World War I/Bibliography

World War I, Bibliography is an annotated bibliography of the most important and useful English language books and articles on World War I. as selected by the editors.

Popular histories

• Editors of American Heritage. History of WWI. 1964.
• Evans, David. Teach yourself— the First World War. (2004)
• Keegan, John. An Illustrated History of the First World War (1999). by a leading British scholar excerpt and text search
• Taylor, A. J. P. The First World War: An Illustrated History, 1963
• Lyons, Michael J. World War I: A Short History (2nd Edition), 1999.
• Stone, Norman. World War One: A Short History (2008), 208pp
• Stokesbury, James L. A Short History of World War I (1981) excerpt and text search
• Strachan, Hew, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War (2001) excerpt and text search
• Strachan, Hew. The First World War (2004): a 385pp version of his multivolume history excerpt and text search
• Taylor, A. J. P. The First World War: An Illustrated History, (1963) excerpt and text search
• Toland, John. No Man's Land. 1918 - The Last Year of the Great War (1980)
• Tucker, Spencer, ed. The Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social, and Military History (5 vol 2005); the most detailed reference source; articles by specialists cover all aspects of the war
• Tucker, Spencer. The Great War 1914-18 (1998) excerpt and text search

TV documentaries

• World War I (1964), CBS News documentary narrated by Robert Ryan
• The Great War (1964) TV series by Correlli Barnett and others of BBC
• The Great War, television documentary by the BBC.
• Aces: A Story of the First Air War, television documentary written by George Pearson, historical advice by Brereton Greenhous and Philip Markham, NFB, 1993. Argues aircraft created trench stalemate

US Navy recruiting poster 1917

Reference books

• Burg, David F. and L. Edward Purcell. Almanac of World War I (1998)
• Ellis, John and Mike Cox. The World War I Databook: The Essential Facts and Figures for All the Combatants (2002)
• Esposito, Vincent J. The West Point Atlas of American Wars: 1900-1918 (1997) despite the title covers entire war; online maps from this atlas
• Gilbert, Martin. Atlas of World War I (1995), very clear schematic maps
• Gilbert, Martin. The Routledge Atlas of the First World War: The Complete History (2002)
• Higham, Robin and Dennis E. Showalter, eds. Researching World War I: A Handbook (2003), 475pp; highly detailed historiography, stressing military themes; annotates over 1000 books; online edition
• Livesey, Anthony, and H. P. Willmott. The Historical Atlas of World War I (1994)
• Pope, Stephen and Wheal, Elizabeth-Anne, eds. The Macmillan Dictionary of the First World War (1995)
• Tucker, Spencer, ed. The Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social, and Military History (5 vol 2005); the most detailed reference source; articles by specialists cover all aspects of the war
  • Tucker, Spencer C., ed. World War I: A Student Encyclopedia. 4 vol. ABC-CLIO, 2006. 2454 pp.
• Tucker, Spencer, ed. European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia (1999)
• Venzon, Anne ed. The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia (1995)
• Winter, Jay, and Antoine Prost. The Great War in History (2005), historiography, stress on social and economic themes

