The Battlefields of the First World War: The Unseen Panoramas of the Western Front - Hardcover

Peter Barton

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1841197459 ISBN 13: 9781841197456

Publisher: Osprey Publishing, 2005

Synopsis

Here are the great battlegrounds of the First World War as you have never seen them before, from the First Battle of Ypres where gallant men on horseback find things do not go to plan to the closing horror of the mud at Passchendaele. The book showcases the most eye-opening panoramas, along with poignant personal photographs and the recollections of the soldiers caught in action in the battles shown.
These panoramic photographs were the nearest thing to satellite mapping in their day, taken by the British Royal Engineers for intelligence purposes thoughout the war. The photographers had to spend tens of minutes with their head above the parapet - a view normally seen by the troops only through a trench periscope. Many of the images give a field of view of up to 160 degrees, and so sharp that individual figures - a soldier picking lice on his shirt, a sniper lying in wait - can be made out.
The images cover the whole of the Western Front, end to end. For the general buyer they have an impact unlike anything seen before. For the specialist, they document a lost world, putting other forms of archive into temporal, topographical and geographical context. What they reveal challenges existing perceptions of the First World War. As well as tortured landscapes of featureless mud, they also show fields of flowers, beaches, churches still standing. There are desperate scenes for sure, but an important lesson is that much of the war was fought in a real, recognizable landscape.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Barton is a historian, archaeologist and film-maker. He authored The Battlefields of the First World War after researching the forgotten Imperial War Museum panorama archive for eight years. His other books include The Somme, and Passchendaele. He continues to lead an ongoing project to recover, interpret and publish all surviving battlefield panoramas - widely regarded as the 'missing link' for our full understanding of the First World War. He has since uncovered several equivalent unseen collections of panoramas in German archives, included here. Barton has also led several major excavations on the Western Front, and produced the critically acclaimed documentary films The Underground War, The Soldiers' Pilgrimage and Conviction. He is co-secretary of the All Party Parliamentary War Graves and Battlefields Heritage Group.

Review

"A review of this book does not do it justice. It simply has to be seen to be truly appreciated. This entire book is highly informative and should be considered by all with an interest in this area." -Timothy Baghurst, The Traveler

"Peter Doyle is a scientist and military historian specializing in the role of terrain in warfare, and Peter Barton is an archaeologist, historian, and filmmaker; both have authored previous books on World War I. Their latest venture, The Battlefields of the First World War: From the First Battle of Ypres to Passchendaele (Osprey, 978-1-84529-884-5) was eight years in the making, and the effort and expertise show... Most of the panoramas look much the same–dozens of blasted landscapes where millions died–but as Barton explains how they were produced and used, their very sameness offers eloquent testimony to the stalled nature of trench warfare. In fact, the book amounts to a concise chronicle of the Western Front, from 1914’s “race to the sea” to the ever-more-elaborate fortifications that doomed the armies to murderous stalemate right up to the last offensives of 1918." -Peyton Moss, ForeWord Magazine (September/October 2009)

Edition details

• Publisher: Osprey Publishing
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1841197459
• ISBN 13: 9781841197456
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352