scholarly journals An Equal Burden

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Representations ◽  
World War ◽  
Army Medical ◽  
Total War ◽  
Medical Evacuation ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Female Nurses ◽  
Cultural Hierarchies ◽  
Military Discipline ◽  
First World

An Equal Burden forms the first scholarly study of the Army Medical Services in the First World War to focus on the roles and experiences of the men of the ranks of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). These men, through their work as stretcher-bearers and orderlies, provided a range of labour, both physical and emotional, in aid of the sick and wounded. They were not professional medical caregivers, yet were called upon to provide medical care, however rudimentary; they served in uniform, under military discipline, yet were forbidden, as non-combatants, from carrying weapons. Their service as men in wartime was thus unique. Structured both chronologically and thematically, this study examines the work that RAMC rankers undertook and its importance to the running of the chain of medical evacuation. It additionally explores the gendered status of these men within the medical, military, and cultural hierarchies of a society engaged in total war, locating their service within the context of that of doctors, female nurses, and combatant servicemen. Through close readings of official documents, personal papers, and cultural representations, both verbal and visual, it argues that the ranks of the RAMC formed a space in which non-commissioned servicemen, through their many roles, defined and redefined medical caregiving as men’s work in wartime.

Disciplinary Uniformity in Uniform—A Success of the Human Rights Act 1998?

2008 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Gale
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
World War ◽  
The Public ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
Military Discipline ◽  
First World

Apart from an awareness of shameful treatment to some shell-shocked soldiers on active duty in the First World War, the subjects of military discipline in general and courts-martial in particular are unlikely to permeate the consciousness of the public at large or, indeed, the vast majority of criminal lawyers. This article explores some of the history of both, the current position in relation to courts-martial and the planned reforms under the Armed Forces Act 2006. That the Human Rights Act 1998 exposed some of the anomalities and worst practices of courts-martial is undeniable. It seems equally likely that the 1998 Act was at least a catalyst for the wholesale review and modernisation of military discipline carried out by the 2006 Act.

Germany 1914–1918. Total War as a Catalyst of Change

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Ziemann
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
First World War ◽  
European History ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
Total War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World

It is a commonplace to see the First World War as a major caesura in German and European history. This article records the war years from 1914–1918 in Germany. Not least, such an interpretation can rely on the perceptions of influential contemporary observers. In Germany, as in other belligerent countries, many artists, intellectuals, and academics experienced the outbreak of the war as a cathartic moment. While it is straightforward to see the mobilization for war and violence as a major caesura for any of the belligerent countries, it is much more complicated to account for causalities and for German peculiarities. Difficult methodological questions arise, which have not always been properly addressed. While Germany was facing a ‘world of enemies’, as a popular slogan suggested, the semantics of the political shifted to an articulation of emotions, excitements, and promises, contributing to a dramatized narrative centered around the notions of sacrifice and fate. The effect of World War I concludes the article.

The Economics of Total War and Reconstruction, 1914–1922

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Blum ◽  
Jari Eloranta
Keyword(s):  
Economic Activity ◽  
First World War ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Black Markets ◽  
World War ◽  
War Economy ◽  
Total War ◽  
Labour Shortage ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World

This chapter features a discussion of the economy and mobilization for the First World War. The authors analyse the implications and cost of total war, concluding with an examination of its contradictory legacies. In studying the war’s impact on Germany in particular, the chapter provides an in-depth look at the consequences of war on Europe’s strongest pre-war economy, without the complications of separating out the issues of a developing country, which can mimic those faced in wartime. The economic challenges that warring parties faced during the war included mobilization, warfare, labour shortage, impaired domestic economic activity, restricted international trade, a systematic redistribution of resources towards the war economy, food rationing, the predictable emergence of black markets, and a drop in living standards. The authors also discuss strategies to meet the significant financial demands associated with the war, and its tumultuous economic and political aftermath.

STRATEGIC BOMBING AND RESTRAINT IN ‘TOTAL WAR’, 1915–1918

2009 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-431
Author(s):  
ANDREW BARROS
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
Home Front ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
World War ◽  
Total War ◽  
Strategic Bombing ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Military ◽  
Modern War ◽  
First World

ABSTRACTRecent studies of ‘total war’ depict a process of inexorable expansion leading to an often nebulous linkage of everything to war. This article takes the study of ‘total war’ in the opposite direction by studying a specific example of strategic restraint. It examines how the French bombing strategy that was developed over the course of the First World War went to considerable lengths to maintain a distinction between the civilian and the military. The article studies France's restraint by highlighting the strategic, geographical, institutional, and economic factors upon which it was built. It then goes on to examine the political pressures for an expansion of bombing which proved incapable of overturning this policy. Finally, it contrasts French restraint with that of its key ally, Great Britain. There, bombing developed into a strategic weapon designed to destroy the ‘home front’. This study of restraint underscores the importance of limits, and the attendant choices government has to make, in understanding the course and intensity of a country's mobilization for modern war.

VII. The Liberal Party Divided 1916–1918

1970 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 509-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward David
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
First World War ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
British Politics ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
World War ◽  
Liberal Party ◽  
Total War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World

A great deal of published historical work has been devoted to establishing the causes and chronology of the demise of the Liberal party in British politics. The downfall of the Liberals has been ascribed to the inevitable outflanking development of the Labour party; to the mutilation of Liberal principles involved in waging the first ‘total’ war; to the personal rifts and feuds between the rival followers of Asquith and Lloyd George—and to various combinations of these factors. Yet there has been no detailed analysis of the division within the Parliamentary Liberal party during the First World War. Although at the end of 1916 obviously certain Liberals supported Asquith and others Lloyd George, no attempt has been made to examine the way in which the rifts in the party were reflected in political action in the House of Commons during the time of the second coalition government, nor to determine accurately the lines of division in the party. An answer to the question of ‘How did the Liberal party divide during the First World War?’ has proved elusive, although some historians of the period have been more successful than others.

Strachan and the Great War: A Lifelong Quest

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 590-604
Author(s):  
Holger H. Herwig
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
First World War ◽  
Great War ◽  
World War ◽  
Total War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The University ◽  
Trench Warfare ◽  
The Great War ◽  
First World

Sir Hew Strachan of the University of St Andrews is the doyen of World War I studies. He approached his work from a serious multinational, multilingual, and comparative perspective. He was never afraid to challenge well-established interpretations and to add fresh analyses of concepts ranging from total war to trench warfare. He was always keen to include diplomacy, politics, imperialism, industrialization, and the sinews of war in his writings. From ‘origins’ to ‘consequences’, Strachan led his readers through the challenging shoals of Great War studies. One can hardly wait for the second instalment of his opus, The First World War: No Quarter.

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