Kaiser Karl and the End of the Habsburgs
Fifth in line to the throne, Karl I was not expected to become the Habsburg emperor. By the time he did, in 1916, it was already too late for the crumbling empire.
First World War
The Abode of Madness
The long history of no man’s land, from lawlessness and desolation to hope and regrowth.
Book of Remembrance
A signature in a collection of autographs reveals a story of Indigenous service that extends from Australia to Canada and Trinidad.
Meeting an Urgent Need
The First World War threw widows and their brothers-in-law together, but their marriages were considered incestuous.
The Invisible
The sobering story of the Indian Labour Corps.
Angels Ever Bright and Fair
The ‘Angels of Mons’, a short story written in the earliest days of the First World War, became an enduring symbol of British providence.
The Lessons of Shell Shock
The global crisis wrought by the First World War prompted the birth of free mental health care.
A Hospital ‘Manned by Women’
The First World War offered new opportunities for enterprising female doctors.
Policing the Ploughs
As Britain faced the prospect of food shortages in 1917, panic mounted. One solution was to redeploy policemen to plough the land.
The Poet Who Saw Edith Cavell Die
How did an executed English nurse become the unlikely protector of the German poet who pronounced her dead?