Cette étude s’intéresse au discours des anciens combattants dans le cinéma français mettant en scène la Grande Guerre entre 1918 et 1939. L’objectif est de démontrer que le film propose une contre-histoire en permettant aux poilus d’exprimer leurs visions et leurs opinions sur 14-18 et sur la société de l’entre-deuxguerre. Utilisant leur expérience du front, les cinéastes deviennent historiens et témoins à la fois. Le film répond à un souci de préservation de la mémoire. Ayant été écarté de l’écriture de l’Histoire officielle, le témoignage des combattants se transpose dans l’image. Ils rétablissent ainsi les omissions et les inexactitudes. Parallèlement, le contexte politico-social influence l’interprétation du conflit, donnant lieu à des films commémoratifs ou politisés. Plus largement, cette étude s’interroge sur les permanences et les ruptures dans le discours dans l’entre-deux-guerre. Elle permet d’observer que la fiction peut en même temps être un témoignage historique de la Grande Guerre et une représentation du temps présent, en proposant une relecture des évènements. / The main focus of this study is based upon the views and opinions on the Great War from the point of views of the soldiers whom fought in the Great War through the medium of French cinema between 1918 and 1939. The objective is to give an alternative perspective of allowing the soldiers to give their point of view of the events and experiences during the four years of the great war of 1914-1918. Using first hand experiences from being on the front line, the filmmaker becomes a historian as he tells the story of the war veterans; the film can then be used as a way to preserve the memory of these events. There has been an omission of these testimonies from official historical documentation and so these films allow for some inaccuracies to be resolved. Meanwhile, the political and social context influences the interpretation of the conflict, giving rise to films or politicized memorials. More broadly, this study examines the continuities and ruptures in the discourse during the period between the two World Wars. It can be seen that fiction can simultaneously be a historical viewpoint of the Great War and a representation of the times, providing a reinterpretation of events.

Military command is the single most important factor in the conduct of warfare. To understand war and military success and failure, historians need to explore command structures and the relationships between commanders. In World War I, a new level of higher command had emerged: the corps commander. Between 1914 and 1918, the role of corps commanders and the demands placed upon them constantly changed as experiences brought illumination and insight. Yet the men who occupied these positions were sometimes unable to cope with the changing circumstances and the many significant limitations which were imposed upon them. Of the World War I corps commanders, William Birdwood was one of the longest serving. From the time of his appointment in December 1914 until May 1918, Birdwood acquired an experience of corps command which was perhaps more diverse than his contemporaries during this time. He is, then, an ideal subject for a prolonged assessment of this level of command. This thesis has two principal objectives. The first is to identify and assess those factors which limited Birdwood???s capacity and ability to command. The second is to explore the institutional constraints placed on corps commanders during the 1914-1918 war. Surprisingly, this is a comparatively barren area of research. Because very few officers spent much time as corps commanders on their way to higher command appointments and because the role of the corps commanders in military planning and in the conduct of operations was not immediately apparent, their role has been practically ignored. Historians have tended to concentrate on the Army and divisional levels creating a deficient view of higher military command in World War I. However, corps commanders could and did play an important part in planning operations and in military affairs generally. Birdwood???s experience at Gallipoli and in France reflect some of the changes to command structures that were prompted by the successes and failures of operations directed at the corps level. In as much as these two theatres of war were vastly different and Birdwood was confronted with dissimilar problems, it is possible to draw some general conclusions about the evolution of higher command after 1914. Using a wide range of primary and secondary sources located in Australian and British archives, this thesis traces Birdwood???s career as a corps commander at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. It also examines his tenure as G.O.C. of the A.I.F.

Cette étude s’intéresse au discours des anciens combattants dans le cinéma français mettant en scène la Grande Guerre entre 1918 et 1939. L’objectif est de démontrer que le film propose une contre-histoire en permettant aux poilus d’exprimer leurs visions et leurs opinions sur 14-18 et sur la société de l’entre-deuxguerre. Utilisant leur expérience du front, les cinéastes deviennent historiens et témoins à la fois. Le film répond à un souci de préservation de la mémoire. Ayant été écarté de l’écriture de l’Histoire officielle, le témoignage des combattants se transpose dans l’image. Ils rétablissent ainsi les omissions et les inexactitudes. Parallèlement, le contexte politico-social influence l’interprétation du conflit, donnant lieu à des films commémoratifs ou politisés. Plus largement, cette étude s’interroge sur les permanences et les ruptures dans le discours dans l’entre-deux-guerre. Elle permet d’observer que la fiction peut en même temps être un témoignage historique de la Grande Guerre et une représentation du temps présent, en proposant une relecture des évènements. / The main focus of this study is based upon the views and opinions on the Great War from the point of views of the soldiers whom fought in the Great War through the medium of French cinema between 1918 and 1939. The objective is to give an alternative perspective of allowing the soldiers to give their point of view of the events and experiences during the four years of the great war of 1914-1918. Using first hand experiences from being on the front line, the filmmaker becomes a historian as he tells the story of the war veterans; the film can then be used as a way to preserve the memory of these events. There has been an omission of these testimonies from official historical documentation and so these films allow for some inaccuracies to be resolved. Meanwhile, the political and social context influences the interpretation of the conflict, giving rise to films or politicized memorials. More broadly, this study examines the continuities and ruptures in the discourse during the period between the two World Wars. It can be seen that fiction can simultaneously be a historical viewpoint of the Great War and a representation of the times, providing a reinterpretation of events.