Overviews

• Barnett, Correlli. The Great War, (2003), 224pp, illustrated
• Carver, Michael, Field Marshal Sir. War Lords. (1976) Includes brief bios of Hamilton, Foch, Haig, von Falkenhayn
• Cawood, Ian, and David Mckinnon-Bell. The First World War. (2001), 174pp online edition
• Cowley, Robert (ed). The Great War. Perspectives on the First World War. (2003), 509 p.
• Cruttwell, C. R. M. F. A History of the Great War, 1914-1918 (1934), general military history
• Falls, Cyril. The Great War (1960), general military history
• Halpern, Paul G. A Naval History of World War I(1995)
• Herwig, Holger H. The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918 (1996)
• Howard, Michael. The First World War. Oxford:Oxford University Press (2002), short (175 pp) general military history
• Hubatsch, Walther. Germany and the Central Powers in the World War, 1914-1918 (1963)
• Liddle, P., and H. Cecil (eds). Facing Armageddon (1996), essays by scholars
• Morrow Jr., John H.. The Great War: An Imperial History (2003), covers British Empire online edition
• Neiberg, Michael S. Fighting the Great War: A Global History. (2005). 416 pp. excerpt and text search
• Robbins, Keith. The First World War (1993), short overview online edition
• Simkins, Peter, et al. The First World War: The War to End All Wars (2003), 384pp; combat-oriented excerpt and text search
• Stevenson, David. Cataclysm: The First World War As Political Tragedy (2004) major reinterpretation, 560pp excerpt and text search
• Strachan, Hew. The First World War: Volume I: To Arms (2004): the major scholarly synthesis. Thorough coverage of 1914 in 1248 pp excerpt online
• Strachan, Hew. The First World War (2004): a 385pp version of his multivolume history
• Winter, J. M. The Experience of World War I (2nd ed 2005), topical essays; well illustrated excerpt and text search

Western Front

• Beckett, Ian F.W. Ypres: The First Battle 1914, (2006) 336pp
• Chickering, Roger et al eds. Great War, Total War: Combat and Mobilization on the Western Front, 1914-1918 (2000). 584 pgs.
• Cruttwell, C. R. M. F. A History of the Great War, 1914-1918 (1934), general military history
• Doughty, Robert A. Pyrrhic Victory: French Strategy and Operations in the Great War,. Cambridge:Harvard university Press (2005) 592pp, prize-winning analysis
• Falls, Cyril. The Great War (1960), general military history
• Gilbert, Martin. The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War (2006) 352pp
• Hart, Peter. The Somme, (2nd ed 2007), 608pp
• Herwig, Holger H. Operation Michael: The “Last Card” 2001, German spring offensive in 1918
• Horne, Alistair. The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 (2nd ed 1994)
• Passingham, Ian. All the Kaiser's Men: The Life & Death of the German Army on the Western Front 1914-1918, (2nd ed 2006) 288pp
• Prior, Robin, and Trevor Wilson. The Somme, (2005), 368pp
• Prior, Robin, Passchendaele: The Untold Story, (2nd ed. 2002), 272pp
• Sheldon, Jack. German Army on the Somme, 1914-1916, (2005) 352pp
• Tooley, Hunt. The Western Front: Battle Ground and Home Front in the First World War. (2003), 305pp, social history, does not emphasize battles
• Travers, Tim. How the War Was Won: Command and Technology in the British Army on the Western Front, 1917-1918,. London:Routledge (1992) online edition
• Tuchman, Barbara. The Guns of August, best-seller and Pulitzer Prize book tells of the opening diplomatic and military manoeuvres in August 1914 excerpt and text search

Infantry and specialty military topics

• Bidwell, Shelford, and Dominick Graham. Firepower: British Army Weapons and Theories of War, 1904-1945. Boston:Allen & Unwin (1992), chaps. 4-8.
• Dupuy, Trevor N., A Genius for War. The German Army and general Staff, 1807-1945. Englewood Cliffs:Prentice Hall (1977), chaps. 10-11, 128-180.
• Dupuy, Trevor N., Evolution of Weapons and Warfare, New York:Da Capo Press (1984), esp. 212-229.
• Dupuy, Trevor N., Numbers, Predictions, and War.
• Griffith, Paddy, Battle Tactics of the Western Front: The British Army's Art of Attack, 1916-18, New Haven:Yale univ. Press (1994).
• Gudmundsson, Bruce I. Stormtroop Tactics: Innovation in the German Army, 1914-1918. Westport:Praeger (1989).
• Messenger, Charles. Call To Arms: The British Army 1914-1918 (2005) (ISBN 0-297-84695-7), recruitment, training, supplying of officers & men.
• Samuels, Martin. Doctrine and Dogma: German and British Infantry Tactics in the First World War,. Westport:Greenwood (1992), 228 pgs. online edition
• Sheffield, G. D. Leadership in the Trenches: Officer-Man Relations, Morale and Discipline in the British Army in the Era of the First World War (2000)
• Smith, Leonard V. Between Mutiny and Obedience. The Case of the French Fifth Infantry Division during World War I (1994)

