A Popular History of The Great War/Volume 1/Title and Foreword

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A Popular History of The Great War (1933)
Edited by Sir John Alexander Hammerton
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A POPULAR HISTORY
OF THE GREAT WAR

Edited by Sir J. A. HAMMERTON




Complete in six volumes with
about 1000 maps & illustrations






Volume I

THE FIRST PHASE: 1914




London

THE FLEETWAY HOUSE




EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION


Throughout the years 1914-1919 the present Editor, in association with Mr. H. W. Wilson, the eminent authority on naval and military subjects, was responsible for the compilation of the most extensive body of contemporary annals of the war that has been published in this country. The work in question contained no fewer than 7,000,000 words and some 12,000 pictorial documents. Although it remains a storehouse of information for future students of the period, "The Great War," as that set of thirteen massive volumes was called, would now require to be largely re-written in the light of later knowledge : a task beyond the means of private enterprise and of doubtful value to the ordinary reader today.

But a real need exists for a new history of the war embodying the gist of post-war revelations and official documents, and sufficiently detailed to provide accurate information on any aspect, and almost on any point, of the war concerning which the present-day reader might desire to be informed.

The six volumes comprising this new work are designed to meet that want, which is felt especially by two classes of the reading public. One consists of those, now in middle life or rapidly approaching it, who played a personal part, were "on active service," to use the official and suggestive phrase, in that tremendous struggle and who, after the lapse of some fifteen years, would like to refresh their memories about the events in which they took part, on land, on the sea, or in the air. The second class comprises those who were schoolboys and schoolgirls when the worldwide conflict began and whose knowledge of it is for the most part fragmentary, disjointed, and impersonal, much as it is of the American Civil, or the Franco-Prussian War.

In planning and preparing this work the Editor has made some use of the abundant literary material existing in the monumental work above mentioned, but this POPULAR HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR is to be regarded as an original narrative of the most astounding events in the history of the modern world, newly compiled and written by a large staff of expert contributors fully conversant with all the post-war revelations and rectifications of war-time opinion. No efforts have been spared to ensure the accuracy of the many thousands of statements made in these volumes, and throughout the compilation of the work our constant and careful consultation of dispatches and official documents has not been confined to those of Great Britain only. Mention should also be made here of the Editor's great indebtedness to the Official Histories of the War, especially the volumes of "Military Operations, France and Flanders," edited by Brigadier General Sir James E. Edmonds and published by Macmillan & Co., Ltd., and of "Naval Operations," edited by Sir Julian Corbett and published by Longmans, Green & Co., Ltd.

Our six volumes are divided into clearly cut periods, and the chapters carry the story forward, as far as possible, in chronological order, so that the reader can turn readily to any part of the narrative in which he may be particularly interested. For textual reference to the numerous events, places, and personalities a complete index is provided at the end of the work.

The point of view taken throughout the work is frankly that of Great Britain, in which are included the Dominions and other overseas parts of the Empire, whose contributions to the common cause are duly recorded in their proper places. The Editor has not thought it necessary to assume that Great Britain was always in the wrong, or to minimize in any way the wonderful heroism shown by her fighting men in the three arms, although he has tried to avoid the somewhat overheated rhetoric in which many of the early descriptions of the events of the war were expressed. He is equally anxious to be fair to the enemy, whose bravery, at all events, was unquestioned, but he has been unable to accept the view that all the warring nations were equally responsible for the conflict, or that the Germans, having lost the war, should escape the just penalty of their folly or their crime.

One or two features of these volumes may be noted. They contain 3,840 pages of text, and something like 1,500,000 words. Over 100 maps and diagrams are provided to help the reader to follow the various naval and military operations, and in addition there are some 800 photographic illustrations of places and persons mentioned in our History. A diary of events of the period is appended to each volume, which also contains biographical particulars of those in the various countries who figured prominently in the struggle.



LITERARY CONTENTS
OF VOLUME I
CHAPTER PAGE
1 The World Drift to War 9
2 The Fateful Thirteen Days 42
3 The Outbreak of War 59
4 The Opposing Forces 75
5 The Rally of the Empire 87
6 How Germany Welcomed the War 105
7 France in Wartime 121
8 German Invasion of Belgium 145
9 Campaign in East Prussia 172
10 Russian Offensive in Galicia 184
11 The Effort of Serbia 203
12 France's Frontier Battles 216
13 Mons and Charleroi 227
14 The British Retreat and Le Cateau 246
15 The French in Retreat 269
16 The First Battle of the Marne 280
17 The War at Sea 299
18 First Battle of the Aisne 330
19 The German Campaign in Poland 347
20 The Neutral Nations 364
21 The South African Rebellion 376
22 The Attack on German Africa 397
23 The Loss of Antwerp 425
24 The Race to the Channel Ports 440
25 Japan and Turkey in the War 464
26 Battle of the Yser 481
27 First Battle of Ypres (I) 506
28 First Battle of Ypres (II) 536
29 Coronel and the Falkland Islands 549
30 V.C. Heroes of the War (I) 560
Personalia of the War (I) 587
A Diary of Events, 1914 627



MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
IN VOLUME I
Maps and Plans
PAGE PAGE
Balkans in 1878 and 1914 16 Battle of Guise and St. Quentin 273
Alinement of European Countries in the War 62 German Deployment and Advance to the Marne 283
German Advance into Belgium 156 First Battle of the Marne 291
Campaign in East Prussia 177 Arrest of German Advance at the Marne 294
Galicia 188 Battle of Heliogoland 307
District around Lemberg 193 First Battle of the Aisne 335
Belgrade 205 Cameroons 417
Alsace-Lorraine 217 Antwerp and Environs 433
Battle or Morhange 221 Battle of Le Bassée 459
Battle of Virton 223 Bismarck Archipelago 472
Charleroi and Mons 233 Battle of the Yser 488
Battle of Mons 235 First Battle of Ypres 516
Battle of Charleroi 243 Battle of Coronel 552
First Battle of Le Cateau 249 Battle of Faulkland Islands 556
Battle of Compiègne 260
 
List of Plates
PLATE PLATE
Sir Johhn French Arrives at Boulogne                   Frontisipiece Earl Kitchener 9
Edward the Peacemaker 1 Fort Loncin, Liége, Shattered by German Guns 10
King George V 2 Heroes of Belgium's Stand for Freedom 11
The King's Call to Arms 3 Asquith, Grey, Fisher and Robertson 12
Sir E. Grey in Parliament 4 The Men Behind the Fleet 13
Crime that Precipitated the War 5 Dominion Personalities Prominent in the War 14
Monarch of Central Powers 6 The Kaiser with his Chief of Staff 15
Cheering the King at Buckingham Palace 7 Serbian Heroes, Belgrade and Serajevo 16
Sir John French, Haig, and Smith-Dorrien 8 Gunboat on the Danube 17


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