IMPACTS OF WAR 1914 & 1918 by Terraine, John

London 1993 reprint of 1970 ed, Leo Cooper, hard bound in dust jacket, VG/VG condition,( very small corner bump) , 6x9, 227 pages, bibliog, index.................................... In his original introduction John Terraine writes: `The impacts of war are limitless, and in many respects, unfathomable. In the First World War, four broad levels of impact upon Britain may be discerned: impact upon the soldiers and sailors in the battle line - the severest of all; impact upon the military leaders (the generals above all) who directed them - this also could be severe; impact upon politicians who directed the generals and admirals and here the severities begin to change their substance; impact upon the people whom the politicians represented - this is where generalisation must always be taken with large pinches of salt. The patriotic widow who loses all her sons is a part of Public Opinion; so is the Conscientious Objector; so is the profiteer. One cannot make 40 million separate statements; yet one cannot ignore the weight of Public Opinion in a democracy merely because it is bound to be diverse. The short cut I have used for the purposes of this book is to treat Public Opinion in terms of the guidance it received i.e. the Press, and in particular the Press which was influential with people who were influential......................................................`I am, then, concerned in Part I with the impact of war in 1914, mainly at several removes from the battlefield, on a Government and People ill-prepared for such a trial; and in Part II with its impact in 1918, when, because of the enemy's action, the battlefield became the only place that mattered, chiefly upon soldiers and generals.' Originally published over twenty years ago, this important historical study is now republished with an additional introduction by the author.