Eastern front

• Dubeski, Norman, "Victory myths and the battle of Tannenberg," Journal of Political and Military Sociology, Winter 2001 online edition
• Jukes, Geoffrey. The First World War: The Eastern Front 1914-1918 (Essential Histories) (2002) excerpt and text search
• Rutherford, Ward. The Russian Army in World War I, 1975
• Showalter, Dennis. Tannenberg: Clash of Empires, 1991
• Stone, Norman. The Eastern Front, 1914–1917. 1975.

New weapons

• Bond, A. Russell. Inventions of the Great War (1919) online edition

Air War

• Cooke, James J.. The U.S. Air Service In the Great War: 1917-1919 (1996). 272 pgs.
• Frandsen, Bert. Hat in the Ring: The Birth of American Air Power in the Great War (2003). Smithsonian Books. 320 pgs.
• Holley, I. B. Ideas and Weapons: Exploitation of the Aerial Weapon by the United States During World War I(1983)
• Hudson, James J. Hostile Skies (1997). 338 pgs.
• Hurley, Alfred F. Billy Mitchell, Crusader for Air Power (1975)
• Jeffers, H. Paul. Ace of Aces: The Life of Captain Eddie Rickenbacker (2003). 352 pgs.
• Johnson, Herbert A. Wingless Eagle: U.S. Army Aviation Through World War I (2001). 298 pgs.
• Kennett, Lee. First Air War, 1914-1918 (1999). 288 pp.
• Lawson, Eric and Jane Lawson. The First Air Campaign, August 1914-November 1918 (1996)
• Morrow, John. German Air Power in World War I. 1982. Contains design and production figures, as well as economic influences.
• Morrow, John H., Jr. The Great War in the Air (1993). 464 pgs.
• Winter, Denis. First of the Few. 1982. Coverage of the British air war, with extensive bibliographical notes.

Poison Gas

• Cook, Tim. No Place To Run: The Canadian Corps and Gas Warfare in the First World War (1999)
• Haber, L. F. The Poisonous Cloud: Chemical Warfare in the First World War (1986); the standard history
• Palazzo, Albert. Seeking Victory on the Western Front: The British Army and Chemical Warfare in World War I (2000) online edition
• Slotten, Hugh R. "Humane Chemistry or Scientific Barbarism? American Responses to World War I Poison Gas, 1915-1930." Journal Of American History, 1990 77(2): 476-498. Issn: 0021-8723 Fulltext: in Jstor and Ebsco
• Trumpener, Ulrich. "The Road to Ypres: The Beginnings of Gas Warfare in World War I." Journal Of Modern History (1975) 47(3): 460-480. Issn: 0022-2801 Fulltext in Jstor

Submarines

• John Abbatiello. Anti-Submarine Warfare in World War I: British Naval Aviation and the Defeat of the U-Boats (2005)
• Gray, Edwyn A. The U-Boat War, 1914-1918 (1994)
• van der Vat, Dan. The Atlantic Campaign. (1988). Connects submarine and antisubmarine operations between wars, and suggests a continuous war.
• Price, Alfred, Dr. Aircraft versus the Submarine. Deals with technical developments, including the first dipping hydrophones.

