One hundred thousand New Zealanders sailed to war between 1914 and 1918, and at the end of four years of conflict the country had suffered 60,000 casualties, including 18,000 dead. Dr Chris Pugsley's account of the First World War (first published as a section in Scars on the Heart: 200 Years of NZ at War, Bateman, 1996), is a tale of learning about war the hard way, by bitter and costly experience, drawing on photographs, letters and diaries to examine the impact of war through the eyes of those involved. This lively mix of text, photographs and soldiers' own accounts covers all aspects of the war: from NZ's seizing German Samoa five days after war was declared, ANZAC Cove and Gallipoli, patriotism at home, Mounted Rifles in Sinai and Palestine, the role of our nurses, the Western Front, and 'Sea Dogs and Flying Aces' - how our sailors and airmen fought the war.

Author Biography

DR CHRISTOPHER PUGSLEY is an acclaimed New Zealand military historian and former Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. His books include Gallipoli The New Zealand Story, On the Fringe of Hell, Te Hokowhitu A Tu, and The ANZAC Experience. He is a Vice-President of the Western Front Association.