World War I, the first 'total war' in history, set in motion profound changes in the economies, demographics, and philosophies of the warring states. In this book, leading experts on the Great War discuss its causes, character, and legacy. Their writings show that to study World War I is to encounter not only the dissolution of the four defeated empires-Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey-but also the collapse of the optimistic assumption of progress that had defined the nineteenth century.

This is a masterful volume on remembrance and war in the twentieth century. Jay Winter locates the fascination with the subject of memory within a long-term trajectory that focuses on the Great War. Images, languages, and practices that appeared during and after the two world wars focused on the need to acknowledge the victims of war and shaped the ways in which future conflicts were imagined and remembered. At the core of the “memory boom” is an array of collective meditations on war and the victims of war, Winter says. The book begins by tracing the origins of contemporary interest in memory, then describes practices of remembrance that have linked history and memory, particularly in the first half of the twentieth century. The author also considers “theaters of memory”—film, television, museums, and war crimes trials in which the past is seen through public representations of memories. The book concludes with reflections on the significance of these practices for the cultural history of the twentieth century as a whole.

In Britain we have lost touch with the Great War. Our overriding sense now is of a meaningless, futile bloodbath in the mud of Flanders -- of young men whose lives were cut off in their prime for no evident purpose. But by reducing the conflict to personal tragedies, however moving, we have lost the big picture: the history has been distilled into poetry. In TheLong Shadow, critically acclaimed author David Reynolds seeks to redress the balance by exploring the true impact of 1914-18 on the 20th century. Some of the Great War's legacies were negative and pernicious but others proved transformative in a positive sense. Exploring big themes such as democracy and empire, nationalism and capitalism and re-examining the differing impacts of the War on Britain, Ireland and the United States,TheLong Shadowthrows light on the whole of the last century and demonstrates that 1914-18 is a conflict that Britain, more than any other nation, is still struggling to comprehend. Stunningly broad in its historical perspective, The Long Shadowis a magisterial and seismic re-presentation of the Great War.

Interweaves cultural history with the military history of the war to show how World War I changed the modern world.

PART ONE: INTO THE ABYSS 1871-1914 1. The Long Descent 2. From Peace to War PART TWO: THE ABYSS 1914-1918 3. The Opening Campaigns 1914 4. The Wider War 1914-1915 5. The Stalemate in Europe 1915 6. The Wider War 1915-1916 7. Tipping Points in Europe 1916-1917 8. War-Weariness and the Question of Peace in Europe 1917 9. War, Politics, and Diplomacy in the Middle East and Russia 1917-1918 10. The Last Furious Year of the Great War 1917-1918 PART THREE: SLOWLY OUT OF THE ABYSS 1918-1926 11. The Violent Aftermath of the Great War in Europe 1918-1926 12. The Problematic Legacy of the Great War in the Wider World 1918-1926 13. Epilogue: Bereavement, Economic Collapse, and the Climate for War.

The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 was done mainly, if one is to believe US policy at the time, to liberate the people of Iraq from an oppressive dictator. However, the many protests in London, New York, and other cities imply that the policy of “making the world safe for democracy” was not shared by millions of people in many Western countries. Thinking about this controversy inspired the present volume, which takes a closer look at how society responded to the outbreaks and conclusions of the First and Second World Wars. In order to examine this relationship between the conduct of wars and public opinion, leading scholars trace the moods and attitudes of the people of four Western countries (Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy) before, during and after the crucial moments of the two major conflicts of the twentieth century. Focusing less on politics and more on how people experienced the wars, this volume shows how the distinction between enthusiasm for war and concern about its consequences is rarely clear-cut.

Contains excerpts from 3 key legislative acts.

Previous edition of this translation: 2005.

France experienced four major conflicts in the fifty years between 1914 and 1964: two world wars, and the wars in Indochina and Algeria. In each the role of myth was intricately bound up with memory, hope, belief, and ideas of nation. This is the first book to explore how individual myths were created, sustained, and used for purposes of propaganda, examining in detail not just the press, radio, photographs, posters, films, and songs that gave credence to an imagined event or attributed mythical status to an individual, but also the cultural processes by which such artifacts were disseminated and took effect. Reliance on myth, so the authors argue, is shown to be one of the most significant and durable features of 20th century warfare propaganda, used by both sides in all the conflicts covered in this book. However, its effective and useful role in time of war notwithstanding, it does distort a population's perception of reality and therefore often results in defeat: the myth-making that began as a means of sustaining belief in France's supremacy, and later her will and ability to resist, ultimately proved counterproductive in the process of decolonization.

First published in 2005. This volume documents women's 20th century wartime experiences from World War I through the recent conflicts in Bosnia. The articles cross national boundaries including France, China, Peru, Guatemala, Germany, Bosnia, the U.S. and Great Britain.. The contributors of these original essays trace the evolution of women's roles as victims of war while also showing how they have been increasingly incorporated into battle as actors and perpetrators. These comparative studies analyze war's disruptions of daily life, its effects on children, rape as a war crime, access to equal opportunity, and women's resistance to violence.