When war broke out in 1914 conscription seemed unnecessary; there was no shortage of volunteers ready to lay down their lives for their country. In this fascinating book, illustrated with contemporary drawings and photographs, Caroline Dakers explores exactly what their 'country' meant to the men and women who fought, died, survived. She suggests that, with a little subliminal help from literature, art and propaganda, the British volunteer, whether factory worker, farm hand or public school boy, felt that he was fighting for old England - village, church, meadow and carthorse, rather than city, factory, commerce and motor car. Drawing on a wide range of unpublished papers and family archives, Dr Dakers recreates the world of the countryside at war. There are chapters on agriculture (literally 'the home front'), and life and death in the manor house, vicarage, school and farm. And while all this was being fought for, The French countryside was smashed into a quagmire. This is the most complete picture yet of the impact of the First World War on rural England; a war which, if only in the ubiquitous village war memorials, still reverberates across the decades.

When war broke out in 1914 conscription seemed unnecessary; there was no shortage of volunteers ready to lay down their lives for England. In this book Caroline Dakers explores exactly what 'England' meant to the men and women who fought, died, survived. She suggests that, with a little subliminal help from literature, art and propaganda, the British volunteer, whether factory worker, farm hand or public school boy, felt that he was fighting for a vision of 'old England' - village, church, meadow and carthorse, rather than city, factory, commerce and motor car. Drawing on a wide range of unpublished papers and family archives, Dakers recreates the world of the countryside at war, through chapters on agriculture (literally 'the home front'), and life and death in the manor house, vicarage, school and farm. And while all this was being fought for, the French countryside was being smashed into a quagmire. This is the most complete picture yet of the impact of the World War I on rural England; a war which, if only in the ubiquitous village war memorials, still reverberates today.

World War I was a uniquely devastating total war that surpassed all previous conflicts for its destruction. But what was the reality like on the ground, for both the soldiers on the front-lines and the women on the homefront?Drawing on intimate firsthand accounts in diaries and letters, War Experiences in Rural Germany examines this question in detail and challenges some strongly held assumptions about the Great War. The author makes the controversial case for the blurring of 'front' and 'homefront'. He shows that through the constant exchange of letters and frequent furloughs, rural soldiers maintained a high degree of contact with their home lives. In addition, the author provides a more nuanced interpretation of the alleged brutalizing effect of the war experience, suggesting that it was by far not as complete as has been previously understood. This pathbreaking book paints a vivid picture of the dynamics of total war on rural communities, from the calling up of troops to the reintegration of veterans into society.

"The First World War scarred an entire generation at the beginning of the twentieth century ... This book offers a simple guide to the war, looking at the events and the people who took part, through what was the setting for so much of the carnage; the trench. The trenches and the trench system along the Western Front in particular, were the killing fields. They formed a vast line of fortifications that locked the opposing armies together in a static, 400 mile zigzag of conflict from the channel coast down to the French border with Switzerland. Using his own diagrams and illustrations, ... Yorke explains the architecture of the trenches, with their command posts, tunnels, machine gun nests, duck boards and sleeping billets. There are chapters to explain tactics, weaponry and daily life ... special features on the introduction of new weapons of war, such as tanks, early aeroplanes and the first use of poison gas. The political events are described in basic outline, but there is a chapter on the legacy of the war's aftermath. There are summaries of the major battles and there is information about special places to visit in France and Belgium, including key museums, battle sites and memorials"--Back cover.