Christmas 1914: The First World War at Home and Abroad

By December 1914, it had become clear to even the most optimistic observer that the war would not be over by Christmas. That month brought the first enemy-inflicted deaths of the war, when German warships bombarded three North East coastal towns; meanwhile, the recently invented aeroplane was being put to deadly use in raids over the South East. In France that month, the Battle of the Marne gave a taste of the devastating power of modern warfare - a reality to which troops in the trenches on both sides tried to turn a blind eye in the famous Christmas truce. This book uses contemporary newspapers and magazines, diaries and other records to present a comprehensive image of this extraordinary Christmas, both at home and abroad.