Soldier's War: The Great War Through Veterans' Eyes

by Richard van Emden

The Great War ended more than ninety years ago yet still haunts and fascinates us today. In The Soldier's War, Richard van Emden traces a history of the fighting month by month and year by year, using original diaries, letters and as-yet-unseen photographs taken by the soldiers themselves. We follow the British Tommy through devastating battles and trench warfare from the outbreak of war in 1914 to the armistice four years later, guided by Richard van Emden's sure explanations. This is a history of the war as seen from the trenches that is shockingly intimate, sometimes heartbreaking, often wryly amusing, but always compelling.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, World War I, Military History, Historical, Military Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Richard van Emden is a British author and television documentary producer who specializes in the First World War.

Reviews

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the perfect Veteran's Day read. Compiled from all kinds of letters and forbidden Tommy war diaries, it gives the merest taste of what millions of men endured. Not to be missed.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting - dispels several common myths about soldiers in the great war. The choice of using memoirs and diaries to construct the book adds considerably to the pathos of warfare.

[E Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poignant book to read on the centenary year of the end of the Great War. I found it both simultaneously easy and difficult to read - short diary entries and anecdotes detailing the constant suffering and filth. It was for the most part sheer luck if you made it through the war alive and all of the entries written detail this well. It’s tragic to think that the greatest relief would be to get a “Blighty” (non-fatal bullet or shrapnel wound which meant recuperation away from the front).

I enjoyed the fact there was a range of experiences included from different ranks and regiments. Despite a belief of having a good knowledge of WWI, a lot of this mosaic of experiences showed that there is no one definitive story of the horrors of the western front. Contradicting entries of differing experiences are sometimes put one after the other (officers as entitled tyrants/officers as respectful and attentive/intelligence as precise/intelligence as vague and incorrect/God protecting the soldiers/God ceasing to exist in the battlefield/Germans as monsters/Germans as comrades). Even after 100 years, I still find it incredibly difficult to read and for all of these stories, many more went with men to their graves because they were just too painful to recall. Light shines through the darkness with the few acts of tenderness and kindness between fellow soldiers, civilians and captured enemy combatants. It’s the waste that always gets me and scores of talented young men and boys were wiped out every single day for four horrendous years.

[Ian Badger Stewie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good 1st hand account from soldiers of the 1st World War depicting how gruelling and awful this war truly was. It was also amazing to see how the soldiers could still find humour in what they were doing despite the awful conditions and after many had resigned themselves to their fate. The book for me was a bit long winded though as many of the letters/stories are quite similar to each other and thus it at times felt quite repetitive.

[Andy Cannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it and weep a little

Very informative throughout and moving in places. I read the book in the same week as the WW1 100 programme s were on TV and that helped with the timeline and locations in the book.

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing first person accounts of war on the western front.

[6ykmapk · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Marie Keates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a useful book for research into life on the Western Front in ww1

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting first hand stories of the Kaiser’s War, but I’m not sure how much they added to our understanding of events.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first exposure to WW1 history, was the excellent BBC documentary "The Great War". This gave a chronological insight into how the war was fought and the events that thrust it along in unparalleled death and destruction. It was also intelligent to gather surviving veterans while they were still alive to document their experiences on film. This book puts a greater focus on this later aspect and allows the soldiers themselves the opportunity to recount the horror, the mundane and the friendship during those four years.

What's always interested me when researching war, is trying to understand how the soldiers coped when confronted with the unimaginable. The responses are as varied as one would expect, and I was pleased to find this well represented here. Some men are able to make light of the situation, some excel in courage and others wrestle with their own minds as much as the enemy. These accounts also range over the spectrum of military rank and this gives a well rounded image of what life was like for many men in the trenches.

The book is divided by year. At the beginning of each the author gives a brief account of the events that transpired to give context to the memoirs. This is largely well managed, as it gives enough information surrounding the events to remind or inform the reader of what's going on in the specified year. The author also tries to separate the topics the memoirs cover by inserting small paragraphs that explain what each section is covering. This I found confusing at times, as the topics would change sporadically and sometimes without introduction from the author. Instead of having a single large section each chapter entitled 'Memoirs', I think the book would have been better served having this section split into clear sub categories or singular soldier's accounts.

For those who find war history or memoirs fascinating, this is a treasure trove of experience that gives a varied account of the war from the men who were in the trenches and mud. It also contains some surprisingly clear photos that further help the reader comprehend what the memoirs are recounting.

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heartfelt and eye-opening description of the First World War, told via letters and diaries from the British soldiers fighting on the front line.

As I understand it, the author has gone out of his way to incorporate previously-unpublished anecdotes and accounts of the various battles and situations that make up warfare. He also picks those accounts which reveal the mindset and the reality of being there in the trenches, rather than simply focusing on the combat and bloodshed (although, invariably, there is plenty of that as well).

I found this book in parts moving, humorous, uplifting and utterly depressing. It takes you through every aspect of the war in a chronological year-by-year narrative, bringing to life the terrain and camaraderie between the troops.

There are a few photographs included but for the most part this is made up of straightforward descriptions of what went on, written without bias or artifice. There wasn't one account that I didn't find revealing and/or compelling.

An excellent book.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb book,that takes the memoirs from all aspects from the front, some funny, some god fearing, some horrific. Compiled in a chronological order year by year, you can follow the whole war from the trenches and flavour how the attitudes change throughout the war.

I've read much on the 1st world war and learnt little of factual merit from this book, I guess that is because I am well versed in the western front, my grandfather fought in the battle of the Somme and later at Ypres. But this book adds emotion by the bucketful and for that brings history alive.

[Lili · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting book, with true accounts from the Great War. As the author says Once we could sit entrhalled as the veterans themselves talked: now we are left with the stories, but what stories they are. For me seeing their experiences from a soldier's point of view gave me a new insight into their war; which was not always the same as given in official reports.

[Paul Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I was disappointed with the snippets from soldiers' letters and diaries but as the book progressed the diaries provided an interesting continuum. Not a book to read if you want a thorough history of the war but an appropriate side order.