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MYTH vs. REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I

MYTH vs. REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I. ROGER LEE ARMY HISTORIAN. MYTH vs. REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I. Workshop structure: 1. Presentation – - three general themes - three ‘myths’ 2. Questions and discussion. MYTH vs REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I. Themes:

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MYTH vs. REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I

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  1. MYTH vs. REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I ROGER LEE ARMY HISTORIAN

  2. MYTH vs. REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I Workshop structure: 1. Presentation – - three general themes - three ‘myths’ 2. Questions and discussion

  3. MYTH vs REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I Themes: 1. ‘dumbing-down’ history 2. ‘drinking-straw’ approach to history 3. ‘human element’ minus context

  4. MYTH vs REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I Myths: 1. Incompetent generals caused all the casualties 2. Australia won the War 3. A VC for Simpson

  5. MYTH vs REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I Theme 1 – ‘dumbing down history: Causes of the War - THE shot that started the war - the real causes? - each nation had a different reason - complexity of determining causation

  6. MYTH vs REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I Theme 2 – ‘drinking straw’approach: Context contextcontext: Typical problems with Australian interpretations of the war: national focus the Australian divisions individual focus General Monash

  7. MYTH vs REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I Theme 3 – the individual’s story is all there is to know: - a war of the masses - common experiences - what can one individual tell us - constant repetition is not (a) irrefutable evidence (b) not necessarily the whole story - problems with received memory Typical problems with Australian interpretations of the war: national focus the Australian divisions individual focus General Monash

  8. MYTH vs REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I Myth 1: The Generals caused all those deaths through ignorance, incompetence or worse. What did generals do? The British Army – some issues growth technology industry Casualties –statistics and explanation

  9. WESTERN FRONT - 1914 • Opposing armies at war’s outbreak: - French peace 800,000 (approx) war 3,680,000 - British peace 120,000 war 389,000 - German peace 840,000 war 4,000,000 plus

  10. WESTERN FRONT – The British Effort • The Contemptible Little Army • Regulars - 6 Inf Divs;1 Cav Div • TA – 269,000 in July 1914 (intended for Home Defence) no heavy artillery • Little industrial base – artillery ammunition acquired from US and Germany • By Feb 1917, British fielded over 60 Divisions on Western front alone (including 10 Dominion) • By April 1917, fielded over 2,300 pieces of heavy artillery and over 5 million rounds of artillery ammunition were produced in the second quarter of 1917

  11. MYTH vs REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I Casualties: Emotive subject – historians should never forget they are talking about people - What do they mean? = killed in action (KIA) = wounded in action (WIA) = died of wounds (DOW) - Other forms of casualty

  12. MYTH vs REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I Myth 2: The Australians won the War The Australians as shock troops - cohesion - no logistics responsibilities By comparison with whom? - the British - the Canadians - the Germans

  13. MYTH vs REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I Myth 3: Simpson should get a VC Emotive subject – beyond research and revision? Subject of campaign by others What did he do? - braver than others? - saved 300 men?

  14. MYTH vs REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR I

  15. MYTH vs REALITY: INTERPRETING WORLD WAR • Any questions?

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