Download or read book Gravesend in the Great War written by Stephen Wynn and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-10-31 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gravesend was like most other towns in the UK during the course of the First World War. When the call came to serve King and Country, local men enlisted in their thousands, but sadly not all of them returned.This book gives an insight into the Tilbury to Gravesend Pontoon Bridge, which allowed the rapid deployment of troops in the event of a German invasion along the East Coast. It provided a quicker route to get troops, equipment and supplies from Essex into Kent for transportation across to France. It looks at the role both New Tavern and Shornemead Fort, part of the London Defence system, played in preventing the German Navy from carrying out direct attacks on London.There is an account of the Gravesend riots, in which groups of local people burnt and looted premises they believed belonged to German aliens who were residents in the town, and the unique story of Captain Robert Campbell, taken as a prisoner by the Germans early in the war. He was allowed home by the Kaiser to see his dying mother one last time, and voluntarily returned to captivity in Germany, on his word of honour to do so.The story of Sir Gilbert Parker, the wartime MP for Gravesend, is also told. He was instrumental in convincing America to join the war as a British Allie, which was no easy task, as the United States Justice Department estimated there were some 480,000 Germans living in America at the time.The book also tells the individual stories of Gravesend's men who fought in the war, some who survived and returned to their loved ones, and others who were not so fortunate. It documents the triumphs and tragedies of Gravesend's people as they sought to find normality amongst a reality far removed from anything they had ever known before.

Download or read book Enfield in the Great War written by Stephen Wynn and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2019-11-19 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A historic profile of the London borough of Enfield during World War I and the conflict’s effect on the region and its people. The Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield was famous for producing the Lee Enfield .303 Rifle, the standard issued rifle provided to all infantry soldiers in the British Army during the First World War. The factory was so prestigious that King George V visited it in April, 1915. By the end of the war, its workforce of more than 9,000 had produced more than 2 million rifles. Their gun helped play a big part in winning the war. On July 7, 1917, the town was hit by a German air raid. Local anti-aircraft batteries did their best to thwart the enemy. Sadly, falling shrapnel from British anti-aircraft gunfire killed one woman, making her Enfield’s only resident to be killed in the town throughout the course of the war. A nearby young boy was also struck by some falling shrapnel but survived. After the incident, members of the Government Workers’ Union held a meeting to complain about the lack of a warning about the attack. Meanwhile, that month also saw a baker appear at Enfield Magistrates Court, charged under the Bread Order for selling loaves of bread that were over the permitted weight. For his heinous war time offence, he was fined the princely sum of ten shillings. Through researching local newspapers of the day, along with letters, diaries, photographs, parish magazines, trade journals, contemporary printed pamphlets, and more, author Stephen Wynn details the stories of Enfield during this dramatic era.

Download or read book Churchill s Flawed Decisions written by Stephen Wynn and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2020-05-30 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winston Churchill is undoubtedly one of the most respected and best-loved characters the nation has ever known. However, much of how people view him is based on his leadership during the bleak and dire times of the Second World War. If it wasn’t for him, Britain would almost definitely have lost the war: there were those in government who encouraged Churchill to strike a deal with Hitler at the time of the Dunkirk evacuations, which took place just three weeks after he had been made Prime Minister, but he stuck resolutely to his guns and said, ‘no’. However, Churchill was never the favorite to take over after Neville Chamberlain resigned. Indeed, everyone believed Lord Halifax would be the next Prime Minister, although even he thankfully recognized that Winston Churchill was the best man for the job, even though King George VI disagreed. Yet there was another side to Churchill that is not often spoken of, and one that led to him making some questionable decisions. Some of these, it could be argued, were for national security reasons, but others were not, proving that even the very best are not always as perfect as they first appear.

Download or read book American Sports and the Great War written by Peter C. Stewart and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-02-26 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on newspaper accounts, college yearbooks and the recollections of veterans, this book examines the impact of World War I on sports in the U.S. As young men entered the military in large numbers, many colleges initially considered suspending athletics but soon turned to the idea of using sports to build morale and physical readiness. Recruits, mostly in their twenties, ended up playing more baseball and football than they would have in peacetime. Though most college athletes volunteered for military duty, others replaced them so that the reduction of competition was not severe. Pugilism gained participants as several million men learned how to box.

