Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Maps
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction to volume IV
- Part I The industrialization of warfare, 1850–1914
- Part II The Era of Total War, 1914–1945
- 8 World War I
- 9 Military captivity in two world wars
- 10 Military occupations, 1914–1945
- 11 Home fronts
- 12 The search for peace in the interwar period
- 13 Commemorating war, 1914–1945
- 14 Military doctrine and planning in the interwar era
- 15 The military and the revolutionary state
- 16 World War II
- Part III Post-total warfare, 1945–2005
- Select bibliography
- Index
- References
13 - Commemorating war, 1914–1945
from Part II - The Era of Total War, 1914–1945
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Maps
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction to volume IV
- Part I The industrialization of warfare, 1850–1914
- Part II The Era of Total War, 1914–1945
- 8 World War I
- 9 Military captivity in two world wars
- 10 Military occupations, 1914–1945
- 11 Home fronts
- 12 The search for peace in the interwar period
- 13 Commemorating war, 1914–1945
- 14 Military doctrine and planning in the interwar era
- 15 The military and the revolutionary state
- 16 World War II
- Part III Post-total warfare, 1945–2005
- Select bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
In all combatant countries, remembering the two world wars was not a choice; it was a ubiquitous and enduring necessity. Given the staggering toll that the wars took in life and limb, this fact is hardly surprising. While commemoration was an integral part of mourning practices, it went beyond the personal level – the accommodation of individuals and families to loss – to shape in fundamental ways the physical, political, and cultural landscapes of the world in which we live.
No one has an accurate count of the number of memorials in Europe and beyond that commemorate the two world wars. This chapter considers only those that were constructed in the period 1914–45. In Britain and France alone, over sixty thousand local memorials adorn public squares and other sites. Similar monuments were built in towns and villages in Belgium, Italy, Yugoslavia, and throughout central and eastern Europe. These memorials were carefully built and tended in politically stable countries. In unstable states – in Ireland, for instance – they were destroyed, displaced, or simply left to be hidden by overgrown weeds.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of War , pp. 310 - 326Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012
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