Negotiating Intimacy in the Shadow of War (France, 1914-1920s): New Perspectives in the Cultural History of World War I

This article examines Talbot Mercer Papineau's letter to Henri Bourassa and Papineau's impact on Canadian cultural mobilization and its war culture. European historians of the First World War have used the concept of cultural mobilization to understand the lines that connected battlefront and home front and their impact. As evidenced by the recent historiographical review of First World War literature in the pages of the Canadian Historical Review, Canadian scholars ought to adopt a similar framework to unite two literatures that separately focus on the military history and social history of the war. Papineau's 1916 letter provides a glimpse into how a soldier expressed his perspective of the war from the frontlines and participated in the mobilization of Canada's war culture. His writing was a result of his war experience, but Papineau wrote it for a Canadian audience at home, and its wide publication exposed his views to millions across Canada and Britain. Papineau urged Canadian citizens (specifically French Canadians) to support the purpose and value of the war as understood by Canadian soldiers. This article offers Papineau as a case study to encourage a new direction for the Canadian history of the First World War and further work on cultural mobilization and war culture.

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Whose War Was It Anyway? Some Australian Historians and the Great War

\She is lost to time and place\

The purpose of the article is to analyze the activities of memory institutions in the Slavic countries of Central and Eastern Europe in contexts of the revision of the history of the Second World War in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The author analyzes the role of memory institutions in the formation of a new memorial canons about the history of the war in national versions of historical memories. Methodologically, the article is based on the principles proposed in the memorial turn and the analysis of the politics of memory, belonging to the paradigm of intellectual history and the history of ideas. The novelty of the study lies in a comparative analysis of the activities of institutions that determine the main vectors and trajectories of historical politics as a politics of memory about the history of war. The article analyzes: 1) the activity of the Institute of National Memory (stav pamti nroda) in Slovakia as a participant in the revision of the history of the Second World War; 2) the role of the Institute for the Study of Authoritarian Regimes (stav pro studium totalitnch režimů) in the Czech Republic in the perception of the war in Czech historical memory; 3) strategies for the development and functioning of war memory models in the historical memories of Slovakia and the Czech Republic in a comparative perspective. The article shows the contribution of the institutes of memory to the revision and formation of new memorial canons about the Second World War. The results of the study suggest that the institutions of memory are an important factor in the development of contemporary perceptions of war and its place in modern national identities.

Over the course of the First World War, around 100,000 Jews served in the German uniform, and 12,000 of them died in it. Tim Grady explores the ways in which Germans, both Jewish and non-Jewish, have commemorated these veterans and their fallen comrades from the end of hostilities in 1918 to the late 1970s. He argues that Jews played a central role in constituting Germany’s public memory of the First World War, and the strength of Grady’s book—his research ranges impressively from the archives of Berlin and Hamburg to those of Würzburg and Heilbronn—lies in its scenes of lingering attachment on the part of German Jews to their and their loved ones’ records of service, even after 1933. Grady uncovers, for instance, a 1950 letter to the mayor of Heilbronn from a former resident who requested that the name of her brother, who had fallen in 1914, be added to her father’s gravestone in the city’s Jewish cemetery. Ten years later, he notes, a group of German Jews—many of whom had fled the Nazi regime—gathered in Würzburg to dedicate a plaque to the memory of the Jews in that community who had died in the First World War. Even those who had emigrated in the 1930s continued to honour the memory of the 12,000 fallen, as in the case of one especially dedicated New York association of veterans that organized annual commemorations until 1972.

A Land of Aching Hearts: The Middle East in the Great War

A Land of Aching Hearts: The Middle East in the Great War

Testing Citizenship, Regulating History: The Fatal Impact

The First World War and the Homefront in Canada: Broadening the Analysis Brad Shoebottom (bio) TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, WHILE I WAS A GRADUATE STUDENT of Canadian military history, a faculty member mentioned that historians faced difficulties selecting which histories to write given a vast potential list of topics and gave the example of the hypothetical local and rural “History of the Post Office in Gagetown, NB.” At the time, I could not have agreed more – being more interested in national-level questions – and I was unable to fathom that there would be enough interest in the operations of a village post office. However, after completing a thesis about a local New Brunswick entrepreneur and after the passage of 25 years, I have come to appreciate that a post office was one of the key hubs of small villages and rural Canada, lower in importance than only the church and the general store. Local community or institutional history, despite its amateur roots, was and still is incredibly popular history. And local history, in a time of war, offers a bottom-up approach to military history that offers a different home front perspective than the typical top-down national narratives about war. Local history – the study of social and cultural history in the local community – became more acceptable as an academic subject in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, when W.G. Hoskins made the case that the local perspective uncovers themes not always visible in a national narrative.1 John Beckett explained more recently that national and local history are both valid and can co-exist so long as both use rigorous analysis of sources.2 In Australia, Ian Willis argues that local history is a radical history as “local histories often look away from the histories of the elite to the experiences of the ordinary, the mundane, the intimate and the banal.”3 In the United States, Carol Kammen agreed with the broader history idea: “Local history is, despite its limited geographical focus, a broad field of inquiry: it is political, social, and economic [End Page 149] history of the community and it’s religious and intellectual history too. . . . Local history is the study of who remained in a community and who left – and why.”4 In Canada, Robert Rutherdale’s Hometown Horizon (2002) noted that the local history approach provides a first-hand experience on various Great War themes such as social conflict about enemy aliens, volunteering, the role of women, conscription, and returning soldiers based on analysis of gender, ethnicity, class, and age.5 Local history therefore offers an alternative approach to the study of history and, in this case, the impact of the First World War on Canada. Canadian military historians writing about the First World War spent much of the first 75 postwar years in a top-down, metanarrative approach debating three major questions: national unity, especially the impact of conscription on English and French relations and on urban and rural areas; the impact on national identity of the battlefield achievements of the Canadian Corps in France, especially the symbolism of the battle for Vimy Ridge in 1917 on the road to Canada’s nationhood; and the impact of the war on the industrialization of Canada.6 These themes help to explore why the war was necessary or to bring more meaning to the war. A more recent trend places less emphasis on overseas events and a military history methodology and more emphasis on a social history methodology to discuss the home front, historical memory, and gender and race issues.7 This is a new military history or, as some call it “war and society” history as pioneered by John Herd Thompson’s [End Page 150] The Harvests of War.8 As such, previously unheard voices have come to light. Typically, most locality-focused articles and books cover only a single subject like recruiting, conscription, women’s war work, race, industrialization, labour relations, or a disaster like the influenza in Winnipeg or the Halifax Explosion. Most of these local studies almost exclusively focus on a large urban centre (as in Montreal, Toronto, or Regina), or provinces (such as Quebec, Nova Scotia, or Ontario), or a...

