Book contents
- Making Sense of the Great War
- Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare
- Making Sense of the Great War
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Map of the Western Front
- Prologue
- Introduction
- Part I The Environment
- Part II Social Groups
- 3 Defining Duty
- 4 Imagining Home
- Part III Crisis and Morale
- Appendix Demographics of Six English Regiments in the BEF
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - Defining Duty
Obligation and the Cultural Foundations of Morale
from Part II - Social Groups
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 April 2024
- Making Sense of the Great War
- Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare
- Making Sense of the Great War
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Map of the Western Front
- Prologue
- Introduction
- Part I The Environment
- Part II Social Groups
- 3 Defining Duty
- 4 Imagining Home
- Part III Crisis and Morale
- Appendix Demographics of Six English Regiments in the BEF
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter focuses on the ways in which English infantrymen understood duty and how their perceptions of their military role drew both on military and civilian culture. It underlines the differences between officers’ and other ranks’ understanding of their obligations. The army itself defined duty, like morale, as a set of ‘moral’ criteria. Officers’ duties were defined in their commissions and the King’s Regulations; their duty, at least to their men, was of an infinite nature. In contrast, the rank-and-file’s ‘contract’ with the military was finite and secular. In 1914, regulars viewed their job with a clinical and professional eye. However, for reservists and the civilian soldiers that followed them, the idea of ‘doing one’s bit’ came to dominate their perception of duty. Importantly, though, the cultural pressure of ‘respectability’ (drawn from both the military and civil society) informed their rationalisation of service. ‘Military cultures’ were also influential, particularly those of cheerfulness and obedience, which informed men’s actions, attitudes, and performance. What is more, the need to maintain ‘good character’ also exerted its own pressures. Men’s wartime record would influence their prospects once peace returned. Significant, too, was the soldiers’ perceived duty to England. After all, they were the defenders of the homeland.
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- Making Sense of the Great WarCrisis, Englishness, and Morale on the Western Front, pp. 119 - 159Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024