Background
Trevor Wilson was born on December 24, 1928, in Auckland, New Zealand. He is the son of Gordon and Winifred (Banyard) Wilson.
(Reexamines Britain's role in World War I, recounts the ex...)
Reexamines Britain's role in World War I, recounts the experiences of British soldiers and officers, and discusses the strategies of the war.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/074560093X/?tag=2022091-20
1986
(This is a history of World War I, seen through the eyes o...)
This is a history of World War I, seen through the eyes of Sir Henry Rawlinson, a middle-ranking commander who frequently acted under General Haig. By examining Rawlinson's role in the War, the authors are able to follow the actual events of the battlefield and show how they related to the strategies of the High Command. Rawlinson kept a diary in which he recorded his views on tactics and the day-to-day events of the conflict. The authors use the content of the diary as the basis of detailed discussions on night attacks, poison gas, the introduction of the tank, hurricane bombardment and creeping barrages. Command on the Western Front is not a biography, nor is it psychohistory. Rather, it uses Rawlinson as a lens through which to study the tactics of the time - tactics that usually proved woefully inadequate in dealing with the defensive positions that characterized industrial warfare.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1844151034/?tag=2022091-20
1992
(World War I created the modern world. By ushering in mode...)
World War I created the modern world. By ushering in modern techniques of warfare and redrawing the boundaries of Europe, the war forever changed how wars would be fought and how politics would be conducted. In this concise and authoritative history packed with photographs and specially commissioned battle maps, historians Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson bring back to life this worldwide conflict, its horrific toll, and its significant consequences.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1588341909/?tag=2022091-20
1998
(Published in a new edition on the centenary of the seismi...)
Published in a new edition on the centenary of the seismic battle, this book provides the definitive account of the Somme and assigns responsibility to military and political leaders for its catastrophic outcome. “A magisterial piece of scholarship. . . . It is a model of historical research and should do much to further our understanding of the Great War and how it was fought.”—Contemporary Review “Revisionist history at its best.”—Library Journal (starred review) “A major addition to the literature on the military history of the Great War.”—Jay Winter Published in a new edition on the centenary of the seismic battle, this book provides the definitive account of the Somme and assigns responsibility to military and political leaders for its catastrophic outcome. “A magisterial piece of scholarship. . . . It is a model of historical research and should do much to further our understanding of the Great War and how it was fought.”—Contemporary Review “Revisionist history at its best.”—Library Journal (starred review) “A major addition to the literature on the military history of the Great War.”—Jay Winter
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300220286/?tag=2022091-20
2016
(No conflict of the Great War excites stronger emotions th...)
No conflict of the Great War excites stronger emotions than the war in Flanders in the autumn of 1917, and no name better encapsulates the horror and apparent futility of the Western Front than Passchendaele. By its end there had been 275,000 Allied and 200,000 German casualties. Yet the territorial gains made by the Allies in four desperate months were won back by Germany in only three days the following March. The devastation at Passchendaele, the authors argue, was neither inevitable nor inescapable; perhaps it was not necessary at all. Using a substantial archive of official and private records, much of which has never been previously consulted, Trevor Wilson and Robin Prior provide the fullest account of the campaign ever published. The book examines the political dimension at a level which has hitherto been absent from accounts of "Third Ypres." It establishes what did occur, the options for alternative action, and the fundamental responsibility for the carnage. Prior and Wilson consider the shifting ambitions and stratagems of the high command, examine the logistics of war, and assess what the available manpower, weaponry, technology, and intelligence could realistically have hoped to achieve. And, most powerfully of all, they explore the experience of the soldiers in the light—whether they knew it or not—of what would never be accomplished. No conflict of the Great War excites stronger emotions than the war in Flanders in the autumn of 1917, and no name better encapsulates the horror and apparent futility of the Western Front than Passchendaele. By its end there had been 275,000 Allied and 200,000 German casualties. Yet the territorial gains made by the Allies in four desperate months were won back by Germany in only three days the following March. The devastation at Passchendaele, the authors argue, was neither inevitable nor inescapable; perhaps it was not necessary at all. Using a substantial archive of official and private records, much of which has never been previously consulted, Trevor Wilson and Robin Prior provide the fullest account of the campaign ever published. The book examines the political dimension at a level which has hitherto been absent from accounts of "Third Ypres." It establishes what did occur, the options for alternative action, and the fundamental responsibility for the carnage. Prior and Wilson consider the shifting ambitions and stratagems of the high command, examine the logistics of war, and assess what the available manpower, weaponry, technology, and intelligence could realistically have hoped to achieve. And, most powerfully of all, they explore the experience of the soldiers in the light—whether they knew it or not—of what would never be accomplished.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300221215/?tag=2022091-20
2016
Trevor Wilson was born on December 24, 1928, in Auckland, New Zealand. He is the son of Gordon and Winifred (Banyard) Wilson.
Wilson graduated from Auckland University with a Master of Arts degree in 1952. He then obtained his doctorate from Oxford University in 1959.
Wilson dedicated the greatest part of his career to teaching at the University of Adelaide. He started working there in 1968 as a lecturer, rising to professor of history and chairman of the department of history. During that period he also started his career as a writer, concentrating in particular on the First World War.
Since his retirement, Wilson holds the position of emeritus professor at the university and continues working as a freelance writer.
(Published in a new edition on the centenary of the seismi...)
2016(No conflict of the Great War excites stronger emotions th...)
2016(This is a history of World War I, seen through the eyes o...)
1992(Reexamines Britain's role in World War I, recounts the ex...)
1986(World War I created the modern world. By ushering in mode...)
1998Wilson is a member of the Royal History Society and Australian Academy of the Humanities.
Wilson married Mary Jane Verney on September 7, 1957. The couple has 2 children: Jennifer Lynn and Sara Jane.