All Ranks Behaved Splendidly: Scottish Unit Histories of the Great War, 1916–1936

Abstract

Scottish military units were strongly represented among the outpouring of unit histories that followed the Great War. A neglected genre, these works stand as cultural as well as military landmarks, expressing the private grief, but also striving to convey the importance and validity of the recent experience of war. The discussion that follows begins by explaining the aims and motivations behind Scottish unit histories. It then considers the mechanics of their commissioning, publishing and writing, before moving on to analyse the style, structure and key narrative themes of these works. It concludes by asking why, unlike the poetry, novels and personal memoirs which addressed the war, these ‘war books’ failed to become part of the common literary currency through which the Great War was later remembered. The article is accompanied by a comprehensive bibliography of these works.