For those interested in the history of the Great War I would like to recommend these titles. I was fortunate enough a few years ago to attend a dinner after which Richard Holmes gave a talk about his book Tommy, when he finished there was not a dry eye in the house.
Richard Holmes was a noted military historian and TV presenter with a particular interest in both Wellington and Marlborough. He was a professor at Cranford and served as a Brigadier in the first Gulf war.
Tommy
Richard Holmes 2010 Harper Collins
As a accomplished military historian and ex-soldier, Holmes investigates in depth what sort of man the British soldier during the First World War was. How did he live day to day? What did he fight with and how did he do it? By using quotes from interviews, diaries and published works of the men themselves, both officer and private soldier, he covers wartime formation, explaining its structure by battalion, regiments, brigades, and platoons. He defines what the differences were between regular units, reserve units and the New Army, further breaking these down by job and rank across the range from private to general.
The book includes the more commonly discussed trench life routine while discussing the changing levels of morale as the war moved from “it will all be over by Christmas” to the years of stalemate and the huge loss of life, finally looking at what effect all this had on the home front and how the Government used and controlled it.
Shots from the front line: The British Soldier 1914-1918
Richard Holmes 2010 Harper Collins
Holmes explains in Shots from the Front Line the technical limitations of early photography meant that the official war photographers relied on stationary or posed scenes. The unmoving dead offered an easy option, despite the strict rules prohibiting such photography. Holmes further suggests that some photographers were known to rearrange the dead for better composition.
This chapter also explains how many officers took their cameras with them to war despite the official Standing Order, which banned their use by any serviceman on pain of Court Marshall, however Holmes provides first-hand evidence of officers who defied the ban and even managed to have their photographs published in British newspapers. Holmes also discovers some of the more bizarre unofficial photographers such as the twenty members of the RAC who put themselves and their cars at the Army's disposal in 1914.
In some detail Holmes then investigates the accuracy of propaganda photographs, which were captioned and described as action shots, by using his knowledge as a military historian and ex-soldier.
Richard Holmes was a noted military historian and TV presenter with a particular interest in both Wellington and Marlborough. He was a professor at Cranford and served as a Brigadier in the first Gulf war.
Tommy
Richard Holmes 2010 Harper Collins
As a accomplished military historian and ex-soldier, Holmes investigates in depth what sort of man the British soldier during the First World War was. How did he live day to day? What did he fight with and how did he do it? By using quotes from interviews, diaries and published works of the men themselves, both officer and private soldier, he covers wartime formation, explaining its structure by battalion, regiments, brigades, and platoons. He defines what the differences were between regular units, reserve units and the New Army, further breaking these down by job and rank across the range from private to general.
The book includes the more commonly discussed trench life routine while discussing the changing levels of morale as the war moved from “it will all be over by Christmas” to the years of stalemate and the huge loss of life, finally looking at what effect all this had on the home front and how the Government used and controlled it.
Shots from the front line: The British Soldier 1914-1918
Richard Holmes 2010 Harper Collins
Holmes explains in Shots from the Front Line the technical limitations of early photography meant that the official war photographers relied on stationary or posed scenes. The unmoving dead offered an easy option, despite the strict rules prohibiting such photography. Holmes further suggests that some photographers were known to rearrange the dead for better composition.
This chapter also explains how many officers took their cameras with them to war despite the official Standing Order, which banned their use by any serviceman on pain of Court Marshall, however Holmes provides first-hand evidence of officers who defied the ban and even managed to have their photographs published in British newspapers. Holmes also discovers some of the more bizarre unofficial photographers such as the twenty members of the RAC who put themselves and their cars at the Army's disposal in 1914.
In some detail Holmes then investigates the accuracy of propaganda photographs, which were captioned and described as action shots, by using his knowledge as a military historian and ex-soldier.
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