Download or read book Forgotten Lunatics of the Great War written by Peter Barham and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a poignant, sometimes ribald, history of the rank-and-file servicemen who were psychiatric casualties of World War One.
Download or read book Civilian Lunatic Asylums During the First World War written by Claire Hilton and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-10-30 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book explores the history of asylums and their civilian patients during the First World War, focusing on the effects of wartime austerity and deprivation on the provision of care. While a substantial body of literature on ‘shell shock’ exists, this study uncovers the mental wellbeing of civilians during the war. It provides the first comprehensive account of wartime asylums in London, challenging the commonly held view that changes in psychiatric care for civilians post-war were linked mainly to soldiers’ experiences and treatment. Drawing extensively on archival and published sources, this book examines the impact of medical, scientific, political, cultural and social change on civilian asylums. It compares four asylums in London, each distinct in terms of their priorities and the diversity of their patients. Revealing the histories of the 100,000 civilian patients who were institutionalised during the First World War, this book offers new insights into decision-making and prioritisation of healthcare in times of austerity, and the myriad factors which inform this.
Download or read book Broken Men written by Fiona Reid and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-04-23 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A genuinely new insight into the lives of shell-shocked soldiers both during and after the Great War. >
Download or read book A Weary Road written by Mark Osborne Humphries and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2018-11-05 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 16,000 Canadian soldiers suffered from shell shock during the Great War of 1914 to 1918. Despite significant interest from historians, we still know relatively little about how it was experienced, diagnosed, treated, and managed in the frontline trenches in the Canadian and British forces. How did soldiers relate to suffering comrades? Did large numbers of shell shock cases affect the outcome of important battles? Was frontline psychiatric treatment as effective as many experts claimed after the war? Were Canadians treated any differently than other Commonwealth soldiers? A Weary Road is the first comprehensive study to address these important questions. Author Mark Osborne Humphries uses research from Canadian, British, and Australian archives, including hundreds of newly available hospital records and patient medical files, to provide a history of war trauma as it was experienced, treated, and managed by ordinary soldiers.
Download or read book Brothers in the Great War written by Linda Maynard and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2021-01-26 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. Siblings are our longest lasting relationships. Narratives of the Great War abound with the war stories of brothers and sisters. Their emotional experiences span the novelty of departing for war or taking up war work, the turmoil of facing combat, the effort to provide ongoing support for family members, the ever-present anxiety for soldier-brothers, the depth of sibling grief and the multifarious ways surviving siblings sought to preserve the memory of their fallen brothers. This social and cultural history places siblinghood at the heart of our understanding of the war generation and how they balanced conflicting obligations to the nation, the military and their families. Drawing on a range of material, Brothers in the Great War, reveals how sibling bonds sustained fighting men and presents a novel insight into twentieth-century familial life.
Download or read book Memories and Representations of War written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The contributors to the present volume approach World War I and World War II as complex and intertwined crossroads leading to the definition of the new European (and world) reality, and deeply pervading the making of the twentieth century. These scholars belong to different yet complementary areas of research – history, literature, cinema, art history; they come from various national realities and discuss questions related to Italy, Britain, Germany, Poland, Spain, at times introducing a comparison between European and North American memories of the two World War experiences. These scholars are all guided by the same principle: to encourage the establishment of an interdisciplinary and trans-national dialogue in order to work out new approaches capable of integrating and acknowledging different or even opposing ways to perceive and interpret the same historical phenomenon. While assessing the way the memories of the two World Wars have been readjusted each time in relation to the evolving international historical setting and through various mediators of memory (cinema, literature, art and monuments), the various essays contribute to unveil a cultural panorama inhabited by contrasting memories and by divided memories not to emphasise divisions, but to acknowledge the ethical need for a truly shared act of reconciliation.
Download or read book Dweller in Shadows written by Kate Kennedy and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2023-07-11 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive biography of an extraordinary English poet and composer whose life was haunted by fighting in the First World War and, later, confinement in a mental asylum Ivor Gurney (1890–1937) wrote some of the most anthologized poems of the First World War and composed some of the greatest works in the English song repertoire, such as “Sleep.” Yet his life was shadowed by the trauma of the war and mental illness, and he spent his last fifteen years confined to a mental asylum. In Dweller in Shadows, Kate Kennedy presents the first comprehensive biography of this extraordinary and misunderstood artist. A promising student at the Royal College of Music, Gurney enlisted as a private with the Gloucestershire regiment in 1915 and spent two years in the trenches of the Western Front. Wounded in the arm and subsequently gassed during the Battle of Passchendaele, Gurney was recovering in hospital when his first collection of poems, Severn and Somme, was published. Despite episodes of depression, he resumed his music studies after the war until he was committed to an asylum in 1922. At times believing he was Shakespeare and that the “machines under the floor” were torturing him, he nevertheless continued to write and compose, leaving behind a vast body of unpublished work when he died of tuberculosis. Drawing on extensive archival research and spanning literary criticism, history, psychiatry and musicology, this compelling narrative sets Gurney’s life and work against the backdrop of the war and his institutionalisation, probing the links between madness, suffering and creativity. Facing death in the trenches, Gurney hoped that history might not “forget me quite.” This definitive account of his life and work helps ensure that he will indeed be remembered.
