Expeditionary Forces in the First World War
Expeditionary Forces in the First World War

Author: Alan Beyerchen

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2019-09-03

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 303025030X

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When war engulfed Europe in 1914, the conflict quickly took on global dimensions. Although fighting erupted in Africa and Asia, the Great War primarily pulled troops from around the world into Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Amid the fighting were large numbers of expeditionary forces—and yet they have remained largely unstudied as a collective phenomenon, along with the term “expeditionary force” itself. This collection examines the expeditionary experience through a wide range of case studies. They cover major themes such as the recruitment, transport, and supply of far-flung troops; the cultural and linguistic dissonance, as well as gender relations, navigated by soldiers in foreign lands; the political challenge of providing a rationale to justify their dislocation and sacrifice; and the role of memory and memorialization. Together, these essays open up new avenues for understanding the experiences of soldiers who fought the First World War far from home.

Contact Zones of the First World War
Contact Zones of the First World War

Author: Anna Maguire

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-08-26

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 110883387X

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This is the first in-depth and comparative study of the experience of colonial encounters for troops from the British Empire during the First World War. Drawing on a rich variety of textual and visual material, Anna Maguire explores new contact zones that materialised beyond the battlefield, on troopships, in ports, in military camps and hospitals, in cafes and city streets. She reveals how the colonial mobilisation of troops during the conflict prompted the emergence of spaces for interactions, fleeting moments or ongoing relationships. Through their personal experiences, she uncovers how men from New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies viewed themselves and their identities during a time of global conflict, simultaneously asserting the strength of the existing colonial order and challenging its enactment, through contact, conflict and collaboration. In spaces away from the frontlines, Maguire uses these cultural encounters of colonial troops to offer a more intricate understanding of imperial power relations.