Description
Book SynopsisAlthough the Great War was sparked and fueled by nationalism, it was ultimately a struggle between empires. The shots fired in Sarajevo mobilized citizens and subjects across far-flung continents that were connected by European empires. This imperial experience of the Great War influenced European soldiers’ ideas about the conflict, leading them to reimagine empires and their places with them and eventually reshaping imperial cultures.
In
Empire between the Lines Elizabeth Stice analyzes stories, poetry, plays, and cartoons in British and French trench newspapers to demonstrate how British and French soldiers experienced and envisioned empires through the war and the war through empire. By establishing the imperial context for European soldiers and exploring representations of colonial troops, depictions of non-European campaigns, and descriptions of the German enemy, Stice argues that while certain narratives from prewar imperial culture persisted, the experie
Trade Review“This is a fine study of trench newspapers and the other kinds of amateur journalism British and French soldiers produced during the Great War. Elizabeth Stice shows that although soldiers spoke the language of empire, they fought not for empire but for their towns and villages. We see clearly the presence of the global in the local on the Western Front and the ways Orientalism distorted soldiers’ attitudes when they fought on other fronts.”—Jay Winter, author of
Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History“
Empire between the Lines, a perceptive analysis of how British and French soldiers understood the role of empire and imperialism in the First World War, deepens in important ways our understanding of the war and those who fought it.”—Martha Hanna, author of
Your Death Would Be Mine: Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great WarTable of Contents Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Great War in Imperial Context
2. “Who Is Christopher of Whisky Fame?”
3. Men on the Margins
4. Other Fronts, Other Wars?
5. Why War?
6. The Imperial Enemy?
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
