The Great War and Medieval Memory: War, Remembrance and Medievalism in Britain and Germany, 1914-1940

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Cambridge University Press, Jan 25, 2007 - History - 357 pages
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A genuinely comparative study of the cultural impact of the Great War on British and German societies in the first half of the twentieth century. Taking public commemorations as its focus, this book unravels the British and German search for historical continuity and meaning in the shadow of an unprecedented human catastrophe. In both countries, the survivors of the Great War pictured the conflict as the 'Last Crusade' and sought consolation in imagery that connected the soldiers of the age of total war with the knights of the Middle Ages. Stefan Goebel shows that medievalism as a mode of war commemoration transcended national and cultural boundaries. This is an invaluable contribution to the burgeoning study of cultural memory and collective remembrance which will appeal to researchers and students in the history of the First World War, social and cultural history of warfare and medieval studies.
 

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Contents

Front Cover
27
the place
28
continuity with a remote preindustrial past in
29
visitors who did not share Sassoons bitterness A journalist from
30
about 30 miniatures of Churches other local views Army
32
case of fictive kinship the bereaved could imagine him as
34
which infused the static signifier with meaning High politics could
35
cultural policies and political aesthetics Redslob proposed in an article
36
and selfcontrol not to the overpowering force of total
158
within the framework of communal commemorations which were
159
strength17 Composure not brutality distinguished this iron warrior
160
even harder material21 Wooden objects were thus turned into steeled
161
written the humorous poem Swabian Intelligence Schwabische
162
The steelhelmeted man
164
The steel helmet connoted the imagined Kriegserlebnis of the frontline
165
for the onset of nervous symptoms On the contrary they
166

