Surveys the four thousand-year history of the Holy City and its religious, political, and cultural importance to Jews, Christians, and Moslems

Tangmere Airfield had a prominent role in the Air War from 1916 onwards and many local men joined the Royal Sussex Regiment. This book looks at how the experience of war impacted on the town, from the initial enthusiasm for sorting out the German Kaiser in time for Christmas 1914, to the gradual realization of the enormity of human sacrifice the families of Chichester were committed to as the war stretched out over the next four years. The Great War...

In 1914 Torquay was the crown jewel of the English Riviera, long the haunt of the rich and famous but this status was not to last. The Great War of 1914—1918 brought a shuddering end to this golden period in amongst the blood and mud of the Western Front as hundreds of Torquinians gave their lives in the fight against the Kaiser. This book documents the town's experience, both militarily and socially through the extensive use of previously unpublished...

Cambridge is one of the most famous universities in the world and its library is one of only five copyright libraries in the UK. At the start of the twentieth century it was a privileged life for some, but many in Cambridge knew that war was becoming truly inevitable. What the proverbial gown feared communicated itself to the surrounding town. Terrible rumours were rife, that the Germans would burn the university library and raise Kings College chapel...

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Leatherhead was alive with celebration. The Boer War had ended in May 1902, King Edward VIIs Coronation followed in August and the town blossomed into one of prosperous development. Things quickly changed when the war broke out in 1914, leaving the town papered with recruiting posters and swarming with soldiers. The upheaval was especially felt by the local families as they initially waved off over 400 Leatherhead...

Reading in the Great War 1917–1919 looks at life in an important industrial and agricultural town in the south of England. The book charts the changes that occurred in ordinary people's lives, some caused by the war, some of their own doing.On the surface, Reading was a calm town that got on with its business: beer, biscuits, metalwork, seeds and armaments, but its poverty impacted on industrial relations leading to strikes. It was also a God-fearing,...

Chatham played a very important part in the nation's Great War effort. It was one of the British Royal Navy's three 'Manning Ports', with more than a third of the town's ships manned by men allocated to the Chatham Division. The war was only 6 weeks old when Chatham felt the effects of war for the first time. On 22 September 1914, three Royal Naval vessels from the Chatham Division, HMS Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue, were sunk in quick succession by a...

Famed as the birthplace of modern industry and the first cast iron metal single span bridge, Ironbridge is venerated the world over yet its social history is at times unfamiliar.One hundred years ago this sleepy town, set by the river Severn, willingly volunteered its lifeblood to a war that everyone confidently believed would be a short-lived, adventurous romp. Misled by government propaganda, they soon discovered through fighting relative's letters...

Before the outbreak of the First World War, the Channel Islands were viewed as they are today; scenic, sunny and relaxing holiday destinations, where it was possible to briefly escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. As soon as the fighting began, the immediate worry was the threat of a German invasion to the Islands, which are much closer to the coast line of France than they are to the southern coast line of Great Britain. Both men and...