Download or read book Britain and Victory in the Great War written by Peter Liddle and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2018-06-30 with total page 729 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can we begin to make sense of the Great War now that over 100 years have passed since it ended with the defeat of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman empire and Bulgaria, and the collapse of Tsarist Russia? The conflict had such a profound influence on world history that is it difficult to reconcile the different perspectives and draw clear conclusions. That is why this thought-provoking collection of original essays on the outcome of the war and its aftermath is of such value.It completes the trilogy of ground-breaking volumes conceived and edited by Peter Liddle which presents the latest scholarly thinking about the Great War from an international perspective. The first two volumes Britain Goes to War and Britain and the Widening War made this stimulating new writing accessible to a broad readership and this final volume has the same aim.A group of over twenty expert contributors reconsider the military reasons for the outcome of the fighting and look at the consequences for the principal nations involved. They explore the way the war and the peace settlement shaped the twentieth century and had an enduring impact within Europe and beyond.

Download or read book Great War Britain Oxfordshire Remembering 1914 18 written by Jane Cotter and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2014-08-01 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The First World War claimed over 995,000 British lives, and its legacy continues to be remembered today. Great War Britain: Oxfordshire offers an intimate portrayal of the county and its people living in the shadowof 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 hospitals in the area; the effect of the conflict on local children; the women who defied convention to play a vital role on the home front; and concludes with a chapter dedicated to how the city and its people coped with the transition to life in peacetime once more. The Great War story of Oxfordshire is told through the voices of those who were there and is vividly illustrated through evocative images from the archives of Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum.

Download or read book Dover in the Great War written by Stephen Wynn and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Situated on the south coast of England, geographically and strategically, Dover more than played its part in the First World War. It was from its harbor that the many vessels of the Dover Patrol set about preventing German ships from using the English Channel. It was undoubtedly one of the most important Royal Naval units that Britain had during the First World War.Because of its important defensive roll, Dover was identified as a legitimate and relevant target by the German authorities. As a result, German Zeppelin's and Gotha aircraft subjected Dover to 113 aerial attacks, dropping 185 bombs in the process. The first of these raids took place on Christmas Eve, 1914; this was also the first time a German bomb had been dropped on British soil. The last raid was on 24 August 1918, in which twenty adults and three children were killed.The local residents who, for whatever reason, were unable to enlist in the military during the war, but who still felt the desire and obligation to serve their King and country, were able to do so in organizations such as the Dover Volunteer Training Corps. Most towns had similar units, and their members carried out some sterling work on the Home Front.By the end of the war, Dover and its people had sustained through testing and difficult times. Like every community throughout the nation, they had paid a heavy price. They had been as close to the war as it was possible to be, without actually being on the Front Line. Ships had sailed from its harbour to engage the enemy, and wounded soldiers had returned to the same harbour. Its men had gone of to fight in the war and, sadly, 721 of them never came back.

Download or read book The Great War in the Middle East written by Robert Johnson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-02-14 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditionally, in general studies of the First World War, the Middle East is an arena of combat that has been portrayed in romanticised terms, in stark contrast to the mud, blood, and presumed futility of the Western Front. Battles fought in Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Arabia offered a different narrative on the Great War, one in which the agency of individual figures was less neutered by heavy artillery. As with the historiography of the Western Front, which has been the focus of sustained inquiry since the mid-1960s, such assumptions about the Middle East have come under revision in the last two decades – a reflection of an emerging ‘global turn’ in the history of the First World War. The ‘sideshow’ theatres of the Great War – Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the Pacific – have come under much greater scrutiny from historians. The fifteen chapters in this volume cover a broad range of perspectives on the First World War in the Middle East, from strategic planning issues wrestled with by statesmen through to the experience of religious communities trying to survive in war zones. The chapter authors look at their specific topics through a global lens, relating their areas of research to wider arguments on the history of the First World War.