architecture seemed to protect the grave erected in its centre
38
Constructing continuity
39
Experts were alarmed by the example of the monumental legacy
41
be called contextual memorials The underlying assumption was that
42
in Bremens ancient cathedral40 The actual project was stillborn yet
43
national Valhalla of great names saw the apotheosis of a
44
It is noteworthy that the Unknown Warrior was interred in
45
The way the Unknown Warrior was absorbed into the history
46
afterthought57 Adenauers initiative failed not least because it was an
47
was decided to rebuild the eastern chapel of Norwich Cathedral
48
respectively acted in an advisory capacity to the committees In
50
In 1920 the Dean of Norwich launched a public appeal
51
Later in the same year the dean introduced on Christmas
52
Legend had it that for centuries passing craftsmen had followed
53
commemoration must be affixed to my war sign for centuries
54
Music is an important element in church liturgy At the
55
foundress and daughter of King Alfred Edward the Confessor a
56
Projecting features of modern soldiers on to historic or legendary
57
theology and the lives of the saints by means of
59
Crafts aesthetics To be sure there were notable exceptions like
60
In sum memorial makers in Britain and Germany developed similar
62
memorial which was to be placed at Germanys most central
63
The same discrepancy between iconographical evidence and
64
knight116 Berlins nude knight has no equivalent in British
65
was the Dean of Westminster who pushed through the tomb
66
of the world war Germanicism became fully entrenched in popular
69
correspondence with their colleagues at Marienburg Unlike them
72
confined neither to the rightwing milieu although they were
73
permission to set up a boulder with an Iron Cross
74
funeral mounds in a book edited by the provincial advice
75
landscape gardeners and memorial committees The Volksbund
77
which Lange only mentioned in parenthesis Gothic architecture in
78
coupled the Heldenhain idea with Germanic mythology for Mount
79
Tombs for Unknown Warriors surrogate bodies endless lists of names
80
the nature
81
TAKE UP THE SWORD OF JUSTICE also visualised the
82
Righteousness the Shield of Faith the Helmet of Salvation and
83
the idea of sacred strife12 Robert Graves noted after the
84
presiding over or executing the Weltgericht the world judgment which
85
specific idea of holy war was reduced to a mere
86
the Crusaders sword presented by the king a relic of
87
Crusaders Sword was already part of the uniform style of
88
Old families of this land were
90
Richard C ur de Lions mythic counterpart Louis IX saint and
91
Liberal instincts remained deeply ingrained across British society
93
former he praised for its original and unpretentious style The
96
since their legends shared many features such as the fight
97
had to lend his name to Operation Michael one of
98
maintaining her position reckenstark strong like a warrior in a
99
the homeland and the fatherland figure most prominently in German
100
1000yearold Trutzburg stronghold79 In England castles similarly
101
Totenburgen fortresses of the dead as burial places85 Stark fortresses
102
Avariation on the fortress theme represented the use of remains
104
Figure 22 Iron Roland Wartime postcard depicting the ironnail
105
liberty metamorphosed during the war into a fighter for the
106
Dortmund both of 191599 The latter depicted Dortmunds
108
finding is revealing The memorial clearly features a Feldgrauer a
110
which was not invented but revived during the nineteenth century
111
freedom117 In Britain commemorations of the 191418 conflict
114
Cross rededicated as St Georges Chapel in 1944 functioned as
115
British travel agent Thomas Cook Like a conqueror the Kaiser
117
and Lutheran churches established missions and other institutions in the
118
Eric Kennington a man who believed in the individuality and
119
The jihad idea was contrary to the British frame of
120
Canada the department of education included the monograph in a
121
The Hertfordshire Regiments part in the liberation of Jerusalem by
122
Crusading imagery was supradenominational At the Roman Catholic
123
stainedglass window dedicated to a namesake of his Richard Knowles
124
Islamic jihad nor the Christian crusade could plausibly serve as
125
Tannenberg and eastern Europe
127
August 1914 was a careful recollection of the clash of
128
functionalism and Art Deco166 The diverse functions of the memorial
129
When Hitler finally declared the Tannenberg site a Reich memorial
130
In 1927 when the Reich President attained the age of
131
sect founded in 1925 shrilly ostracising Freemasons Jesuits Jews and
132
It is worth contrasting this statement with the unveiling volume
134
warriors in pursuit of Lebensraum livingspace rather than Kulturtrager
135
Vaterlandische Verbande the Deutscher Ostmarkenverein founded in
136
A key element of the mental conquest of eastern Europe
137
which also includes a list of the names of its
138
readily joined the national camp and gave its consent for
139
time203 This very passage from his speech was recorded verbatim
140
The memorial of Tannenberg was intended to broadcast German
141
formative influence of Germanic stone circles Their clients did not
142
completed in peacetime the opening of the fountain was originally
143
The paranoia about the Slavic threat took on new dimensions
144
into both scripts In Germany personalisation paved the way for
145
wars are wars of belief have been in the past
146
Germanys messianic zeal Moreover the increasing pressure on her
147
of Goslar and the Neue Wache the classicalstyle guard house
148
plan became inevitable because of the war The project was
149
our promise242 In addition to real history the Song of
150
of the Viking raiders belonged to the arsenal of southern
152
and this trend continued after 1918 The mayor of Todmorden
154
Ultimately most discussions of the nature of the conflict in
155
the war
156
armour said Lloyd George in the winter of 19144 Even
157
World War experience namely operations in the front line of
167
to return to their civilian lives held themselves aloof from
168
British art critics the Leipzig memorial stood as an antimodel
170
he made no attempt to link this observation to the
172
been fortunate enough to be spared from havoc and humiliation
174
Historic ruins at home
175
Belgians the ruins of Ypres including the thirteenthcentury Cloth Hall
176
front75 Nevertheless in 191418 both the British and German
177
fountain also a work by Lohf was opened near the
178
irreplaceable cultural treasures to new dangers Buildings that had defied
179
Versailles Treaty German libraries were forced to hand over books
180
military were to be marked with appropriate symbols and spared
181
lieu de memoire A shellshattered pilaster from the cathedral was
182
the scope and scale of the destruction Photography proved a
183
preservationists fancied themselves custodians of art history in the midst
184
The plan which came to nought was absolutely in line
185
imagery reveals striking ambiguities in negotiations of modernity
186
the soldiers character
187
Junger reiterated a British popular sentiment Chivalry dominated
188
chapter Instead they exalted the soldiers chivalry a code of
189
character12 Character in turn demanded conquering ones weaker self
190
Christian and Arthurian iconography tended to converge frequently to
192
saint St George triumphing over the dragon were unproblematic
194
elements do not necessarily occur together in any given memorial
195
Memorial makers indulged in masculine heroics Nevertheless Paul
196
Tranquil you
197
dedicated to a true and very gallant Welsh gentleman stated
198
were they gallant in action they were chivalrous to their
199
a cross as in the case of the Pearl Assurance
200
Gentlemanliness and chivalry had long been the identifying code of
202
insignificance of affirmative chivalric notation in German war
203
Bernd Huppauf has characterised the opposition between the myths
204
of the Bundische Jugend gathered in the Rhon mountains to
205
corps of publicschooleducated Britons School and university war
207
from the FrancoPrussian war in AlsaceLorraine provoked public
208
Naturally diplomatic etiquette shaped and constrained the language
209
Song of the Nibelungen in Germany At the time Wihelms
210
General Erich Ludendorff who made a name for himself as
211
from the otherwise unspectacular war at sea Having sent Britains
212
German perspective submarines and Zeppelins took reprisals for enemy
213
prime symbol of German savagery and a Berlin Dada artist
215
western Allies105 While the western Allies labelled such acts Hunnish
216
the game though followed a different set of rules In
217
the Versailles Treaty116 Some construed sport as a peacetime surrogate
218
effort Eventually in April 1915 the Football Association gave in
219
for comparing great things with small for the chevalerie of
221
Cricket hockey and rugby were of course a privilege of
222
one finds the verse of John William Streets a coal
223
man with whom I fence I merely want to
224
where there was still chivalry and honour147 In short the
225
in the funeral honours for the dead Richthofen provided by
226
homegrown knights of the sky157 The most notable memorial to
227
whom the bestial Hun was indiscriminately raining down bombs
228
leader himself as superman hard as steel with steely blue
229
slaughter but the reconfiguration of wartime brutality in postwar
230
the prospects
231
right between death and life recalling the soldiers nobility and
232
principal point of religious reference in war remembrance The Passion
233
they cannot reject the symbol of selfsacrifice which the wooden
234
The lanterne aux morts at Beaconsfield on the traditional medieval
235
similar ends in Britain15 In order to appeal to a
237
cross where a roof supported by pillars had been added
239
the cross32 The design of the latter by Hermann Hosaeus
242
bottle containing an historical sketch of their monumental tribute to
243
2 to 1 out of a total of 996 entries37
246
Supernatural Allies first and foremost the English patron saint
247
legend the market for the paranormal had still not been
248
discursive fields It is noteworthy that saintly intervention was
249
The fact that the bloodshed came to an end on
251
Pray for the souls
252
annual peak of family mourning the warmemorial chapel of St
253
To summarise this section Christianity or rather medievalist forms
254
Britain is a remarkable indication of the public denial of
255
is important to recognise that this distinction is purely conceptual
256
of 180167 The memorial was neither stridently heroic nor funerary
257
anatomically whole humans provided a literal and metaphorical
258
presumed a tacit agreement as to what the plot should
260
the cover signalling defiance like a mirror image of the
262
in Thuringia until the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire
263
Ottos twentiethcentury descendants whereas the SocialDemocratic
264
to the Staufen dynasty was briefly under discussion too85 Designers
265
captures the moment of his awakening while the Whitebeard is
266
the monument of 1896 promising individual and national rebirth
267
The return from Avalon
268
Unknown Warrior reads the epitaph suggested by one Mr T
269
personal griefs102 Kitcheners body was never found and rumours
270
exhibition catalogue and the press broadcast the agenda of the
272
who stand below no individual identity112 Likewise Charles Sargeant
274
national war memorial derived from the areas sublime beauty
275
the collapse of the home front in autumn 1918 amid
276
While the mayor and the chancellor were secretly conferring about
277
The Lorelei a precipitous rock on the River Rhine not
278
of Liberation127 Around the same time the newspapers Catholic rival
279
Museum Folkwang the proposed project combined the bourgeois ideal
280
are calling our memorial the Hitler castle So past and
282
the war should be commemorated by means of flags frescoes
283
rector of the university taking his cue from Wagner called
284

