Western Front (1914-1918)
Subject
Subject Source: UK Archival Thesaurus
Found in 28 Collections and/or Records:
File
Literary: Articles: Daily Mail., Feb 1934 - Sep 1934
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 8/500
Scope and Contents
Annotated proofs and press cuttings of the following articles by WSC: "Clive of India" on the achievements of Robert Clive; "B-P" on 1st Lord Baden-Powell; "The Greatest Half-Hour in our History" on the Magna Carta; "This Year's Royal Academy is Exhilarating" on the 1934 exhibition; "Great Deeds that gave us the Empire" celebrating Empire Day; "How I would procure peace" on the futility of the current foreign policy and need to rearm; "August 4, 1914" on the beginning of the First World War...
Dates:
Feb 1934 - Sep 1934
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Literary: Correspondence concerning WSC's research for Volume 3 of "The World Crisis"., 20 Jan 1926 - 31 Oct 1926
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 8/203
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: 1st Lord Beatty, Admiral of the Fleet; James Headlam-Morley [Historical Advisor to the Foreign Office] (2); Kenneth Dewar of the Naval Staff Intelligence Division (5); 1st Lord D'Abernon [earlier Sir Edgar Vincent] (4) on statistics of German casualties (4); Lord Beaverbrook [earlier Sir Max Aitken] (3); Brigadier General James Edmonds of the Military Branch of the Historical Section (13); John Du Cane (3); Sir Maurice Hankey [Secretary to the Committee of Imperial...
Dates:
20 Jan 1926 - 31 Oct 1926
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Literary: Sunday Chronicle articles by WSC: 1 ("The World Crisis" series)., Oct 1939 - Nov 1939
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 8/651
Scope and Contents
Includes cuttings from the Chronicle for: "War - from inside the Admiralty" on experiencing naval action at the Admiralty during World War I, and a detailed description of the battle of the Dogger Bank; "U-boats - How the Navy Beat Them" on the morality of submarine warfare, the development of the Q-boat, the U-boat campaign against supply from the United States, and its consequence, the entry of the US into the war; "War on the Western Front" on casualties among the French, Germans and...
Dates:
Oct 1939 - Nov 1939
Conditions Governing Access:
Open.
File
Literary: Sunday Chronicle articles by WSC: 2 ("The World Crisis" series)., 03 Mar 1940 - 21 Apr 1940
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 8/675
Scope and Contents
Includes cuttings from the Chronicle for: "The Man Who Scared the U-Boats" on the convoy system for merchant shipping during World War I; "The German Army Myth" on the first battles on the Western Front; "The French" on the Battle of Verdun [France]; "The Blackest Day of the German Army" on the use of tanks at the Battles of Cambrai and Amiens [both France]; "The Valiant Heart of Man" on the bravery of those who fought in World War I; "Plan for Victory" on British naval strategy at the start...
Dates:
03 Mar 1940 - 21 Apr 1940
Conditions Governing Access:
Open.
File
Literary: Sunday Dispatch articles by WSC: 3., Dec 1939
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 8/649
Scope and Contents
Includes cuttings from the Sunday Dispatch for: "The Most Thrilling Days I Have Ever Lived" on his experiences as First Lord of the Admiralty, on board the Enchantress, visiting the British Naval Fleet, his threat to resign, and the decision to order the Fleet to its war stations; "With the Kaiser on Parade" on his experiences as Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, viewing the manoeuvres of the German Army in 1906, WSC's impressions of its strength, and his meeting with Young Turks in...
Dates:
Dec 1939
Conditions Governing Access:
Open.
File
Official: Cabinet: correspondence and notes on World War I., 17 Feb 1915 - 22 Oct 1915
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 21/37
Scope and Contents
Correspondence includes: [1st Lord] Emmott [First Commissioner of Works] on the fortification of Buckingham Palace against air attacks; Edward Marsh [Private Secretary to WSC]; David Lloyd George [Minister of Munitions] on negotiations between Sir Edward Grey [Foreign Secretary] and Bulgaria and Greece; Austen Chamberlain [Secretary of State for India] on rewards to India after the war; Herbert Asquith [later Lord Oxford and Asquith, Prime Minister]; [Lord] Curzon [of Kedleston, Lord Privy...
