The First World War (2): The Western Front 1914-1916

By Peter Simkins

More than 80 years on, the Great War - and particularly the great battles such as the Somme and Verdun - continues to fascinate us and to cast long shadows over the world in which we live. For Britain, the effort and sacrifice involved in creating and sustaining its first-ever and biggest-ever mass citizen army, and in helping to defeat the main enemy in the decisive theatre of operations, left deep emotional and psychological scars that have influenced much of the nation's subsequent history and that are still felt today. In this volume Peter Simkins reexamines the struggle and sheds an interesting new light on the nature, course and effects of the fighting in France and Belgium from 1914 to 1916.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing Ltd
• Release date: May 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9781472809742

Peter Simkins

Peter Simkins was Senior Historian at the Imperial War Museum until his retirement in 1999, when he was awarded the MBE for his services to the Museum. He is Honorary Professor in Modern History at the University of Birmingham, a Vice-President of the Western Front Association and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Reviews for The First World War (2)

[bruderbane · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

With a macabre deftness of word and vivid poignant imagery “The First World War (2): The Western Front 1914-1916” by Peter Simkins and Osprey Publishing presents this horrendous slugfest in all its bloody magnitude. Mr. Simkins quickly takes the reader through the initialization of hostilities that began The Great War and the grinding bloody attrition that followed. The catastrophic body counts are astounding with some single engagements costing close to a quarter of a million casualties to each side. Mr. Simkins also goes into the moves and counter moves, their machinations, and even touches on the psychology of each major Western Front protagonist. I can’t find the first book in this series and after reading this one, I now feel that there is a definite hole in my basic understanding of the dynamics on the Eastern Front.