The Country House at War traces how British country estates were transformed by military use, social upheaval, and national emergency during the First and Second World Wars

British country houses became military hospitals, training grounds, command centers, and refuges as war reshaped elite estates and the people who lived and worked in them. The subject centers on how national emergency disrupted inherited privilege, domestic routines, and the physical fabric of these properties across two world wars. Juliet Nicolson follows the changing uses of country houses through wartime requisition, staffing shortages, evacuation, and shifting class relations. Aristocratic households, servants, soldiers, and civilians all encountered new pressures as private residences were drawn into public service. The wider significance lies in how war accelerated long term social change in Britain. Country houses emerged not just as backdrops to conflict but as places where hierarchy, sacrifice, and modern national life were renegotiated under extreme conditions.