History Commons^™

Graduate, 1st Place: World War I War Front And Home Front: The Correspondence That Brought Them Together, Michelle Thole

2023 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents

The First World War was the first time American soldiers had participated in a war at a distance from home that did not easily facilitate home furloughs. Although the United States and Europe are physically separated by more than 3,500 miles, the relative distance between American World War I soldiers on the war front and their families on the home front was minor; the correspondence between them mitigated the physical and cognitive distance.

Historians of the First World War have explored soldiers’ contact with their families while in training camps and the US military’s intentional cultivation of a balance between …

The Development Of Uniforms And Equipment In Trench Warfare From 1914-1918, Katherine M. Tyson

CAFE Symposium 2023

The First World War was one of incessant destruction, but the birth of a new modernized era with an abundance of technological advancements. These advancements ranged from the introduction of the first ever tank, to the individual details that soldiers changed on their uniforms. The uniform is also a vehicle to express a soldier’s memories and experiences, preserving their story.

A Lesson In Mourning: The Evolution Of The English Anti-Elegy, K. Matthew Bennett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the evolution of the anti-elegy originating with Thomas Hardy’s elegiac sequence in memory of his wife Emma; Poems of 1912-1913. Using French post-structuralist Georges Bataille’s The Accursed Share as a theoretical lens, Hardy’s anti-elegies are analyzed and rhetorically connected to English war poet Siegfried Sassoon’s anti-elegies. Hardy’s anti-sentimentality, fatalistic outlook on death, and rejection of the Christian afterlife seeps into the language of Sassoon’s war poems which serve as a protest to the dehumanizing effects of late capitalism witnessed during the First World War. Hardy and Sassoon’s anti-elegies, with their hyper-focus on the elegized body, are …

The Failure Of Chivalry, Courtesy, And Knighthood Post-Wwi As Represented In David Jones’S In Parenthesis, Taylor L. Hubbard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes David Jones’s In Parenthesis to demonstrate the failed notion of chivalry, courtesy, and knighthood in modernity during and after the war. Jones’s semi-autobiographical prose poem recounting his experiences of WWI was published in 1937, nineteen years after the war ended. Jones applied the concepts of chivalry, courtesy, and knighthood to his experiences during WWI through In Parenthesis. Jones used these concepts, which originated in the classical period and the Middle Ages, to demonstrate how they have changed over time, especially given the events of WWI. The best way for Jones to demonstrate the impact of WWI …

Women And Violence In Revolutionary Russia, 1860-1925, Jenny R. Findsen

All Master's Theses

Russian women engaged in public violence during the late imperial and revolutionary periods in various ways and for a variety of reasons. This study examines traditional gender roles in Russia, and women’s motivations for female terrorism as well as military and police service. It establishes that women broke through patriarchal social barriers through violence, even while still embracing traditionally feminine notions of self-sacrifice for the common good. Based on primary sources such as memoirs, official policies, and newspaper articles, I argue that Russian women committed both illegal and officially sanctioned violence to achieve diverse personal, ideological, political, material, and familial …

Invisible Armies: French Colonial Soldiers During World War I And Their Absence From History, Molly Anderson

Arts & Sciences Undergraduate Showcase

World War I is an incredibly significant event in world history and continues to loom large in French memory today. Unfortunately, memory is often unreliable and as a result, people, places, and events can easily be forgotten, as is the case with French colonial soldiers during World War I. Colonial soldiers, particularly those from French West Africa, suffered a great deal because of their forced involvement in the conflict. Despite the major disruption the war had on their lives, however, the ways French media at the time chose to depict these soldiers was based almost exclusively on stereotypes and mockery. …

Indentured On The Western Front: The Chinese Labour Corps And The British Coolie Trade, Emily Sanders

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the recruitment, transport, and working conditions of the Chinese Labour Corps in World War I in comparison to the twentieth century British ‘coolie’ trade of Chinese indentured laborers on the basis of labor contracts, written testimonies, newspaper articles, books, photographs, and historical records. This thesis argues that the Chinese Labour Corps methods of recruiting, transport, and conditions of work were very similar to, if not the same as, the twentieth century British coolie trade. The Chinese Labour Corps can in many ways be said to be an extension of the preexisting British coolie trade, rather than an …

Danish Doughboys: Danish American Soldiers In The Us Army And Navy In World War I, Bjarne S. Bendtsen

The Bridge

In the park justbelow Marselisborg Castle in Aarhus-the Queen's preferred summer residence-stands the official Danish monument for Danes killed in World War I. It is a beautiful and solemn monument, placed in a scenic setting in the park that stretches from the small castle down to the Bay of Aarhus, with a view of Mols and Helgenaes in the distance. But wasn't Denmark neutral in that war, you may ask? Why, then, a monument for the fallen in a war that the country did not participate in? It is a rather complicated story, which this article outlines by showing the …

