Numbering over five million men, Britain's army in the First World War was the biggest in the country's history. Remarkably, nearly half those men who served in it were volunteers. 2,466,719 men enlisted between August 1914 and December 1915, many in response to the appeals of the Field-Marshal Lord Kitchener. How did Britain succeed in creating a mass army, almost from scratch, in the middle of a major war ? What compelled so many men to volunteer ' and what happened to them once they had taken the King's shilling ? Peter Simkins describes how Kitchener's New Armies were raised and reviews the main political, economic and social effects of the recruiting campaign. He examines the experiences and impressions of the officers and men who made up the New Armies. As well as analysing their motives for enlisting, he explores how they were fed, housed, equipped and trained before they set off for active service abroad. Drawing upon a wide variety of sources, ranging from government papers to the diaries and letters of individual soldiers, he questions long-held assumptions about the 'rush to the colours' and the nature of patriotism in 1914. The book will be of interest not only to those studying social, political and economic history, but also to general readers who wish to know more about the story of Britain's citizen soldiers in the Great War.

The first modern account of Theodore Roosevelt and the First World War, this is a tale of war and politics as well as the private story of true love and family devotion: a story as multi-faceted as TR's own personality.

A vivid biography in cinematic snapshots of David Lloyd George, one of the world's greatest statesmen. Brought up in rural North Wales, David Lloyd George attended neither a grand school nor ancient university. He was very much an outsider. And yet he rose through the ranks with charisma, fierce intelligence and fighting spirit to become, as Churchill put it in his tribute, a man who 'stood, when at his zenith, without a rival'. But his rise was not without its hardships, and in Rivals in the Storm, experienced MP and author Damian Collins focuses on the impact of Lloyd George's personality on other leading politicians, in driving progressive reforms through government, changing the course of the First World War to lead the Allies to victory, and cementing Britain's alliance with America. Covering Lloyd George's emergence as the dominating political personality in Great Britain to the aftermath of his resignation, this fascinating biography takes you inside the rooms where the important decisions happened, and shows the bitter struggles as well as the triumphs of this great man of his or any other age, who nonetheless fell short of his own high expectations.

This volume represents extensive research on Alfred Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe), one of the press lords who influenced British politics and policy during World War I. It deals with Northcliffe and the inseparable quality of his public and political career from his journalism.