
Britain and France in Two World Wars
Truth, Myth and Memory
Bloomsbury Academic USA (Publisher)
Published on 18. July 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
232 pages
978-1-4411-3039-6 (ISBN)
Description
France and Britain, indispensable allies in two world wars, remember and forget their shared history in contrasting ways. The book examines key episodes in the relationship between the two countries, including the outbreak of war in 1914, the battles of the Somme and Verdun, the Fall of France in 1940, Dunkirk, and British involvement in the French Resistance and the 1944 Liberation. The contributors discuss how the two countries tend to forget what they owe to each other, and have a distorted view of history which still colours and prejudices their relationship today, despite government efforts to build a close political and military partnership.
Reviews / Votes
The contributions offer a vivid illustration of how the same event can yield sharply divergent memories in two neighbouring countries. -- Robert Boyce * www.histoire-politique.fr * These essays are an excellent advertisement for comparative history: this approach sheds further light on the relationship between war and memory in both countries ... This collection demonstrates that approaches in military and diplomatic history can effectively incorporate elements of cultural history, and vice versa. -- Vincent Trott * Reviews in History * These essays penned by experts in the field comprise a compelling whole, reminding us that the interaction between truth, myth and memory is complex and fascinating - and even more so when the Franco-British relationship is involved. -- James E. Connolly * French History * Robert Tombs is an expert on Franco-British relations both academically and personally ... he and research fellow Emile Chabal brought a Premier League Franco-British team to St John's College Cambridge to discuss the 'Truth, Myth and Memory' of the complex relationship between Britain and France in two world wars ... Britain and France is a good example how a group of historians can write good comparative history. -- Robert Gildea * Modern & Contemporary France * The contributors offer new insights on Franco-British relations, past and present, on the way both countries viewed each other in 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, and how they have remembered those periods ... [They] go beyond the theme of a "love-hate" relationship, thus adding to Franco-British scholarship a comparative - at times transnational - history of France and Britain's memory. -- Charlotte Faucher, Queen Mary University of London, UK * Contemporary French Civilization * This volume is an immensely engaging and wide-ranging work of scholarship, with valuable and original insights into the Anglo-French experience and memory of both world wars. -- Heather Jones * The London School of Economics and Political Science *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
360 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4411-3039-6 (9781441130396)
DOI
CBID166111
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
07/2013
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic USA
€36.49
Available for download

E-Book
07/2013
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic USA
€36.49
Available for download
Persons
Robert Tombs is Professor of French History at the University of Cambridge, UK.
Emile Chabal is a Chancellor's Fellow in History at the University of Edinburgh, UK.
Emile Chabal is a Chancellor's Fellow in History at the University of Edinburgh, UK.
Content
General Introduction: Robert Tombs
Part I - The First World War
Introduction: Gary Sheffield
1. Why Allies: Necessity or Folly? John Keiger
2. Sacrifice and Slaughter: Two Armies, Two Wars? William Philpott
3. The Push to Victory, 1918: The Allied Contributions, Elizabeth Greenhalgh
Part II - The Second World War
Introduction: Emile Chabal and Akhila Yechury
4. 1940: The French Army and the BEF, Martin Alexander
5. The British, the Free French, and Resistance, Sebastien Albertelli
6. Liberation: The British Contribution, Olivier Wieviorka
Part III - Remembering and Forgetting
Introduction: Philip Bell
7. The First World War, Jay Winter
8. The Second World War, Robert Frank
9. An Overview, David Reynolds
Index
Part I - The First World War
Introduction: Gary Sheffield
1. Why Allies: Necessity or Folly? John Keiger
2. Sacrifice and Slaughter: Two Armies, Two Wars? William Philpott
3. The Push to Victory, 1918: The Allied Contributions, Elizabeth Greenhalgh
Part II - The Second World War
Introduction: Emile Chabal and Akhila Yechury
4. 1940: The French Army and the BEF, Martin Alexander
5. The British, the Free French, and Resistance, Sebastien Albertelli
6. Liberation: The British Contribution, Olivier Wieviorka
Part III - Remembering and Forgetting
Introduction: Philip Bell
7. The First World War, Jay Winter
8. The Second World War, Robert Frank
9. An Overview, David Reynolds
Index