The book will be of interest not only to those studying social, political and economic history, but also to general readers who wish to know more about the story of Britain's citizen soldiers in the Great War.

The Manchester Bantams
The Manchester Bantams

Author: Caroline Scott

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2015-02-28

Total Pages: 618

ISBN-13: 1473884470

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In May 1916 Major Eustace Lockhart Maxwell, a former Indian cavalry officer, was given command of an infantry battalion in France. After 48 hours with his new unit, Maxwell wrote to his family: The outstanding characteristic of those who belong to it seems to be their extraordinary self-complacency! Esprit de corps is a fine thing, but the satisfaction with which they regard themselves, their battalion, its internal economy, its gallantry, its discipline, its everything else, is almost indecent! If at the end of a month my opinion of them is half as good as their own, I shall think myself uncommonly lucky. This was the 23rd Manchester Bantam Battalion, a unit entirely composed of men of a height between 5ft and 5ft 3, and its esprit de corps was about to be severely tested. The Bantams left colorful, characterful, moving and often amusing records of their experiences. Using a wealth of previously unpublished sources, this book follows the Manchester men through their training, their experiences of the Somme and the Third Ypres Campaign, to Houthulst Forest where, in October 1917, the Battalion was practically annihilated.

6th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment in the Great War
6th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment in the Great War

Author: John Hartley

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2011-02-23

Total Pages: 634

ISBN-13: 1783460962

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The 6th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment, was a prewar Territorial unit. Many of its members held white collar positions employed by the Citys legal, financial and stockbroking practices or worked for the major commercial organizations trading and manufacturing cotton goods. It went overseas in September 1914, taking with it many new recruits who would undertake their basic training whilst the Battalion formed part of the British garrison in Egypt.It saw action at Gallipoli from May 1915 until the evacuation at the end of the year and fascinating campaign is dealt with in considerable detail. The Battalion returned to Egypt until the spring of 1917 when it moved to France.The Manchesters saw regular action for most of 1918, coming under attack in the German offensive in March. Throughout the summer and autumn, the Battalion took part in the Advance to Victory and was still advancing when the Armistice was signed in November.The book also recounts the history of the second line battalion, the 2/6th Manchesters, from its inception in 1914 until it was all but destroyed in March 1918.The author draws on official records and personal accounts to tell the story of these fine battalions.

Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen

Author: Helen McPhail

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 1998-08-12

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 1473820782

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This is a guide to the battlefields that inspired the young and sensitive poet, whose poems are probably the twentieth century's best-known literary expressions of experience of war. Detailed maps, military diaries, photographs and modern roads guide the visitor through the battlefields. Owen's letters are used extensively, together with his poetry, linking specific places events, vividly describing the suffering of the trench.

Socialism and the Challenge of War (RLE The First World War)
Socialism and the Challenge of War (RLE The First World War)

Author: Jay M. Winter

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-04-24

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 1317700082

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The First World War marks a crucial period in the history of the socialist wing of the British labour movement. This book is an account of the development of the political ideas and activities of some of the most influential British socialist thinkers of that time: Beatrice and Sidney Webb, R. H. Tawney and G. D. H. Cole. The first part of the book examines the state of the Labour movement and of socialist ideas on the eve of the conflict, then turns to the central question of the impact of the War on the dissemination of British socialist ideas.

The Great War and the British People
The Great War and the British People

Author: J. Winter

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2003-07-31

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 0230506240

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This second edition of the classic bestseller by J.M. Winter, originally published by Macmillan in 1985, includes a new and up-to-date introduction. This was the first major study to highlight the paradox that a conflict that killed or maimed over two million men, also created conditions which improved the health of the civilian population. Examining both the war and its aftermath, Dr Winter surveys not only trends in population and the impact of the conflict on an entire generation, but also, more profoundly, the meaning of the literature of the period.

A Bibliography of Regimental Histories of the British Army
A Bibliography of Regimental Histories of the British Army

Author: Arthur S. White

Publisher: Andrews UK Limited

Published: 2013-02-04

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 178150539X

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This is one of the most valuable books in the armoury of the serious student of British Military history. It is a new and revised edition of Arthur White's much sought-after bibliography of regimental, battalion and other histories of all regiments and Corps that have ever existed in the British Army. This new edition includes an enlarged addendum to that given in the 1988 reprint. It is, quite simply, indispensible.

Legacy of the Somme 1916
Legacy of the Somme 1916

Author: Gerald Gliddon

Publisher: Alan Sutton Publishing

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13:

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The Battle of the Somme is widely regarded as one of the bloodiest and most controversial land battles ever fought. The first British troops went over the top on 1 July 1916 and by the day's end some 19,000 had been killed in the greatest one-day loss the British Army has ever known. This notoriety has ensured that the Somme and its many fallen warriors live on in countless books, plays and films. Documentary sources about the Somme abound and there is a voracious appetite among the book-buying public for more. Legacy of the Somme 1916 is a unique bibliographical and media guide to the battle, setting on record - in as comprehensive a listing as is possible - much of what has been written, filmed or sound-recorded in the English language between 1916 and 1995. This detailed listing includes official, unofficial and unit histories of the British and Commonwealth armies; biographies, autobiographies and memoirs; literature, drama and media; archives, tanks and war graves registers. Short commentaries accompany each entry and a detailed index enables accurate cross-referencing of subjects. First and foremost this is a unique work of reference which will appeal to all with an interest in the First World War. It will aid historians, researchers and enthusiasts to track down the vast amount of information available on the battle, and will also prove valuable to libraries, museums and the book trade.