Blood and Thunder: The Boys of Eton College and the First World War

by Alexandra Churchill

A photograph of three friends on the football field, taken in 1912. Less than five years later all three would be killed and buried beneath the fields of Belgium. This story is typical of many schoolboys across Britain who signed up for or were conscripted to fight in World War I. In this groundbreaking new book, historian Alexandra Churchill tells the story of World War I through the extraordinary band of brothers from Britain’s most famous public school, Eton, following them as they stepped out of the classroom, into the army and onto the battlefields before they had left their teenage years behind. Beginning on the banks of the Thames as they worked and played in privilege, the ghastly realities of war are retold in these moving pages.

Genres: History, World War I, Nonfiction

384 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2014

About the author

British historian Alexandra Churchill has been researching the air war for a number of years in addition to compiling a detailed roll of honor for Eton College. She has a book due out next year, telling the story of the war through the eyes of the school’s old boys and will feature the Harvey brothers who appear in episode one of The Big Dig in more detail. Other projects in the pipeline include a biography of a pilot and something that will incorporate a personal passion of hers and tell the story of football in the Great War.

Alex has previously worked with John Hayes-Fisher on an episode of Timewatch about the air war in 1918, and on "Fighting the Red Baron" and "Titanic with Len Goodman" as a researcher / contributor.

Reviews

[Ian McIntosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the veterans of World War II pass away much attention is being paid to that conflict. Countless popular books and movies have kept the war with the axis powers at the forefront of the public consciousness. Sadly, the Second World War seems to cast its immense shadow over the trenches of the Great War from 1914-1918 causing it to slowly disappear in the mist of history. This very well written and meticulously researched book by Alexandra Churchill portrays the war through the eyes and experiences of the young men from Britain’s Eton College who suffered unimaginable losses. Churchill takes the reader from the storied campus of the college itself to not only the mud-filled and bloody trenches of Europe, but to the air above, the middle eastern desert, and the sea battles of Jutland. Even Churchill’s accounting of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania and the resulting effect of America’s entry into the war is done with detail and skill. Throughout the book Churchill shows the ability of the best history writers to take the reader directly into battle with the soldiers, sailors, and airmen. And in following the young men from Eton, Churchill gives a unique perspective on this, the War to End All Wars. Churchill has done great service to the soldiers of that war by writing a book that so honors their bravery and sacrifice and helps ensure that they will not be easily forgotten.

[Inger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkable stories, evocatively told - drawing on sources that draw a rich, intimately personal history of the war that will appeal to both military and social historians as well as lay readers, hoping for an accessible, engaging and layered look at the war from the perspective of individuals. The portrait that emerges is both specific to the Etonians (including their privileged social position) and universal in the horrors they encountered.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

WWI viewed through the lens of the Old Etonians who served and the many hundreds who died, the majority very young. Well written and researched it conveys the depth of camaraderie they felt and the trauma of losing their friends. Viewing the war through a specific subject matter certainly gives you a better understanding of what the soldiers, friends and families went through.