New Zealand’s First World War studies have traditionally focused on the soldier and battlefield experiences. ‘The Rural Home Front’ breaks with that tradition and focuses on the lives of people and the local communities that the soldiers left behind in the predominantly rural region of Taranaki in New Zealand. ‘The Rural Home Front’ is essentially a study of the impact and effects of the First World War on rural society. By focusing on topics and themes such as ‘war enthusiasm’, the voluntary spirit of fund raising and recruiting, conscription, attempting to maintain normality during wartime, responses to war deaths, the influenza epidemic, the Armistice and the need to remember, this thesis argues that civilians experienced the Great War, too, albeit differently from that of the soldiers serving overseas.

Military command is the single most important factor in the conduct of warfare. To understand war and military success and failure, historians need to explore command structures and the relationships between commanders. In World War I, a new level of higher command had emerged: the corps commander. Between 1914 and 1918, the role of corps commanders and the demands placed upon them constantly changed as experiences brought illumination and insight. Yet the men who occupied these positions were sometimes unable to cope with the changing circumstances and the many significant limitations which were imposed upon them. Of the World War I corps commanders, William Birdwood was one of the longest serving. From the time of his appointment in December 1914 until May 1918, Birdwood acquired an experience of corps command which was perhaps more diverse than his contemporaries during this time. He is, then, an ideal subject for a prolonged assessment of this level of command. This thesis has two principal objectives. The first is to identify and assess those factors which limited Birdwood???s capacity and ability to command. The second is to explore the institutional constraints placed on corps commanders during the 1914-1918 war. Surprisingly, this is a comparatively barren area of research. Because very few officers spent much time as corps commanders on their way to higher command appointments and because the role of the corps commanders in military planning and in the conduct of operations was not immediately apparent, their role has been practically ignored. Historians have tended to concentrate on the Army and divisional levels creating a deficient view of higher military command in World War I. However, corps commanders could and did play an important part in planning operations and in military affairs generally. Birdwood???s experience at Gallipoli and in France reflect some of the changes to command structures that were prompted by the successes and failures of operations directed at the corps level. In as much as these two theatres of war were vastly different and Birdwood was confronted with dissimilar problems, it is possible to draw some general conclusions about the evolution of higher command after 1914. Using a wide range of primary and secondary sources located in Australian and British archives, this thesis traces Birdwood???s career as a corps commander at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. It also examines his tenure as G.O.C. of the A.I.F.

Master of Arts / Department of History / Donald J. Mrozek / This thesis examines the internationalist message in news coverage and editorial commentary of a select group of American newspapers in the last throes and years immediately after World War I. Some historians have misinterpreted this period as a "return" to isolationist sentiments throughout America. However, the articles and editorials in these papers presented a message that America was still concerned with the happenings of the world and willing to participate in ascertaining solutions to the problems confronting Europeans as well as other peoples around the globe. The first chapter looks at the late stages of the war through the Senate's rejection of the Versailles Treaty. These papers initially presented a message of hope that the war could become the last war in history, spearheaded by President Wilson's Fourteen Point program. However, these hopes were dashed when the Fourteen Points were largely overlooked in the treaty. In the ensuing fight between the administration and the treaty's dissenters there were no threats of isolating the country from world affairs. According to these sources, those proposing reservations to the treaty were unwilling to commit the country to the League of Nations because they believed the League to be a permanent military alliance that violated the Constitution. The second chapter examines how the debate over the treaty and League membership became significant issues throughout 1920, reaching a climax with the presidential election in November. This section focuses on the coverage of Senator Harding's message of continued U.S. international participation throughout the campaign. The coverage from these papers regarding the international affairs of and events during the Harding administration is investigated in the final chapter. This chapter focuses heavily on the reactions to the Washington Conference of 1921-1922 which established international naval arms limitations. Harding and his policies enjoyed significant popular support from many of these papers because they believed he established a lasting peace. Throughout this period, the editorials and news coverage in these papers presented U.S. leaders as actively participating in global affairs rather than proposing the country step back from a leadership position in the world.

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The year 2014 will mark the centennial of the outbreak of World War I in August 1914. This historic anniversary will likely provoke several discussions from all fields in the humanities concerning the Great War's significance on contemporary culture through history, visual art, and in the case of this essay: literature. In light of this event, any serious discussion among scholars should undeniably begin with how the war continues to be represented today through a thorough, contemporary analysis of its many key literary texts. This essay will examine, in this regard, how past and contemporary discourses in literary theory-primarily concerned with how an individual combatant subject attempts to construct and understand their own traumatic experiences through poetic and literary discourse-can continue to incite discussion on why literature of the Great War and its influential role in defining how it has come to be understood in our cultural memory remains relevant even today. Under the guiding influence of Paul Fussell's classic The Great War and Modern Memory, I will discuss how three important works-a poetry collection, a memoir, and a modern work of historical fiction-all contribute to how the war has become represented as a tragic rupture in history that reversed the idea of human progress and left an entire generation disillusioned in its aftermath, regardless of the historical veracity of this legacy. The texts I will be examining include: select poems of Wilfred Owen, Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves, and Regeneration by Pat Barker. In addition to this, I will conclude with an analysis of how a contemporary reading of these texts can contribute to a larger discussion of the crisis of historicity in our current post-modern cultural landscape.

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No description available.