A01=M.J. Lewis
A01=Roger Lloyd-Jones
armaments
Armaments Firms
Armaments Output Committee
Author_M.J. Lewis
Author_Roger Lloyd-Jones
Battle Of The Somme
BEF
British Armaments Industry
British war economy
Category=NHD
Category=NHTK
Category=NHWR5
Dudley Docker
duty
economic mobilisation during First World War
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
excess
Excess Profits Duty
firms
george
industrial
Industrial Battlefield
Industrial War
industrial warfare
Joint Industrial Councils
large
Large Armaments Firms
lloyd
manpower allocation
military-industrial relations
Ministry of Munitions
Munitions Output
munitions production
Munitions Supply
National Projectile Factories
Naval Force
profits
Royal Ordnance Factories
Sir John French
Textile Machine Makers
Von Donop
Vulcan Foundry
War Cabinet
War Office
War Office Contracts
warfare
Western Front
Product details
- ISBN 9780754666134
- Weight: 960g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 22 Jun 2016
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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The First World War was above all a war of logistics. Whilst the conflict will forever be remembered for the mud and slaughter of the Western Front, it was a war won on the factory floor as much as the battlefield. Examining the war from an industrial perspective, Arming the Western Front examines how the British between 1900 and 1920 set about mobilising economic and human resources to meet the challenge of 'industrial war'. Beginning with an assessment of the run up to war, the book examines Edwardian business-state relations in terms of armament supply. It then outlines events during the first year of the war, taking a critical view of competing constructs of the war and considering how these influenced decision makers in both the private and public domains. This sets the framework for an examination of the response of business firms to the demand for 'shells more shells', and their varying ability to innovate and manage changing methods of production and organisation. The outcome, a central theme of the book, was a complex and evolving trade-off between the quantity and quality of munitions supply, an issue that became particularly acute during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. This deepened the economic and political tensions between the military, the Ministry of Munitions, and private engineering contractors as the pressure to increase output accelerated markedly in the search for victory on the western front. The Great War created a dual army, one in the field, the other at home producing munitions, and the final section of the book examines the tensions between the two as the country strove for final victory and faced the challenges of the transition to the peace time economy.
Dr Myrddin John Lewis and Professor Roger Lloyd-Jones teach at Sheffield Hallam University, UK.
