99 years since Great Britain entered the Great War

This Sunday, 4th August, marks the 99th anniversary of Great Britain entering World War I. Next year is, of course, the big one - the centenary year. There will be events all over the UK and Europe to mark the occasion. Is this is a celebration, a thanksgiving, a commemoration, or a re-appraisal? It is hoped that the planned events will add to the sum of knowledge on what was certainly the most devastating war ever known up to that point.


The Library will have a major exhibition next summer and autumn, and meantime you can re-visit the other posts on this blog about the Great War.

 

90th anniversary of the Armistice

The Armistice with Germany was signed at 5 a.m. on the morning of 11th November, 1918. The Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, rose and made the announcement to the House of Commons. He then read the conditions of the armistice. In conclusion, he said:
"I hope we may say that thus, this fateful morning, came to an end all wars."

One of the most poignant items we have in our collection is Soldiers Died in the Great War, especially the page (above) listing all those killed and injured on the day of the Armistice itself.

The Great War

With the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I approaching, we've been looking at some of our official publications from that time. From
Notes from The Front, and The field service pocket book we found some diagrams of the trenches, not only British, but German ones, too. The German trench even has a figure of a soldier with his trademark pointed steel helmet, and what appears to be a handlebar moustache. There's a lot of detail on construction and materials used, and also signs for sketching routes and battlefields, such as roads, woods, villages and churches.