First World War: New Perspectives

Myths and Mistakes. How a well known photograph and an infamous lunch break have shaped our memory of the Sarajevo assassination. Dr Paul Miller is a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Birmingham (UK) and Associate Professor of History at McDaniel College (US). In this short talk, he contests the tension between history and memory, and explores how what we think we see shapes what we think about the past. He uses the notorious photograph of the arrest of Gavrilo Princip, the incident that is viewed as triggering the outbreak of World War One, as a starting point for this discussion.

An argument for a more nuanced assessment of the popular literature consumed by the wider public during the First World War. Dr Jane Potter, Senior Lecturer in Publishing at Oxford Brookes University, looks beyond the War Poets at the important role that books, publishers and the book trade played between 1914 and 1918.

German women and the aesthetics of loss portrayed through art during the First World War. Presented by Dr Claudia Siebrecht, Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Sussex.

Dr Edward Madigan from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission considers the issue of morality and the role of the British clergy during the First World War.

How much do we really know about the experience of the average individual soldier? Matthew Leonard, University of Bristol, discusses the unique conflict culture that developed among soldiers fighting on the front lines during the First World War.

Combatant Courage on the Western Front. No human characteristic has a greater impact on the outcome of military endeavour than courage. Dr Edward Madigan from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, explores how frontline soldiers in the First World War conceived combatant courage on the Western Front, the role of humour and the rejection of victimhood.

The First World War and its impact on emigration, work and marriage. Dr Rosemary Wall, University of Hull, explores how the deaths of 700 000 British men affected the lives of the country's women following the First World War. With over 1/2 million more unmarried women in 25-34 age group, many women applied to the Overseas Nursing Association to increase their chances of marriage.

The role of India and the Indian Sepoy in the First World War. Dr Santanu Das, reader at Kings College London, considers the global and colonial dimensions of the first world war, namely India's involvement in the conflict and asks how the war continues to resonate for diaspora communities in Europe and America.

The British response to the outbreak of War in 1914. Dr Catriona Pennell, Lecturer in History at the University of Exeter, explains how the reaction to the outbreak of the first world war was much more complex than traditional accounts would lead us to believe.

Important questions, problems, and challenges pertaining to the role historians and scholars will play in the centenary of the First World War. Presented by Dr Pierre Purseigle, Senior Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Birmingham and President of the International Society for First World War Studies.