The Imperial War Museum Book of the Western Front

It was on the Western Front that the First World War was lost and won - in France and Belgium, where the horrific nature of trench warfare scarred not only the landscape and those who fought there, but also the imagination of succeeding generations.Covering the whole war, from the guns of August 1914 to the sudden silence of the November 1918 Armistice, The Imperial War Museum Book of the Western Front reveals what life was really like for the men - and women - who took part. From off-duty entertainments and the strange cult of trench fatalism to the experience of going 'over the top', it weaves a compelling narrative from the accounts of over a hundred participants.This edition has been comprehensively revised and updated, introducing new, hitherto unpublished evidence on a range of themes that have excited public interest in the years since the book was first issued - including executions, the relations between officers and men, sex and homosexuality, shell shock, the treatment or mistreatment of prisoners, and the matter of killing as a central act in war. This is an important contribution to the continuing history of the First World War.