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History - Modern (1750+) — page 4
287 public-domain history - modern (1750+) books, summarised. Page 4 of 6.

Through Palestine with the Twentieth Machine Gun Squadron
Unknown
The desert heat and the weight of machine guns define the soldiers’ path, turning a military campaign into a grueling journey through history, dust, and immense, quiet sacrifice.

The Big Fight (Gallipoli to the Somme)
David Fallon
This is an unvarnished, direct account of a soldier’s transformation from an eager recruit into a seasoned veteran of the Great War. It captures the visceral, often brutal reality of combat across the two most iconic theaters of the conflict: the desolate beaches of Gallipoli and the mud-choked trenches of the Somme.

The Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, and 14th (F. & F. Yeo.) Battn. R.H. 1914-1919
D. Douglas Ogilvie
The story of the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry is one of transformation: a group of volunteer cavalrymen forced by the brutal realities of industrial warfare to trade their horses for rifles, their saddles for mud, and their home comforts for the desert. This is a chronicle of endurance, detailing their transition from…

A Visit to Three Fronts: June 1916
Arthur Conan Doyle
This firsthand account provides a somber, intimate perspective on the Western and Italian fronts during the height of the First World War. It serves as a vital historical record of the mechanical and human scale of total war.

The First Canadians in France: The Chronicle of a Military Hospital in the War Zone
F. McKelvey (Frederick McKelvey) Bell
The soldiers of the Great War were often defined by their bravery, but this account reveals the quiet, persistent humanity of those tasked with mending the broken bodies left behind by the conflict.

The History of Mendelssohn's Oratorio 'Elijah'
F. G. (Frederick George) Edwards
This scholarly account documents the creative evolution and triumphant 1846 premiere of Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah. It provides an intimate, granular look at the meticulous labor behind one of the nineteenth century’s most enduring choral masterworks.

The War in Syria, Volume 1 (of 2)
Charles Napier
A firsthand account of naval strategy and geopolitical maneuvering, this chronicle documents the 1840 British-led intervention in Syria to curb the influence of the Egyptian ruler Mehemet Ali. It provides an immediate, tactical view of how a maritime power asserts control over land-based conflicts through the eyes…

A Concise Chronicle of Events of the Great War
R. P. P. Rowe
This precise, unadorned timeline offers a stark, day-by-day account of the Great War, cataloging the relentless momentum of military maneuvers, political shifts, and the heavy toll of global conflict.

Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, March 1899: Volume LIV, No. 5, March 1899
Various
This collection of essays and reports serves as a vital record of late-nineteenth-century intellectual ambition, capturing a moment when the rigor of the scientific method was aggressively applied to every corner of human social and political life.

Brazil and La Plata: The personal record of a cruise
C. S. (Charles Samuel) Stewart
This personal record of a mid-nineteenth-century naval voyage offers a rare, immersive window into the landscapes and political upheavals of South America. It serves as both a travelogue and a thoughtful reflection on life at sea.

Anarchism: A Criticism and History of the Anarchist Theory
E. V. (Ernst Viktor) Zenker
This historical study examines the origins, evolution, and theoretical inconsistencies of anarchism, tracing its philosophical development from early speculative thought to the militant agitations of the late nineteenth century.

The Sorrows of Belgium: A Play in Six Scenes
Leonid Andreyev
War is a tragedy that forces the soul to confront the impossible. This play captures the fracturing of a nation and a family, tracing the brutal transition from the quiet beauty of a garden to the stark, sacrificial necessity of survival.

Judgments of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand on Proceedings to Review Aspects of the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Mount Erebus Aircraft Disaster: C.A. 95/81
New Zealand. Court of Appeal
The integrity of a nation’s judicial process is tested when a high-profile inquiry into a tragic aviation disaster descends into allegations of conspiracy, betrayal, and institutional dishonesty.

The Childrens' Story of the War, Volume 3 (of 10): From the First Battle of Ypres to the End of the Year 1914
Edward Parrott
The Great War is a tragedy of steel, mud, and immense human sacrifice, unfolding across the globe through the eyes of those who stood their ground against overwhelming odds.