Other editions - View all

The Great War and Medieval Memory: War, Remembrance and Medievalism in ...
Stefan Goebel
No preview available - 2007
The Great War and Medieval Memory: War, Remembrance and Medievalism in ...
Stefan Goebel
No preview available - 2009

Common terms and phrases

Abbey architecture armour BArch battle battlefield Berlin Britain British Cambridge castle Cathedral Catholic century chivalry Christian Church commemorative conflict cross crusade cultural dead death Denkmal Deutsche deutschen Deutschland Dušsseldorf East Prussia Eiserne enemy Ersten Weltkrieg fallen soldiers field fight fighting figure first folio French fušr Gefallenen German Germany’s Geschichte Gošttingen GStAPK Heimat Heldenhaine Hermann Hosaeus heroes Hindenburg holy honour Ibid images iron iron-nail Jušnger Kaiser Karl Ernst Osthaus King knights Krieg Kriegerdenkmašler Krušger Langemarck legend London Lurz medieval memorial chapel memorial committee memorial window military modern monument Mušnster Munich myth narratives NIWM November official Oxford propaganda Reichsehrenmal Reichskunstwart remembrance Rhein Rhine Roland sacrifice saint significance St George St Michael Stahlhelm steel Storm of Steel sword symbol Tageblatt Tannenberg memorial Teutonic Teutonic Knights Teutonic Order ušber University Press Unknown Warrior unsere unveiling Valhalla Volk wartime Weimar Western Front Westminster Abbey Wilhelm Willy Lange World Zeitung

About the author (2007)

Stefan Goebel is Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Kent at Canterbury, and Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, London.

Bibliographic information

QR code for The Great War and Medieval Memory
TitleThe Great War and Medieval Memory: War, Remembrance and Medievalism in Britain and Germany, 1914-1940
Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare, ISSN 2635-2117
AuthorStefan Goebel
Editionillustrated, reprint
PublisherCambridge University Press, 2007
ISBN0521854156, 9780521854153
Length357 pages
Subjects ›  ›  › 

History / Europe / General
History / Europe / Germany
History / Europe / Great Britain / General
History / Europe / Medieval
History / Military / General
History / Modern / 20th Century / General
History / Wars & Conflicts / World War I
Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social
  
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