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No Ordinary Determination: Percy Black and Harry Murray of the First AIF
By Jeff Hatwell. 2005
An epic tale of two ordinary individuals thrown into theextraordinary and surreal world of the Gallipoli campaignas soldiers of the…
First AIF in WWI.Percy Black and Harry Murray were plain hard-workingAustralians whose paths crossed in Western Australiawhen they enlisted in support of country and empire. Thepowerful narrative paints a complex and thorough pictureof the heroism, loyalty, inventiveness, mateship, stoicismand strength of the many individuals, on all sides, caughtup in the horror of the ‘war to end all wars’.War Posters: The Historical Role of Wartime Poster Art 1914-1919
By Martin Hardie, Arthur K Sabin. 2016
"Take up the sword of justice," commands a vengeful, blade-wielding sea goddess, while a ship resembling the Lusitania hovers on…
the horizon"Keep all Canadians busy. Buy 1918 victory bonds," advises a poster bearing a pair of industrious beavers"Must children die and Mothers plead in vain? Buy more Liberty Bonds," demands a heartrending scene of an overwhelmed woman and her infants"Books wanted for our men in camp and 'over there'--Take your gifts to the public library," proposes an image of a doughboy balancing a stack of volumesStriking poster art, featuring exhortations to support the troops and help the suffering, appeared across Europe and North America during World War I. This compilation presents 80 color and black-and-white posters, issued from 1914 to 1919, that include works by Steinlen, Biró, Paul Nash, and other noted artists. Arranged by the country of issue, they comprise examples from Great Britain, France, Germany and Austria/Hungary, the United States, and elsewhere. In addition, a substantial and informative Introduction details the historical role of wartime posters.The Sunken Gold: A Story of World War I Espionage and the Greatest Treasure Salvage in History
By Joseph A. Williams. 2017
On January 25, 1917, HMS Laurentic struck two German mines off the coast of Ireland and sank. The ship was…
carrying 44 tons of gold bullion to the still-neutral United States via Canada in order to finance the war effort for Britain and its allies. Britain desperately needed that sunken treasure, but any salvage had to be secret since the British government dared not alert the Germans to the presence of the gold. Lieutenant Commander Guybon Damant was the most qualified officer to head the risky mission. Wild gales battered the wreck into the shape of an accordion, turning the operation into a multiyear struggle of man versus nature. As the war raged on, Damant was called off the salvage to lead a team of covert divers to investigate and search through the contents of recently sunk U-boats for ciphers, minefield schematics, and other secrets. The information they obtained, once in the hands of British intelligence, proved critical toward Allied efforts to defeat the U-boats and win the war.But Damant had become obsessed with completing his long-deferred mission. His team struggled for five more years as it became apparent that the work could only be accomplished by muscle, grit, and persistence. Using newly discovered sources, author Joseph A. Williams provides the first full-length account of the quest for the Laurentic's gold. More than an incredible story about undersea diving adventure, The Sunken Gold is a story of human persistence, bravery, and patriotism.Apollinaire in the Great War (1914-18)
By David Hunter. 2015
A major literary figure in pre-war Paris, Guillaume Apollinaire volunteered for war in 1914, trained as an artilleryman and was…
posted in April 1915 to the Champagne front in northern France, participating in the bloody but little-known offensive that September and then moving into the front line as an infantry officer, before being wounded in March 1916 and invalided out of active service. Back in Paris, Apollinaire plunged back into the activities of the capital's artistic avant-garde, meanwhile publishing poetry, prose and plays that were deeply influenced by his involvement in the conflict. He died on 9 November 1918, two days before the Armistice, a victim of the influenza pandemic, but with a literary reputation secured, as well as a certain fame for coining the term 'Surrealism'. This book draws heavily on Apollinaire's writings to tell the story of his war years, within the wider context of the French experience of the Great War. In this period, Apollinaire also wrote hundreds of letters, the bulk of them to two women: Louise de Coligny, a flighty socialite of aristocratic origin, and Madeleine Pagès, a young schoolteacher. In these letters he poured out his passionate feelings for both in often highly erotic poetry and prose, as well as giving detailed descriptions of his life as a front-line soldier.The Spirit of the Laws: The Plunder of Wealth in the Armenian Genocide
By Umit Kurt, Taner Ak am. 2015
