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This anthology moves away from the decisive Western Front to dwell upon the ramifications of the war on outlying, but not necessarily peripheral areas of the globe. These essays range from Europe, the Indian subcontinent and Japan, through the Pacific Islands, North and sub-Saharan Africa to the Caribbean.

Just one example in West Africa details how the French focused on recruiting cannon fodder for the Western Front and controlled popular unrest. African citizens of the four communes of Senegal elected a representative to the National Assembly and served in the French metropolitan army and received French pay and allowances; other colonial subjects were conscripted into the Tirailleurs Senegalais at lower pay and allowances.

The World War One service of many colonial troops led to demands for self-rule, but for most that dream would not be fulfilled until after the Second World War.

Dennis Showalter praised the book in his review: “What makes the discrete chapters fit together is their high individual quality…and the author’s success in presenting case studies and niche studies in a genuinely global context. The result is a major contribution….”

Len Shurtleff, former president of WW1HA