Haig and Kitchener in twentieth-century Britain : remembrance, representation and appropriation / Stephen Heathorn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heathorn, Stephen J., 1965- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kitchener, Horatio Herbert Kitchener, Earl, 1850-1916.

Kitchener, Horatio Herbert Kitchener.

Haig, Douglas Haig, Earl, 1861-1928.

Haig, Douglas Haig.

World War, 1914-1918--Historiography.

World War, 1914-1918.

Marshals--Great Britain--Biography.

Marshals.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (279 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2016.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Lord Kitchener and Lord Haig are two monumental figures of the First World War. Their reputations, both in their lifetimes and after their deaths, have been attacked and defended, scrutinized and contested. They have been depicted in film, print and public memorials in Britain and the wider world, and new biographies of both men appear to this day. The material representations of Haig and Kitchener were shaped, used and manipulated for official and popular ends by a variety of groups at different times during the twentieth century. The purpose of this study is not to discover the real individual, nor to attack or defend their reputations, rather it is an exploration of how both men have been depicted since their deaths and to consider what this tells us about the nature and meaning of First World War commemoration. While Haig's representation was more contested before the Second World War than was Kitchener's, with several constituencies trying to fashion and use Haig's memory - the Government, the British Legion, ex-servicemen themselves, and bereaved families - it was probably less contested, but overwhelmingly more negative, than Kitchener's after the Second World War. The book sheds light on the notion of 'heroic' masculinity - questioning, in particular, the degree to which the image of the common soldier replaced that of the high commander in the popular imagination - and explores how the military heritage in the twentieth century came into collision with the culture of modernity. It also contributes to ongoing debates in British historiography and to the larger debates over the social construction of memory, the problematic relation between what is considered 'heritage' and 'history', and the need for historians to be sensitive and attentive to the interconnections between heritage and history and their contexts.

Contents:

Introduction

Outrage and reverence : wartime and post-war reactions to the death of Kitchener

Conspiracy and scandal : Kitchener's contested death in the interwar years

Commemoration and controversy : Haig's funeral and national monument

"Haigiography" : Haig and his character as a lieu de mémoire

Bitterness and satire : Kitchener and Haig in visual and material culture

Conclusion.

Notes:

"First published 2013 by Ashgate Publishing"--t.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781409466093

1409466094

9781317124122

131712412X

9781315586076

131558607X

9781317124115

1317124111

9781299184268

129918426X

9781409466086

1409466086

OCLC:

828423777