Pertinent to contemporary demands for reparations from Turkey is the relationship between law and property in connection with the Armenian…
Genocide. This book examines the confiscation of Armenian properties during the genocide and subsequent attempts to retain seized Armenian wealth. Through the close analysis of laws and treaties, it reveals that decrees issued during the genocide constitute central pillars of the Turkish system of property rights, retaining their legal validity, and although Turkey has acceded through international agreements to return Armenian properties, it continues to refuse to do so. The book demonstrates that genocides do not depend on the abolition of the legal system and elimination of rights, but that, on the contrary, the perpetrators of genocide manipulate the legal system to facilitate their plans.Hell on Earth
By Avigdor Hameiri, Peter C. Appelbaum, Avner Holtzman. 2017
Hell on Earth is the second book written by Avigdor Hameiri (born Feuerstein; 1890–1970) about his experiences as a Russian…
prisoner of war during the second half of World War I. Translator Peter C. Appelbaum first became interested in Hameiri’s story after learning that one quarter of the Austro-Hungarian army was captured and imprisoned, and that the horrific events that took place at this time throughout Russia and central Asia are rarely discussed in scholarly texts. Available for the first time to an English-speaking audience, this reality-driven novel is comparable to classics like All Quiet on the Western Front and The Gulag Archipelago. The text is deeply tragic, while allowing some humor to shine through in the darkest hour. The reader is introduced to a procession of complex characters with whom Hamieri comes into contact during his imprisonment. The narrator watches his friends die one by one until he is released in 1917 with the help of Russian Zionist colleagues. He then immigrates to Israel in 1921. Hameiri’s perspective on the things surrounding him—the Austro-Hungarian Army, the Russian people and countryside, the geography of Siberia, the nascent Zionist movement, the Russian Revolution and its immediate aftermath—offers a distinct personal view of a moment in time that is often overshadowed by the horrors of the Holocaust. In his preface, Appelbaum argues that World War I was the original sin of the twentieth century—without it, the unthinkable acts of World War II would not have come to fruition. With an introduction by Avner Holtzman, Hell on Earth is a fascinating, albeit gruesome, account of life in prison camps at the end of the First World War. Fans of historical fiction and war memoirs will appreciate the historic value in this piece of literature.My Fellow Soldiers: General John Pershing and the Americans Who Helped Win the Great War
By Andrew Carroll. 2017
From the New York Times bestselling author of War Letters and Behind the Lines, Andrew Carroll’s My Fellow Soldiers draws…
on a rich trove of both little-known and newly uncovered letters and diaries to create a marvelously vivid and moving account of the American experience in World War I, with General John Pershing featured prominently in the foreground. Andrew Carroll’s intimate portrait of General Pershing, who led all of the American troops in Europe during World War I, is a revelation. Given a military force that on the eve of its entry into the war was downright primitive compared to the European combatants, the general surmounted enormous obstacles to build an army and ultimately command millions of U.S. soldiers. But Pershing himself—often perceived as a harsh, humorless, and wooden leader—concealed inner agony from those around him: almost two years before the United States entered the war, Pershing suffered a personal tragedy so catastrophic that he almost went insane with grief and remained haunted by the loss for the rest of his life, as private and previously unpublished letters he wrote to family members now reveal. Before leaving for Europe, Pershing also had a passionate romance with George Patton’s sister, Anne. But once he was in France, Pershing fell madly in love with a young painter named Micheline Resco, whom he later married in secret. Woven throughout Pershing’s story are the experiences of a remarkable group of American men and women, both the famous and unheralded, including Harry Truman, Douglas Macarthur, William “Wild Bill” Donovan, Teddy Roosevelt, and his youngest son Quentin. The chorus of these voices, which begins with the first Americans who enlisted in the French Foreign Legion 1914 as well as those who flew with the Lafayette Escadrille, make the high stakes of this epic American saga piercingly real and demonstrates the war’s profound impact on the individuals who served—during and in the years after the conflict—with extraordinary humanity and emotional force.American Battles & Campaigns: A Chronicle from 1622-2010
By Chris McNab. 2016