In the Ypres Salient
Beckles Willson
The Ypres Salient stands as a testament to the endurance of the human spirit amidst the relentless, industrial annihilation of the First World War. It chronicles a singular, brutal chapter of sacrifice that defined a nation's resolve.

The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. IV. Being the Second of the Second Voyage
James Cook
Navigating unmapped Pacific waters and the icy southern latitudes, an eighteenth-century naval expedition measures island borders, tests human endurance, and establishes precise geographic coordinates across uncharted oceans.

A Narrative of the Expedition to Dongola and Sennaar: Under the Command of His Excellence Ismael Pasha, undertaken
George Bethune English
An artillery officer in the service of Egypt tracks a imperial army through scorching sands and violent rapids to conquer the unknown territories of the Upper Nile.

The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, October, 1864
Unknown
Bound to the Roman see by ancient tradition yet isolated by modern media, Ireland's Catholic clergy turn inward to record their history, clarify their canon law, and defend their heritage.

The King's Pilgrimage
Frank Fox
A solemn, quiet journey across former battlefields turns raw landscape into a sanctuary of shared grief and enduring honor.

The Alleged Haunting of B—— House: Including a Journal Kept During the Tenancy of Colonel Lemesurier Taylor
Unknown
A nineteenth-century Scottish manor becomes an unlikely laboratory as investigators, skeptics, and curious guests attempt to record the unexplainable behind closed doors.

The Auchensaugh Renovation of the National Covenant and: Solemn League and Covenant
Reformed Presbytery of North America
A handful of believers gathers in open Scottish fields to pledge their lives to an uncompromising divine order.

The Great Push: An Episode of the Great War
Patrick MacGill
The visceral reality of the front line, stripped of patriotic myth, emerges through the eyes of a soldier navigating the carnage of 1915. This is a harrowing, intimate account of survival amidst the mud and madness of the Great War.

Wars & Treaties, 1815 to 1914
Ponsonby, Arthur Ponsonby, Baron
The nineteenth century was a century of expansion, a frantic race for colonial territory and imperial influence that left few corners of the globe untouched by the machinations of the great powers.

Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, May 1899: Volume LV, No. 1, May 1899
Various
This volume serves as a high-water mark of late Victorian intellectual inquiry, documenting a world on the precipice of modern specialization through the lens of emerging scientific rigor and global expansion.

Introduction to Non-Violence
Theodore Paullin
This inquiry systematically maps the diverse philosophies of non-violence, distinguishing between tactical resistance and principled devotion. It provides a vital framework for understanding how different movements seek social change without compromising human dignity.

The Fight for the Republic in China
B. L. (Bertram Lenox) Putnam Weale
The survival of a fragile Republic depends on its internal strength, yet foreign ambitions and the weight of imperial history constantly threaten to dismantle the newborn state.

Notes on Railroad Accidents
Charles Francis Adams
Railroad travel, once a terrifying novelty, became the backbone of modern transit through a series of bloody lessons. This investigation charts the evolution of safety systems forged in the wreckage of early industrial ambition.

National Strategy for Combating Terrorism: February 2003
United States. Executive Office of the President
This document outlines a formal, post-9/11 vision for national security, defining the strategic framework for the United States to combat international terrorism through a multi-front, global approach. It serves as a foundational record of the shift in American policy toward preemptive, asymmetric warfare and the…

"Over There" with the Australians
R. Hugh (Reginald Hugh) Knyvett
This narrative captures the visceral reality of a soldier’s life in the Great War, blending the camaraderie of the trenches with the profound ache of longing for home. It is a candid, firsthand account of human endurance.

Canada West
Canada. Department of the Interior
Prospective homesteaders and historical observers alike will find this detailed guide to the Canadian frontier an invaluable window into the early twentieth-century promise of prairie settlement.

The Backwash of War: The Human Wreckage of the Battlefield as Witnessed by an American Hospital Nurse
Ellen N. (Ellen Newbold) La Motte
War is a stagnant, ugly business, churning up the slime of humanity in the shallows of the battlefield. It is a place where clean lives and broken souls are cast up together, waiting to be cleared away.