Dates:
17 Feb 1915 - 22 Oct 1915
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: Cabinet: Dardanelles Committee: C I D [Committee of Imperial Defence] "G" series: printed papers on World War I., 1915
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 21/47
Scope and Contents
Includes papers by various individuals on various subjects including: David Lloyd George [Minister of Munitions] on the military position and the conduct of the war; Arthur Balfour [First Lord of the Admiralty] on the limits of enlistment, the war; covering letters from Maurice Hankey [Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence]; the possibility of a combined naval and military attack at the Dardanelles; Hankey on policy after the Dardanelles, the winter campaign and meteorological conditions,...
Dates:
1915
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: Cabinet: Dardanelles Committee: miscellaneous papers., Sep 1915 - Nov 1915
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 21/45
Scope and Contents
Includes: notes by WSC on economic problems created by the war and the danger of bankruptcy, on recovering the initiative in the Eastern theatre, the possibility of the Germans using gas, on the options open to the British government for the Dardanelles expedition and on the reasons behind the expedition; notes on the Baghdad [Iraq] railway and its strategic importance; a letter from Arthur Balfour [First Lord of the Admiralty] on the situation in the East; David Lloyd George [Minister of...
Dates:
Sep 1915 - Nov 1915
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: Cabinet: Dardanelles Committee: war appreciations., 28 May 1915 - 13 Nov 1915
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 21/51
Scope and Contents
Printed papers on various operations including: the Dardanelles by Lord Kitchener [Secretary of State for War]; the situation in the Aegean; several assessments and forecasts of the situation on the Western Front and in the Balkans (by Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Murray, Chief of the Imperial General Staff), and in Syria and Mesopotamia [later Iraq]; the impact of the Dardanelles operation on the conduct of the war; the employment of an allied force in Macedonia [later North Macedonia]...
Dates:
28 May 1915 - 13 Nov 1915
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: Cabinet: printed papers., Mar 1914 - Aug 1914
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 21/36
Scope and Contents
Includes Cabinet papers on various subjects including: a proposed aircraft expedition to Somaliland [later Somalia]; the national insurance bill including measures to alleviate the problems of unemployment; the foreign enlistment bill; notes on the composition of British Expeditionary Force; correspondence between the Foreign Secretary [Sir Edward Grey] and various ambassadors regarding the European crisis and events leading up to the outbreak of World War I including the declaration of war...
Dates:
Mar 1914 - Aug 1914
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: Cabinet: printed papers on World War I., Aug 1914 - May 1915
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 21/38
Scope and Contents
Cabinet papers on various subjects by various individuals including: Field Marshal Sir John French [later 1st Lord Ypres, Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Forces in France] on the strengths and weaknesses of the British army on the Western Front and in the Eastern theatre; David Lloyd George [Minister of Munitions] on the conduct of the war, its treatment by the press and the shortage of munitions; [Lord] Kitchener [Secretary of State for War] on operations, forces, munitions and...
Dates:
Aug 1914 - May 1915
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: Cabinet: printed papers on World War I., Jun 1916
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 21/39
Scope and Contents
Cabinet papers by various individuals on various subjects including: WSC on the war situation including the Dardanelles; Walter Runciman [President of the Board of Trade] on food supplies to Germany and the effects on diminished exports; the effects of an air raid on London; national registration and military service; the supply of information to neutral countries; negotiations with the French; Sir William Max-Muller on the economic situation of Germany and Austria-Hungary; literary...
Dates:
Jun 1916
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: Cabinet: printed papers on World War I., Oct 1915 - Nov 1915
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 21/42
Scope and Contents
Printed papers by various individuals on various subjects including: the national register; [Lord] Kitchener [Secretary of State for War], [Lord] Curzon of Kedleston [Lord Privy Seal] and Lord Crewe [earlier Lord Houghton and Robert Milnes] Secretary of State for India] on recruitment to the army; WSC on Gallipoli and the Dardanelles; a neutral press committee; WSC on trench mortar guns; Sir William Max-Muller on the economic situation of Germany and Austria-Hungary; the Dardanelles...
