World War I Witness Accounts

Features over 100 quotes from wartime documents, newspaper reports, books, letters, tape recordings and soliders' diaries.

After a prolonged peace in Europe, the outbreak of war in August 1914 came as a great shock. By examining the accounts of people who were actually caught up in the conflict, this book helps us to understand just how harrowing life was for those at war in the early years of the 20th century. The book is a collection of over 100 witness accounts of World War I, featuring powerful and often moving quotes and stories describing what was happening. It is divided into seven chapters: War is Declared; Voices from the Front; Keeping the Home Fires Burning; The Machinery of Modern Warfare; Women Go to War; Over There; and Armistice and After. From soldiers in the battlefield to Winston Churchill and King George V, the accounts come from a wide variety of sources. The fascination of war, however gruelling, never fades, and these compelling anecdotes give an insight into exactly what life was like in the trenches and for those who were left behind to keep up morale.