A History of the Great War in 100 Moments: An Evocation of the Conflict Through the Eyes of Those Who Lived Through It - Based on the Acclaimed Newspaper Series

by Margot Asquith

How do you remember a war that destroyed four empires, killed 18 million people and left tens of millions of other lives irreparably broken?

As the world marks the centenary of a conflict that left no corner of the planet untouched, this unique anthology (originally published as a daily series in The Independent, The Independent on Sunday and i) attempts to make sense of an incomprehensibly huge chapter in human history by distilling it to a mere 100 “moments”: episodes, big or small, described in many cases through the words of those who were there, that in one way or another capture a sense of what it was like to be caught up in the catastrophe of the First World War.

Our chosen moments are, inevitably, just a few drops in an ocean of millions of comparable stories of individual tragedy and heroism. We hope, however, that they may help readers to imagine what it must have felt like to live through those terrible years. Our chronological selection tells the story of a world-changing cataclysm from many different military and civilian, male and female, old and young. Many different nationalities are represented. Even the role of animals in the war is touched on.

The journey from the first moment to the last is sometimes harrowing, often heart-breaking, but always worthwhile. No book can come near to capturing the full intensity of what it meant to be caught up in the catastrophe of the First World War. But the least we can do, 100 years on from the conflict’s outbreak, is to try to imagine what it was like. We hope that this collection will help our readers to do so.

Genres: World War I, History

376 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 29, 2014

About the author

Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith, born Emma Alice Margaret Tennant, was an Anglo-Scottish socialite, author and wit. She was married to Herbert Henry Asquith, a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1894 until his death in 1928. She was the mother of Elizabeth Bibesco.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book briefly told the story of the Great War in 100 newspaper articles written for the centenary. Some were written specifically for the series, others were extracts from books like Testimony of Youth or All Quiet on the Western Front, etc. While this wasn't an in-depth look at the war, it really did give a very good overview from many points of view. From the Western Front to Gallipoli to the home front, from mutinies to German poet-soldiers, most aspects of the war were at least lightly touched upon. Well worth reading.

[Mark Kozurek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked up from a charity shop and the book is a fantastic read. A definate knowledge booster on a war that was supposed to end all wars.