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Winston Churchill

The causes of the Great War are examined in this first volume of the series that is “essential reading, as fresh and compelling as ever” (Jon Meacham, bestselling author of Franklin and Winston).

An absorbing history of the outbreak of World War I from a true insider’s point of view, the first volume of Winston S. Churchill’s five-volume The World Crisis is unsurpassed as both a historical and personal account of the earth-shaking events leading up to WWI. Beginning in 1911, when Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty, this report is based on thousands of his personal letters and memos.

Churchill’s epic series opens with a chilling description of the Agadir Crisis, and provides an in-depth account of naval clashes in the Dardanelles, one of Churchill’s major military failures. It takes readers from the fierce bloodshed of the Gallipoli campaign to the tide-turning battles of Jutland and Verdun—as well as the United States’ entry into the combat theatre. Written in powerful prose by a great leader who would also go on to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature, The World Crisis, 1911–1914 provides a perspective you won’t find anywhere else: a dynamic insider’s account of events that would shape the outcome of modern history.

“Whether as a statesman or an author, Churchill was a giant; and The World Crisis towers over most other books about the Great War. ” —David Fromkin, author of A Peace to End All Peace

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Winston S. Churchill World Crisis Collection

The World Crisis: 1911–1914

The second volume in Churchill’s “outstandingly readable history of the First World War” (David Fromkin, author of A Peace to End All Peace).

This second volume in Winston S. Churchill’s five-volume series The World Crisis, 1915 is by far the most personal—dealing frankly with Churchill’s failures as a military leader and his ultimately unsuccessful battle to break the European deadlock.

After the disastrous Gallipoli landings on the Dardanelles, Churchill served for several months as commander of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. During this time, he served on one of the most violent stretches of the front lines, making a total of thirty-six courageous expeditions into No Man’s Land.

In this chapter of his “remarkable” eyewitness account, Churchill provides an unflinching narrative of a particularly challenging time in World War I and in his own career—providing fascinating insight into the mental and psychological challenges faced by a major historical leader (Jon Meacham, bestselling author of Franklin and Winston).

The World Crisis: 1915

A volume in Churchill’s history of the First World War that is “essential reading, as fresh and compelling as ever” (Jon Meacham, bestselling author of Franklin and Winston).

This epic volume—third in a five-volume history of World War I from the eyewitness perspective of a highly-placed political insider—details Winston S. Churchill’s development of the Ten Year Rule, which gave the treasury unprecedented power over financial, foreign, and strategic policy for years to come. In March 1916, Churchill returned to England to speak once more in the House of Commons. Appointed first Minister of Munitions, then later Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Air, Churchill was in a prime position to observe and document the violent end of World War I.

This volume gives context for the events that came before Churchill’s return, including the intense battles of Jutland and Verdun. And it provides a rare perspective in the unbiased observances of a political leader with a journalist’s eye for the truth and a historian’s sense of significance—qualities which helped earn him a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953.

The World Crisis: 1916–1918

The aftermath of World War I is explored in the fourth volume of Winston Churchill’s “remarkable” eyewitness account of history (Jon Meacham, bestselling author of Franklin and Winston).
 
 Once the war was over, the story didn’t end—not for Winston Churchill, and not for the West. The fourth volume of Churchill’s series, The World Crisis: The Aftermath documents the fallout of WWI—including the Irish Treaty and the peace conferences between Greece and Turkey.
 
 The period immediately after World War I was extremely chaotic—and it takes a genius of narrative description and organization to accurately and accessibly describe it for us. Churchill, who went on to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature, depicts the international disorganization and anarchy in the period immediately after the war—with the unique perspective of both a historian and a political insider.
 
 “Whether as a statesman or an author, Churchill was a giant; and The World Crisis towers over most other books about the Great War.” —David Fromkin, author of A Peace to End All Peace

The World Crisis: The Aftermath

The conclusion of the great statesman’s epic five-volume history of World War I.

The fifth and final volume of Winston Churchill’s “remarkable” series, The World Crisis: The Eastern Front tells a gritty, true-to-life account of the combat in eastern Europe—written by someone whose decisions had a profound impact on the success of war efforts both in the East and in the West (Jon Meacham).

While the battle for modern civilization was being fought on the Western Front during World War I, an equally important war—with equally high stakes—was being fought on the Eastern Front, between Russia, Germany, and Germany’s Austrian allies.

It’s rare that a historical account of World War I documents in as much detail the events of the Eastern Front as those of the West. Churchill’s account was one of the first to do so, telling the story of an armed conflict that was shockingly dissimilar from its counterpart in the West.

“Whether as a statesman or an author, Churchill was a giant; and The World Crisis towers over most other books about the Great War. ” —David Fromkin, author of A Peace to End All Peace