Nick Lloyd – författare

** The latest volume in the World War One trilogy, The Eastern Front, is out now **A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARA TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR'A tour de force of scholarship, analysis and narration . . . Lloyd is well on the way to writing a definitive history of the First World War' Lawrence James, The Times'This well-researched, well-written and cogently argued new analysis . . . will undoubtedly now take its rightful place as the standard account of this vital theatre of the conflict' Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny_________________In the annals of military history, the Western Front stands as an enduring symbol of the folly and futility of war.However, as bestselling military historian Nick Lloyd reveals in this highly-praised history - the first of an epic trilogy -- the story is not one of pointlessness and stupidity, but rather a heroic triumph against the odds. With a cast of hundreds and a huge canvas of places and events, Lloyd tells the whole tale, revealing what happened in France and Belgium between August 1914 and November 1918 from the perspective of all the main combatants - including French, British, Belgian, US and, most importantly, German forces.Lloyd examines the most decisive campaigns of the Great War and explains the unprecedented innovation, adaptation and tactical development that have been too long obscured by legends of mud, blood and futility, drawing upon the latest scholarship on the war, wrongly overlooked first-person accounts, and archival material from every angle. Conveying the visceral assault of the battlefield with vivid detail, Lloyd ultimately redefines our understanding of a crucial theatre in this monumental tragedy._________________'Excellent on detail . . . Lloyd's book will be cherished by military history buffs' Max Hastings, Sunday Times'It is the best modern single-volume history of war on the Western Front and is likely to remain the standard account for some time' Jonathan Boff, The Spectator

'The First World War from a refreshingly unfamiliar angle . . . masterly' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times 'Compelling . . . The Eastern Front is essential reading' Margaret Macmillan, Financial Times‘A masterwork . . . This is the history of the Eastern Front I’ve waited all my life to read’ Simon Sebag MontefioreThe definitive history of the Eastern Front in the First World War, from the acclaimed military historian and author of Passchendaele and The Western Front***********In the second volume of his landmark First World War trilogy, Professor Nick Lloyd tells the story for the first time of what Winston Churchill once called the 'unknown war': the vast conflict in Eastern Europe and the Balkans that brought about the collapse of three empires.Much has been written about the fighting in France and Belgium, yet the Eastern Front was no less bloody. Between 1914 and 1917, huge numbers of people - perhaps as many as 16 million soldiers and two million civilians - were killed, wounded or maimed in enormous battles that sometimes ranged across a front of 100 km in length. Through intimate eyewitness reports, diary entries and memoirs - many of which have never been translated into English before - Lloyd reconstructs the full story of a war that began in the Balkans as a local struggle between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and which sucked in Russia, Germany and Italy, right through to the final collapse of the Habsburg Empire in 1918.The Eastern Front paints a vivid and authoritative picture of a conflict that shook the world, and that remains central to understanding the tragic, blood-soaked trajectory of the twentieth century, and the current war in Ukraine.

An unmissable book that explores the brutal, heroic and extraordinary final days of the First World WarOn the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in November 1918, the guns of the Western Front fell silent.The Armistice, which brought the Great War to an end, marked a seminal moment in modern European and World history. Yet the story of how the war ended remains little-known. In this compelling and ground-breaking new study, Nick Lloyd examines the last days of the war and asks the question: how did it end? Beginning at the heralded turning-point on the Marne in July 1918, Hundred Days traces the epic story of the next four months, which included some of the bloodiest battles of the war.Using unpublished archive material from five countries, this new account reveals how the Allies - British, French, American and Commonwealth - managed to beat the German Army, by now crippled by indiscipline and ravaged by influenza, and force her leaders to seek peace.THE WESTERN FRONT BY NICK LLOYD IS AVAILABLE NOW'This is a powerful and moving book by a rising military historian. Lloyd's depiction of the great battles of July-November provides compelling evidence of the scale of the Allies' victories and the bitter reality of German defeat' Gary Sheffield (Professor of War Studies)'Lloyd enters the upper tier of Great War historians with this admirable account of the war's final campaign' Publishers Weekly

