| Description |
1 online resource |
| Contents |
Cover; MARGOT ASQUITH'S GREAT WAR DIARY 1914-1916: THE VIEW FROM DOWNING STREET; Copyright; Dedication; PREFACE; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; CONTENTS; LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS; EDITORIAL NOTE; The writing of the Diary; ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE TEXT AND NOTES; ABBREVIATIONS OF NAMES USED IN THE TEXT AND NOTES; INTRODUCTION; 1. Margot Asquith née Tennant; 2. Margot and Henry; 3. 10 Downing Street: 'the wish of my life and the ambition of his'; 4. Naval and military planning: 'little navy-idiots' and 'little Englanders'; 5. The advent of war: 'we cannot be more Belgian than the Belgians' |
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6. The only possible Prime Minister: 'Henry knocks all the others into a cocked hat'7. The Asquiths in wartime; 8. Coalition: 'If things go wrong, we shall be flayed'; 9. Conscription: '. . . would be Insanity'; 10. Resignation: 'Some radical change must be made'; PART I: 24 JULY-7 AUGUST 1914; Friday 24 July 1914; Wednesday 29 July 1914; Friday 31 July 1914; Saturday 1 August 1914; Saturday 15 August 1914; Sunday 2 August 1914; Tuesday 4 August 1914; Thursday 6 August 1914; Friday 7 August 1914; PART II: 10 AUGUST- 21 DECEMBER 1914; Monday 10 August 1914; Tuesday 11 August 1914 |
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Wednesday 19 August 1914Sunday 23 August 1914; Monday 24 August 1914; Thursday 27 August 1914; Friday 28 August 1914; Sunday 30-Monday 31 August 1914; Thursday 3 September 1914; Friday 4 September 1914-Hackwood4; Saturday 5 September 1914; Monday 7 September 1914; September 1914; Friday 18 September 1914-Edinburgh; Sunday 20 September 1914; Monday 26 October 1914; Sunday 25 October 1914; [Monday 26 October 1914]; Tuesday 27 October 1914; Wednesday 28 October 1914; Sunday 1 November 1914; Saturday 7 November 1914; November 1914; Thursday 19 November 1914; Thursday 26 November 1914 |
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November 1914Tuesday 1 December 1914; Monday 7 December 1914; Thursday 3 December 1914; Tuesday 8 December 1914; Thursday 10 December 1914; Saturday 12 December 1914-Belgium1; Sunday 13 December 1914-Merville; Monday 21 December 1914; PART III: JANUARY-13 APRIL 1915; New Year, January 1915; Thursday 7 January 1915; Sunday 10 January 1915; Friday 22 January 1915; Saturday 23 January 1915; Thursday 2 February 1915; Monday 8 February 1915; Thursday 18 February 1915; Wednesday 17 February 1915; Saturday 20 February 1915; Monday 1 March 1915; Wednesday 24 February 1915; Thursday 25 February 1915 |
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Sunday 7 March 1915-Walmer CastleTuesday 23 March 1915; Thursday 1 April 1915; April 1915-Windsor; Tuesday 13 April 1915-Windsor; PART IV: 17 APRIL-19 MAY 1915; Saturday 17 April 1915; Wednesday 21 April 1915; Monday 3 May 1915; Saturday 8 May 1915; Wednesday 12 May 1915; Thursday 13 May 1915; Saturday 15 May 1915-The Wharf; Sunday 16 May 1915-The Wharf, Sutton Courtney; Monday 17 May 1915; Tuesday 18 May 1915; Wednesday 19 May 1915; PART V: 20 MAY-3 AUGUST 1915; Thursday 20 May 1915; Friday 21 May 1915; Whit Sunday 23 May 1915-The Wharf; Monday 24 May 1915; Tuesday 25 May 1915; May 1915 |
| Summary |
Margot Asquith was the wife of Herbert Henry Asquith, the Liberal Prime Minister who led Britain into war in August 1914. Asquith's early war leadership drew praise from all quarters, but in December 1916 he was forced from office in a palace coup, and replaced by Lloyd George, whose career he had done so much to promote. Margot had both the literary gifts and the vantage point to create, in her diary of these years, a compelling record of her husband's fall from grace. She once described herself as 'a sort of political clairvoyant', but she did not anticipate the premier's fall, and it is for her candour, not her clairvoyance, that the diary is valuable. Margot was both a spectator of, and a participant in, the events that she describes, and in public affairs could be an ally or an embarrassment - sometimes both. Her diary evokes the wartime milieu, as experienced in 10 Downing Street, and describes the great political battles that lay behind the warfare on the Western Front. Her writing teems with character sketches, including those of Lloyd George ('a natural adventurer who may make or mar himself any day'), Churchill ('Winston's vanity is septic'), and Kitchener ('a man brutal by nature and by pose'). Witty and worldly, Margot also possessed a childlike vulnerability: 'This is the 84th day of the war' she wrote in October 1914, 'and speaking for myself I have never felt the same person since. I don't mean to say I have improved! On the contrary ... '. This volume brings together a wealth of previously-unpublished source material with an introductory essay from Michael and Eleanor Brock, two of the leading authorities in the field. This will be vital reading for anyone with an interest in the history of World War I or in British politics of the time |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Asquith, Margot, 1864-1945 -- Diaries
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| SUBJECT |
Asquith, Margot, 1864-1945 fast |
| Subject |
World War, 1914-1918 -- Great Britain.
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HISTORY -- Europe -- Western.
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Politics and government
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| SUBJECT |
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1910-1936. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85056918
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| Subject |
Great Britain
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| Genre/Form |
Diaries
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
Brock, M. G. (Michael G.), editor.
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Brock, Eleanor, editor.
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| LC no. |
2013953437 |
| ISBN |
9780191009396 |
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0191009393 |
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