False Hopes

It is impossible to overstate the devastating impact the First World War had on the British nation and people. The loss of lives and treasure was immense, with 20,000 British soldiers killed on the first day alone of the Battle of the Somme. This enduring impact is front and center in Tim Bouverie’s King George V, whose reign spanned the Great War, once shouted late in his life, “I will not have another war. ” It is against this backdrop that journalist and historian Bouverie provides a fascinating