James Joll's study is not simply another narrative, retracing the powder trail that was finally ignited at Sarajevo. It is an ambitious and wide-ranging analysis of the historical forces at work in the Europe of 1914, and the very different ways in which historians have subsequently attempted to understand them. The importance of the theme, the breadth and sympathy of James Joll's scholarship, and the clarity of his exposition, have all contributed to the spectacular success of the book since its first appearance in 1984. Revised by Gordon Martel, this new 3rd edition accommodates recent research and an expanded further reading section.
This eleventh edition was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. Some of its articles were written by the best-known scholars of the time and it is considered to be a landmark encyclopaedia for scholarship and literary style.
An anthology of Great War short stories by British writers, both famous and lesser-known authors, men and women, during the war and after its end. These stories are able to illustrate the impact of the Great War on British society and culture and the many modes in which short fiction contributed to the war's literature. The selection covers different periods: the war years themselves, the famous boom years of the late 1920s to the more recent past in which the First World War has received new cultural interest.
A second edition of this book is now available. In a compact but comprehensive and clear narrative, this book explores the First World War from a genuinely global perspective. Putting a human face on the war, William Kelleher Storey brings to life individual decisions and experiences as well as environmental and technological factors such as food, geography, manpower, and weapons. Without neglecting traditional themes, the author's deft interweaving of the role of environment and technology enriches our understanding of the social, political, and military history of the war, not only in Europe, but throughout the world.
The years 1914 to 1918 saw Europe engaged in a conflict involving a greater area and a greater number of men than history had ever before recorded. In this book, Captain Cyril Falls, known in British academic and governmental circles as an expert in military history, discusses the military side of World War I in the light of its battles, tactics and weapons; its problems of supply and transport; its armies and their commanders. The engagements in the many theaters of war in Europe, Asia and Africa are described in vivid detail, but particular attention is focused on the Western Front, where the principal and decisive battles were fought. Although it was on land that the conclusive victories were achieved, the place of sea power and of the new type of warfare waged in the air is not ignored. The role played by civilian politics is covered as well, particularly in situations where it had direct bearing on the fighting--such as in Sarajevo in 1914 where a spark touched off the Central European powder keg and signaled the beginning of the war; the political considerations which caused the US as well as Romania, Bulgaria, and Italy to enter the war late; and the revolution which caused Russia to leave it early. In telling how World War I was fought and why it developed as it did, Captain Falls decisively refutes the notion that World War I was an interlude of senseless and irresponsible slaughter during which military art stood still. He reminds us that it was a war remarkable for the idealistic spirit in which it was fought. Though the unprecedented, world-wide scale of battle, and the deadlock on the Western Front, taxed the skill of military leadership sorely, the war produced its great leaders: Haig, Allenby, Maude, Jellicoe, Beatty, Joffre, Foch, Petain, Pershing, Liggett, Sims, Falkenhayn, Hindenburg, Hipper, Conrad von Hotzendorf, and Mustapha Kemal. Their achievements as well as the indomitable spirit of the men they commanded are remembered here.
In this, the second volume covering the war on the Western Front, Peter Simkins describes the last great battles of attrition at Arras, on the Aisne and at Passchendaele in 1917. Then he moves on to relate the successive offensives launched by Germany in the spring and summer of 1918 in an effort to achieve victory or a favourable peace before American manpower proved decisive. Again, questioning and correcting several myths and long-held assumptions about the nature and conduct of war on the Western Front, the author also looks at the aftermath and legacy of the 'war to end wars'.
Remembering the First World War brings together a group of international scholars to understand how and why the past quarter of a century has witnessed such an extraordinary increase in global popular and academic interest in the First World War, both as an event and in the ways it is remembered. The book discusses this phenomenon across three key areas. The first section looks at family history, genealogy and the First World War, seeking to understand the power of family history in shaping and reshaping remembrance of the War at the smallest levels, as well as popular media and the continuing role of the state and its agencies. The second part discusses practices of remembering and the more public forms of representation and negotiation through film, literature, museums, monuments and heritage sites, focusing on agency in representing and remembering war. The third section covers the return of the War and the increasing determination among individuals to acknowledge and participate in public rituals of remembrance with their own contemporary politics. What, for instance, does it mean to wear a poppy on armistice/remembrance day? How do symbols like this operate today? These chapters will investigate these aspects through a series of case studies. Placing remembrance of the First World War in its longer historical and broader transnational context and including illustrations and an afterword by Professor David Reynolds, this is the ideal book for all those interested in the history of the Great War and its aftermath.
