First World War: New Perspectives

The 3rd Keynote of the War Time 2016 conference held 9-11 November 2016

The 2nd Keynote of the War Time 2016 conference held 9-11 November 2016

Keynote lecture given at the War Time 2016 conference

Examining the First World War through the lives of African soldiers and labourers. This podcast examines the First World War through the lives of African soldiers and labourers. Based on historical fact, it discusses fictional poetry and letters that could have been written by Africans involved in the war. It looks at WW1 through a global perspective - the interaction of peoples from different parts of the world. What impact that had on their existence and the shifts that it made for better or worse in their perspectives on the world as a whole. This podcast was the runner-up in the TORCH and Academic IT Services WW1 Research Competition 2016

Examining the many inventive and moving ways in which people began to mourn and commemorate their loved ones while WW1 was still ongoing and before official acts of public memory were established. The winning entry of the TORCH and Academic IT Services WW1 Research Competition 2016.

How a contemporary photographer is addressing one of the conflict's most sensitive topics. To commemorate the centennial of the First World War, the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art has commissioned the young British photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews to produce a new body of work, the outcomes of which will be the subject of a major exhibition and accompanying publication. In this interview Chloe discusses how her photographic collection is addressing one of the conflict's most sensitive topics - the execution of troops for cowardice or desertion.

A look at the different experiences of service leave during the First World War (in French). Dr Emmanuelle Cronier, Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Birmingham, examines this key war-time experience and the vital role it played in social cohesion during the conflict.

A look at the different experiences of service leave during the First World War. Dr Emmanuelle Cronier, a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Birmingham, examines the experiences of service leave during the First World War and the vital role it played in social cohesion during the conflict.

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.