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British Prisoners of War in First World War Germany Oliver Wilkinson (University of Wolverhampton)

British Prisoners of War in First World War Germany By Oliver Wilkinson (University of Wolverhampton)

British Prisoners of War in First World War Germany by Oliver Wilkinson (University of Wolverhampton)


Summary

Over 185,000 British military servicemen were captured by the Germans during the First World War. Utilising official government reports alongside private diaries, letters and personal testimonies, British Prisoners of War in First World War Germany restores the forgotten history of these men and their experiences of captivity to the historiography of the First World War.

British Prisoners of War in First World War Germany Summary

British Prisoners of War in First World War Germany by Oliver Wilkinson (University of Wolverhampton)

Over 185,000 British military servicemen were captured by the Germans during the First World War and incarcerated as prisoners of war (POWs). In this original investigation into their experiences of captivity, Wilkinson uses official and private British source material to explore how these servicemen were challenged by, and responded to, their wartime fate. Examining the psychological anguish associated with captivity, and physical trials, such as the controlling camp spaces; harsh routines and regimes; the lack of material necessities; and, for many, forced labour demands, he asks if, how and with what effects British POWs were able to respond to such challenges. The culmination of this research reveals a range of coping strategies embracing resistance; leadership and organisation; networks of support; and links with 'home worlds'. British Prisoners of War in First World War Germany offers an original insight into First World War captivity, the German POW camps, and the mentalities and perceptions of the British servicemen held within.

British Prisoners of War in First World War Germany Reviews

'In this meticulously researched book, Oliver Wilkinson tells us why military captivity in the First World War mattered. Significantly, he demonstrates that POW camps were not a separate universe, divorced from fighting front and home front, but intimately connected with both. This is a story told with passion, but also with scholarly precision and close attention to detail.' Matthew Stibbe, Sheffield Hallam University
'Compelling, comprehensive, and original, based on an impressive range of sources, this book is a major contribution to the scholarship on First World War captivity.' Heather Jones, The London School of Economics and Political Science

About Oliver Wilkinson (University of Wolverhampton)

Oliver Wilkinson is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in History, Politics and War Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, having researched British captivity experiences in the First World War for a decade. His previous works include contributions to the edited collections War and Displacement in the Twentieth Century: Global Conflicts (2014) and Cultural Heritage and Prisoners of War: Creativity behind Barbed Wire (2012), and to the Journal of War and Culture Studies.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. Behind the Wire: 1. Capture; 2. The camps; 3. Routine, work and discipline; 4. Necessities of life; Part II. Prisoner Responses: 5. Resistance; 6. Leadership and organisation; 7. Friends and feuds; 8. Linking with home; Conclusion: 9. Repatriation, futures and myths.

Additional information

NLS9781316648872
9781316648872
1316648877
British Prisoners of War in First World War Germany by Oliver Wilkinson (University of Wolverhampton)
New
Paperback
Cambridge University Press
2019-03-28
322
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
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