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First World War

Forward or backward looking? The Treaty of Versailles

Cartoon: At the Peace Table. Treaty of Versailles. Clemenceau says, "Take your seats, gentlemen!" The food and chairs look dangerous, and there are handcuffs on the table, worried and suspicious German delegates.

German anger at the Treaty of Versailles between the wars is well known. Hitler, in his rise to power, exploited this deep resentment. So how did such a contentious document come into existence and why was it signed?

They seek him here… the life and death of the Red Baron

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: First World War, Foreign affairs and diplomacy, Foreign Office Historians

21 April marks the centenary of the death of the highest scoring fighter ace of the First World War, Baron Manfred von Richthofen.[1]  Known to the French as the Red Devil, because of the colour of his aircraft, it was …

‘A Call to the Women of Great Britain’: the formation of the Women’s Land Army

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: First World War, Social history, The National Archives
Three Woman's Land Army girls in uniform holding two piglets each, in a snow covered setting

To begin this blog, I am going to set the scene and ask a few hypothetical questions. Imagine it is the height of summer, 1917. The Great War has been raging for almost three years, and there is still no …

Sir Edward Grey and the First World War: the unmaking of a Foreign Secretary

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: First World War, Foreign Office Historians

Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Secretary (1905 to 16), helped take Britain into the First World War but the conflict weighed heavily on him. This blog looks at the physical and emotional strain on Grey during his final years in office