Dates:
Oct 1915 - Nov 1915
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: Cabinet: War Policy Committee: correspondence and papers., Aug 1915 - Oct 1915
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 21/61
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Sir Reginald Brade [Secretary, War Office] on machine gun wastage; [Lord] Curzon [of Kedleston, Lord Privy Seal]; [3rd Lord] Selborne [earlier Lord Wolmer] on population calculations and compulsory military service (2); Major General Charles Callwell [Director of Military Operations at the War Office](4); Austen Chamberlain [Secretary of State for India]; Herbert Asquith [later Lord Oxford and Asquith, Prime Minister]; Robert Borden [Prime Minister of Canada] on the...
Dates:
Aug 1915 - Oct 1915
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: Committee of Imperial Defence: Military Aspects of the Continental Problem (1911): reprint., 13 Aug 1911 - Sep 1914
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 24/7
Scope and Contents
Includes: Theophile Delcasse [French Minister of Foreign Affairs] on WSC's foresight in his memorandum of 1911; a reprint of WSC's memorandum, Military Aspects of the Continental Problem, on the action to be taken by Britain in the event of Germany invading France.
Dates:
13 Aug 1911 - Sep 1914
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: War Cabinet: Correspondence., 18 Jan 1918 - 03 Oct 1918
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 27/32
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: David Lloyd George, Prime Minister, on munitions requirements for the Admiralty (1); Sir Eric Geddes [First Lord of the Admiralty] on munitions; Sir Auckland Geddes [Minister of National Service and Reconstruction] on a ministry of supply; and Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig [Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Forces in France and Flanders] (2).Also includes copy letters from WSC to the individuals mentioned above including 12 letters to Lloyd George about his...
Dates:
18 Jan 1918 - 03 Oct 1918
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: War Cabinet: various papers., 03 Jan 1918 - 18 Feb 1918
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 27/33
Scope and Contents
Papers by various individuals including: General Jan Smuts on the dissolution of the war organisation committee; [17th] Lord Derby [earlier Edward Stanley] Secretary of State for War, on gun ammunition and salvage; [1st ] Lord Rhondda [earlier David Thomas] Food Controller, recommending a National Salvage Board; Colonel [Lancelot] Storr on the extension of the British front in France; Rowland Prothero [later 1st Lord Ernle] President of the Board of Agriculture, Christopher Addison [Minister...
Dates:
03 Jan 1918 - 18 Feb 1918
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: War Cabinet: various papers., 07 May 1918 - 30 May 1918
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 27/37
Scope and Contents
Papers by various individuals on various subjects including: Sir Maurice Hankey, Secretary to the Imperial War Cabinet, on the extension of the British line in France; [Lieutenant-General George Bridges] British military representative in the United States, on the transportation of American troops; Sir William Weir, Secretary of State for Air, on the policy of the Air Ministry and the long-range bombing of Germany; Sir Auckland Geddes [Minister of National Service and Reconstruction] on the...
Dates:
07 May 1918 - 30 May 1918
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: War Council., 09 Aug 1914 - 31 Dec 1914
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 26/1
Scope and Contents
General Correspondence Correspondents include Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War, on Yeomanry Organisation, the possible use of Russian troops on the Western Front and at Gallipoli, and his visit to the British Expeditionary Force in France; General Sir John French, (later Lord Ypres) C. in C., British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front; Herbert Asquith (later Lord Oxford and Asquith), Prime Minister, giving permission for WSC to visit Dunkirk to look into Naval matters, but...
Dates:
09 Aug 1914 - 31 Dec 1914
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
File
Official: War Council., Jan 1915 - May 1915
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 26/2
Scope and Contents
General Correspondence.Correspondents include 1st Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War, (3) mainly on Russia; General Sir John French [later 1st Lord Ypres] (9), mainly on the Western Front; General Sir Ian Hamilton (8); on the Territorial Army; Major-General William Birdwood, the 2nd London Division and the Dardanelles; F E Smith [later 1st Lord Birkenhead] (2); Herbert Asquith [later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith], Prime Minister (2), on the War Council and the Dardanelles; David Lloyd...
