The Wider War: A History of the First World War

In the third volume of his landmark First World War trilogy, bestselling historian Professor Nick Lloyd tells the story for the first time of the struggle in Africa and the Middle East: a conflict fought in deserts and mountains between the (often squabbling) Germans and Turks, and men from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and their troops from around the empire.

Although the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign is well known, writing has focused almost entirely on fighting that took place on European soil. Drawing on source material now available in multiple languages, Lloyd reconstructs the full story of a theatre that ranged from Egypt to the mountains of the Caucusus.

Lloyd also explores how European colonial empires were drawn into this all-consuming war, unbalancing imperial structures and raising the prospect of post-war political reform. Vividly portraying the conflicts against Germany in Africa and the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, and characters such as T.E. Lawrence, General Lettow-Vorbeck (“the lion of Africa”), and Mustafa Kemal, the founder of modern Turkey, The Wider War is essential reading for understanding the course and consequences of the First World War.

© Nick Lloyd 2027 (P) Penguin Audio 2027