Tanks

• Childs, David J. A Peripheral Weapon?: The Production and Employment of British Tanks in the First World War (1999)
• Fletcher, David. Landships: British Tanks in the First World War (1996)
• Fuller, J.F.C. Tanks in the Great War 1920.
• Greenhalgh, Elizabeth. "Technology Development in Coalition: the Case of the First World War Tank." International History Review 2000 22(4): 806-836. Issn: 0707-5332
• Guderian, Heinz. Achtung! Panzer (1937)
• Tate, Trudi. "The Culture of the Tank, 1916-1918." Modernism-Modernity 1997 4(1): 69-87. Issn: 1071-6068. on British public images of tank warfare
• Travers, Tim. "Could the Tanks of 1918 Have Been War-winners for the British Expeditionary Force?" Journal of Contemporary History 1992 27(3): 389-406. Issn: 0022-0094 Fulltext: in Jstor and Ebsco
• Tucker, Spencer C. Tanks: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. ABC-CLIO, 2004. 379 pp.
• Wilson, Dale E. Treat'Em Rough!: The Birth of American Armor, 1917-20 (1989)

Medical, casualties, nursing

• Ferguson, Niall The Pity of War (1999), 563pp; much on death and casualties online edition
• Love, Albert G. War Casualties (1931) online] statistics and how compiled for U.S. Army online
• Pottle, Frederick A. Stretchers; the Story of a Hospital Unit on the Western Front, 1929 online edition
• Sarnecky, Mary T. A History of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps (1999) ch 3 pp 80-132

Intelligence

• Beesly, Patrick. Room 40, 1982. Covers the breaking of German codes by RN intelligence, Zimmermann telegram, and confusion at Jutland
• Kahn, David. The Codebreakers, 1996. Covers the breaking of Russian codes and the victory at Tannenberg
• Kahn, David. The Reader of Gentlemen's Mail: Herbert O. Yardley and the Birth of American Codebreaking (2004)
• Tuchman, Barbara W. The Zimmermann Telegram (1966)

Causes and diplomacy

• Bakeless, John Edwin. The Economic Causes of Modern War: A Study of the Period: 1878-1918 (1919) online edition
• Cramer, Kevin. "A World of Enemies: New Perspectives on German Military Culture and the Origins of the First World War," Central European History (2006), 39#2 pp 270-298 online at CJO
• Evans, R. J. W., and Hartmut Pogge Von Strandman, eds. The Coming of the First World War (1990), essays by scholars from both sides online edition
• Fay, Sidney. The Origins of the World War (1930); classic scholarly study; argues every nation shared guilt for starting the war online edition
• Fromkin, David. Europe's Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914?, (2004), ISBN 0375411569.
• Gilpin, Robert. War and Change in World Politics (1981) excerpt and text search
• Hamilton, Richard F. and Holger H. Herwig, eds. The Origins of World War I, (2003) 553pp; 15 long essays by leading scholars; excerpt and text search
  • Hamilton, Richard F. and Holger H. Herwig, eds. Decisions for War, 1914-1917 (2004) ' a condensed version in 282pp
• Henig, Ruth The Origins of the First World War (2002) 76pp online edition
• Hewitson, Mark. Germany and the Causes of the First World War (2004)
• Joll, James. The Origins of the First World War. (3rd ed 2006).
• Kennedy, Paul M. (ed.). The War Plans of the Great Powers, 1880-1914. (1979)
• Kennedy, Paul M. The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, 1860-1914 (1981)
• Lee, Dwight E. ed. The Outbreak of the First World War: Who Was Responsible? (1958), readings from multiple points of view
• Maier, Charles S. "Wargames: 1914-1919" in Rabb T. and Rotberg R. (eds.), The Origins and Prevention of Major Wars, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1989), 249-279
• Miller, Steven E. (ed.) Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War: an International Security Reader, (1985)
• Page, Thomas Nelson. Italy and the World War (1920) online edition
• Ponting, Clive. Thirteen Days: Diplomacy and Disaster - The Countdown to the Great War (2002)
• Snyder, Jack L. The Ideology of the Offensive. Military Decision Making and the Disasters of 1914. (1984), 267 pp. excerpt and text search
• Stevenson, David. The First World War and International Politics (2005)
• Van Evera, Stephen. Causes of War. Power and the Roots of Conflict. (1998), chap.7, 193-239.
• Williamson, Samuel R. Jr. "The Origins of World War I" in Rabb T. and Rotberg R. (eds.), The Origins and Prevention of Major Wars, (1989), 225-248.
• Williamson, Samuel R. The politics of grand strategy: Britain and France prepare for war, 1904-1914 (1990) online at ACLS e-books
• Williamson Jr. Samuel R. and Ernest R. May. "An Identity of Opinion: Historians and July 1914," Journal of Modern History(2007) Volume 79, Number 2, 335-87, historiography

