Cet ouvrage a été publié avec le concours et le ... - Cour de France.fr

memory of the war in both photography and Stephen Badsey, Jane
Carmichael, Nicholas Reeves and Roger Smither have also usefully
examined film 31 . Finally, the historiography of the war has claimed
increasing interest as represented by the work of Travers and
French on the compilation of the Official History and,
comprehensively, in the essays in Brian Bond’s invaluable The First
World War and British Military History, published in 1991 32 .
In conclusion, some may recall a memorable review of John
Terraine’s To Win a War in 1978 from the pen of John Keegan,
which visualised a strangely familiar figure coming down from the
trenches: „dirt has worked its way into his medal ribbons, so that
one peers to make them out. Can the first be the Star for Mons...?
Has he been out that long?“ 33 Well, of course, we have nearly all
been out that long now - far longer, in fact, than the wax’s duration.
We are a mixture of regulars, Territorials, volunteers, perhaps even
conscripts. Our front keeps getting extended but also, fortunately,
we are still receiving batches of young drafts and, of course, not
only have we long enjoyed the support of the Dominions but also
even the Americans have arrived. We have been in quiet and in
active sectors; we have spent time in rear areas and in support; we
have been absent on courses. However, even the town majors
amongst us are being drawn increasingly into the front line as we
heed Peter Simkins’s warning note that it is now operational rather
than social studies, which will alone correct the myths and halftruths
still current among the wider public. Professional historians
have probably arrived at that point to which Brian Bond looked
forward when the Great War would be studied ‘simply as history
without polemic intent or apologies’ 34 . In fact, after the work since
Cambridge, 1992; Neil Barr, Service Not Self: The British Legion, 1921-39, Unpub. Ph.D., St Andrews,
1994; Colin McIntyre, Monuments of War, London, 1990; Angela Gaffney, Poppies on the Up
Platform: Commemoration of the Great War in Wales, Unpub. Ph.D., Wales, 1996; C Jamet,
Commemorating the Lost Generation: The First World War Memorials in Cambridge, Oxford and
Some English Public Schools, Unpub. M.Litt., Cambridge, 1995; Andrew Latcham, Journey’s End: Exservicemen
and the State during and after the Great War, Unpub. D.Phil., Oxford, 1997. Two
monographs are promised from Berg in 1998 by David William Lloyd, on post-war battlefield
pilgrimages and by Alex King, on war memorials.
31 Stephen Badsey, The Battle of the Somme: British War Propaganda, dans «Historical Journal of
Film, Radio and Television»N° 3/1983, p. 99-115; Nicholas Reeves, Official British Film Propaganda
during the First World War, London, 1986; Roger Smither, A Wonderful Idea of the Fighting: The
Question of Fakes in the Battle of the Somme, dans «Imperial War Museum Review», N° 3/1988, p. 4-
16; Jane Carmichael, First World War Photographers, London, 1989.
32 David French, Sir Douglas Haig’s Reputation: A Note, dans «Historical Journal», vol. 28, 1985, p.
953-960; Idem, Official but Not History: Sir James Edmonds and the Official History of the Great War,
dans «Journal of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies», vol.121, 1986, p. 58-63;
Tim Travers, Allies in Conflict: The British and Canadian Official Historians and the Real Story of
Second Ypres, dans «Journal of Contemporary History», vol. 24,1989, p. 301-325; Brian Bond (ed.),
First World War and British Military History, passim.
33 John Keegan, Whole Stunt Napoo, «New Statesman», 17 Nov. 1978.
34 Peter Simkins, Everyman at War and Brian Bond, Introduction, dans Brian Bond (ed.), First World
War and British Military History, p. 12, 312.
146