Download or read book Folkestone in the Great War written by Stephen Wynn and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2017-03-30 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Folkestone became one of the most important British towns during the First World War. Through its harbor, an estimated 10 million troops and nurses either departed from or arrived back in England between 1914 and 1919. For those leaving it was, for the most part, to fight on the battlefields of the Western Front. For those returning, it was either because they had been wounded or that they were coming home for some well-earned leave.Because of its geographical location along the south coast, the town was always going to be heavily involved in the course of the war. Shorncliffe camp saw the arrival of Canadian soldiers, infantry who had come to practice in its purpose-built trenches, and cavalry units who put their horses through their paces on its open grounds. As well as this, there was an influx of Belgian refugees who arrived in the town, having escaped the tyranny of an advancing Germany Army. Most stayed for the duration of the war, enjoying the hospitality and friendship of local people who had taken them in with open arms.With the town being a hive of military activity, the people of Folkestone went about their business as best they could. For many this included worrying about the well-being of a loved one who had gone off to fight in the war, hoping that they would remain safe but not knowing if they would ever see them again. It wasn't just on the Western Front, however, that death reared its ugly head. On one occasion it happened in Folkestone, in what has become known as the Tontines Street Air Raid. Seventy-one men, women and children were killed and another ninety-four were injured this German air raid, which took place on 25 May 1917. This book is a poignant testimony to those people as well as the men who didn't make it back

Download or read book Official Index to the Times written by and published by . This book was released on 1918 with total page 812 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Indexes the Times, Sunday times and magazine, Times literary supplement, Times educational supplement, Times educational supplement Scotland, and the Times higher education supplement.

Download or read book Wisden on the Great War written by Andrew Renshaw and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2014-08-12 with total page 541 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lasting memorial to those from the cricketing world who fought and those who fell.

Download or read book Stafford in the Great War written by Nick Thomas and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2017-03-30 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stafford in the Great War tells the fascinating story of a county town and its people between the catastrophic years of 1914–18 .The title was written as a companion volume to the author's earlier work, Stafford at War 1939-45, and adopts the same successful formula. The book examines the work of local men and women on the Home Front, before providing details of the towns contribution in every theatre of the war. Early chapters examine the role of Staffordians who served in the British Expeditionary Force, nicknamed The Contemptible Little Army by Kaiser Wilhelm II, and who took part in the Christmas Truce, 1914. The story of the Stafford Territorials of the Stafford Battery, the Staffordshire Yeomanry and the North and South Staffordshire Regiments is also explained, along with the fate of Kitcheners Volunteer Army.The events surrounding the service of a number of local men are recorded in some detail, along with the exploits of men who fought in all of the armed services and support units. Collectively, their stories help outline the course of the war.Staffordians won 120 gallantry awards during the conflict, and those that are not referred to in the main body of the text may be found in an appendix. Also listed are the names and service details of over 400 men whose names were omitted from the towns war memorial.

Download or read book The Canadian Experience of the Great War written by Brian Douglas Tennyson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013 with total page 595 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the United States did not enter the First World War until April 1917, Canada enlisted the moment Great Britain engaged in the conflict in August 1914. The Canadian contribution was great, as more than 600,000 men and women served in the war effort--400,000 of them overseas--out of a population of 8 million. More than 150,000 were wounded and nearly 67,000 gave their lives. The war was a pivotal turning point in the history of the modern world, and its mindless slaughter shattered a generation and destroyed seemingly secure values. The literature that the First World War generated, and continues to generate so many years later, is enormous and addresses a multitude of cultural and social matters in the history of Canada and the war itself. Although many scholars have brilliantly analyzed the literature of the war, little has been done to catalog the writings of ordinary participants: men and women who served in the war and wrote about it but are not included among well-known poets, novelists, and memoirists. Indeed, we don't even know how many titles these people published, nor do we know how many more titles were added later by relatives who considered the recollections or collected letters worthy of publication. Brian Douglas Tennyson's The Canadian Experience of the Great War: A Guide to Memoirs is the first attempt to identify all of the published accounts of First World War experiences by Canadian veterans.

