Experience into identity : the writings of British conscript soldiers, 1916-1918
Between January 1916 and March 1919 2,504,183 men were conscripted into the British army-representing as such over half the wartime enlistments. Yet to date, the conscripts and their contribution to the Great War have not been acknowledged or studied. This is mainly due to the image of the war in England, which is focused upon the heroic plight of the volunteer soldiers on the Western Front. Historiography, literary studies and popular culture all evoke this image, which is based largely upon the volumes of poems and memoirs written by young volunteer officers, of middle and upper class background, such as Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. But the British wartime army was not a society of poets and authors who knew how to distil experience into words; nor, as mentioned, were all the soldiers volunteers. This dissertation therefore attempts to explore the cultural identity of this unknown population through a collection of diaries, letters and unpublished accounts of some conscripts; and to do so with the aid of a novel methodological approach. In Part I the concept of this research is explained, as a qualitative examination of all the chosen writings, with emphasis upon eliciting the attitudes of the writers
Bet-El, Ilana Ruth
World War I
Experience into identity : the writings of British conscript soldiers, 1916-1918. Between January 1916 and March 1919 2,504,183 men were conscripted into the British army-representing as such over half the wartime enlistments. Yet to date, the conscripts and their contribution to the Great War have not been acknowledged or studied. This is mainly due to the image of the war in England, which is focused upon the heroic plight of the volunteer soldiers on the Western Front. Historiography, literary studies and popular culture all evoke this image, which is based largely upon the volumes of poems and memoirs written by young volunteer officers, of middle and upper class background, such as Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. But the British wartime army was not a society of poets and authors who knew how to distil experience into words; nor, as mentioned, were all the soldiers volunteers. This dissertation therefore attempts to explore the cultural identity of this unknown population through a collection of diaries, letters and unpublished accounts of some conscripts; and to do so with the aid of a novel methodological approach. In Part I the concept of this research is explained, as a qualitative examination of all the chosen writings, with emphasis upon eliciting the attitudes of the writers
experience identity writing british soldier men british_army representing half wartime yet date great_war acknowledge study mainly_due image war england focus_upon heroic plight volunteer soldier western_front historiography literary study popular_culture evoke image base_largely upon volume poems memoir write young volunteer officer middle upper_class background british wartime army society poet author know distil experience word mention soldier volunteer therefore attempt_explore cultural_identity unknown population collection diary_letter unpublished account aid novel methodological_approach part concept explain qualitative examination choose writing emphasis_upon elicit attitude writer