Civilians In A World At War 1914 1918

World War I heralded a new global era of warfare, consolidating and expanding changes that had been building throughout the previous century, while also instituting new notions of war. The 1914-18 conflict witnessed the first aerial bombing of civilian populations, the first widespread concentration camps for the internment of enemy alien civilians, and an unprecedented use of civilian labor and resources for the war effort. Humanitarian relief programs for civilians became a common feature of modern society, while food became as significant as weaponry in the fight to win. Tammy M. Proctor ar.

World War I heralded a new global era of warfare, consolidating and expanding changes that had been building throughout the previous century, while also instituting new notions of war. The 1914-18 conflict witnessed the first aerial bombing of civilian populations, the first widespread concentration camps for the internment of enemy alien civilians, and an unprecedented use of civilian labor and resources for the war effort. Humanitarian relief programs for civilians became a common feature of modern society, while food became as significant as weaponry in the fight to win. Tammy M. Proctor argues that it was World War I—the first modern, global war—that witnessed the invention of both the modern “civilian” and the “home front,” where a totalizing war strategy pitted industrial nations and their citizenries against each other. Civilians in a World at War, 1914-1918, explores the different ways civilians work and function in a war situation, and broadens our understanding of the civilian to encompass munitions workers, nurses, laundresses, refugees, aid workers, and children who lived and worked in occupied zones, on home and battle fronts, and in the spaces in between. Comprehensive and global in scope, spanning the Eastern, Western, Italian, East African, and Mediterranean fronts, Proctor examines in lucid and evocative detail the role of experts in the war, the use of forced labor, and the experiences of children in the combatant countries. As in many wars, civilians on both sides of WWI were affected, and vast displacements of the populations shaped the contemporary world in countless ways, redrawing boundaries and creating or reviving lines of ethnic conflict. Exploring primary source materials and secondary studies of combatant and neutral nations, while synthesizing French, German, Dutch, and English language sources, Proctor transcends the artificial boundaries of national histories and the exclusive focus on soldiers. Instead she tells the fascinating and long-buried story of the civilian in the Great War, allowing voices from the period to speak for themselves.

"Montreal at War tells the story of how citizens in Canada's largest city responded to the challenges of the First World War. Drawing from newspapers, journals, government reports, and archival records, Terry Copp --one of Canada's leading military historians--raises important questions about how the Canadian war experience has been interpreted, and the ways in which hindsight has privileged some voices over others. Painting a picture of life in Montreal during the first years of the twentieth century, Montreal at War addresses responses to the outbreak of war in Europe and the process of raising an army for service overseas. It details the shock of intense combat and heavy casualties, studies the mobilization of volunteers, and follows the experience of battalions from Montreal to the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The crisis of conscription is described in the context of national and local developments, and great attention is paid to the experiences of both the army overseas and civilians at home. Challenging long-held assumptions, Montreal at War aims to understand the war experience as it unfolded, approaching history from the perspective of those who lived through it."--

Find out about the key events of the First World War, including how it started, which weapons were used, what life was like for soldiers and civilians and how the war finally came to an end.

Europe went to war in 1914 tot he sound of brass bands and cheering crowds; in every country, civilians and soldiers alike believed that the war would be won by Christmas time. By the time Christmas arrived, however, it became clear that this, indeed, would be a much longer war. In the months and years which followed, combatants perused the war with boundless intensity in order to emerge victorious. This was partially true of Germany where publicists pictured it as a life-and-death struggle for the survival of a nation surrounded by hostile enemies No nation involve din the conflict so completely mobilised its population, its resources, its energies into such a single-minded pursuit of the war. This unusual and incisive account chronicles Germany in World War 1 from the viewpoint of the solders who fought the battles and civilians who endured the ever increasing trauma of escalating casualties, widespread shortages, and declining conditions of living. It relates how Germany attempted to cope with a massive blockade, the scope of which had not been seen since the days of Napoleon, thus forcing German authorities to adopt a series of sometimes brutal measures, all of which rested on the underlying premise that victory, a clear-cut victory, could be the only acceptable option. Victory Must Be Ours explores the Germany which in 1914 took a prestigious leap into darkness. It explores the ingredients which make the Great War perhaps the single most fateful event in the Twentieth Century, setting in motion the most bloody conflict of all time, World War II.

“Sumner’s brilliant window onto the French army is a book I cannot recommend highly enough . . . Full of detail and mixed with vivid personal accounts.”—War History Online This graphic collection of first-hand accounts sheds new light on the experiences of the French army during the Great War. It reveals in authentic detail the perceptions and emotions of soldiers and civilians who were caught up in the most destructive conflict the world had ever seen. Their testimony gives a striking insight into the mentality of the troops and their experience of combat, their emotional ties to their relatives at home, their opinions about their commanders and their fellow soldiers, the appalling conditions and dangers they endured, and their attitude to their German enemy. In their own words, in diaries, letters, reports and memoirs—most of which have never been published in English before—they offer a fascinating inside view of the massive life-and-death struggle that took place on the Western Front. The author’s pioneering work will appeal to readers who may know something about the British and German armies on the Western Front, but little about the French army which bore the brunt of the fighting on the allied side. His book represents a milestone in publishing on the Great War. “An interesting, well-written and informative book which goes a long way to explaining why the French army mounted the staunch defense of its homeland that it did.”—Burton Mail “The text is skillfully put together and moves seamlessly from one voice to another while illuminating the flow of events that affected Frenchmen and women during the Great War.”—Stand To! The Western Front Association

This book uncovers the vital relationships between British troops and local inhabitants in France and Belgium during the First World War.