The First World War and British Military History

This is the first systematic scholarly study of the historiography of the First World War. The First World War remains controversial in its conduct and broader implications, and this volume explores many issues which continue to cause debate, such as Haig's generalship, the role of T.E. Lawrence in the Arab Revolt, and the failure of the Dardanelles campaign. It also examines the new approaches to the war stimulated by the fiftieth anniversaries in the 1960s, and follows them through to contemporary concern with the experiences of ordinary soldiers and their chroniclers. The contributors are leading historians of the First World War. They draw their material from a wide range of contemporary sources and subsequent accounts, and make full use of recent research. They provide new insights into the age-old problems of war and attitudes to warfare. Their purpose is to demonstrate how our understanding of war and our image of the First World War have been shaped by the historical writing of the twentieth century.

Table of Contents:
I. Establishing the Historical Foundations; II. The Battle of the Memoirs; III. Indirect Approaches; IV. The Great War Rediscovered

About the Author :
Bond is the author of British Military Policy Between the Two World Wars (OUP, 1980)

Review :
`A series of well-balanced and up-to-date essays, accessible to general as well as academic readers, on different aspects of the historiography of British involvement in the WW1. ...the collection provides excellent coverage of work relating to the campaigns on the Western Front, Gallipoli, and Palestine. ...the volume is now a clear first choice,... ' F. Coetzee, Choice JUl/Aug'92 `Alex Danchev is particularly good on the "debunking' of the 1960s; Keith Simpson writes masterfully about the many Haig biographies; Peter Simpkin is excellent, as always, on the common soldier, and Hew Strachan is illuminating about Cruttwell, Evelyn Waugh's hated tutor at Hertford ' John Keegan, Daily Telegraph `A major new study of the historiography of the conflict... An important book which will be welcomed by everyone with an interest in the Great War... The standard of the individual chapters is very high indeed... The First World War and British Military History can be thoroughly recommended. ' Journal at RMA Sandhurst. `a welcome as well as a necessary addition to the literature, for in addition to providing a valuable guide to much of the factual writing on the war they help to separate light from heat ... Brian Bond has produced a milestone in our progress towards a deeper understanding of the war of 1914-18 ' Times Higher Education Supplement `is one of the most important books to have appeared in 1991, being the first major study of the historiography of the Great War. Anyone who reads about the event will find this book essential to their understanding of the work of the many historians who have written about it over the past 75 years... I would not wish to be without a copy of this most excellent book. ' Military History Society `The individual essays, each written by a leading scholar, are critical and thought provoking. The book is a well-rounded and thorough attempt to explain why, as Peter Simkins points out on the penultimate page ... we go on seeing the First World War as we think it ought to have been, not as it actually was.' Peter M. Jones, Political Studies (1992), XL, 766-812