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1915: The Pale Battalions (The First World War Day-By-Day Book 2)

Posted By: AlenMiler
1915: The Pale Battalions (The First World War Day-By-Day Book 2)

1915: The Pale Battalions (The First World War Day-By-Day Book 2) by Matt Kersley
English | March 28, 2016 | ASIN: B01BMVK9YM | 700 Pages | AZW3/MOBI/EPUB/PDF (conv) | 9.24 MB

This is the First World War from a brand-new angle, as you've never seen it before. Europe has been at war for five months; but 1915 is when this war earns the name "World War". Follow the decisions, the debates, and the deaths day-by-day, as they happened, as the war spreads from Europe to Iraq, to Egypt, to Tanzania, to Namibia, to Armenia. From the debates at General Headquarters as the chaps in charge struggled with a war of unprecedented scale, unmitigated horror, and unexpected new tactics; to the lives of the volunteers and the conscripts at the sharp end as they lived and died. In Part 2 of an ongoing series, Matt Kersley strikes a balance between comprehensive and concise, distilling the best modern scholarship into a unique and accessible story, and bringing out stories that are often passed over and marginalised.

This is not just the 1915 that saw the British Army at Neuve Chapelle, or the ANZACs on Gallipoli. This is the 1915 that sees the deadliest unknown battles of the war, in the Carpathian Mountains between Russia and Austria-Hungary; the 1915 that sees the Royal Navy moving heaven and earth to destroy one single German cruiser; the 1915 in which two men lead an unprepared Italy to war for their own selfish reasons.

The highly structured day-by-day format lends itself perfectly to being taken in small chunks at a time; a week, or a few days. This is perfect reading for the morning commute, or the evening nightcap before bed. It also recognises that it's possible to be respectful without also being overly reverent and stodgy. This is a war where a failed attempt at camouflage results in a horse being dyed purple, where an officer leads a raid to annoy the Germans by putting a large gramophone outside their trenches, where men in quiet sectors of the line raise targets over their trenches and hold shooting competitions with the enemy.

And, above all else, the question "why?" is always being asked and answered. Many things about the First World War are strange, or stupid, or silly. But very few of them are truly inexplicable; they just have to be looked at from the right angle, in the proper context. As the First World War begins after 100 years to pass out of living memory, this is the perfect time to ensure that the full story is not forgotten.