Download or read book The Great War written by Ian F. W. Beckett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-14 with total page 854 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The course of events of the Great War has been told many times, spurred by an endless desire to understand 'the war to end all wars'. However, this book moves beyond military narrative to offer a much fuller analysis of of the conflict's strategic, political, economic, social and cultural impact. Starting with the context and origins of the war, including assasination, misunderstanding and differing national war aims, it then covers the treacherous course of the conflict and its social consequences for both soldiers and civilians, for science and technology, for national politics and for pan-European revolution. The war left a long-term legacy for victors and vanquished alike. It created new frontiers, changed the balance of power and influenced the arts, national memory and political thought. The reach of this acount is global, showing how a conflict among European powers came to involve their colonial empires, and embraced Japan, China, the Ottoman Empire, Latin America and the United States.
Download or read book A Guide to British Military History written by Ian F. W. Beckett and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-06-30 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What exactly is military history? Forty years ago it meant battles, campaigns, great commanders, drums and trumpets. It was largely the preserve of military professionals and was used to support national history and nationalism. Now, though, the study of war has been transformed by the war and society approach, by the examination of identity, memory and gender, and a less Euro-centric and more global perspective. Generally it is recognised that war and conflict must be integrated into the wider narrative of historical development, and this is why Ian Becketts research guide is such a useful tool for anyone working in this growing field. It introduces students to all the key debates, issues and resources. While European and global perspectives are not neglected, there is an emphasis on the British experience of war since 1500. This survey of British military history will be essential reading and reference for anyone who has a professional or amateur interest in the subject, and it will be a valuable introduction for newcomers to it.
Download or read book Invisible Scars written by Meghan Fitzpatrick and published by UBC Press. This book was released on 2017-07-25 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Korean War (1950-53) was a ferocious and brutal conflict that produced over four million casualties in the span of three short years. Despite this, it remains relatively absent from most accounts of mental health and war trauma. Invisible Scars provides the first extended exploration of Commonwealth Division psychiatry during the Korean War and examines the psychiatric-care systems in place for the thousands of soldiers who fought in that conflict. Fitzpatrick demonstrates that although Commonwealth forces were generally successful in returning psychologically traumatized servicemen to duty and fostering good morale, they failed to compensate or support in a meaningful way veterans returning to civilian life. This book offers an intimate look into the history of psychological trauma. In addition, it engages with current disability, pensions, and compensation issues that remain hotly contested and reflects on the power of commemoration in the healing process.
Download or read book Shell Shocked Britain written by Suzie Grogan and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-10-31 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We know that millions of soldiers were scarred by their experiences in the First World War trenches, but what happened after they returned home? Suzie Grogan reveals the First World War's disturbing legacy for soldiers and their families. How did a nation of broken men, and 'spare' women cope? In 1922 the British Parliament published a report into the situation of thousands of 'service patients', or mentally ill ex-soldiers still in hospital. What happened to these men? Were they cured? What treatments were on offer? And what was the reception from their families and society? Drawing on a huge mass of original sources, Suzie Grogan answers all those questions, combining individual case studies with a narrative on wider events. Unpublished material from the archives shows the true extent of the trauma experienced by the survivors. This is a fresh perspective on the history of the post-war period, and the plight of a traumatised nation.
Download or read book Soldiers Bombs and Rifles written by Paola Lo Cascio and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2014-10-16 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is the result of an academic initiative organized by the Center for International Historical Studies of the University of Barcelona (CEHI-UB) in April 2012, with the purpose of bringing Military History to the center of the attention of university and historiographical debate. This choice is based on the idea that, too often, Military History is considered a technical discipline, only intended for experts. On the contrary, we think that – on the one hand – this research field constitutes an unavoidable tool for the interpretation of the historical processes of contemporaneity, and that – on the other – Military History is among the most interesting research fields because of its intrinsic interdisciplinarity. On the basis of these considerations, the congress and the resulting book propose the analysis of some of the main war processes of the twentieth century, from a perspective that could situate them in the wider background defined by the conflicts themselves. The book gathers the contributions of Professors Fortunato Minniti (University of Roma Tre, Rome), Giuseppe Conti (University La Sapienza, Rome), Joan Villarroya (University of Barcelona), Allan R. Millett (University of New Orleans) and Antoni Segura i Mas (University of Barcelona), respectively about World War I, war intelligence, the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the asymmetric conflicts ranging from the Cold War to more recent examples.
