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"THE TIMES" HISTORY OF THE WAR has been framed with the object of producing an account of the great contest now in progress, which shall be at once popular and authoritative. While striving to be popular in the best sense of the word, and endeavouring to discuss the political factors which have led up to the crisis and the military operations of the war, in a manner which will prove useful to those who have not hitherto followed European policy with any very close attention, this history will also aim at securing a genuine position as a work of reference. It will
be an account written by men of great experience in political, military, and naval matters, and will contain a great deal of first-hand material which will be really valuable to historians of the future.
Readers of The Times will not need to be told that it possesses unique facilities for supplying a narrative of the kind here indicated. The Times staff of foreign correspondents has for years been celebrated for the knowledge and insight into political and social conditions which its members possess. Their efforts have combined to make the foreign pages of The Times the most accurate review of current foreign affairs published in any paper in the world. Equally well-known are the military and naval correspondents of The Times, who are, by universal consent, amongst the most brilliant exponents of their respective subjects. The services of the special staff of war correspondents now acting for The Times in the theatre of Mar will be available for this history. Many of their graphic and moving descriptions of events in Belgium, and along the Franco-Belgian frontier, have already appeared in The Times. The best of these descriptions of eye-witnesses of the actual scenes of battle will be employed m this woric. As they are the copyright of The Times it is scarcely' necessary to state that they cannot be used elsewhere. A word should also be said about the maps which will appear in the present work. They will, for the most part, be reproduced from those appearing in the pages of The Times, but in some cases special maps will be prepared for particular purposes. They are in all cases specially designed to illustrate the immediate points under review at the moment, and very special pains have been taken to secure their accuracy in every particular. It is, for obvious reasons, impossible that a history of contemporary events, many of the most important of which are shrouded in the fog of war, can lay claim to the fullness of information, and consequently the stability of judgment, which are within reach of an historian writing many years after the events have taken place. But it will be the endeavour of the composers of this history to approximate as nearly as may be to the historical standard attainable in ordinary circumstances, and so far as the conditions allow to present a faithful record of the progress of the struggle which is the subject of their narrative. The history of this War will not consist merely of a resume of matter which has appeared in The Times, but will draw upon other sources as well, with the object of laying before the public the most accurate and complete account of the War that will for a long time be available. In order to attain this result The Times, in addition to its own staff, has succeeded in obtaining the services of writers well versed in Military and Naval affairs and in foreign political matters not always sufficiently comprehended in this country. The general supervision and arrangement of the volumes is in the charge of the Editor of the various special supplements which, whether dealing with individual countries or with great industries, have been recognized all over the world for their authority and completeness. August, 1914. |
