The Battlefields of the First World War - Hardcover

Barton, Peter; Richard Holmes

4.54

39 ratings by Goodreads

9781841197456: The Battlefields of the First World War

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1841197459 ISBN 13: 9781841197456

Publisher: Constable, 2005

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The first publication of a unique, unseen collection of over 500 panoramic photographs of the Western Front. Here are the great battlegrounds of the First World War as you have never seen them before, from the First Battle of Ypres where gallant men on horseback find things do not go to plan to the closing horror of the mud at Passchendaele. The book showcases the most eye-opening panoramas, along with poignant personal photographs and the recollections of the soldiers caught in action in the battles shown.

These panoramic photographs were the nearest thing to satellite mapping in their day, taken by the British Royal Engineers for intelligence purposes thoughout the war. The photographers had to spend tens of minutes with their head above the parapet - a view normally seen by the troops only through a trench periscope. Many of the images give a field of view of up to 160 degrees, and so sharp that individual figures - a soldier picking lice on his shirt, a sniper lying in wait - can be made out.

The images cover the whole of the Western Front, end to end. For the general buyer they have an impact unlike anything seen before. For the specialist, they document a lost world, putting other forms of archive into temporal, topographical and geographical context. What they reveal challenges existing perceptions of the First World War. As well as tortured landscapes of featureless mud, they also show fields of flowers, beaches, churches still standing. There are desperate scenes for sure, but an important lesson is that much of the war was fought in a real, recognizable landscape.

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Review:

'An extraordinary set of panoramic photographs that reveal the battlefields of the Western Front as never before.' -- The Times, November 5, 2005

'Is without doubt the best publication on the Great War in many years it is a superb piece of work.' -- Martin Hornby, Western Front Association

'The book is a magnificent effort and most impressive - one could almost say unique' -- Lyn Macdonald author of 1914 and To The Last Man

A superb historical source. -- Good Book Guide

From the Publisher:

The cataloguing of this immense collection took almost 8 years to complete due to its sheer scale, and its release now in book form by the Imperial War Museum is a major event.

The last time most of these panoramas were viewed - in the trenches - they were marked TOP-SECRET and destined for the eyes of the commanding officer only.

For the general buyer they have an impact unlike anything seen before. For the specialist, they document a lost world, putting other forms of archive into temporal, topographical and geographical context. They finally enable us to link personal accounts and official records to the all-important ground on which battles were fought. They are the �€˜missing link�€™.

The slipcased book includes numerous panorama segments reproduced in print, and two interactive C-ROMs [for Windows] containing 230 full panoramic images in zoomable form with overlay mapping.

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