
Fatal Fortnight
Duncan Marlor(Author)
Frontline Books (Publisher)
Published on 1. September 2014
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-4738-2286-3 (ISBN)
Description
Much has been published about how Britain's ruling circle came to its decision for war in 1914 but little about what rank and file Members of Parliament thought and did as the continental 'Armageddon' drew closer. Fatal Fortnight tells the story of Arthur Ponsonby, and his backbench Liberal Foreign Affairs Committee. The book describes the suspense around Parliament as the skies darkened. It tells how, after the Foreign Secretary made his proposal that Britain should go in, Ponsonby's friend Philip Morrell stood up and called for a general debate, in the teeth of the fury of those wanted Britain to get straight into the war. It describes how the neutralists, led by Ponsonby, made their passionate case in the fateful hours as Britain hung between peace and war. The book looks at the concealment from Parliament of the military understanding with France, and the issues of war and democracy which are still with us today. It re-examines the arguments and reflects on how the world might have been had the 1914 decision gone a different way. Alongside the political drama a human story emerges of how family support for Ponsonby and his allies sustained them as the world closed in.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Barnsley
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Illustrations
16pp of plates
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-4738-2286-3 (9781473822863)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
06/2014
Frontline Books
€21.99
Available for download

Person
DUNCAN MARLOR has spent more than a decade researching the British parliament, the Great War and the life and career of Arthur Ponsonby. He has also edited an edition of his late mother's diaries, These Wonderful Rumours! The book was the Mail on Sunday's 'Book of the Week'.