Two new books have been published on the First World War.
Turning Point 1917. The British Empire at War
University of British Columbia Press, 2017.
Authors:
Douglas E. Delaney holds the Canada Research Chair in War Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada. He is the author of The Soldiers’ General: Bert Hoffmeister at War (2005), which won the 2007 C.P. Stacey Prize for Canadian Military History, and Corps Commanders: Five British and Canadian Generals at War, 1939-45 (2011). He is also co-editor (with Serge Marc Durflinger) of Capturing Hill 70: Canada’s Forgotten Battle of the First World War (2016).
Nikolas Gardner holds the Class of 1965 Chair in Leadership at the Royal Military College of Canada. He is the author of Trial by Fire: Command and the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 (2003) and The Siege of Kut-al-Amara: At War in Mesopotamia, 1915-1916 (2014).
Further information here.
For the British Empire and its allies of the Great War, 1917 was a year marked by one crisis after another. There was the overthrow of the Russian czar and the collapse of his massive armies, and the mutinies of the battered French army. There was also social and political upheaval on the home front, including labour unrest in Britain and opposition to conscription in Canada and Australia. But, here and there, glimmers of light pierced the gloom. Soldiers began solving the problems posed by trench warfare. The dominions, inspired by burgeoning nationalism, asserted themselves more in the councils of imperial power. And the United States finally entered the war.
Turning Point 1917 examines the British imperial war effort during the most pivotal and dynamic twelve months of the Great War. Written by internationally recognized historians from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, its chapters explore military, diplomatic, and domestic aspects of how the empire prosecuted the war. Their rich, nuanced analysis transcends narrow, national viewpoints of the conflict to examine the British Empire as a coalition rather than individual states engaged in their own distinctive struggles.
By drawing attention to the events that made 1917 a turning point, this book provides a unique perspective on the war. These events ultimately laid the groundwork for victory, strengthening the position of the British Empire relative to its enemies while, at the same time, forging arrangements to accommodate the increasingly divergent interests and identities of the dominions.
Le génocide des Arméniens : représentations, traces, mémoires
Sous la direction de : Joceline Chabot, Marie-Michèle Doucet, Sylvia Kasparian, Jean-François Thibault
Presses de l’Université Laval, 2017.
En 2015 avait lieu le 100 e anniversaire du génocide des Arméniens. Durant la Première Guerre mondiale, plus d’un million d’Arméniens ont été exterminés en raison d’une politique génocidaire instaurée et perpétrée par les autorités en place dans l’Empire ottoman. Aujourd’hui, ce drame est considéré comme l’un des premiers génocides du XX e siècle.
Ce livre, qui réunit des chercheurs nationaux et internationaux, explore les thèmes et les questions qui animent les recherches les plus récentes sur le génocide des Arméniens. Les chapitres qui composent cet ouvrage collectif sont regroupés autour de trois axes : représentations, traces et mémoires. En privilégiant une approche multidisciplinaire, il s’agit de rendre compte des dimensions multiples de cet objet d’étude et de mettre en relief les aspects structurants des débats actuels sur le génocide des Arméniens.
Further information here.
Writing the Great War / Comment écrire la Grande Guerre?