The Moravians in Labrador
Anonymous
Determined to bring their faith to the rugged coast of Labrador, a group of missionaries faces icy peril and cultural conflict to establish a lasting foothold among the native Inuit.

The Reconciliation of Races and Religions
T. K. (Thomas Kelly) Cheyne
To bridge the chasm between disparate faiths and warring nations, one must look toward the East, where a new spiritual movement promises a unified, peaceful future for all humanity.

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 63, No. 389, March 1848
Various
This collection captures the anxious pulse of mid-nineteenth-century Britain, where traditional defenses feel increasingly fragile against the rapid, unpredictable tides of modern economic and political change. It serves as a vivid, polemical window into the Victorian establishment’s deepest fears.

Canada in Flanders, Volume II
Beaverbrook, Max Aitken, Baron
The Canadian Corps’ ascent from a colonial contingent to a disciplined, hardened fighting force is captured here through the immediate, visceral lens of the First World War’s bloodiest sectors.

Submarine and Anti-submarine
Newbolt, Henry John, Sir
The Great War beneath the waves reveals a harrowing, claustrophobic theater of naval combat, where technological innovation met the raw courage of those trapped in steel hulls.

The history of the South African forces in France
John Buchan
A chronicle of endurance, this account details the relentless service of the South African Brigade through the most punishing theaters of the First World War. It remains a testament to the tactical complexity and personal sacrifice defining the infantry experience in France.

With Our Fighting Men: The story of their faith, courage, endurance in the Great War
William E. Sellers
This account chronicles the spiritual landscape of the British Army during the early months of the First World War. It portrays a conflict defined not just by artillery and trenches, but by the search for meaning, faith, and comfort amidst the devastation of the front lines.

South America and the War
F. A. (Frederick Alexander) Kirkpatrick
A continent of young republics steps into the crucible of the First World War, forced to confront foreign economic subversion and forge its own independent destiny.

The Attack in Trench Warfare: Impressions and Reflections of a Company Commander
André Laffargue
When infantry hurls itself against modern fortified trenches, bravery alone guarantees complete slaughter. Only meticulous preparation, specialized weaponry, and relentless forward momentum can turn a bloody deadlock into a decisive breakthrough.

From the Indus to the Tigris
H. W. (Henry Walter) Bellew
Traversing dry plateaus, mountain passes, and desert wastes, an officer maps an arduous journey across the nineteenth-century borderlands of Central Asia, where ruined empires and modern imperial ambitions meet.

The Healing of Nations and the Hidden Sources of Their Strife
Edward Carpenter
A tragic collision of empires reveals the deep-rooted economic greed and militaristic pride that drive working-class citizens to slaughter one another on behalf of their rulers.

The Fertility of the Unfit
W. A. (William Allan) Chapple
Modern society faces a crisis not from a lack of resources, but from a profound demographic shift in which the most prudent citizens limit their families while the least capable multiply unchecked.

The story of the 6th Battalion, the Durham Light Infantry
Unknown
A relentless, unvarnished history of Western Front infantry combat, this chronicle follows a single British battalion through fire, mud, and total structural collapse.

To Kiel in the 'Hercules'
Lewis R. (Lewis Ransome) Freeman
An eye-witness voyage across postwar Germany’s demilitarized naval strongholds reveals a defeated empire stripped of its secrets and crippled by collapse.

Gallipoli
John Masefield
A vivid, somber account of the Dardanelles Campaign, this narrative chronicles the grueling reality of a military endeavor defined by impossible terrain and unrelenting human endurance.

Hints on the use and handling of firearms generally, and the revolver in particular
H. Onslow (Henry Onslow) Curling
Mastering the revolver requires more than a steady hand; it demands an unwavering commitment to safety, mechanical discipline, and the cool-headed judgment that separates a true marksman from a dangerous novice.

The World's Greatest Military Spies and Secret Service Agents
George Barton
The history of warfare is often decided not by the clash of armies on the field, but by the quiet, dangerous work of those who operate in the shadows to subvert the plans of kings and generals.