Saturday, 14 September 2019

Legacies of the First World War edited by W Cocroft and P Stamper



The Historic England publication seeks to explore the full range of impacts of the First World War on our built environment and landscape.

Within the UK the war was a period dominated by construction rather than destruction, as new facilities were needed to meet the direct needs of the massively expanded armed forces or the array of supporting functions and industries.

When the war ended some were quickly dismantled, some re-purposed, and some retained in military use. Where they have lasted until today layers of Second World War and Cold War adaptation often masks their origin.

We tend to think of the First World War as something that happened in northern France, in contrast to the a way that collective memory of Blitz and Battle of Britain locates the “Home Front” of the Second World War more squarely. This book helps to rebalance that showing that in every corner of the UK the First World War was having a physical impact, and alongside the physical there were social, economic, cultural impacts too.

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