First World War

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 for the treatment of shell shock and ‘war neuroses’.

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.

Beyond Good and Evil

As a frontline soldier in the First World War, the German artist Otto Dix fell under the spell of the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche and his assault on Christian morality.

It Can't Happen Here

A personal interpretation of France under two occupations, reissued as a Modern Classic.