Download or read book Broken Men written by Fiona Reid and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2014-03-04 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shell shock achieved a very high political profile in the years 1919-1922. Publications ranging from John Bull to the Morning Post insisted that shell-shocked men should be treated with respect, and the Minister for Health announced that the government was committed to protecting shell-shocked men from the stigma of lunacy. Yet at the same time, many mentally-wounded veterans were struggling with a pension system which was failing to give them security. It is this conflict between the political rhetoric and the lived experience of many wounded veterans that explains why the government was unable to dispel the negative wartime assessment of official shell-shock treatment. There was also a real conflict between the government's wish to forget shell shock whilst memorialising the war and remembering the war dead. As a result of these contradictions, shell shock was not forgotten, on the contrary, the shell-shocked soldier quickly grew to symbolise the confusions and inconsistencies of the Great War.
Download or read book Psychological Trauma and the Legacies of the First World War written by Jason Crouthamel and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-11-17 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This transnational, interdisciplinary study of traumatic neurosis moves beyond the existing histories of medical theory, welfare, and symptomatology. The essays explore the personal traumas of soldiers and civilians in the wake of the First World War; they also discuss how memory and representations of trauma are transmitted between patients, doctors and families across generations. The book argues that so far the traumatic effects of the war have been substantially underestimated. Trauma was shaped by gender, politics, and personality. To uncover the varied forms of trauma ignored by medical and political authorities, this volume draws on diverse sources, such as family archives and narratives by children of traumatized men, documents from film and photography, memoirs by soldiers and civilians. This innovative study challenges us to re-examine our approach to the complex psychological effects of the First World War.
Download or read book Shell shocked British Army veterans in Ireland 1918 39 written by Michael Robinson and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-08 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study provides the first exclusive analysis of disabled First World War veterans who returned to Ireland. With a case study of mental illness, it foregrounds how the treatment and experiences of disabled communities in past societies is shaped by the existing socio-economic, cultural and political context.
Download or read book Touch and Intimacy in First World War Literature written by Santanu Das and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-04-06 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The First World War ravaged the male body on an unprecedented scale, yet fostered moments of physical intimacy and tenderness among the soldiers in the trenches. Touch, the most elusive and private of the senses, became central to war experience. War writing is haunted by experiences of physical contact: from the muddy realities of the front to the emotional intensity of trench life, to the traumatic obsession with the wounded body in nurses' memoirs. Through extensive archival and historical research, analysing previously unknown letters and diaries alongside literary writings by figures such as Owen and Brittain, Santanu Das recovers the sensuous world of the First World War trenches and hospitals. This original and evocative study alters our understanding of the period as well as of the body at war, and illuminates the perilous intimacy between sense experience, emotion and language as we try to make meaning in times of crisis.
Download or read book Breakdown written by Taylor Downing and published by Little, Brown Book Group. This book was released on 2016-04-07 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paralysis. Stuttering. The 'shakes'. Inability to stand or walk. Temporary blindness or deafness. When strange symptoms like these began appearing in men at Casualty Clearing Stations in 1915, a debate began in army and medical circles as to what it was, what had caused it and what could be done to cure it. But the numbers were never large. Then in July 1916 with the start of the Somme battle the incidence of shell shock rocketed. The high command of the British army began to panic. An increasingly large number of men seemed to have simply lost the will to fight. As entire battalions had to be withdrawn from the front, commanders and military doctors desperately tried to come up with explanations as to what was going wrong. 'Shell shock' - what we would now refer to as battle trauma - was sweeping the Western Front. By the beginning of August 1916, nearly 200,000 British soldiers had been killed or wounded during the first month of fighting along the Somme. Another 300,000 would be lost before the battle was over. But the army always said it could not calculate the exact number of those suffering from shell shock. Re-assessing the official casualty figures, Taylor Downing for the first time comes up with an accurate estimate of the total numbers who were taken out of action by psychological wounds. It is a shocking figure. Taylor Downing's revelatory new book follows units and individuals from signing up to the Pals Battalions of 1914, through to the horrors of their experiences on the Somme which led to the shell shock that, unrelated to weakness or cowardice, left the men unable to continue fighting. He shines a light on the official - and brutal - response to the epidemic, even against those officers and doctors who looked on it sympathetically. It was, they believed, a form of hysteria. It was contagious. And it had to be stopped. Breakdown brings an entirely new perspective to bear on one of the iconic battles of the First World War.
