Free summaries
History - Warfare — page 2
77 public-domain history - warfare books, summarised. Page 2 of 2.
Battlewrack
F. Britten (Frederick Britten) Austin
These sketches capture the visceral, mechanical, and human chaos of the First World War, documenting the transition from civilian life to the brutal, transformative reality of the front lines.
Terrain Exercises
William H. (William Henry) Waldron
Success in the field demands more than memorizing regulations; it requires the ability to apply tactical principles to the physical reality of the ground beneath one's feet.
Air Men o' War
Boyd Cable
The skies above the Great War’s trenches are not empty; they are a crowded, violent theater where young men gamble their lives to see what the enemy hides on the ground.
Disarm! Disarm!
Bertha von Suttner
A searing, intimate account of a woman’s awakening to the horrors of war, this narrative traces the tragic cost of nationalistic fervor across a rapidly changing nineteenth-century Europe. Through the eyes of a devoted wife, it confronts the reader with the dissonance between the romantic ideals of military glory…
The Comrade in White
William Harvey Leathem
A shell-shocked soldier lies bleeding in No Man's Land, expecting an enemy's knife, when a luminous figure glides through the gunfire to lift him into gentle arms. Through four quiet tales, battlefield agony yields to divine comfort.
Operations Upon the Sea: A Study
Franz von Edelsheim
A strategic analysis of naval operations, emphasizing preparation, coordination, and adaptability for successful maritime campaigns.
Rada: A Drama of War in One Act
Alfred Noyes
This play is a brutal, unvarnished encounter with the reality of war, set on the night of the Prince of Peace’s birth. It serves as a stark, harrowing reminder of the human cost buried beneath the rhetoric of "survival of the fittest.
Some Principles of Frontier Mountain Warfare
W. D. (Wilkinson Dent) Bird
Success in irregular, mountainous combat requires the abandonment of rigid, formulaic training in favor of flexible, site-specific tactics.
Great commanders of modern times and The campaign of 1815
William O'Connor Morris
Great commanders often rise through a unique synthesis of strategic vision and personal will, reshaping the map of Europe through the crucible of total war. These profiles examine the masters who defined modern conflict.
The last September
Elizabeth Bowen
A young woman teeters on the edge of a vanishing world, caught between her own awakening desires and the violent, inevitable collapse of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy she calls home.
Vive la France!
E. Alexander (Edward Alexander) Powell
This account offers a stark, firsthand look at the Western Front during the Great War, capturing the mechanical devastation of trench warfare and the enduring spirit of the French military.
Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. 726: November 24, 1877
Various
A Victorian periodical opens a window onto nineteenth-century engineering, gemstone lore, and dramatic domestic trials.
Suspense, Volume 2 (of 3)
Henry Seton Merriman
HOOK Amidst the mounting tensions of the Russo-Turkish War, a stoic war correspondent finds his life and values entangled with two sisters struggling to navigate a fractured, unhappy marriage.
The First Buckinghamshire Battalion 1914-1919
P. L. (Philip Lowndes) Wright
A meticulous, authentic chronicle of front-line service captures the day-to-day reality of an infantry unit navigating the mud of France and the rugged peaks of Italy.
Ditching Procedure, B-29s with Four-Gun Turret
United States. Army Air Forces
Preparation for the worst-case scenario is the defining requirement for survival, transforming chaotic emergencies into a practiced, mechanical response. This technical manual codifies the urgent choreography of ditching a B-29 Superfortress at sea.
Suspense, Volume 1 (of 3)
Henry Seton Merriman
A man of war and a woman of intellect navigate a quiet, high-stakes bond, setting out from the safety of a Norwegian fjord toward the inevitable, brutal chaos of the front lines.
Balloon observation, and instructions on the subject of work in the basket
United States. War Department. Division of Military Aeronautics
High above the static trenches of the Great War, the tethered balloon serves as a vital, if vulnerable, eye for the artillery.
Hello, Boys!
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
These wartime verses offer direct, accessible solace to soldiers and grieving families, blending patriotic duty with a steady spiritual conviction that physical death is merely an entrance into a higher life.
Old Glory and Verdun, and other stories
Elizabeth Frazer
The Great War is a tragedy of machines and microbes, where the soul is as vulnerable as the body. This collection of accounts captures the immediate, visceral reality of life on the French front lines.
Campaign diary of a French officer
Nicolas, René, Lieutenant
The roar of the cannon and the suffocating reach of the mud define the world of a young scholar turned soldier. This firsthand account captures the brutal, intimate transformation of a man facing the Great War.
Rhymes of the Rookies: Sunny Side of Soldier Service
W. E. Christian
These rough-hewn verses capture the grit, humor, and melancholy of the American soldier serving at the dawn of the twentieth century. They offer an unvarnished look at life beneath the flag during a restless era.
Never Again! A Protest and a Warning Addressed to the Peoples of Europe
Edward Carpenter
The world stands at a crossroads, where the relentless march of scientific destruction forces humanity to choose between self-obliteration and a new, unified era of global peace.
Use of Mines in Trench Warfare (From the French School of St. Cyr)
Army War College (U.S.)
This technical manual, distilled from French military instruction during the First World War, details the subterranean mechanics of trench warfare. It provides a stark, pragmatic look at the silent, lethal race fought beneath the front lines.
A servant of reality
Phyllis Bottome
A damaged veteran returns home to a changed world, finding that the true fight for his humanity begins far from the battlefield.
Return of the brute
Liam O'Flaherty
A descent into the primal madness of the trenches, this stark narrative follows the collapse of humanity under the relentless pressure of a war that has lost all meaning.
Of holy disobedience
A. J. (Abraham John) Muste
A solitary act of refusal can shatter the illusion of state unanimity, transforming a single “no” into a persistent, unanswerable voice that haunts the conscience of a nation.
Suspense, Volume 3 (of 3)
Henry Seton Merriman
The shadow of war stretches from the drawing rooms of Suffolk to the trenches of Bulgaria. A quiet man of conscience finds his loyalties tested by a conflict that demands his ultimate sacrifice.
War in Heaven
Fletcher Pratt
Realistic space warfare requires spherical warships, solid-shot ammunition, and strategic battles for oxygen bases, discarding impossible ray guns for cold, hard physics.
The Judgement of Valhalla
Gilbert Frankau
A coward spirit faces ultimate judgment in Valhalla while frontline soldiers endure the mud, blood, and machine-gun fire of the First World War.