Blue cloth binding with red title on the spine.

We provide an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available. 

•  Note: This book carries a £5.00 discount to those that subscribe to the F.B.A. mailing list

Please view our photographs. “Ordeal by Battle” by Frederick Scott Oliver, published by Macmillan (London) in 1915. Based on current listings from antiquarian and used book sellers, a copy of this book in “Good” condition typically ranges in value from £25.00 to £45.00, depending on the specific printing (first impression vs. later 1915 reprints) and the presence of any internal foxing or spine wear. 

The book contains analysis and commentary on the origins, politics, and military situations surrounding World War I (the Great War), which had begun just the year before its 1915 publication.

Frederick Scott Oliver, a British businessman and political essayist, wrote the book as a passionate argument for national service and military conscription in Great Britain. At the time, Britain still relied on a volunteer army, and Oliver argued that the country was dangerously unprepared for the scale of the conflict against Germany.

The content is divided into four main parts:

• The Causes of War: An examination of how international relations broke down.
• The Spirit of German Policy: An analysis of Prussian militarism and Germany’s long-term imperial ambitions.
• The Spirit of British Policy: A critique of British political leadership, isolationism, and the failure to anticipate the war.
• Democracy and National Service: A philosophical and practical defense of mandatory military service, arguing that a democracy must be ready to defend itself to survive.