Even in times of great difficulty, hope and beauty can be found. Cliche? sure, but the idea is over used not for lack of original thought, rather because it is simply a common occurrence. Anyone who has been through trauma can attest to this, to finding comfort and light in the smallest of things and … Continue reading ‘Patience is the virtue of donkeys’

For months I have seen the film '1917' criticised on Twitter. Almost as soon as the film was announced, people were gathering like a pack of scholarly wolves on the scent of an Alan Clark shaped deer. When the trailer was released the baying began... *howl* the uniforms look incorrect in this 2 millisecond clip … Continue reading 1917

It's been a very busy few months, hence my unusual lack of posts but I hope to show my blog some love again soon! In the meantime, if you're in or near Manchester at the end of January, pop along to the 2nd Modern Conflict Research Symposium at IWM North where I will be giving … Continue reading Modern Conflict Research 2020

A new paper published in the ‘Aftermath’ special edition of Stand To! The Journal of the Western Front Association offers a comparative perspective on the wounding and healing of soldiers and of the plants which surrounded them on battlefields of the First World War.  A lot of pieces of metal were hurled in reciprocal anger during the Great War.  A … Continue reading Guest post – James Wearn & Jenny Martin ‘Considering the Great War’s cartography of wounds’

It's that time of year again, remembrance season is upon us and it seems to me that the politics of remembrance this year is almost as ghastly as that in Westminster. Debates are raging daily between left and right, old and young, academics and non-academics over a variety of issues from the politicisation of the … Continue reading The intolerance of our remembrance

The battlefields of France and Belgium attract many thousands of visitors each year. For most of these people the journeys are one-off pilgrimages, but for others these trips become habitual. The reasons for this vary – some people are just interested in the history, others are driven by a sense of ‘remembrance responsibility’ but there … Continue reading ‘Whence come I and whither go I? That is the great unfathomable question’

Most of us will be familiar with the phrase 'Their name liveth for evermore' - suggested by Rudyard Kipling as the 'fine thought or words of sacred dedication' to be inscribed on Edwin Lutyens' great Stone of Remembrance. The phrase is unsurprisingly, of biblical origin - Ecclesiasticus 44 to be precise: 'There be of them, … Continue reading What’s in a name?

This is the grave of Herbert Graham Barber at Authuile Cemetery on the Somme, his epitaph reads: 'Death is only an incident in life' The photo was sent to me last week by a friend who very kindly sends me pics of interesting epitaphs that he sees when out and about (thanks Rick!). Interestingly this … Continue reading ‘Death is only an incident in Life’

On the 4th October 1914 93 prominent German scientists, scholars and artists issued a manifesto ‘Aufruf an die Kulturwelt!’ (An Appeal to the Cultured World). It was not an appeal for peace or diplomacy as you might expect from such an ‘enlightened’ group, but a visceral defence of Germany and support for her military actions. … Continue reading How the Great War helped to open the doors of the Cosmos