The Russian Revolution, Chang-Dae Hyun

Grand Valley Journal of History

The Russian Revolution was caused by the consequences of World War I: economic crises, and demotivated soldiers. In both cases, governments – the Romanov Dynasty and the Provisional Government that first seized power from the Tsar – were unable to resolve these problems. But these factors alone were not sufficient enough to cause the Russian Revolution, rather they should be understood as preconditions. What was also needed was a strong party – the Bolshevik Party – willing and able to capitalize on such preconditions. First, this paper will argue that economic crises such as food shortages, inflation, and poor working …

From The Trenches: Cross-Campus Digital History Collaboration, Amy E. Lucadamo, Ian A. Isherwood, R.C. Miessler, Jenna Fleming, Meghan E. O'Donnell

R.C. Miessler

In September 2015, our team launched The First World War Letters of H.J.C. Peirs (www.jackpeirs.org), a digital history initiative built on collaboration between faculty, students, and library staff. The project is founded on amazing primary source material, but with limited financial support and little dedicated staff time. We leveraged the creativity and hard work of our team members to build a website that is maintained by students and enhanced whenever possible with features and commentary from faculty and staff. Members of #TeamPeirs discussed the evolution of the project, the nature of our collaboration, and the intersection of audiences …

The Great War And The Digital Humanities: Creating A Project And Building A Team, Ian A. Isherwood, Amy E. Lucadamo, R.C. Miessler

History Faculty Publications

Using the framework of The First World War Letters of H.J.C. Peirs: A Digital History, this workshop will give guidance for team-building and project management, provide examples of Digital Humanities tools and methods that can be used with First World War collections, and outline pedagogical uses for digital history in the classroom.

The First World War Letters Of H.J.C. Peirs: A Digital History, Ian A. Isherwood, Amy E. Lucadamo, R.C. Miessler

History Faculty Publications

This poster provides a high-level overview of The First World War Letters of H.J.C. Peirs: A Digital History project, giving information on its creation, the collection of letters, how it has used digital mapping, and its use in the classroom.

Ms- 241: Harry Dravo Parkin Wwi Memoir, Joy Zanghi

All Finding Aids

This small collection includes five bound volumes of a memoir written by Harry Dravo Parkin. The collection contains information regarding his experience in WWI as a wounded prisoner of war as well as everyday life as a major.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website https://www.gettysburg.edu/special-collections/collections/.

Ms-238: Prisoner Of War Letters From World Wars I And Ii, Kelly A. Murphy

All Finding Aids

This collection consists of various correspondence between POWs and their families, including 86 letters, 174 postcards, and about eight package slips during both world wars. Most of this correspondence was authored by the prisoners and sent to their families from camps in Europe, although it contains some correspondence from camps in Asia and Africa. The collection also contains correspondence from prisoners in concentration camps, such as Auschwitz, and from interned civilians in France and Germany. Because these letters were the main way to contact family members, most of the POW correspondence contain thoughts of homesickness and loneliness along with updates …

A Series Of Political Russian Events To Exploit And Destroy The Volga Germans, 1914-1921, Kassidy Whetstone

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

Advanced Research Winner 2019:

Immigration has been controversial for centuries, as it is not always successful; the relationship between the host country and immigrants can become tense and even disastrous. This was the case for the Volga Germans in the Russian Saratov region, an immigration experiment gone wrong. It is important that the story of the Volga Germans be told, as it is suspected of being an experience of ethnic cleansing and genocide. In this project, I will investigate the Volga Germans in the Russian Saratov region, analyze the relationship between the Germans and their Russian neighbors in the early …

Echoes Of War: The Great War’S Impact On Literature, Samuel R. Williams

The Great Lakes Journal of Undergraduate History

This paper examines the works produced by: Erich Maria Remarque, Ernest Hemingway, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien, specifically to show how their writings recorded and translated the experiences of soldiers during World War I, and their struggle to assimilate into civilian society afterward. By examining authors and novels from varying geographic and national background, common themes of bitterness, trauma, and disillusionment are found in men that fought on both sides of the conflict. Literature’s reflection of these scars appears in the lived experiences woven into the writings by the authors, and the reactions of the wider public that shared similar …

Ms-232: Edward A Frederick Papers, Joy Zanghi

All Finding Aids

This collection is a small collection mostly comprised of postcards written by Edward A. Frederick to his family. The postcards follow Frederick from his training with the Aero Squadron in San Antonio Texas at Kelly Field to his service overseas in the UK and France. The collection also contains photographs, a newspaper clipping, and a ring and pins from the US Aero Squadron. Overall, the postcards and the collection as a whole do not provide much insight or detail about the life of a soldier during WWI.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe …

Migration, Colonialism, And Belonging: Tunisians Around The First World War, 1911-1925, Chris J. Rominger

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation analyzes the little-examined transnational experiences of ordinary North Africans around the First World War, demonstrating how the war catalyzed a wide and unexpected range of concepts of political and social belonging. With the Mediterranean once again the site of massive migration provoked by war and economic inequality, scholars and commentators have begun to revisit the First World War’s legacy in the Arab world. Yet much work focuses on the emergence of Arab nationalism or on the diplomatic folly of the European victors. My research confronts scholarly assumptions about the temporal and geographic boundaries of the First World War …

