The First World War Retold

by Paul Cornish

Though the Imperial War Museum in London is one of the most popular destinations for tourists and residents in all of the city, few people realize that it was founded in the midst of World War I. As realization of the scale, and the costs, of the war grew, the War Cabinet approved a proposal to create a national war museum to collect and display artifacts that would tell the story of the war as experienced by soldier and civilian alike—and, in particular, would testify to the sacrifices the war demanded.

​A century later, IWM continues to fulfill that role it has held since its founding in 1917. And now, with centennial commemorations of World War I well underway, the time is right for a fresh new look at that war as well. Paul Cornish provides it here with an accessible, richly illustrated account of the war from start to finish. Building the story around IWM’s collections, the book presents events as they happened through quotations from diaries, letters, oral histories, and more; those accounts are amplified by images of countless objects from the war, from items that would have been in a soldier’s kit to paintings created by war artists. Emotive, painful, and surprisingly immediate, this account of the experience, and losses, of World War I will introduce a new generation to this landmark conflict.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

Published May 15, 2017

Reviews

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good basic entry to learning about the First World War.

Bought 8/20/2023 from Imperial War Museum in London, UK

[Tristram · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is great as an accompanying book to the Imperial War Museum exhibition, as when I visited last month I didn't get a chance to read all the information or have a good long look at the collection. It's also a good reflection to a general audience of the basic structure of how WWI progressed from a British perspective, as well as the social side to the war - both in the trenches and at home. The design and layout of the book itself is very nice to look at and includes a good balance of text and pictures.

One of the biggest things I liked about this was the inclusion of colonial forces into the discussion, as it is something that is almost completely neglected in Western reportage of the Great War. It was called a world war for a reason, and people forget that. Empire propaganda of the European struggle for peace on the continent has distracted from the fact that countries outside the Central and Allied Powers were forced to become involved. Nevertheless, I feel it still hardly mentioned these countries enough, but it was better than nothing.

I'm not entirely sure why the title of the book includes 'Retold', as it put me under the impression that I was going to be reading a new, fresh take on the event. Nope. Even though it was a good book and all, there wasn't anything new. A little bit of false marketing, methinks. The other thing that irritated me was the lack of bibliography; yes, this is a museum book, so I imagine all the information was sourced from their own collection, but as far as I'm aware this wasn't stated anywhere.

[Pop Doru · Rating 2 out of 5]

An introduction to the First World War. It has good pictures, but I was hoping the information was more precise.

Two Example:
- At the beginning of Chapter 2: Seven million men marched to war in August 1914. More would follow as the armies completed mobilisation. By the end of the year a million of these men lay dead, millions more had been wounded.
So it says, that in 1914 1 million soldier died.

But latter, you find the following passage:

By the end of 1914 Austria-Hungary had suffered a devastating 957,000 casualties.

How can 1 million solider die in 1914, but Austria-Hungary had 957,000 casualties? Maybe the latter number includes civilians. However, in the preceding phrases the author keeps saying troops.

The second example:
The [Gallipoli] campaign had cost the two sides half a million casualties between them, roughly equally shared.
So the Allies should have lost about 250 000. But then the author says:
Gallipoli cost the lives of 56,707 Allied soldiers. 11,430 of them came from Australia and New Zealand..
So 56 707 soldiers. Not even close to 250 000.

[Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good, basic walk through of the war. A good selection of pictures and a focus on the ordinary people involved, makes this a fantastic initial work for someone like me who wants to learn about the 'big picture' without wading through enormous tomes.