By high summer of 1918, German forces on the Western Front had been fought to a standstill. Having expended their reserves in a series of offensives collectively known as the Kaiserschlacht (‘Kaiser’s Battle’), the high command of the German Army nervously awaited the inevitable Allied counterstrokes. By Mark Phelan The Second Battle of the Marne … Read more
While not a ‘special’ as such, this issue has a particular end-of-First-World-War emphasis. Mark Phelan reminds us of how the Central Powers were eventually defeated (pp 24–7); Monika Barget, Pádraig MacCarron and Susan Schreibman retrieve yet another aspect of the heretofore hidden history of women’s involvement (‘Sphagum moss and female agency’, pp 32–4); and John … Read more
Irish units facing the 1918 German spring offensive. By Mark Phelan By early 1918, after more than three years of bloody stalemate, the strategic situation on the Western Front was delicately poised. While both sides suffered the effects of war-weariness, Germany in particular struggled against low morale, as a combination of poor harvests and British … Read more
The First World War correspondence of Michael Bourke, Garvey’s Lane, Limerick. By Tadhg Moloney During the First World War, letters allowed soldiers in training or at the front to keep in touch with home. Michael Bourke of Garvey’s Lane, Limerick, wrote at least 36 letters to his sister Mary over the nine months from 2 … Read more
Messines Ridge, 3am, 7 June 1917—an Irish soldier’s eyewitness account. By Seán Boyne Patrick Carroll would always remember the moment the massive explosion was set off by the sappers. It happened just after 3 o’clock in the morning of 7 June 1917, and the ground shook furiously as if there had been an earthquake. The … Read more