The Battle for Oil in the First World War
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Great Powers competed for the vast oil reserves around the Iraqi city of Mosul. The motivation – and prize – was energy security.
First World War
Revisiting the Dardanelles Disaster
Competing narratives on Churchill’s role in the tragedy of Gallipoli have confused the man with the myth.
The Catastrophe at Caporetto
On 24 October 1917, the Central Powers launched a massive offensive at Italy’s north-eastern border. The resulting battle – popularly known as Caporetto – has been described as the greatest defeat in Italian military history.
Passchendaele: What’s in a Name?
How did an evocatively named Flanders village become shorthand for a whole series of battles around the Belgian city of Ypres?
Saving Lives on the Front Line
The work of military nurses at Passchendaele transformed the perception of women’s war service, showing they could perform life-saving work and risk their lives at the front.
Welcome to Dottyville
The Hydra, a magazine produced by shell shock patients, was pioneering as a mental health care treatment.
The Nation on its Honour
Volunteer rationing in the First World War depended on patriotism, but that could only go so far.
The Permanent Stain of the Somme
Since the early 1960s, historians have shone a more positive light on the Battle of the Somme. But we must not forget the excesses and failures of that terrible campaign.
Court of the Conscripts
Evidence from Britain’s First World War conscription tribunals reveals a surprisingly efficient and impartial system, as Rebecca Pyne-Edwards Banks asserts in this extract from her 2015 undergraduate dissertation prize-winning essay.
Verdun: The Killing Field
The epic German offensive to take the strategically crucial fortress in north-east France reached its bloody end in September 1916. Robert Foley looks at how and why Erich von Falkenhayn, the Chief of the German General Staff, sought to break the deadlock on the Western Front.