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1 - Familiarising the Western Front

Attachment to Belgium and France

from Part I - The Environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2024

Alex Mayhew
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
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Summary

This chapter charts soldiers’ journeys across the Western Front. Drawing on the concept of ‘place attachment’, it explains how men developed an emotional relationship with Belgium and France. Beginning with their arrival by boat, it narrates their experiences in ports, bases, and camps and from there through the countryside and towns to the frontlines. It follows this journey, investigating the processes by which English infantrymen explored and were exposed to the war zone. This allowed them to internalise and reconceptualise Belgium and France. Subtle psychological processes allowed men to familiarise the sights, sounds, and scents that they encountered. These were both conscious and unconscious products of both purposeful action and unconscious psychological mechanisms. Repeated exposure habituated soldiers to the sights, sounds, and scents that confronted them, even in the frontlines. Elsewhere, men made use of language to craft new narratives and to normalise the violence and death that surrounded them. They developed very personal relationships with landscapes, spaces, and places. The Western Front became the locus of important life experiences and memories and was littered with graves that represented personal and collective loss. The landscapes of Belgium and France became a metaphysical space as their features were increasingly associated with ideas of duty, German barbarity, and sacrifice.

Type
Chapter
Information
Making Sense of the Great War
Crisis, Englishness, and Morale on the Western Front
, pp. 35 - 79
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Familiarising the Western Front
  • Alex Mayhew, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Making Sense of the Great War
  • Online publication: 11 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009168762.006
Available formats
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  • Familiarising the Western Front
  • Alex Mayhew, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Making Sense of the Great War
  • Online publication: 11 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009168762.006
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Familiarising the Western Front
  • Alex Mayhew, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Making Sense of the Great War
  • Online publication: 11 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009168762.006
Available formats
×