The Great War - The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1914 : with Original illustrations

Pages : 310 pages

Cover : Glossy

The first volume of his magisterial history of the war deals with the events of 1914, and covers the British war effort in Belgium and France.

Doyle had a personal stake in the war - as well as being deeply patriotic.

His son Kingsley and his brother Innes both served in the Army, and his brother-in-law Malcolm Leckie disappeared early in the war, and was later confirmed killed.

When the war broke out, Doyle wrote to the War Office offering his services in any capacity. He found it in Wellington House, writing anti-German propaganda. He swiftly churned out two penny pamphlets 'To Arms!' and 'The German War' which blamed the 'barbarian Huns' for engineering the war and urged all civilised people to support the Allied cause.

He moved on to research and publish his full length histories, detailing the battles and campaigns of the Great War.

He built up his narrative from letters, diaries, and interviews from the hand or lips of men who have been soldiers in our armies, the deeds of which it was my ambition to understand and to chronicle