History Commons^™

After the First World War, disillusionment is the idea that is most commonly associated with the experience of being a soldier. The romantic ideal of war as a glorious, honourable event, that will turn you into a man is shattered due to the gruesome nature of modern warfare. Or so it is often said. But is it true? Did this feeling of disillusionment start only after the First World War, or are there indications for an earlier start? Is it a country-dependent phenomenon, or one that can be found all over the Western world? And if so, is this feeling …

For soldier-authors in any western country, it is very important to explicitly assure their audiences that what they write is the truth (either subjective (35%) or objective (22%). They provide truth guarantees to substantiate this claim, the most important one being their own or someone else's memory (41%). This is despite the fact that they also explicitly perform self-censorship, for example by anonymising names (84% of the disclaimers) or black barring photos (34%). In every one of the countries researched (Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, United States and Canada) at least one author mentions having been censored by their own ministry …

How to apply quantitative and qualitative methodoly to research egodocuments. This presentation was part of the Public Opinion 1500- present course given at the Erasmus University Rotterdam for Master Students History.