Dates:
Jan 1915 - May 1915
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Series
Official: War Council, 1914-1915
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 26
Scope and Contents
The War Council was established in November 1914 to direct the overall conduct of the War. This class contains all of WSC's correspondence and papers relating to the discharge of this responsibility except those relating to the Admiralty and certain other specific bodies such as the Cabinet and its various committees. The two correspondence files (26/1 and 26/2) contain valuable correspondence with Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War and General Sir John French [later 1st Lord Ypres],...
Dates:
1914-1915
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
The Churchill Papers are made available to researchers using Churchill Archives Centre and worldwide in digital format. The digital edition of the Churchill Papers is published by Bloomsbury Academic and is available online to subscribing institutions at churchillarchive.com. The Churchill archive is freely available in our reading rooms and onsite at Churchill College (via the Churchill College wireless network). Researchers can download images of documents directly from churchillarchive.com and so are encouraged to consider bringing a laptop or other device for this purpose. For conservation reasons, the fragile originals are no longer issued to researchers.
This digital edition is open to researchers unless otherwise marked in the catalogue. Some material has been closed by the Cabinet Office or by Churchill Archives Centre in accordance with data protection legislation.
File
Public and Political: General: Private and Personal: Correspondence Ti - Tu., 11 Sep 1948 - 14 Mar 1960
File
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHUR 2/201
Scope and Contents
Correspondents include: Viorel Tilea on subjects including a neutral belt in Central Europe (5); John Tilney; Wolfgang von Tirpitz on his article on WSC, and German prisoners of war at Spandau [Germany] (3); Nawab Sir Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana (2); Kenneth Jamieson, Foreign Office, on the use of a Churchill trademark; Anthony Moir [Churchill's solicitor] on the trademark (10); Michael Wilford [Assistant Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary] on the trademark (5); Frederick Leishman...
Dates:
11 Sep 1948 - 14 Mar 1960
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Unknown
"The artillery at Passchendaele: (From Artillery Accounts)", [1926]
Unknown
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 8/190/2
Scope and Contents
Transcript account of conditions at the [3rd Battle of Ypres, Flanders, Belgium] and the effect of wet weather and terrible mud causing great difficulties moving artillery and supplies of ammunition and locating guns; the use of tin baths to keep men dry while asleep; attacks by enemy guns on British gunners by day and by night on roads and tracks. Concludes "It was put tersely by one artillery general that if the battle was continued there would be 'no artillery for the spring offensive'"....
Dates:
[1926]
Conditions Governing Access:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 11 Jan [1916]
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 1/118A/20-21
Scope and Contents
Letter from CSC to WSC, on the Conscription Crisis, the Prime Minister's method of dealing with opposition, and the possibility of publication of the Dardanelles Papers. Typescript transcript at CHAR 1/118B/23-25.
Dates:
11 Jan [1916]
Conditions Governing Access:
From the File:
Open
Item
(Untitled), 07 Jun 1920
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAR 2/110/35-36
Scope and Contents
Letter from [WSC] to 2nd Lord Esher [earlier Reginald Brett] arguing that the Antwerp expedition had an important effect on where the western front line was established and condemning the "criminal blindness" which prevented the naval and military authorities uniting to make the Dardanelles campaign a success. Argues that the assembly of any sort of army at all to meet Britain's post-war commitments was a notable achievement. Typescript copy.
Dates:
07 Jun 1920
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
The Churchill Papers are made available to researchers using Churchill Archives Centre and worldwide in digital format. The digital edition of the Churchill Papers is published by Bloomsbury Academic and is available online to subscribing institutions at churchillarchive.com. The Churchill archive is freely available in our reading rooms and onsite at Churchill College (via the Churchill College wireless network). Researchers can download images of documents directly from churchillarchive.com and so are encouraged to consider bringing a laptop or other device for this purpose. For conservation reasons, the fragile originals are no longer issued to researchers.
This digital edition is open to researchers unless otherwise marked in the catalogue. Some material has been closed by the Cabinet Office or by Churchill Archives Centre in accordance with data protection legislation.