Situating First World War poetry in a truly global context, this book reaches beyond the British soldier-poet canon. A History of World War One Poetry examines popular and literary, ephemeral and enduring poems that the cataclysm of 1914-1918 inspired. Across Europe, poets wrestled with the same problem: how to represent a global conflict, dominated by modern technology, involving millions of combatants and countless civilians. For literary scholars this has meant discovering and engaging with the work of men and women writing in other languages, on other fronts, and from different national perspectives. Poems are presented in their original languages and in English translations, some for the very first time, while a Coda reflects on the study and significance of First World War poetry in the wake of the Centenary. A History of World War One Poetry offers a new perspective on the literary and human experience of 1914-1918.

The 'Culture Wars' have been a feature of American and Australian cultural life for well over a decade. The 'Culture Wars' of the USA have been described as a contest for 'American Civilization'. When imported into the Australian context by neo-conservative culture warriors they became more than a rehashing of tired American debates, coming to life as the 'History Wars'. In both the USA and Australia this struggle has been promoted by right-wing think tanks, and played out for the most part in the national press. One of its constant themes has been an attack on 'political correctness' in the academy, which it is claimed has been captured by 'radicals'. This paper argues that the debates have had the intended consequence of making academics more restrained in their public pronouncements (particularly outside their fields of expertise), and the unintended effect of amplifying broader social trends undermining the authority of expert knowledge in general, and universities in particular.

Curating a Nation’s Past: The Role of the Public Intellectual in Australia’s History Wars

Beyond the Quagmire: New Interpretations of the Vietnam War

Reviewed by: The Imperial War Museum Book of 1914: The Men Who Went to War, and: The World War I Reader Scott E. Belliveau The Imperial War Museum Book of 1914: The Men Who Went to War. By Malcolm Brown . London: Pan Books, 2005. ISBN 0-330-48586-5. Appendixes. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Maps. Notes. Photos. $22.95. The World War I Reader. Edited by Michael S. Neiberg . New York: New York University Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8147-5833-5. Appendix. Index. Maps. Notes. $25.00. People who appreciate the importance of World War I and, therefore, always are searching for good books on this vital conflict—be it for personal reading or classroom use—have reason to celebrate the publication of these two books. Through six general categories — "Causes," "Armageddon," "Soldiers," "Home Front," "The End of the War," and "Peace"—The World War I Reader takes its audience through the war's course. Under each category, there are two or three readings drawn from primary sources, such as contemporary journalism, diplomatic communications, and correspondence between military and political leaders. Michael Neiberg expertly pairs these readings with two or three selections from books and articles by established scholars such as Dennis Showalter, Douglas Porch, and David Fromkin. Readers familiar with the conflict will appreciate the careful selection of the entries, which gives the book an admirable scope, although the author's focus definitely is weighted toward the Western Front. Those readers who teach courses in World War I history, twentieth century European history, and other related topics will find this book a valuable text to introduce students to the broad parameters of World War I. Students whose intellectual appetites are whetted by this collection will appreciate the extensive list of books matched to each category at the end of the book. The Imperial War Museum Book of 1914: The Men Who Went to War tells the story of the war's first five months from the British perspective. Malcolm Brown, a former documentary producer for BBC Television and the author of four other titles on World War I for the Imperial War Museum, deftly weaves primary source material from the extensive documentary collections of the Imperial War Museum and secondary source material into a gripping narrative. Certainly, the battles in such places as Africa, China, and the Middle East that immediately gave the war its global cast receive their due. However, the author properly focuses on the campaigns conducted on the battlefields of France and Flanders where the belligerents fought their major battles. Within those accounts, Brown chronicles the British Army's initial shock at the conditions of modern warfare, such as the devastating power of modern artillery and the insatiable demand for ammunition and other materiél, but also demonstrates how quickly and courageously its officers and men, including senior officers, accepted and adapted to [End Page 595] them. In the same vein, he also skillfully depicts Britons' realization of the war's grand strategic importance and the sacrifices it would demand. Readers interested in the advent and initial months of World War I—especially the sometimes desperate battles fought by the British Army, the rapid transformation of British society, and the often haphazard recruitment and training of "Kitchener's Army"—will find The Imperial War Museum Book of 1914 an invaluable addition to their libraries. Those teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on military history, the history of World War I, and British history should add this excellent book to their classes' reading lists. Scott E. Belliveau Virginia Military Institute Foundation Lexington, Virginia Copyright © 2008 Society for Military History

Tim Grady, The German-Jewish Soldiers of the First World War in History and Memory. Liverpool, Liverpool University Press 2011 Grady Tim The German-Jewish Soldiers of the First World War in History and Memory. 2011 Liverpool University Press Liverpool £ 65,–