Writing the Great War: Sir James Edmonds and the Official Histories 1915-1948 (Military History & Policy)

Nearly 90 years after the outbreak of the First World War, Britain's military participation remains controversial. The historiography of the war is as vibrant today as it was in each of the past eight decades, yet within that historiography is a body of work that is of far greater importance than has been recognised hitherto. Begun within months of the war's outbreak, and not completed for a further 33 years, the writing of the Official Histories was a venture of unprecedented scale and complexity.

Who, then, was responsible for producing such an enterprise? Did it aim to inform or did it have darker political motivations? Did the authors, who alone had access to records that were to remain classified for decades to come, seek to lay the facts and lessons of the war truthfully before the public? A number of critics have claimed that, on the contrary, the Official Histories were highly partial accounts written to protect reputations and cover up the true scale of British military incompetence.

Andrew Green directly challenges these views, examining the process by which offical history was written, the motives and influence of its paymasters, and the literary integrity of its historians. The book focuses on four official volumes covering arguably the most contentious battles of the war: Gallipoli, the Somme, Third Ypres (Passchendaele) and March 1918. What emerges from this is both a thrilling story of these great campaigns and a fascinating insight into the political intrigues and conflicting constraints that influenced the official writing of the Great War.