90 Chronicle

CHRONICLE OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR, Volume 1: 1914-1916 by RANDAL GRAY with CHRISTOPHER ARGYLE. Oxford,Facts on File,1990. 352p. £20 ISBN 0 8160 2139 2

A daily chronology with nine columns on each double page covering the Western, Eastern, Southern, Turkish, African and Home Fronts, Air War, Sea War and International Events. The book also contains various statistical appendices, essays, a glossary, maps and a bibliography, as well as an index, all of which expand its value. It is a general not a naval chronology, with very brief entries - Jutland, for example, is covered in 300 words - but it does fill a gap in the market, providing simple factual information on events of and relevant to the war. Again taking the example of Jutland it is possible to cross refer to a simple table of opposing fleet strengths, to a who's who of the major figures such as Jellicoe and to an essay putting the events of 1916 into context. It is well researched, clearly organised, well produced, international in scope and as the first such publication for over fifty years is likely to become a standard reference work for basic factual information.