Presents a narrative portrait of Europe in the years leading up to World War I that illuminates the political, cultural, and economic factors and contributing personalities that shaped major events.

The testament of Paul Baumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army of World War I, illuminates the savagery and futility of war.

Living deep within a cove in the Appalachians of North Carolina during World War I, Laurel Shelton finally finds the happiness she deserves in Walter, a mysterious stranger who is mute, but their love cannot protect them from a devastating secret.

The First World War was won not just on battlefields but on the Home Front, by the men, women, and children left behind. This book explores the lives of the people and communities in Pershore and the surrounding district in wartime, drawing on their memories, letters, postcards, photographs, leaflets, and recipes to demonstrate the contribution of food, fruit, and vegetables to winning the Great War. Pershore plums were used to make jam for the troops;...

As much as 70 percent of Essex is agricultural, and given its proximity to the capital it's not surprising that so many members of the Women's Land Army found themselves on Essex farms and fields during World Wars I and II. Thanks to the work of the Women's Land Army, Britain did not starve. This book includes not only interviews with some of the last surviving land "girls," but a wealth of material unearthed in diaries, letters, and in the stories...

World War I claimed over 995,000 British lives, and its legacy continues to be remembered today. Great War Britain: Hull and the Humber offers an intimate portrayal of the city and its people living in the shadow of the "war to end all wars." A beautifully illustrated and highly accessible volume, it describes local reaction to the outbreak of war; charts the experience of individuals who enlisted; the changing face of industry; the work of the many...

World War I was a slaughter on an unprecedented scale. Nevertheless, there was no shortage of young men willing to sacrifice themselves for their country. Some lied about their age to join up, not just at the start of the war when it was seen as a glorious adventure, but even towards the end, when the true horror of the mechanized butchery was known to one and all. This book concerns the young men who were not yet 20 when they won the Victoria Cross,...

The siege of Kut is a story of blunders, sacrifice, imprisonment, and escape. Initially a great success in 1914, the Allied Mesopotamian campaign turned sour as the army pressed towards Baghdad and its poor logistic support, training, equipment, and command left it isolated and besieged by the Turks. On April 29, 1916, the British Army suffered one of the worst defeats in its military history. Major-General Sir Charles Townshend surrendered his Allied...

The failure of the Gallipoli campaign was instantly blamed on a great untruth-that the War Office was unprepared. This book, incorporating information unavailable elsewhere, shows that in fact the WO and the Admiralty had amassed a huge amount of data. Aerial reconnaissance had played a part-even Lawrence of Arabia had done his bit! The War Office knew all about Greek plans to capture the peninsula, and one plan was even Anglo-Greek. The authors examine...

In 1917, as British troops were preparing for the Battle of Passchendaele, a mutiny broke out among the 100,000 soldiers at the Etaples training camp in Northern France. This mutiny was one of the most guarded secrets of WW1. Private Percy Toplis, a survivor of the Battle of Loos, had deserted from the Army Medical Corps before re-enlisting and he was accused as the ringleader of the mutiny. By this time he was back in England where he was living...