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLER'A timely re-appraisal . . . a masterpiece' General Lord Richard DannattThe Third Battle of Ypres was a 'lost victory' for the British Army in 1917. Between July and November 1917, in a small corner of Belgium, more than 500,000 men were killed or maimed, gassed or drowned - and many of the bodies were never found. The Ypres offensive represents the modern impression of the First World War: splintered trees, water-filled craters, muddy shell-holes.The climax was one of the worst battles of both world wars: Passchendaele. The village fell eventually, only for the whole offensive to be called off. But, as Nick Lloyd shows, notably through previously overlooked German archive material, it is striking how close the British came to forcing the German Army to make a major retreat in Belgium in October 1917. Far from being a pointless and futile waste of men, the battle was a startling illustration of how effective British tactics and operations had become by 1917 and put the Allies nearer to a major turning point in the war than we have ever imagined.Published for the 100th anniversary of this major conflict, Passchendaele is the most compelling and comprehensive account ever written of the climax of trench warfare on the Western Front.

In little over three weeks of intensive fighting, which not only witnessed the first British use of poison gas, but also the debut of New Army divisions filled with citizen volunteers, British forces at Loos managed to drive up to two miles into the German positions. However, they were unable to capitalise on their initial gains. After suffering nearly 60,000 casualties (three times the number suffered by their opponents) and being driven from the German lines in disorder, bitter recrimination followed. Nick Lloyd presents a reassessment of the Battle of Loos, arguing that it was vital to the development of new strategies and tactics. He places it within its political and strategic context, as well as discusses command and control and the tactical realities of war on the Western Front during 1915.

The Western Front remains one of the most iconic, horrifying and controversial aspects of the First World War. This Cambridge Companion is a timely guide to the current state of research into this decisive theatre. Nick Lloyd brings together leading scholars to offer cutting-edge historical surveys combined with provocative and challenging new interpretations. They provide a comprehensive history of the Western Front, from war-planning and mobilisation in 1914, the emergence of a 'modern style' of warfare between 1914 and 1918, the role of coalitions and alliances, morale and the experience of colonial soldiers to the relationship between generals and domestic political leaders, the landscape of battle and the front's subsequent commemoration, remembrance and cultural afterlife. Together, these contributions highlight the seismic and enduring impact of a crucial moment in European history and demonstrate why it continues to attract interest, horror, fascination and debate over a hundred years later.

The Western Front remains one of the most iconic, horrifying and controversial aspects of the First World War. This Cambridge Companion is a timely guide to the current state of research into this decisive theatre. Nick Lloyd brings together leading scholars to offer cutting-edge historical surveys combined with provocative and challenging new interpretations. They provide a comprehensive history of the Western Front, from war-planning and mobilisation in 1914, the emergence of a 'modern style' of warfare between 1914 and 1918, the role of coalitions and alliances, morale and the experience of colonial soldiers to the relationship between generals and domestic political leaders, the landscape of battle and the front's subsequent commemoration, remembrance and cultural afterlife. Together, these contributions highlight the seismic and enduring impact of a crucial moment in European history and demonstrate why it continues to attract interest, horror, fascination and debate over a hundred years later.

A revelatory journey into the Spanish Civil War's physical and visual legacies, investigating how conflict is memorialised, and obscured, today.Fifty years after Franco's death, and almost ninety since the Civil War began, the scars of violence still run deep in Spain. Nick Lloyd traces this legacy through a series of road trips. Travelling through Catalonia and Aragón, among the last Republican strongholds, he visits battle sites, museums, memorials and more. Speaking with historians, local guides and descendants of International Brigaders, he discovers how places and objects offer clues to a painful past. A Barcelona plaque, metres from the author's home, commemorates the birthplace of Francesc Boix, a photographer whose short but eventful life took him from the Catalan front to the Nuremberg witness box. In Huesca, a dogged journalist builds monuments to his city's wartime resistance, while the preserved ruins of Belchite mark the devastation of fierce street fighting. A journey across the Franco-Spanish border follows the footsteps of the anti-fascist refugees later incarcerated in French concentration camps.As debates over 'historical memory' highlight enduring political rifts, Lloyd powerfully chronicles how war is remembered--or not--in Spain and beyond.