Unknown WarriorsAn Understanding History podcast

WW1 posts

Essays by Michael Baker on the First World War: the generals, the Western Front, the war’s violent aftermath and how Britain has remembered it.

British soldiers of the East Yorkshire regiment smile at the camera as they make their way up to the Somme front, 3 July, 1916.Blame The Top BrassLatest · WW1The British narrative of the First World War fixes on the war dead. Were the generals really to blame for the casualty rates?Michael Baker · 30 Mar 2026 · 4 min read
Crowds outside the Royal Palace in Berlin cheer the news that Austria-Hungary is at war with Serbia. Within days, Russia mobilised in support of Serbia - prompting Germany, as it had promised, to side with Vienna.WW1 · 8 Jul 2025 · 3 minSummer MadnessEurope’s recurrent heatwaves recall an earlier, fateful summer.Lest We Forget... But Let's Remember How It Really WasWW1 · 10 Nov 2022 · 1 minLest We Forget... But Let's Remember How It Really WasThe Real First World War. 10 Episodes - Leading Historians - New Perspectives.Unknown WarriorsWW1 · 4 Nov 2021 · 1 minUnknown WarriorsAs we approach the 104th anniversary of the Armistice on November 11, 1918, it's an opportune moment to get away from the myths and half-truths and reflect on this first global conflict in a more…As we approach the 103rd anniversary of the Armistice...WW1 · 4 Nov 2021 · 1 minAs we approach the 103rd anniversary of the Armistice...Was WW1 a 'just' war? Big wars have a habit of changing what warfare means. If your enemy can find a means to best you, however heinous, they will almost invariably use it, for moral squeamishnessUnknown Warriors - Shell ShockWW1 · 23 Nov 2020 · 1 minUnknown Warriors - Shell ShockExactly 105 years ago today, the 11th Battalion of the Border Regiment, nicknamed the Lonsdales (after their patron the Earl of Lonsdale), embarked from Folkestone for France and the Western Front.As we remember again the end of WW1 ...WW1 · 8 Apr 2020 · 1 minAs we remember again the end of WW1 ...The idea of total war - which has come back into use during the worldwide battle against Covid - is usually associated with the Second World War.Unknown Warriors - Understanding the First World WarWW1 · 4 Mar 2020 · 1 minUnknown Warriors - Understanding the First World WarWould Brexit have ever happened if we weren't an island? The idea of European unity is very appealing if, for centuries, your country has been invaded and re-invaded, as happened to most states in…Unknown Warriors -Understanding the First World WarWW1 · 26 Feb 2020 · 1 minUnknown Warriors -Understanding the First World WarFritz Haber, the German chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1918, was quite a contradiction.Unknown Warriors -Understanding the First World WarWW1 · 13 Feb 2020 · 1 minUnknown Warriors -Understanding the First World WarWe tend to define the First World War as 1914-18, but for most of central/eastern Europe and the Middle East 1918 had no meaning.Unknown Warriors - Understanding the First World WarWW1 · 4 Feb 2020 · 1 minUnknown Warriors - Understanding the First World WarWhy, over 100 years later, do we still believe that the outbreak of the First World War was greeted with universal enthusiasm in the combatant nations?Unknown WarriorsWW1 · 3 Jan 2020 · 1 minUnknown WarriorsIf you want to read about this unusual WW1 podcast series and the ideas behind it, you can go to the online magazine Military History Now where you will find an extended Q & A that summarises the…Unknown WarriorsWW1 · 6 Dec 2019 · 1 minUnknown WarriorsMemory and remembrance have played a key part in the way we interpret the First World War.Unknown WarriorsWW1 · 4 Dec 2019 · 1 minUnknown WarriorsUntil recently, most general histories of the First World War either were narrative accounts or told from a national perspective; few attempted to look at the war as a total phenomenon and analyse…Unknown WarriorsWW1 · 3 Dec 2019 · 1 minUnknown WarriorsWe think of the First World War as a well defined time span 1914-18, almost as if it took place in some historical vaccuum divorced from the rest of the 20th century.Unknown WarriorsWW1 · 2 Dec 2019 · 1 minUnknown WarriorsIn the popular British narrative, 1918 is the ‘forgotten year’ of the First World War.Unknown WarriorsWW1 · 29 Nov 2019 · 1 minUnknown Warriors1.5 million Indians volunteered to fight for the Allied cause during the First World War.Unknown WarriorsWW1 · 28 Nov 2019 · 1 minUnknown WarriorsShell shock was unknown before the First World War, but rapidly grew to prominence during the conflict.Unknown WarriorsWW1 · 27 Nov 2019 · 1 minUnknown WarriorsDespite the fact that in the years before 1914 international conferences had agreed a set of rules to govern the conduct of warfare, when the First World War broke out, these red lines were rapidly…Unknown WarriorsWW1 · 25 Nov 2019 · 1 minUnknown WarriorsUnderstanding The First World War: Historians of WW1 now view the conflict through trans-national and global perspectives, not simply the old national narratives.Unknown WarriorsWW1 · 23 Nov 2019 · 1 minUnknown WarriorsDespite the global nature of the First World War, the popular British narrative of the conflict has tended to focus almost exclusively on the Western Front - and often only on the 'tragic' elements…UNKNOWN WARRIORSWW1 · 22 Nov 2019 · 1 minUNKNOWN WARRIORSThe Real First World War: Forget the popular British narrative that's prevailed for so long - 10 leading historians tell us what this conflict was really about.

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