World History: First World War

This meticulously researched book provides the first comprehensive study of the employment of artillery and naval gunfire support at Anzac. Faced with huge difficulties on inferior ground the Australian, New Zealand, Indian, and British gunners quickly adapted to a hostile enviro...nment, employing innovative techniques to counter superior numbers of Ottoman artillery and provide fire support to their infantry and light horse colleagues. How well they performed is a central theme of The Artillery at Anzac. Using a host of primary sources including official manuals, war diaries, operation orders, letters, and private papers the authors trace the story of this neglected feature of the Gallipoli campaign. Commencing with an evaluation of the nascent pre-war Australian and New Zealand artillery, they take the reader through the testing introduction to the realities of modern warfare, the trials and difficulties the gunners experienced throughout the campaign, to the phased evacuation in December, without alerting the Ottomans to the re-duced number of guns. Along the way, they challenge a long held controversy concerning the light horse charge at the Nek, and evaluate the effectiveness of the fire support provided to the infantry attacks, including that at Lone Pine, the attacks on the Sari Bair Range, and at Hill 60. In doing so, the authors illuminate long-buried information to provide new and penetrating insights into the campaign at Anzac. The Artillery at Anzac reveals a largely unknown aspect of the campaign, deepening our understanding of it, and providing a new perspective that is of value not only to Gunners past and present, but to historians, and the wider public. Although occurring over a century ago the experience at Anzac offers lessons to today's Gunners.
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On April 24th 1915 Armenian intellectuals of the Ottoman Empire were arrested en masse marking the beginning of the Armenian Genocide. The following day, April 25th 1915, saw the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landing at Gallipoli. This book draws the connections between t...hese two landmark historical events: the genocide of the minority Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire and the Anzac soldiers who fought at Gallipoli during World War I. Through eye witness accounts of Anzac soldiers witnessing the genocide, to a history of the Australasian involvement in the international Armenian relief campaign, and enduring discussions around genocide recognition, James Robins explores the international political implications that this unexplored history still has today.
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Some AIF men had a rendezvous with death in the 'silence in the summer night', but many were to survive only to face 'the thudding of the guns', again and again until 11 November 1918 at 11am. Their stories were about ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. They endur...ed physical and psychological horrors. This volume by historian John Ramsland is packed with unusual stories of a deeply personal nature: gripping, frequently harrowing and sometimes chilling. They are bought vividly to life from when the first shot was fired until the last bullet and, then, beyond to the aftermath. Such studies are first-hand, meticulously researched and comprehensively analysed. From the life stories of historical figures, known or unknown, celebrated or forgotten, the author elegantly crafts an anthology of epic heroism in WWI. In it, he chronicles the harsh reality of it all; he creates a strong picture of living conditions for frontline soldiers in the South Pacific, Gallipoli, the Western Front and Palestine.
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The harrowing, dramatic and profoundly moving story of the Australian and New Zealand nurses who served in the Great War. Now a major six-part television series.

Provides a detailed guide to the early fighting on the Somme in 1914 and 1915 in what became the British area.