Ypres The First Battle 1914

The First Battle, 1914

Ian Beckett

Front cover:

'A first-rate work by one of the leading specialists on the First World War.' History

"First Ypreswas the stuff of legends. And this excellent book explains why in gripping, pulse-quickening detail." WorcesterEvening News

Back cover:

'...this is a well-researched and readable book that should become the standard scholarly account of First Ypres.' The Journal of Military History

"This is a good account with something for everyone, soldier, descendant, Western Front enthusiast, or student of leadership, intelligence or logistics in war." The British Army Review

"Professor Beckett is one of the great unsung heroes of modern scholarship in British military history...The scholarship of this work is massively apparent on every page...this title earns its place on the bookshelf of anyone with a considered interest in World War One." The Society of Friends of the National Army Museum

"Beckett's survey is thorough and scholarly, and gives to Britain's allies, and to Foch, all the credit due to them." Professor Sir Michael Howard - TLS

The battle for Ypresin 1914 represented the last opportunity for open, mobile warfare on the Western Front for the next four years. It was an end of innocence, marking the transition between war as it had been and war as it would become. The first battle to associate the British army with the ‘immortal salient’ and, indeed, regarded as the end of the ‘old army’, the mythologizing of the British struggle has obscured the major role of the French and Belgians in defending Flanders. But it has also been mythologised from the German perspective, the so-called kindermord (slaughter of the innocents) proving a useable myth for the Nazis through the participation of the young Adolf Hitler. Ian Beckett draws on a wide range of sources, including never before published personal accounts, to reappraise the conduct of the battle, its significance and its legacy.

Professor Ian Beckett is an internationally known specialist on the Great War, his publications including acclaimed titles such as The Great War, 1914-1918 (2001), The First World War: The Essential Guide to Sources in the UK National Archives (2003) and (co-edited with Keith Simpson) A Nation in Arms: A Social Study of the British Army in the First World War (1985). Ian Beckett is Professor History at the Universityof Northampton, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and Chairman of the Army Records Society.

• Together with the Somme (1916) and Passchendaele (1917), this battle defined World War One
• Draws on wide range of British, French, Belgian and German primary sources
• Many new personal accounts and sources which were simply not available to authors of the previous books on the subject
• Shows the beginnings of trench warfare...and also the last gentleman's conflict.

The battle for Ypres in October and November 1914 represented the last opportunity for open, mobile warfare on the Western Front for the next four years. It marked the transition between war as it had been and war as it would become. The first battle to associate the British army with the ' immortal salient' and, indeed, regarded as the end of the ' old army', the mythologizing of the British struggle has obscured the major role of the French and Belgians in defending Flanders. But it has also been mythologised from the German perspective, the so-called kindermord (slaughter of the innocents) proving a useable myth for the Nazis through the participation of the young Adolf Hitler. In the first study of First Ypres for almost 40 years, Ian Beckett draws on a wide range of sources never previously used to reappraise the conduct of the battle, its significance and its legacy.

Professor Ian F W Beckett is an internationally known specialist on the British army and the First World War who has taught at both British and American universities. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he was formerly Professor of Modern History atthe University of Luton and a Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. His many publications include The Great War, 1914-1918, The First World War: (Longman), The Essential Guide to Sources in the UK National Archives (The National Archives), The Army and the Curragh Incident, 1914 (Bodley head), The Judgement of History: Lord French, Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien and 1914 (Tom Donovan Publishing).

• Draws on wide range of British, French, Belgian and German primary sources

• Contains many new personal accounts which were not available to authors of the previous books on the subject

Acknowledgements

Maps

Illustrations

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. The Belgian option and the race to the sea

2. Four armies in Flanders Fields

3. Advance to contact

4. Kindermord

5. The South

6. Army Group Fabeck

7. Nonnebosschen

Conclusion: The immortal salient

Appendix: Orders of battle

Bibliography

Index