Raids and sieges; trench warfare and air campaigns; guerrilla warfare, naval engagements, and colonial wars—American Battles & Campaigns covers every…
major campaign and battle fought in North America or by United States’ forces overseas, from the Pequot War of 1634 to the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Arranged chronologically, American Battles & Campaigns: A Chronicle, from 1622-Present includes hundreds of entries, ranging from the 1770 Boston Massacre through the Alamo (1836) and the Philippine-American War (1899–1902), to Chateau-Thierry (1918), Midway (1942) and Hue (1969). Major battles, such as Yorktown, Gettysburg, Pearl Harbor, and D-Day, are illustrated with full-color annotated 3-dimensional maps and detailed text explaining the course of the engagement. Stuffed with black and white and color photographs, battle maps, paintings and other artwork, American Battles & Campaigns contains expert accounts and analysis from thirty leading military historians.The Proud Tower
By Barbara W. Tuchman. 1994
The Proud Tower, the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Guns of August, and The Zimmerman Telegram comprise Barbara W. Tuchman's classic histories…
of the First World War era. During the fateful quarter century leading up to World War I, the climax of a century of rapid, unprecedented change, a privileged few enjoyed Olympian luxury as the underclass was "heaving in its pain, its power, and its hate." In The Proud Tower, Barbara W. Tuchman brings the era to vivid life: the decline of the Edwardian aristocracy; the Anarchists of Europe and America; Germany and its self-depicted hero, Richard Strauss; Diaghilev's Russian ballet and Stravinsky's music; the Dreyfus Affair; the Peace Conferences in The Hague; and the enthusiasm and tragedy of Socialism, epitomized by the assassination of Jean Jaurès on the night the Great War began and an epoch came to a close.The Weimar Republic
By Eberhard Kolb. 2004
In the first part of the book, Professor Kolb provides a clear historical narrative of the political, social, economic and…
cultural developments of the Weimar Republic, setting it within the international context of the inter-war period. In the second part he surveys and analyses scholarly research in the field which sheds light on the problems and controversies of the period in home and foreign affairs. This text, therefore, provides an excellent introduction to the history of the Weimar Republic and a guide to the state of research for more advanced students.The book contains a detailed chronology and an extensive and up-to-date bibilography, divided by subject, which includes recent English-language studies of the period and translation of German works.Tells the story of the WWI soldiers and chemists who worked on measures that America planned to use on Germans.…
The massive science and engineering effort attracted top scientists to usher in a new world in which fearsome weapons could kill or terrorize armies and civilians. 2017.A Matter of Honour: Britain in the First World War
By Zachary Twamley. 2016
Zachary Twamley, the host of the popular, When Diplomacy Fails podcast explores the role “Honour” played in Britain’s entry into…
World War I. The decision to enter the war in conjunction with France and Russia in 1914 was no a foregone conclusion. There were pro’s and con’s within the government to enter the war – and the German invasion of Belgium was not the final push to get Britain to declare war on Germany. Zach examines “Honor”, as was passed down from Victorian to Edwardian England as its role in the government’s final decision. Based on his award winning paper and his podcast, Zack explores the one of the factors that led to Britain’s road to war.Vimy: The Battle and the Legend
By Tim Cook. 2017
A bold new telling of the defining battle of the Great War, and how it came to signify and solidify…
Canada’s national identityWhy does Vimy matter? How did a four-day battle at the midpoint of the Great War, a clash that had little strategic impact on the larger Allied war effort, become elevated to a national symbol of Canadian identity? Tim Cook, Canada’s foremost military historian and a Charles Taylor Prize winner, examines the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the way the memory of it has evolved over 100 years. The operation that began April 9, 1917, was the first time the four divisions of the Canadian Corps fought together. More than 10,000 Canadian soldiers were killed or injured over four days—twice the casualty rate of the Dieppe Raid in August 1942. The Corps’ victory solidified its reputation among allies and opponents as an elite fighting force. In the wars’ aftermath, Vimy was chosen as the site for the country’s strikingly beautiful monument to mark Canadian sacrifice and service. Over time, the legend of Vimy took on new meaning, with some calling it the “birth of the nation.” The remarkable story of Vimy is a layered skein of facts, myths, wishful thinking, and conflicting narratives. Award-winning writer Tim Cook explores why the battle continues to resonate with Canadians a century later. He has uncovered fresh material and photographs from official archives and private collections across Canada and from around the world. On the 100th anniversary of the event, and as Canada celebrates 150 years as a country, Vimy is a fitting tribute to those who fought the country’s defining battle. It is also a stirring account of Canadian identity and memory, told by a masterful storyteller.Personal Narratives, Peripheral Theatres: Essays on the Great War (1914–18)
