First World War

British troops moving up to the attack during the Battle of Morval, 25 September 1916

The Permanent Stain of the Somme

Since the early 1960s, historians have shone a more positive light on the Battle of the Somme, writes Allan Mallinson. But we must not forget the excesses and failures of that terrible campaign.

Local tribunal in the town clerk’s office, Tenant Street, Derby, c.1916-18.

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.

Men of the German Fifth Army march in the direction of Verdun

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.

The Somme: An Exercise in Futility?

The first day of the Somme has become synonymous with incompetent leadership and a callous disregard for human life. Gary Sheffield offers a more complex picture of the battle and the role played by General Sir Douglas Haig.

Shelling the Duckboards by Paul Nash, from British Artists at the Front, 1918.

Shell Shock: The Racket and the Fear

‘Shell shock’ is associated in particular with the First World War. Stuart M. Archer recounts the often brutal treatment meted out to sufferers of the condition and looks at how use of the term fell into disrepute.

A Maori lumberer talks with an elderly local woman, Nieppe Forest, March 1917

Colonial Encounters

The First World War threw together people from all over the world. Anna Maguire considers images of these chance meetings and the light they shed on a global conflict.

The Legacy of Agincourt

On the 500th anniversary of Henry V’s victory, British troops were once more struggling against overwhelming odds in northern France. Stephen Cooper looks at how Britons of the Great War found inspiration in the events of St Crispin’s Day, 1415.

Barrel-chested: Aleksander Stamboliski, 1900.

Aleksander Stamboliski and the Bulgarian Contract

Bulgaria suffered a swift and devastating defeat in the First World War, due, G.D. Sheppard argues, to its peasant leader-in-waiting’s shrewd use of propaganda.