The Great War - 1914-1918

Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts VC, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, KStJ, VD, PC (30 September 1832 – 14 November 1914) was a British soldier who was one of the most successful commanders of the 19th century. He served in the Indian rebellion, the Expedition to Abyssinia and the Second Anglo-Afghan War before leading British Forces to success in the Second Boer War. He also became the last Commander-in-Chief of the Forces before the post was abolished in 1904.
[...]
In retirement he was a keen advocate of introducing conscription in Britain (directing the National Service League) to prepare for a great European war.Following his return from the Boer War, he was instrumental in promoting the mass training of civilians in rifle shooting skills through membership of shooting clubs, and a facsimile of his signature appears to this day on all official targets of the National Smallbore Rifle Association.
[...]
In an important speech in Manchester's Free Trade Hall on 22 October 1912 Roberts pointed out that Cobden and Bright's prediction that peace and universal disarmament would follow the adoption of free trade had not happened. He further warned of the threat posed by Germany:

In the year 1912, just as in 1866 and just as in 1870, war will take place the instant the German forces by land and sea are, by their superiority at every point, as certain of victory as anything in human calculation can be made certain...We may stand still. Germany always advances and the direction of her advance, the line along which she is moving, is now most manifest. It is towards...complete supremacy by land and sea.

He claimed that Germany was making enormous efforts to prepare for war and ended his speech by saying:

Gentlemen, only the other day I completed my eightieth year...and the words I am speaking to-day are, therefore, old words—the result of years of earnest thought and practical experience. But, Gentlemen, my fellow-citizens and fellow-Britishers, citizens of this great and sacred trust, this Empire, if these were my last words, I still should say to you—“arm yourselves” and if I put to myself the question, How can I, even at this late and solemn hour, best help England,—England that to me has been so much, England that for me has done so much—again I say, “Arm and prepare to acquit yourselves like men, for the day of your ordeal is at hand.

THE big news in the papers of November 15 (resp. the 16th, depending on country) was ...

Until the 1990s, most historians took the memory of the Spirit of 1914 at face value and claimed that the enthusiasm in August 1914 was universal.

The reality was more complex. There was widespread apprehension when Germany declared war on 1 August 1914 and civilians watched their loved ones march off to battle in the following weeks. Middle-class nationalists were the most enthusiastic and published countless tracts and editorials hailing the new political unity. An estimated one million war poems were sent to German newspapers in August 1914 alone. Dissent was smothered by this overabundance of literature cheering the war, the promise not to violate the Burgfrieden, and fear of undermining support for loved ones on the front. It accordingly appeared that the Spirit of 1914 was universal. The memory of Spirit of August 1914 persisted, even when the actual support for the war waned with the horrifying casualties on the front and the terrible hunger on the home front caused by the British blockade of Germany.

An incredible collection of photos revealing previously unseen moments from World War One has been released.

Although it was highly illegal to take unofficial photographs in the trenches, keen amateur photographer George Hackney smuggled a small, concealable camera with him when he was called to fight on the Western Front.

While many of the men featured in the poignant shots did not survive the bloody conflict in which over 37 million people died, Hackney, who was from Belfast, lived into his late 80s and shared his photos with the loved ones of his subjects.

In 1977, his collection was donated to the Ulster Museum before his death, but was left unseen by the public for over three decades until a curator handed them over to a filmmaker two years ago.

Experts believe that on top of the initial 300 images, there could be as many as 200 more to be found.

Tonight, a documentary entitled 'The Man Who Shot the Great' on BBC One Northern Ireland will showcase Hackney’s images to the wider public for the first time ever, and bring the photographer’s story to life.

The arrestingly candid photos show both familiar scenes, such as a Sergeant atop his horse holding a rifle, to intimate moments where a man writes a letter or a diary entry while his comrade is in a deep sleep in the bed next to him.

One unnerving image taken onboard a paddle steamer travelling from England to France shows a Batallion piled together asleep, resembling dead bodies.