USA and Canada

• Bassett, John Spencer. Our War with Germany: A History (1919) online edition
• Beaver, Daniel R. Newton D. Baker and the American War Effort, 1917-1919 (1966)
• Chambers, John W., II. To Raise an Army: The Draft Comes to Modern America (1987)
• Coffman, Edward M. The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I (1998)
• Esposito, David M. The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson: American War Aims in World War I. (1996) 159pp online edition
• Feuer, A. B. The U.S. Navy in World War I: Combat at Sea and in the Air, (1999) online edition
• Hallas, James H. Doughboy War: The American Expeditionary Force in World War I (2000) online edition
• Love, Robert W. History of the US Navy: 1775-1941 (1992) excerpt and text search
• May, Ernest R. The World War and American isolation, 1914-1917 (1959online at ACLS e-books
• Scott, Emmett Jay. Scott's Official History of the American Negro in the World War (1919) 511 pages online edition

online edition

• Trask, David F. The United States in the Supreme War Council: American War Aims and Inter-Allied Strategy, 1917-1918 (1961)
• Venzon, Anne ed. The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia (1995)
• Young, Ernest William. The Wilson Administration and the Great War (1922) online edition
• Zieger, Robert H. America's Great War: World War I and the American Experience. 2000. 272 pp.

Canada

• Hayes, Geoffrey, et al, eds. Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment (Wilfrid Laurier University Press; 2007, 353 pp.)
• Milner, Marc. Canadian Military History. (1993). Includes problems of Canadian recruiting and the 1917 draft crisis (with its problems over Quebec)
• Morton, Desmond, and Jack Granatstein. Marching to Armageddon: Canadians and the Great War 1914-1919 (1989)

Europe, homefront

see World War I, Homefront

Primary sources

• Abbot, Willis J. Pictorial History of the World War (1918) online edition
• Halsey, Francis Whiting, ed. The Literary Digest History of the World War: vol 4: 1917-1918 (1919) online edition
• Lloyd George, David. The Great Crusade: Extracts from Speeches Delivered During the War (1918) 307 pages online edition
• Marwick, Arthur, and W. Simpson (eds). War, Peace and Social Change - Europe 1900-1955 - Documents I: 1900-1929 (1990)
• M. Shevin-Coetzee and F. Coetzee (eds). World War One and European Society (1995).

Memoirs

• Lloyd George, David, War Memoirs of David Lloyd George. 2 vols. (1933). An unusually long, detailed and candid record.
• Ludendorff, Eric Von. Ludendorff's Own Story, August 1914- November 1918 (1919) online from books.google.com

Cultural, literary, artistic, memorial

see World War I, Homefront

Poetry and songs

see World War I, Homefront

Novels

see World War I, Homefront

Films, plays, television series and mini-series

see World War I, Homefront

Online secondary and primary sources

• Web Sources for Military History by Richard Jensen
• diplomatic primary documents, from Mt. Holyoke College
• primary documents from 1914
• Eastern Front, by War Times Journal
• "The World War I Document Archive," from Brigham Young U Library
• H-German, "G-Text Primary Source Archives, Kaiserreich, 1871–1918"
• Paul Halsall, ed., "Internet Modern History Sourcebook: World War I"
• The July Crisis, 1914
• U Wisconsin Collection: 92 primary sources in original languages

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