“The Battalion: Citizen Soldiers at War on the Western Front” A Discussion with Dr. Ian Isherwood

Battles of the First World War Podcast

Mike Cunha

History

4.8 • 812 Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr. Isherwood returns to the podcast to talk about his new book “The Battalion: Citizen Soldiers at War on the Western Front.”

From Casemate Publishers:

“How did ordinary citizens become soldiers during the First World War, and how did they cope with the extraordinary challenges they confronted on the Western Front? These are questions Ian Isherwood seeks to answer in this absorbing and deeply researched study of the actions and experiences of an infantry battalion throughout the conflict. His work gives us a vivid impression of the reality of war for these volunteers and an insight into the motivation that kept them fighting.

The narrative traces the history of the 8th Battalion The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), a Kitchener battalion raised in 1914. The letters, memoirs and diaries of the men of the battalion, in particular the correspondence of their commanding officer, reveal in fascinating detail what wartime life was like for this group of men. It includes vivid accounts of the major battles in which they were involved – Loos, the Somme, Passchendaele, the German Spring Offensive, and the final 100 Days campaign.

The battalion took heavy losses, yet those who survived continued to fight and took great pride in their service, an attitude that is at odds with much of the popular perception of the Great War. Ian Isherwood brings in the latest research on military thinking and learning, on emotional resilience, and cultural history to tell their story.”

Follow the First World War Letters of H.J.C. Peirs, a digital history project at Gettysburg College:

https://www.jackpeirs.org

Where to buy “The Battalion: Citizen Soldiers at War on the Western Front” -

https://www.casematepublishers.com/9781526774224/the-battalion/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The The
0:23.6	The Hey folks, welcome to the battles of the First World War podcast.
0:56.8	Returning to the podcast today is Dr. Ian Isherwood here to discuss his recently released book titled The Battalion,
1:05.9	Citizen Soldiers at War on the Western Front.
1:11.1	A bit of Dr. Isherwood's own history.
1:15.4	Ian Isherwood is Associate Professor of War and Memory Studies at Gettysburg College in the
1:22.3	Interdisciplinary Studies Department and an affiliate in the History Department.
1:27.3	Most of his scholarly work considers
1:29.3	the experience of war and representation in the era of the two World Wars. Having taught at a college
1:36.3	on a famous battlefield for the past 13 years, Isherwood is also interested in the American Civil War
1:43.3	and the connections between that conflict and broader concepts of historical memory in America.
1:53.8	Isherwood is the author of Remembering the Great War,
1:58.4	co-editor of Serpents of War, an American officer's story of World War I
2:03.6	Combat and Captivity, and the Battalion, Citizen Soldiers at War on the Western Front. He has also
2:12.1	written numerous journal articles and reviews. He is currently working on a book concerning the politics of
2:18.9	commemoration from the Civil War to the Global War on Terror tentatively titled,
2:24.8	Remembering America's Wars.
2:30.6	Isherwood is a graduate of Gettysburg College, Dartmouth College, and the University of Glasgow,
2:36.0	the latter where he did his PhD in history at the Scottish Center for War Studies.
2:42.0	He is a fellow of the International Society for First World War Studies,
2:47.0	a member of the Society for Military History, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
	...

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