Download or read book There s A Devil In The Drum Illustrated Edition written by Lt.-Colonel John Frederick Lucy and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 759 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes the First World War Illustrations Pack – 73 battle plans and diagrams and 198 photos “A classic. Lucy enlisted, with his brother in the RIR 1912, 2nd Bn. in France & gives a very fine account of the 1914-1915 campaign. His brother was killed at the Aisne & Lucy was eventually sent home for a rest: “My leave... was a nightmare. My sleep was broken & full of voices & the noises of war. The voices were those of officers & men who were dead... One morning was discovered standing up in bed facing a wall ready to repel an imaginary dawn attack.” Lucy was commissioned, returned to his bn. and fought at 3rd Ypres & Cambrai until wounded. John Lucy, an Irishman from Cork, enlisted in an Ulster regiment, The Royal Irish Rifles, with his younger brother in January 1912, and after six months at the Depot they joined the 2nd Bn in Dover. Subsequently they moved to Tidworth where the battalion was on 4 August 1914, in 7th Bde 3rd Division; ten days later they were in France. There follow brilliant accounts of Mons, Le Cateau and the retreat to the Marne, the turn of the tide and the Battle of the Aisne where his brother was killed. The battalion was involved in desperate fighting in front of Neuve Chapelle in October 1914, losing 181 killed in four days and virtually ceasing to exist, reduced to two officers and 46 men. Brought up to strength it suffered the same fate at First Ypres. This is a superb book, one of the best written by a ‘ranker’, all the better for being one of the very few to describe those early battles of 1914. As a critic wrote in 1938, ‘it is easily the best [war book] written by an Irishman’ - arguably still true. A great bonus is the description of life in the ranks in that long long ago just before the Great War.”-Print ed.

Download or read book America s Sailors in the Great War written by Lisle A. Rose and published by University of Missouri Press. This book was released on 2016-12-31 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Honorable Mention, 2016 Lyman Awards, presented by the North American Society for Oceanic History This book is a thrillingly-written story of naval planes, boats, and submarines during World War I. When the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, America’s sailors were immediately forced to engage in the utterly new realm of anti-submarine warfare waged on, below and above the seas by a variety of small ships and the new technology of airpower. The U.S. Navy substantially contributed to the safe trans-Atlantic passage of a two million man Army that decisively turned the tide of battle on the Western Front even as its battleship division helped the Royal Navy dominate the North Sea. Thoroughly professionalized, the Navy of 1917–18 laid the foundations for victory at sea twenty-five years later.

Download or read book The Age of the Warrior written by Robert Fisk and published by Bold Type Books. This book was released on 2008-07-29 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robert Fisk has amassed a massive and devoted global readership with his eloquent and far-ranging articles on international politics. Now, for the first time, his brave and incisive essays have been collected in a single volume that ranges in scope from the recent war in Lebanon to the rise of Hamas; from the invasion of Kuwait to the looting of Baghdad; from America's imperial ambitions to the inescapable influence of the Treaty of Versailles. Taken together, these articles form an unparalleled account of our war-torn recent history.

Download or read book A History of American Literature and Culture of the First World War written by Tim Dayton and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-02-04 with total page 749 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the years of and around the First World War, American poets, fiction writers, and dramatists came to the forefront of the international movement we call Modernism. At the same time a vast amount of non- and anti-Modernist culture was produced, mostly supporting, but also critical of, the US war effort. A History of American Literature and Culture of the First World War explores this fraught cultural moment, teasing out the multiple and intricate relationships between an insurgent Modernism, a still-powerful traditional culture, and a variety of cultural and social forces that interacted with and influenced them. Including genre studies, focused analyses of important wartime movements and groups, and broad historical assessments of the significance of the war as prosecuted by the United States on the world stage, this book presents original essays defining the state of scholarship on the American culture of the First World War.