The Countryside At War 1914 1918 PDF Download

"The First World War scarred an entire generation at the beginning of the twentieth century ... This book offers a simple guide to the war, looking at the events and the people who took part, through what was the setting for so much of the carnage; the trench. The trenches and the trench system along the Western Front in particular, were the killing fields. They formed a vast line of fortifications that locked the opposing armies together in a static, 400 mile zigzag of conflict from the channel coast down to the French border with Switzerland. Using his own diagrams and illustrations, ... Yorke explains the architecture of the trenches, with their command posts, tunnels, machine gun nests, duck boards and sleeping billets. There are chapters to explain tactics, weaponry and daily life ... special features on the introduction of new weapons of war, such as tanks, early aeroplanes and the first use of poison gas. The political events are described in basic outline, but there is a chapter on the legacy of the war's aftermath. There are summaries of the major battles and there is information about special places to visit in France and Belgium, including key museums, battle sites and memorials"--Back cover.