Search results for Peter Simkins.
Did Kitchener’s decision to raise his ‘New Armies’ carelessly wreck the pre-war plans to achieve smooth and effective British military expansion?
The Liberal Party, which had been in power since the General Election of 1906, was nervous of German expansionism and had, by 1914, edged Britain into a much closer relationship with Russia and France than had previously been the case. Brigadier-General Henry Wilson, who was appointed Director of Military Operations in 1910, has traditionally be…
Facing Armageddon: The First World War Experienced
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By Hugh Cecil and Dr Peter Liddle First published by Leo Cooper in 1996, New edition edition (April 2003) £60 hardback 2003 edition. £10 - £13 second hand. ISBN-10: 1844680029 ISBN-13: 978-1844680023 New Edition 3 November 2016 £16.99 softback or £4.99 Kindle from Pen & Sword Pen & Sword, 936p, Ills, detialed notess & refs, bibl…
The Battle of the Selle, October 1918
The Battle of the Selle, October 1918 The Centralisation of Command Sir Douglas Haig always believed in the judgement of the man on the spot, but after the losses to the BEF during the actions of 1914 and 1915, the BEF was ‘deskilled' in this judgement process during the build up to the Battle of the Somme of 1916. The lack of experienced comma…
The Somme and Beyond: The BEF on the Western Front 1916-1918
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The British Army’s Experience on the Western Front 1916-1918 Written by Peter Simkins ISBN 978 1 78159 312 7 254pp. Maps. Praetorian Press, Barnsley, 2014 WFA members will welcome this book of essays from our President. They are, in effect, a synthesis of a lifetime of deep study of the British Army’s performance on the Western Front. In Everym…
Long Long Trail A–winding: Centenary Perspectives on the Great War Editor Dr Andrew Cromac
Editor Dr Andrew Cromac The Society of Army Historical Research, Special Publication No.18, £10.00+p&p postage and packing, 173pp, 38 ills, tables and maps. Copies are available from the Honorary Editor, Andrew Cormack (editor@sahr.org.uk). Invoices will be sent after posting. Please do not send money with your order. PayPal facility is avai…
‘The Black Man’, ‘The Brat’ and Londoners on the Somme
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Reflections on the Capture of Thiepval, September 1916 by Prof Peter Simkins. I have long been interested in 18th (Eastern) Division’s capture of the village of Thiepval in September 1916. Indeed, my well-known fascination with 18th Division has prompted some fellow historians, such as Gary Sheffield, to refer to the formation as ‘Simmo’s Own’. Th…
Ep. 100 – Reflections on the Great War Centenary and Historiography – Prof. Peter Simkins
For the 100th edition, outgoing WFA President, Prof. Peter Simkins, gives his reflections on the Great War Centenary and his life as a First World War historian.
Ian Passingham - Obituary
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I think everyone who knew of him would have been shocked by the news of Ian Passingham’s death on 19 March, after a long illness, at the age of 63. Until recent years he was an avid attendee and well-known face at The Western Front Association, British Commission for Military History (BCMH) and Douglas Haig Fellowship events. Ian burst on to the…
Pillars of Fire - the Battles of Messines Ridge 1917 by Ian Passingham
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Sutton Publishing 1998. Hardback, 223pp„ £19.99. ISBN 0 7509 1704 0. In his foreword to this book, Peter Simkins of the Imperial War Museum states that 'Messines has long merited a separate study, even though it is widely accepted that it formed a crucial prelude to Third Ypres. This work is a solid piece of historical research and detailed analy…
Placing the Battle of Messines Ridge in context by Peter Simkins
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This is the Foreword to Ian Passingham's Pillars of Fire. The Battle of Messines Ridge June 1917 by Peter Simkins For the British Dominion divisions serving on the Western Front under Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, 1917 was a year of transition and mixed fortunes. In the collective folk-memory of Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand the st…
Letters from a Volunteer by Charles St.G Cook
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[This review first appeared in Stand To! No.12 Winter 1984] Charles St.G Coook 1914 Letters from a Volunteer. Ed. with intro, edited by Don Cook. 40pp., pbk £1.95 (post paid). (Copies can be found for £4 in 2021) Copy 15 of 500 shown here. Despite the huge output of books relating to the Great War there are still many aspects of the confli…
Not Quite Fitting the Mould: A Fresh Look At Some Brigade and Battalion Commanders on the Western Front 1916-1918 - Professor Peter Simkins
Always in the vanguard of revisionism, Peter Simkins has studied the developing effectiveness of the BEF from the mid-war offensives to the final battles of 1918. The delegation of tactical responsibility driven down the ranks from High Command to junior officers and beyond ultimately, with new technologies and methods, led to the successful warfar…
An ‘Enthusiastic’ Response to War? British social responses to the outbreak of the First World War.
This is an MA Dissertation submitted to the University of Wolverhampton as part of their 'History of Britain and the First World War. It has been adapted slightly from the original for improved online reading, with links and illustrations added for greater enjoyment. TITLE: An ‘enthusiastic’ response to War? British social responses to the outbre…
Remembering Correlli Barnett by Prof Peter Simkins
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When I was a young, and very green, military historian in the early 1960s, three or four figures in particular loomed largest in my personal horizons. They included Michael Howard, who was then doing so much to establish war studies; Basil Liddell Hart, for whom I worked as an archivist and research assistant in 1962 and 1963; John Terraine, whose …
The Helion & Co Great War Conference 2023
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Helion & Co are delighted to announce their first dedicated Great War conference at the Birmingham & Midland Institute. An exciting line-up of speakers will examine a variety of aspects of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front 1914-18 with a stimulating range of papers. There will also be a book stand with an extensive sele…