ww1 | The British Newspaper Archive Blog - Part 2

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Historic headlines: Great Britain joins World War One on 4 August 1914

Following an ultimatum to withdraw German troops from Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914. Monday 4 August 2014 will mark the 100th anniversary of the start of Britain’s involvement in World War One. Front pages from the start of World War One The news that Britain had joined World War One featured prominently in many of the newspapers printed the following day.   Search newspapers from World War One   Here’s a selection of the newspaper

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The start of WW1: Austria-Hungary declares war

World War One officially started on 28 July 1914 when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. There are currently 25 newspapers from 28 July 1914 available to view online at The British Newspaper Archive. You’ll find clippings from some of these newspapers below, showing how the start of the war was reported.   Explore newspapers from 1914   Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war starts WW1 The Serbian Prime Minister received a telegram at 12.30pm on 28 July 1914. It stated that ‘Austria-Hungary…

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100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated 100 years ago on Sunday 28 June 1914, starting the chain of events that lead to World War One. The first reports about the assassination were printed in British newspapers the following day. You can read many of them online at The British Newspaper Archive.   Read reports about Franz Ferdinand   Manchester Evening News: ‘What the tragedy will mean’ The article published in the Manchester Evening News included a report about what the assassination of

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A WW1 letter from Gallipoli

The WW1 Gallipoli Campaign began on 25 April 1915, resulting in the loss of approximately 50,000 men from Australia, Britain, France and New Zealand. A poignant letter from an attending nurse was sent to an Australian woman living in London and printed in the Tamworth Herald.   ‘It breaks my heart to see them’ The letter describes the nurse’s work at the Dardanelles during World War One and includes this incredibly moving comment: ‘It’s a sad time for us all,

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New title: the Evening Despatch

  WW1 editions of the Evening Despatch now online The Evening Despatch was published in Birmingham throughout World War One. Over 4,000 pages from newspapers published in 1915, 1917 and 1918 have just been made available to search online. Search the Evening Despatch       Newspaper pages added every week Thousands of extra pages are added to The British Newspaper Archive each week. We’ll be adding more from the Evening Despatch soon, so be sure to check the recent

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Top 5 April Fools in history

  Search The British Newspaper Archive for the words ‘April Fool’ and you’ll find hundreds of examples of ‘hilarious’ pranks that were staged on 1 April in the past. We’ve selected our favourites for you to enjoy.   WW1 football ‘bomb’ A ‘bomb’ was dropped on German troops during the First World War. After scrambling to take cover, the men discovered it was actually a football with the words ‘April fool!’ written on it. View the whole newspaper page Coventry Evening

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Behind the scenes: the newspaper scanning team

Welcome to the first of a new series of blog posts from our newspaper scanning team. This month, our digitisation officer Andrew tells us about what his team does.   ******* The digitisation team have been scanning newspapers at Boston Spa for almost two months. This series of blog posts will give you a ‘behind the scenes’ look at our work, how we capture images using state-of-the-art paper and microfilm scanners and how those images get onto The British Newspaper

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The Withdrawal of Allied Troops from the Dardanelles – December 1915

From around the middle of December 1915,  the UK and Irish newspapers started to report and pass comment on the withdrawal of Allied troops from the Dardanelles. Entitled ‘The Dardanelles Failure’, here is a detailed editorial published in the ‘Western Daily Press’ that reports and comments on the withdrawal. Western Daily Press – Tuesday 21 December 1915 Image © Local World Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000264/19151221/009/0004 Aberdeen Journal – Wednesday 31 March 1915 Image ©

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The German POW in World War One Who Planned to Escape from the UK in a Packing Case

We were absolutely fascinated by this amazing story about a German POW in World War One who attemped to escape from England by hiding inside a packing case. The Western Daily Press – Monday 14 December 1914 Image © Northcliffe Media Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000264/19141214/019/0005

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