How Some Devon Newspapers Reported the Outbreak of the First World War
This talk is based on a close study of some Devon newspapers – principally the Western Times and the Express and Echo – from late June to late August 1914.
It shows how the fateful events that lead from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 29 to the outbreak of war and the battles of August were reported.
News of the Home Front – especially key issues such as recruiting, food hoarding and the requisition of horses – are contrasted with the (heavily censored) news from the Fronts. Editorials and readers’ letters give a strong flavour of a crucial moment when the course of European history was altered forever.