Simon Forty

These 125 rare and fascinating historical documents chart the boundaries of the Great War from its start in 1914 to the Armistice. Detailed maps show the trench lines of the major Western Front battlefields sitting side-by-side with Lawrence of Arabia’s campaigns in Palestine and the Middle East. Naval battles in the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean appear alongside details of ANZAC’s Gallipoli campaign or Canadian battles at Vimy Ridge. Plans for rolling barrages at Serre on the Somme contrast with details of operations in East Africa (the setting for the popular movie The African Queen). One section focuses entirely on the United States’ involvement in the fighting, while the introduction provides a brief background of the war and an examination of military mapping.… (mehr)