From The Trenches: Cross-Campus Digital History Collaboration, Amy E. Lucadamo, Ian A. Isherwood, R.C. Miessler, Jenna Fleming, Meghan E. O'Donnell

All Musselman Library Staff Works

In September 2015, our team launched The First World War Letters of H.J.C. Peirs (www.jackpeirs.org), a digital history initiative built on collaboration between faculty, students, and library staff. The project is founded on amazing primary source material, but with limited financial support and little dedicated staff time. We leveraged the creativity and hard work of our team members to build a website that is maintained by students and enhanced whenever possible with features and commentary from faculty and staff. Members of #TeamPeirs discussed the evolution of the project, the nature of our collaboration, and the intersection of audiences …

Egyptian Pieces Of The Empire's Puzzle: Peasants, Women, And Students In British Official Documents Issued After The 1919 Revolution In Egypt, Jane Linhares

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

The Great War At The Table: Food As A Lens Of Inquiry In The Historiography Of The First World War, Alexander Bacha

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay…………………………........3

II. Primary Documents and Headnotes………..23

III. Textbook Critique……………………………..28

IV. New Textbook Entry………………………….31

V. Bibliography…………………………………....37

“O Freunde, Nicht Diese Töne!" First World War Beethoven Reception As Precedent For The Nazi "Cult Of Art", David B. Dennis

David B. Dennis

No abstract provided.

Neurasthenia, Robert Graves, And Poetic Therapy In The Great War, Juliette E. Sebock

Student Publications

Though Robert Graves is remembered primarily for his memoir, Good-bye to All That, his First World War poetry is equally relevant. Comparably to the more famous writings of Sassoon and Owen, Graves' war poems depict the trauma of the trenches, marked by his repressed neurasthenia (colloquially, shell-shock), and foreshadow his later remarkable poetic talents.

For King And Country: Reconsidering The Great War Soldier In Britain, 1914-1945, Nicholas John Schaefer

Master's Theses

In the postwar period historians argued that the horrors of the First World War created an irreparable disconnect between soldiers’ pre and postwar lives. Scholars led by Paul Fussell and Eric Leed presented the Great War as a futile waste of life for a meaningless cause. This historiography argues that the generation which survived the Western Front returned to Britain as jaded shells of their former selves unable to relate to their old lives and families. Bitterness and apathy replaced belief in cause and country. In contrast, recent historiography asserts that British soldiers maintained belief in their country’s cause and …

The Great War Then And Now: Reflections On America’S Declaration Of War, Thomas S. Potter

Student Publications

This short essay explores the many impacts of the 1917 U.S. entry to World War I on the author's hometown of Pennington, NJ, and the reaction of its residents at the time.

Arnold Whitridge: Scholar And Veteran Of Two Armies And Two Wars, Keith J. Muchowski

Publications and Research

This is an invited blog post written for Roads to the Great War, a site dedicated to the study of the First World War edited by historian Mike Hanlon. The article discusses the life and career of Arnold Whitridge, a soldier, scholar and grandson of British poet Matthew Arnold.

This is the url:

http://roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com/2017/01/arnold-whitridge-scholar-and-veteran-of.html

American Battleship At War: Uss New York, Keith J. Muchowski

Publications and Research

This invited blog post tells the story of the USS New York, a dreadnought built just prior to the outbreak of the First World War and decommissioned after World War II.

Warlord: The Political And Military Ambitions Of Nazi Germany, William R. Underhill

Senior Theses

There are so many important stories to consider when thinking about World War II. It is easy to think about the popular aspects of the war: the causes, the major figures, the battles, and, of course, the lasting consequences. Yet there are other, lesser known storylines to consider, ones that have taken a backseat to the more popular narratives of the time. It is commonly understood that Nazi Germany was evil and that they had nothing but ill intentions for the rest of Europe and the world. However, it is vital to understand that Germany’s pre-war intentions are notably different …

Bodies In Conflict: From Gettysburg To Iraq, Laura E. Bergin

Schmucker Art Catalogs

The exhibition Bodies in Conflict: From Gettysburg to Iraq not only conveys an ambitious geographic and historical range, but also reflects the sensitivity, ambition, and thoughtfulness of its curator, Laura Bergin ’17. In examining how the human figure is represented in prints and photographs of modern war and political conflict, Laura considers how journalistic photographs, artistic interpretations, and other visual documentation of conflict and its aftermath compare between wars and across historical periods. Specific objects include a print and photographs from the Civil War, propaganda posters from World Wars I and II, photographs and a protest poster from the Vietnam …

The Poet's Corpus: Memory And Monumentality In Wilfred Owen's "The Show", Charles Hunter Joplin

Master's Theses

Wilfred Owen is widely recognized to be the greatest English “trench poet” of the First World War. His posthumously published war poems sculpt a nightmarish vision of trench warfare, one which enables Western audiences to consider the suffering of the English soldiers and the brutality of modern warfare nearly a century after the armistice. However, critical readings of Owen’s canonized corpus, including “The Show” (1917, 1918), only focus on their hellish imagery. I will add to these readings by demonstrating that “The Show” is primarily concerned with the limitations of lyric poetry, the monumentality of poetic composition, and the difficulties …