ABSTRACT
In order to set the scene for what follows, this chapter begins with some pointers as to the main features of the countryside at the onset of the Great War. We consider its appearance and what it was like to live in, farm, work in and visit, and the extent to which social and political attitudes to rural issues were in flux. To provide this historical context, we sketch the fundamental elements of the historical geography of rural England and Wales at around the turn of the century. This need only be a brief resume; more detailed reviews are available as in Newby (1987), Howkins (1991) and Cherry and Sheail (forthcoming), amplified by a wealth of other introductory material on the Victorian countryside, notably in Mingay (1981, 1989) and on particular facets of rural life by specialist writers.
