Patriotism, Identity and Commemoration
New Light on the Great War from the Papers of Major Reggie Chenevix Trench
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9878951 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anthony Fletcher (Universidad de Londres, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 90 |
| Issue | 300 |
| Pages | 532-549 |
| Publication date | 2005-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2648 • E-ISSN: 1468-229X |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1468-229x.2005.00349.x |
| OpenAlex | W2005061249 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 1 |
This article builds upon the recent historiography of the First World War to illuminate three aspects of the war. As a case study, it uses the papers of Major Reggie Chenevix Trench, a young territorial officer who first trained men for leadership on the western front and then served there himself from February 1917 until he was killed the following March. It contends that the springs of patriotism lay in a Victorian notion of manhood, which was developed in the writings notably of Rudyard Kipling and others. Young men were able to see the war as a Great Adventure. The relationship between paternalism and deference, it is argued, is the key to understanding how the British war effort was managed. Comradeship, achieved through shared suffering, defined men as heroes through their willingness to endure. The article ends with an exploration of how a surviving collection of condolence letters, written on the death of Major Reggie Chenevix Trench, indicates the universal use of a language of heroism and sacrifice, which enabled loved ones, in their grief, to cling to a set of patriotic certainties that were rooted in the Victorian past
Adventure · Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Deference · Historiography · Identity (music · Paternalism · Patriotism · Political science · Sacrifice · Sociology · World War II · History · Law · Military History and Strategy · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,18 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2017 (9) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |