The Real First World War
A Podcast Series In 10 Episodes
Leading historians of the First World War tell us how their work challenges the traditional wisdom, offering new insights and overturning old myths.
The popular British narrative about the First World War (WW1) is that it was wasteful and futile - the verdict of a handful of poets who fought in the trenches. This view grew to prominence in the 1960s and continued to flourish during the recent centenary commemoration.
But this is not a view shared by professional historians. Over the last twenty to thirty years, using new approaches and fresh sources, they have transformed the picture of 1914-18 that we have been used to for so long. In books that came out to mark the centenary, they showed that this first global war was altogether stranger, more complex, and more modern than we've been led to believe.
If you think you know about WW1, it's time to think again.
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Episode 1
100 Years On
The traditional British view of the First World War is now very outdated. PROFESSOR HEATHER JONES explains how professional historians have transformed the landscape since the 1960s. What's emerging is a much more complex and diverse picture of this conflict.
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Episode 2
The Western Front
The popular British narrative depicts the war on the Western Front as wasteful and futile. PROFESSOR GARY SHEFFIELD shows that such a view is misplaced: this was a war that had to be fought and won. The Allies learned the hard way how to cope in unprecedented battle conditions, but ultimately overcame their mistakes to inflict a decisive defeat on the Germans.
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Episode 3
Through German Eyes
Comparative history has deepened our understanding of the First World War. PROFESSOR JONATHAN BOFF looks at the Western Front from the German perspective, throwing new light on this trench-bound struggle and the final German collapse in 1918.
Episode 4
Crossing The Line
Before 1914 international rules were established to govern the conduct of warfare. DIANA PRESTON explains how all sides in the First World War rapidly overran key red lines as they sought to secure a military advantage. In the course of a mere six weeks in 1915, the world changed forever.
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Episode 5
Shell Shock
Shell shock was unknown before the First World War. TAYLOR DOWNING shows how it reached crisis levels at the battle of the Somme, drawing a brutal response from the British Army. The medical establishment were divided over how to deal with it and the military were terrified it would undermine morale and combat effectiveness.
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Episode 6
The Indian Experience
1.5 million Indians volunteered to fight for Britain during the First World War. As GEORGE MORTON-JACK reveals, their story has too often been ignored or misunderstood. For Britain, the conflict was partly about defending its huge empire, and the Indians, colonial subjects vulnerable to growing nationalism at home, were critical to this struggle.
Episode 7
Year of Victory
In the popular British narrative, 1918 is the 'forgotten year' of the First World War. PETER HART explains how, in fact, it was vital to turning stalemate into victory. After the Germans failed in their last great gamble to win the war in massive spring offensives, the Allied coalition relentlessly pressed home its growing advantage in men and resources to force a final German retreat.
Episode 8
War Without End
We think of the First World War as 1914-18 but, as PROFESSOR ROBERT GERWARTH shows, 1918 did not end the war in much of Europe and beyond: violence continued well into the 1920s as new states emerged out of the chaos of collapsed empires.
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Episode 9
Attrition
Most general histories of the First World War are narrative-driven or told from a national perspective. PROFESSOR WILLIAM PHILPOTT analyses the conflict as a coherent phenomenon, showing how the combatant nations had to evolve a strategy of attrition in which all the resources of the state were harnessed to support the armies in the field. In short, a war for survival where defeat for the losers meant national destruction.
The Homecoming. © cambridge2000.co.uk
Episode 10
Looking Back
PROFESSOR MARK CONNELLY shows how memory and remembrance have played a key role in the way later generations have interpreted the First World War. Memories of the past tend to mirror the concerns of the present: Britain, Germany and other nations have largely shaped their view of the Great War in response to their own modern agendas rather than any quest for the truth.
Read Michael Baker's interview with Military History Now, which summarises how professional historians have changed our understanding of the First World War. Read it in full here
News From The Front
A selection of new publications, webinars and other information relating to WW1 studies that might be of interest.
Coming Soon
Detail from CRW Nevinson's La Mitrailleuse, 1915
(www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/nevinson-la-mitrailleuse-n03177)