The World Wars: firepower and fascism at home and abroad

The World Wars: firepower and fascism at home and abroad is a thematic series contained as a sub-set within the digitized archival content known as British Online Archives (BOA), distributed by Microform Academic Publishers (MAP).  This series includes the following collections:

• Asia at war, World War 2 as described by USPG Missionaries, 1914-1946

This collection provides access to 7 volumes and 823 pages covering the Society for The Propagation of the Gospel missionaries in Asia during World War 2.  MAP reports, that "this collection is derived from the 'X Series' records of the USPG which are held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford."

For details about this database, click here to go to this collection's CRL Review.

• British officers' diaries from World War 1, 1914-1919

This collection provides access to 13,041 pages in 5 volumes of diaries from soldiers during The First World War.  According to MAP, "The diaries reveal what life was like for the average British soldier in the Battle of the Somme and later battles of Ypres. The battles of Loos, Arras, Vimy Ridge, and Bethune are also covered. The letters home will have been censored by the army, how much was removed depended on the censor. Tactical information and details of military training often remain as the main concern was morale. Soldiers' diaries are divided by rank. The 'others' diaries are from a chaplain and a civilian in occupied France."

For details about this database, click here to go to this collection's CRL Review.

• The British Union of Fascists: newspapers and secret files, 1933-1951

This collection provides access to 13,847 pages of newspapers and files from the British Union of Fascistis.  According to MAP, "These papers cover the growth of the British Union of Fascists and the impact of World War 2 upon them. The documents include both their official publications and the imprisonment of their leader Oswald Mosley. The pre-war fascist newspapers include Fascist week, The Blackshirt and The East London Pioneer. Action was published from February 1936 until June 1940, by which point a growing number of the BUF were interned. Sir Oswald and Lady Diane Mosley’s imprisonment caused much debate. These papers include government records of why they were arrested and Oswald Mosley’s time in prison. Other items include official intelligence reports upon both Mosleys."

For details about this database, click here to go to this collection's CRL Review.

• Conscientious Objection during the First World War

This collection provides access to 6,888 pages of papers written by Britain's peace campaigners during World War I.  According to MAP: "Three of these anti-war protest groups included the Conscientious Objector Information Bureau, the Union of Democratic Control, and the No-Conscription Fellowship. The collection includes complete files of key anti-war publications. It also contains rare reports from the Conscientious Objector Information Bureau. The internal papers include minutes from the Union of Democratic Control and letters from the No-Conscription Fellowship. The Fellowship’s most prominent figure, Clifford Allen, wrote a number of these items. Local Fellowship branches in Willesden, Middlesex and in Hyde, Greater Manchester are also covered. The Conscientious Objector, Thomas Henry Ellison, spent much of his time between 1916 and April 1919 in prison. His scrapbook covers both his own experiences and of the experience of the anti-war movement as a whole."

For details about this database, click here to go to this collection's CRL Review.

• Hitler's Army, Nazi Germany at war and the Nuremburg trials, 1925-1956

This collection provides access to 18 volumes of David Irving's private research collection.  MAP states: "David Irving is a British historian of World War II. He achieved notoriety when he was accused of Holocaust denial, particularly after 1996, following the unsuccessful attempt to clear his name of the charge. The documents in this collection comprise both Irving's personal notes and a significant proportion of the copies of original documents that he used, enabling researchers to draw their own conclusions on two levels: historical and historiographic. First, what does the material tell us about the conduct of the War? Second, to what extent do these documents, combined with other archives known to be accessible at the time Irving wrote Hitler's war, Gšring and other works, betray a manipulation of the available evidence in order to achieve the objective of which this historian stood accused."

For details about this database, click here to go to this collection's CRL Review.

• Life under Nazi rule, reports by anti-fascists in occupied Europe, 1933-1945

This collection provides access to 2 volumes of Anti-fascist publications of the International Transport Worker's Federation, 1933-1945. MAP states: "These two newsletters published fortnightly by the ITF (i.e. Internationale Transportarbeiter Foederation) between 1933 and 1945. Based on analyses of other newspapers of the day, the editorial policy was to give information about social policy as well as reports from cadres working under cover. In this way it provides a unique insight into life under fascist regimes, focusing in particular on the working-class movement, organised labour and the growth of trade unions. In fact, it seems from the volume numeration introduced in 1936, that the editors came to view the two newsletters as as one, but with a title change, as hinted at on p.1 of the first issue of Fascism: It is more than a year ago since the first number of 'Germany under the Swastika' appeared, a publication in which we tried to show in a matter-of-fact manner the great contrasts between the promises and the deeds of the Hitler regime in Germany. There has been ample evidence that this publication was keenly appreciated both by the unions affiliated to the I.T.F. and far beyond on account of its contents, tendency and reliability. "That 'Germany under the Swastika' is to appear no more is not because there was no need for it. The opposite is the case unfortunately. Since its first appearance the number of countries where Fascism has risen to power, and then robbed the working classes of their rights and liberties, has increased by three, while in other countries Fascist influence has grown considerably."

For details about this database, click here to go to this collection's CRL Review.

• Military intelligence files: Land, Sea & Air, 1938-1974

This collection provides access to 73,344 pages in 12 volumes.  It includes intelligence summaries from the British Army, Navy and RAF.  According to MAP, "World War Two and the Cold War feature heavily in these files. The reports relating to World War Two cover different subjects and countries, depending on which service they came from. Army reports cover Italy, as well as the second Sino-Japanese War. The Navy would focus more on Russia, as well as merchant shipping. The Air Force covered Japan, morale in Germany and Japan, and dropping propaganda on the enemy. All of the armed forces monitored Germany. During the Cold War, spying on Russian weapons and diplomacy with the enemy became more common. Britain's colonies would feature in more reports before the Cold War than during it, unless they displayed signs of Communist activity."

For details about this database, click here to go to this collection's CRL Review.

• Military tactics discussed in letters to and from military leaders, 1881-1935

This collection provides access to 6,190 pages in 9 volumes.  According to MAP this collection consists of: "The collected papers and correspondence of the military historian and correspondent, Professor Henry Spenser Wilkinson (1853-1937). They include correspondence with Lord Roberts, General Sir lan Hamilton, Prime Minister Asquith, Lord Kitchener and Field Marshal Sir William Robertson on the course of the First World War; articles and lectures on defence problems and the South African, Balkan wars as well as the Great War; discussion and comment on reorganisation of the Board of Admiralty and on the campaigns and theories of Marlborough, Napoleon, Moltke and Bismarck. The material is prefaced by a detailed contents list, in which correspondent and nature of correspondence are indicated. The papers are now held at the National Army Museum, London."

For details about this database, click here to go to this collection's CRL Review.

• World War 1 and the Spanish Civil War: as reported by an Ambassador, 1863-1939

This collection provides access to 37,288 pages in 8 volumes of Papers of Sir Esme Howard, 1863-1939.  According to MAP, "Esme Howard was one of the greatest British diplomatists in the first half of the twentieth century. A member of the famous Howard family that had played a notable role in British history, Howard's career is significant for its breadth and impact... Accompanied by a guide to the online version by Erik Goldstein, Professor of International Relations and History, Boston University."

For details about this database, click here to go to this collection's CRL Review.