A Brief History of the First World War: Eyewitness Accounts of the War to End All Wars, 1914-18

Jon E. Lewis is a writer and historian. His many previous books include bestsellers The Mammoth Book of the West, The Mammoth Book of Polar Journeys, The Mammoth Book of True War Stories, and World War II: The Autobiography. He lives in Hertfordshire, England with his wife and children.

Recent titles in the series

A Brief Guide to Star Wars
Brian J. Robb

A Brief Guide to Private Life in Britains Stately Homes
Michael Paterson

A Brief Guide to Native American Myths and Legends
Lewis Spence

A Brief Guide to Jane Austen
Charles Jennings

A Brief Guide to J. R. R. Tolkien
Nigel Cawthorne

A Brief History of the Spy
Paul Simpson

A Brief History of the Roman Empire
Stephen P. Kershaw

A Brief Guide to Jeeves and Wooster
Nigel Cawthorne

A Brief History of the House of Windsor
Michael Paterson

A Brief Guide to Ghost Hunting
Dr Leo Ruickbie

A Brief Guide to C. S. Lewis
Paul Simpson

A Brief Guide to Celtic Myths and Legends
Martyn Whittock

A Brief Guide to Oz
Paul Simpson

A Brief Guide to Stephen King
Paul Simpson

A Brief History of Superheroes
Brian J. Robb

For Tristram and Freda Lewis-Stempel. Peace be with you.

Constable & Robinson Ltd

5556 Russell Square

London WC1B 4HP

www.constablerobinson.com

First published in the UK as The Mammoth Book of How it Happened: World War I by Robinson, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2003

This revised edition published by Robinson, 2014

Copyright J. Lewis-Stempel 2003, 2014

The right of Jon E. Lewis to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher and without a similar condition including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in
Publication Data is available from the British Library

UK ISBN: 978-1-4721-0853-1 (paperback)

UK ISBN: 978-1-4721-1174-6 (ebook)

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

First published in the United States in 2014 by Running Press Book Publishers, A Member of the Perseus Books Groups

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher.

Books published by Running Press are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail .

US ISBN: 978-0-7624-5230-9

US Library of Congress Control Number: 2014931619

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing
Running Press Book Publishers
2300 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19103-4371

Visit us on the web!

www.runningpress.com

Printed and bound in the UK

Cover by Bob Eames

Borijove Jevtic

Herbert Sulzbach, German Army

Robert Dell

Sergyei N. Kurnakov

Herbert Asquith, Prime Minister

King George V

Various

Arnold Bennett

Walter Limmer, German Army

Bertrand Russell

Richard Harding Davis

Lieutenant Manfred von Richthofen, Uhlan Regiment 1

Corporal Bernard Denmore, 1st Royal Berkshire Regiment

Lieutenant W.R. Read, Royal Flying Corps

Reverend Andrew Clark

John Morse

General Paul von Hindenburg, German Eighth Army

Anonymous

Private Frank Richards, Royal Welch Fusiliers

Frederick Delius

Brigadier General E.L. Spears, British Expeditionary Force

Lieutenant Otto Weddigen, U-9

Karl H. von Wiegand, United Press war correspondent

Able Seaman James Farrant, RND

Michael MacDonagh, Times journalist

Sergeant J.F. Bell, 2nd Gordon Highlanders

Private Frank Richards, Royal Welch Fusiliers

Anonymous

Various

Captain the Hon. Julian Grenfell, 1st Royal Dragoons

Captain Julian Grenfell

Captain Sir Edward Hamilton Westrow Hulse, Scots Guards

Private Montague S. Goodbar, 4th Battalion Cameron Highlanders

Donald Hankey, 1st Royal Warwickshire Regiment

Bernard Pares, war correspondent

Sergeant S.V. Britten, 13th Battalion, Royal Highlanders of Canada

Anthony R. Hossack, Queen Victoria Rifles

Midshipman Eric Bush, Royal Navy

Major Shaw, 29th Division

Robert Graves, Royal Welch Fusiliers

Viscountess Rhonda

E. Sylvia Pankhurst

Private Horace Bruckshaw, Royal Marine Light Infantry

H.S. Clapham, British Army

Brian Horrocks, Middlesex Regiment

Hugh Walpole

Leonard Thompson, British Army

Anonymous

Private Jack Mackenzie, Cameron Highlanders

Robert Graves, Royal Welch Fusiliers

Freiharr Treusch von Buttlar Brandenfels

Robert Graves, Royal Welch Fusiliers

H.W. Nevinson, war correspondent

Major Oliver Hogue, 14th Australian Light Horse

Oskar Kokoschka, Austro-Hungarian Army

Karl Liebknecht, German Army

Beatrice Webb

Lieutenant W.J. Tempest, Royal Flying Corps

Rev H. Stirling T. Gahan, British Chaplain at Brussels

Miss M.I. Tatham, Stobart Field Hospital, Serbian Relief Unit

Second-Lieutenant Graham Greenwell, 4th Battalion, Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

Lieutenant Octavian Taslaunau, Astro-Hungarian Army

Commander Roger Keyes, Royal Navy

Vera Brittain

Llewellyn Wyn Griffith, Royal Welch Fusiliers

General Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of the General Staff of the Army in the Field

General Artois Ptain, French Army

Werner Beumelburg, 15th Bavarian Infantry Regiment

General A.A. Noskoff, Russian Army

Liugi Barzini

Captain T.H. Westmacott, First Indian Cavalry Division

Pierre Baucher, civilian

Adolf K.G.E. von Spiegel, U-202

Siegfried Sassoon, Royal Welch Fusiliers

James Connolly

Various

Lieutenant Stuart Cloete, 9th Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry

Siegfried Sassoon, Royal Welch Fusiliers

Private Henry Gregory, 119th Machine Gun Company