By Anthony Barker, Maria Eugénia Pereira, Maria Teresa Cortez, Paulo Alexandre Pereira, Otília Martins. 2018
This book is a collection of essays on neglected aspects of the Great War. It begins by asking what exactly…
was so "Great" about it, before turning to individual studies of various aspects of the war. These fall broadly into two categories. Firstly personal, micro-narratives that deal directly with the experience of war, often derived from contemporary interest in diaries and oral histories. Presenting both a close-up view of the viscerality, and the tedium and powerlessness of personal situations, these same narratives also address the effects of the war on hitherto under-regarded groups such as children and animals. Secondly, the authors look at the impact of the course of the war on theatres, often left out in reflections on the main European combatants and therefore not part of the regular iconography of the trenches in places such as Denmark, Canada, India, the Levant, Greece and East Africa.Vimy
By Vern Thiessen. 2017
France, 1917. Four wounded Canadian soldiers recover in a field hospital in the wake of the battle for Vimy Ridge,…
waiting to find out where they’ll be sent next: back home or back to the front. Along with a young nurse from Nova Scotia, they share their stories, reasons for fighting, and treasured memories. In Vimy, Governor General’s Literary Award–winner Vern Thiessen brings us a classic play that is not about war, but a reflection of the everyday lives of soldiers—their hopes and their dreams—and how actions can define individuals and nations. In the brand-new piece Bluebirds, Thiessen brings to light the stories of three Canadian nurses who crossed oceans to take care of others in the war. Bonding over their duties and patients, the nurses keep up a positive atmosphere, even as the front line draws closer to their field hospital.A Scrap of Paper
By Isabel V. Hull. 2014
A century after the outbreak of the Great War, we have forgotten the central role that international law and the…
dramatically different interpretations of it played in the conflict's origins and conduct. In A Scrap of Paper, Isabel V. Hull compares wartime decision making in Germany, Great Britain, and France, weighing the impact of legal considerations in each. Throughout, she emphasizes the profound tension between international law and military necessity in time of war, and demonstrates how differences in state structures and legal traditions shaped the way in which each of the three belligerents fought the war Hull focuses on seven cases in which each government's response was shaped by its understanding of and respect for the law: Belgian neutrality, the land war in the west, the occupation of enemy territory, the blockade, unrestricted submarine warfare, the introduction of new weaponry (including poison gas and the zeppelin), and reprisals. Drawing on voluminous research in German, British, and French archives, the author reconstructs the debates over military decision making and clarifies the role played by law--where it constrained action, where it was manipulated to serve military need, where it was simply ignored, and how it developed in the crucible of combat. She concludes that Germany did not speak the same legal language as the two liberal democracies, with disastrous and far-reaching consequences. The first book on international law and the Great War published since 1920, A Scrap of Paper is a passionate defense of the role that the law must play to govern interstate relations in both peace and war.The Impossible Border: Germany and the East, 1914-1922
By Annemarie H. Sammartino. 2010
Between 1914 and 1922, millions of Europeans left their homes as a result of war, postwar settlements, and revolution. After…
