‘Deterrence can be boring’: boredom, gender, and absence in Britain’s Cold War military

Abstract

ABSTRACT Boredom was an integral part of Cold War experience in western Europe and its manifestations and management were key political, military and social considerations during this long conflict, for militaries in particular. Using over 60 original oral history interviews (both individual and group) with a wide range of former residents of British military bases in West Germany, this article explores the presence and articulation of boredom within militarized communities. Its existence among soldiers was widely acknowledged, expressed and managed, but boredom was also refracted through prevailing gender and social hierarchies, permitting particular forms of boredom to be expressed, while silencing others. Through an examination of both soldierly boredom and the testimonies of military wives, this article suggests not only that boredom needs to be included in social histories of the Cold War – and conflict more broadly – but that we must understand boredom as a social phenomenon embedded within specific historic contexts. Its articulation is deeply affected by cultural and societal norms, particularly for groups with limited ‘agency’, with long-term implications for historical researchers looking for its traces. This article finishes by suggesting productive ways in which oral history can address militarized boredom and what, in turn, scholars of boredom might learn from oral history practices.