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The Greatest Day in History: 11 November 1918
Nicholas Best

The Greatest Day in History: 11 November 1918

Armistice 1918, the last day of the war to end all wars. The fighting stopped at eleven a.m., but the casualties still amounted to eleven thousand, more than the whole of D Day. Men were sent over the top at ten thirty and mown down seconds later. Some made it to eleven, only to die as the clock struck the hour. Others were gassed as they lay wounded in hospital or blown to bits by random shells as they queued for the cookhouse or sat on the latrine. On both sides, men died needlessly while their comrades wearily laid down their arms, too exhausted to celebrate.

This is the story of the dramatic events they lived through, from the hurried abdication of the Kaiser on 9 November to the signing of the armistice two days later, a great flurry of activity from Washington to Berlin and across the western front as the Great War finally came to a close. Movingly told in a fast-paced documentary style (Cornelius Ryan the role model), it is the story of the ordinary soldiers in the trenches, their political and military leaders behind the lines, and the civilians at home, the men and women across half the globe who danced in the streets to celebrate one of the most fascinating and extraordinary days in the history of the world.

Book Details:

  • Author: Nicholas Best
  • Published Year: 2009
  • Rights Sold
    • UK: Weidenfeld
    • Norway: Gyldendal
    • US: Public Affairs
    • Poland: Magnum
    • Brazil: Paz e Terra
    • Romania: Meteor
Nicholas Best

Nicholas Best

Nicholas Best grew up in Kenya and was educated there, in England and at Trinity College, Dublin. He served in the Grenadier Guards and worked in London as a journalist before becoming a fulltime author. His comic novel Tennis and the Masai was serialized on BBC Radio 4 and has recently been a best-seller in the Amazon Top 100. The Greatest Day in History, his account of the 1918 Armistice, was a Waterstone's recommendation of the month and has been translated into many languages.     In 2010, Nicholas Best was long-listed for the inaugural Sunday Times-EFG Private Bank award of...
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Book Reviews

  • "Scintillating… a miscellany of tragedy mixed with delight"
    MRD Foot, Literary Review
  • "A truly magnificent book… highly recommended"
    Guards Magazine
  • "An excellent history… a fully rounded picture and a fitting publication for the 90th anniversary"
    Publishing News
  • "This is a fascinating book"
    Good Book Guide
  • "Compelling… vivid"
    Piers Brendon, The Oldie
  • "Gripping"
    The Officer
  • "An extremely interesting, lively and vivid account of the end of the First World War. Better than anything else I have read"
    Tom Sharpe
  • "Remarkable… will be very hard to match"
    Western Morning News
  • "Highly readable… Best paints a compelling picture"
    BBC Who do you think you are?
  • "This splendid volume enables the reader to watch events unfold from both sides"
    Family History Monthly
  • "Nicholas Best has come up trumps"
    Scottish Legion News
  • "Exceedingly well crafted... all expanding World War One collections need this book"
    Booklist
  • "Nicholas Best brings back to life the second week of November 1918, and the end of the Great War, in a scintillating set of extracts from the memoirs of those who were there at the time..."
    MRD Foot, Literary Review
  • "well written and entertaining... undoubtedly an enthralling read"
    Glasgow Herald
  • "Splendid new book... first-rate work of popular history... This is a complex story, with many strands, but Best weaves them together into a vivid, pacy narrative... likely to be a flood of books... Nicholas Best's will take some beating"
    Yorkshire Post
  • "As the first of many books to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day 1918, this volume sets an example that will be hard to beat."
    Daily Mail