Peace and War: Britain in 1914

By Nigel Jones

1914 dawned with Britain at peace, albeit troubled by faultlines within and threats without: Ireland trembled on the brink of civil war; suffragette agitation was assuming an ever more violent hue; and suspicions of Germany's ambitions bred a paranoia that was expressed in a rash of 'invasion scare' literature.

Then when shots rang out in Sara-jevo on 28 June, they set in train a tumble of diplomatic dominos that led to Britain declaring war on Germany.

Nigel Jones depicts every facet of a year that changed Britain for ever. From gun-running in Ulster to an attack by suffragettes on a Velasquez painting in the National Gallery; from the launch of HMHS Britannic to cricketer J.T. Hearne's 3000th first-class wicket; from the opening of London's first nightclub to the embarking for Belgium of the BEF, he traces the events of a momentous year from its benign domestic beginnings to its descent into the nightmare of European war.

Please note: This ebook is hand-crafted. Well not quite, but it is certainly a cut above the rest; great care has been taken to make sure it is both beautiful and highly functional.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Dec 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781781852583

Nigel Jones

Historian and journalist Nigel Jones is the author of eight books. An authority on the poets of the Great War and the rise of Nazism and Fascism between the world wars, he has also guided historical tours of the Western Front, Germany, and Italy for several years. A former deputy editor of History Today and a founding editor of BBC History magazine, he writes and reviews regularly for these and other national newspapers and magazines, and frequently appears in historical documentaries.   .

Reviews for Peace and War

[john257hopper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book recounts in a very readable form the Britain of the eve of the First World War in all its complexity. The author shows how the stereotype of a peaceful and sunny Edwardian summer rudely shattered by War at the height of a hot summer is only one perspective, that of a small proportion at the top of society. In reality Britain was a very divided country and full of conflict and violence. Ireland was about to erupt into civil war (when The Times announced on 27 July that "there can no longer be the slightest doubt that the country is now confronted with one of the greatest crises in the history of the British race" it was not at all referring to the Balkans). The suffragettes' campaign was reaching levels of violence and meeting with levels of counter violence arguably both greater than in any social protest movement of more recent years. Industrial relations were sharply confrontational and social divisions yawned widely. The War did temporarily put a halt to many of these crises with its all embracing nature affecting the whole of society. The author does a good job of showing the fundamental nature of this watershed in the middle of the year. He did spend a little too much time on painters and the Bloomsbury set for me and I largely skimmed those chapters. A large number of interesting photographs as well, most of which I don't recall seeing in other books. Very good.