How the experience of war impacted on the town, from the initial enthusiasm for sorting out the German kaiser in time for Christmas 1914, to the gradual realization of the enormity of human sacrifice the families of Carmarthen were committed to as the war stretched out over the next four years. A record of the growing disillusion of the people, their tragedies and hardships and a determination to see it through. By the time that war erupted in Europe in August 1914, Carmarthenshire had moved from its rural roots into a new industrial age, with great coalfields around the Amman and Gwendraeth Valleys, and the coal, tin and steelworks around Llanelli and Kidwelly. This industrialisation had changed the county forever, with towns like Ammanford, Llanelli and Kidwelly transforming themselves from their original small villages into sprawling towns. The population of the county had surged, so the Great War would see vast numbers of men from the county enlist into the armed forces and head for war, many never to return. 'Carmarthen in the Great War' covers the lives and deaths of many of the brave young men that left the county, interspersing their tales with stories from the home front, which show how the war changed life in the county forever.As featured in the Carmarthen Journal and Wales On Sunday.

The Carmarthenshire Battalion was one of the early units raised in 1914 as a result of Lord Kitchener's expansion of the regular army for the duration of the Great War. This book profiles the 'Carmarthen Pals', a battalion which fought with great distinction during many of World War One's most significant campaigns.

The First World War was one of the prime motors of social change in modern British history. Culture and technology at all levels were transformed. The growing impact of the state, the introduction of modern democracy and change in political allegiance affected most aspects of the lives of UK citizens. Whilst most of the current centenary interest focuses on military aspects of the conflict, this volume considers how these fundamental changes varied from locality to locality within Britain’s Home Front. Taken together, did they drastically alter the long-established importance of regional variations within British society in the early twentieth century? Was there a common national response to these unprecedented events, or did strong regional identities cause significant variations? The series of case studies presented in this volume – ranging geographically and by topic – detail how communities coped with the war’s outbreak, its upheavals, its unprecedented mass mobilization on all fronts, and its unforeseen longevity.

Fast-paced and fact-packed, this compendium revels in Carmarthenshire's rich heritage and what makes it special in areas such as culture, landscape, wildlife, food and sport. This whistle-stop tour through the 'Garden of Wales' covers both celebrated characters and murky pasts, taking in the county's breathtaking castles, nature reserves and famous landmarks along the way. From the county gaol and asylum to school strikes and industrial riots, this is a book you won't want to put down.

Soon after the outbreak of the Great War, following many years of part-time soldiering as cavalry troops on home defense duties, the members of various British Yeomanry regiments were asked to volunteer for overseas service. In 1916, officered by well-known members of the landed gentry, two of the Welsh Yeomanry regiments, the Pembroke Yeomanry and the Glamorgan Yeomanry, were amongst many who embarked for foreign service for the first time ever in their history. Spending the next twelve months in Egypt during the campaign against the Senussi tribesmen, the two regiments merged to form the 24th (Pembroke and Glamorgan Yeomanry) Battalion, Welsh Regiment, which joined the 74th (Yeomanry) Division to take part in the historic offensive into Palestine that ultimately led to the liberation of the Holy City of Jerusalem after 400 years of Ottoman rule. In May 1918, after two years of hard campaigning in the Palestinian deserts, the 24th Welsh embarked for France with the rest of the 74th Division, joining the Allied forces in the victorious 100-day offensive against the Germans. Welsh Yeomanry at War sheds new light on the battalions almost forgotten campaign in Palestine, which saw many of its troops killed and buried in the Holy Land, and also tells the enthralling story of its short but arduous period in France.

While a plethora of studies have discussed why so many men decided to volunteer for the army during the Great War, the experiences of those who were called up under conscription have received relatively little scrutiny. Even when the implementation of the respective Military Service Acts has been investigated, scholars have usually focused on only the distinct minority of those eligible who expressed conscientious objections. It is rare to see equal significance placed on the fact that substantial numbers of men appealed, or were appealed for, on the grounds that their domestic, business, or occupational circumstances meant they should not be expected to serve. David Littlewood analyses the processes undergone by these men, and the workings of the bodies charged with assessing their cases, through a sustained transnational comparison of the British and New Zealand contexts.