This book provides a thought-provoking exploration into the diagnosis of shell-shock and medical culture in First World War Britain.

Over the last five centuries, the development of modern weapons and warfare has created an entirely new set of challenges for practitioners in the field of military medicine. Between Flesh and Steel traces the historical development of military medicine from the Middle Ages to modern times. Military historian Richard A. Gabriel focuses on three key elements: the modifications in warfare and weapons whose increased killing power radically changed the medical challenges that battle surgeons faced in dealing with casualties, advancements in medical techniques that increased the effectiveness of military medical care, and changes that finally brought about the establishment of military medical care system in modern times. Others topics include the rise of the military surgeon, the invention of anesthesia, and the emergence of such critical disciplines as military psychiatry and bacteriology. The approach is chronological--century by century and war by war, including Iraq and Afghanistan--and cross-cultural in that it examines developments in all of the major armies of the West: British, French, Russian, German, and American. Between Flesh and Steel is the most comprehensive book on the market about the evolution of modern military medicine.

First published in 1922 in a very limited edition, this mammoth work is the most comprehensive, single-volume record of the nation's commitment in the first total war in British history. Until August 1914, wars, as far as Great Britain was concerned, had been the business of the regular armed forces, supplemented by eager volunteers, motivated by patriotism and a sense of adventure. They had marched away behind the bands, with the Colours flying and the enthusiastic cheers of onlookers ringing in their ears. Apart from the families of the men doing the fighting, however, war had little effect on the wider population. In August 1914 most people expected the war to follow this previous pattern: the surge of patriotism, the Mafeking-style jingoism, the rush of volunteers eager to get to the fighting before it was all over. But within a couple of months, when the casualty lists of then First Battle of Ypres began to appear, the mood began to change, as people perceived the true nature of modern war. The record of this response is made clear in the monthly and annual statistical returns displayed in this volume. The scope of 'Statistics' is hugely impressive. It is divided into thirty-two parts, each dealing with a different aspect of the war effort - personnel, animals and materiel - under separate section headings, with the detail presented in clear, tabular form, frequently accompanied by a narrative of events or commentary. The wealth of detail displayed is formidable. For example, the 200-page part dealing with Strength of the Forces has tables showing monthly recruiting figures, strength returns by theatres, returns of Labour and Native personnel serving abroad, growth of individual Arms of the Service (infantry, artillery, cavalry etc.) and tables of consolidated figures. Casualty lists include those incurred in hospital ships, with individual ship details, and there are also figures for major offensives, such as the Somme, Arras, Passchendaele, Cambrai etc. Other parts deal with discipline - courts martial, crime and punishment statistics; consolidated list of honours and awards; texts of armistices; munitions production and expenditure, including the cost of certain bombardments during major battles. There is a fifty-page outline diary of the main events in the various Theatres of War and, under a separate heading, a diary of the air raids over the UK and coastal bombardments with resulting casualties.

The most detailed, comprehensive study and statistical analysis of British battle and non-battle casualties on all fronts during the Great War - including the North Russian Expeditionary Force, 1918-1919. For the Western Front casualties in the BEF are shown first for the war as a whole, Aug. 1914 to Dec. 1918, and then year by year; other theatres are shown for the whole period of operations. Non-battle casualties due to sickness are shown by diseases so one can read, for example, the number of malaria or dysentery cases in any theatre. Dominion troops are included in the figures. For the record the total casualty figures in all theatres, including Dominion, amounts to 11,096,338, a figure that includes sick, injured, wounded and missing. An outstanding and unique work of reference.

This book is an innovative comparative history of how German and British soldiers endured the horror of the First World War. Unlike existing literature, which emphasises the strength of societies or military institutions, this study argues that at the heart of armies' robustness lay natural human resilience. Drawing widely on contemporary letters and diaries of British and German soldiers, psychiatric reports and official documentation, and interpreting these sources with modern psychological research, this unique account provides fresh insights into the soldiers' fears, motivations and coping mechanisms. It explains why the British outlasted their opponents by examining and comparing the motives for fighting, the effectiveness with which armies and societies supported men and the combatants' morale throughout the conflict on both sides. Finally it challenges the consensus on the war's end, arguing that not a 'covert strike' but rather an 'ordered surrender' led by junior officers brought about Germany's defeat in 1918.