1918, the immense movement of people across Germany's eastern border posed a sharp challenge to the new Weimar Republic. Ethnic Germans flooded over the border from the new Polish state, Russian emigres poured into the German capital, and East European Jews sought protection in Germany from the upheaval in their homelands. Nor was the movement in one direction only: German Freikorps sought to found a soldiers' colony in Latvia, and a group of German socialists planned to settle in a Soviet factory town. In The Impossible Border, Annemarie H. Sammartino explores these waves of migration and their consequences for Germany. Migration became a flashpoint for such controversies as the relative importance of ethnic and cultural belonging, the interaction of nationalism and political ideologies, and whether or not Germany could serve as a place of refuge for those seeking asylum. Sammartino shows the significance of migration for understanding the difficulties confronting the Weimar Republic and the growing appeal of political extremism. Sammartino demonstrates that the moderation of the state in confronting migration was not merely by default, but also by design. However, the ability of a republican nation-state to control its borders became a barometer for its overall success or failure. Meanwhile, debates about migration were a forum for political extremists to develop increasingly radical understandings of the relationship between the state, its citizens, and its frontiers. The widespread conviction that the democratic republic could not control its "impossible" Eastern borders fostered the ideologies of those on the radical right who sought to resolve the issue by force and for all time.The Embattled Self: French Soldiers' Testimony of the Great War
By Leonard V. Smith. 2007
How did the soldiers in the trenches of the Great War understand and explain battlefield experience, and themselves through that…
experience? Situated at the intersection of military history and cultural history, The Embattled Self draws on the testimony of French combatants to explore how combatants came to terms with the war. In order to do so, they used a variety of narrative tools at hand--rites of passage, mastery, a character of the soldier as a consenting citizen of the Republic. None of the resulting versions of the story provided a completely consistent narrative, and all raised more questions about the "truth" of experience than they answered. Eventually, a story revolving around tragedy and the soldier as victim came to dominate--even to silence--other types of accounts. In thematic chapters, Leonard V. Smith explains why the novel structured by a specific notion of trauma prevailed by the 1930s. Smith canvasses the vast literature of nonfictional and fictional testimony from French soldiers to understand how and why the "embattled self" changed over time. In the process, he undermines the conventional understanding of the war as tragedy and its soldiers as victims, a view that has dominated both scholarly and popular opinion since the interwar period. The book is important reading not only for traditional historians of warfare but also for scholars in a variety of fields who think critically about trauma and the use of personal testimony in literary and historical studies.The Origins of Major War
By Dale C. Copeland. 1996
One of the most important questions of human existence is what drives nations to war-especially massive, system-threatening war. Much military…
history focuses on the who, when, and where of war. In this riveting book, Dale C. Copeland brings attention to bear on why governments make decisions that lead to, sustain, and intensify conflicts. Copeland presents detailed historical narratives of several twentieth-century cases, including World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. He highlights instigating factors that transcend individual personalities, styles of government, geography, and historical context to reveal remarkable consistency across several major wars usually considered dissimilar. The result is a series of challenges to established interpretive positions and provocative new readings of the causes of conflict. Classical realists and neorealists claim that dominant powers initiate war. Hegemonic stability realists believe that wars are most often started by rising states. Copeland offers an approach stronger in explanatory power and predictive capacity than these three brands of realism: he examines not only the power resources but the shifting power differentials of states. He specifies more precisely the conditions under which state decline leads to conflict, drawing empirical support from the critical cases of the twentieth century as well as major wars spanning from ancient Greece to the Napoleonic Wars.An Improbable War?
By David Stevenson, Holger Afflerbach. 2012
The First World War has been described as the primordial catastrophe of the twentieth century Arguably …
Italian Fascism German National Socialism and Soviet Leninism and Stalinism would not have emerged without the cultural and political shock of World War I The question why this catastrophe happened therefore preoccupies historians to this day The focus of this volume is not on the consequences but rather on the connection between the Great War and the long 19th century the short- and long-term causes of World War I This approach results in the questioning of many received ideas about the war s causes especially the notion of inevitability