“The Darkest Year: The British Army on the Western Front 1917” - A Discussion

Battles of the First World War Podcast

Mike Cunha

History

4.8 • 812 Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2023

⏱️ 102 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode we discuss the book “The Darkest Year: The British Army on the Western Front 1917” by Helion & Co Ltd, the 4th in a series of books looking at the development of the BEF on the Western Front throughout the First World War.

Joining us for this discussion are:

Dr. Spencer Jones, Senior Lecturer in Armed Forces and War Studies at the University of Wolverhampton
Dr. Michael LoCicero, independent scholar and Helion & Co Publishing and Series Editor
Alexander Falbo-Wild, historian, researcher, and professional military educator
James Taub, Associate Curator at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, PA whose focus is the “British, French, and American experience of 1914-18 with particular focus on the average fighting man”

Link to the book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59558585-the-darkest-year

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast.

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on Twitter at @WW1podcast, the Battles of the First World War Podcast page on FaceBook, and on Instagram at @WW1battlecast. Not into social media? Email me directly at [email protected]. Please consider reviewing the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The The
0:23.6	The Hey, folks. This is Mike from the Battles of the First World War podcast. I am delighted to host this next
0:56.4	conversation and that this stunning list of guests has made time to come on the show. In our
1:03.7	discussion episodes, we have begun an ongoing series of talks on the French army and its
1:09.1	experiences in World War I.
1:11.4	Those talks have been really popular with listeners, and we certainly plan to produce more.
1:18.0	So in the same vein, I'd like to begin a conversation on the British Army, on the British
1:23.0	Expeditionary Force in World War I, and its experiences.
1:26.5	So I was provided a review copy of uh helion's
1:30.7	title the darkest year the british army on the western front in 1917 and it is an excellent book
1:40.2	books as with most helion and company, this book is physically heavy and dense,
1:45.8	and it's just stunning. But I think that denotes the level of knowledge, research, and
1:52.5	analysis that has gone into and is within this book. If you are a seasoned World War I and
1:59.0	BEF reader and ready to get really nerdy, this is the book for you.
2:05.0	And as it turns out, it is actually one of the books as it's part of a series that we'll talk about more shortly.
2:12.1	So an alternate title for this episode could have been an Englishman and four Americans, which I'm sure there's a, there's like a dad joke in there somewhere, but I don't, I don't have it.
2:25.3	We could have called it a deep dive into the B.EF, but we'll keep it classy. So joining us on the podcast to talk about their contributions to the darkest year are Dr. Spencer Jones, coming on the podcast for the first time, which is very exciting.
2:41.4	Dr. Jones is, quote, an award-winning historian and author. He is senior lecturer in Armed Forces and War Studies at the University of Wolverhampton and serves as the regimental
2:51.7	historian for the Royal Regiment of Artillery."
2:55.7	Dr. Jones works are currently as follows, from Boer War to World War, tactical reform of the
3:01.7	British Army 1902 to 1914, stemming the tide, officers and leadership in the British Expeditionary Force in
	...

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