Ypres: Great Battles - Hardcover

Connelly, Mark; Goebel, Stefan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198713371 ISBN 13: 9780198713371

Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PR, 2019

Synopsis

In 1914, Ypres was a sleepy Belgian city admired for its magnificent Gothic architecture. The arrival of the rival armies in October 1914 transformed it into a place known throughout the world, each of the combatants associating the place with it its own particular palette of values and imagery. It is now at the heart of First World War battlefield tourism, with much of it's economy devoted to serving the interests of visitors from across the world. The surrounding countryside is dominated by memorials, cemeteries, and museums, many of which were erected in the 1920s and 1930s, but the number of which are being constantly added to as fascination with the region increases.

Mark Connelly and Stefan Goebel explore the ways in which Ypres has been understood and interpreted by Britain and the Commonwealth, Belgium, France, and Germany, including the variants developed by the Nazis, looking at the ways in which different groups have struggled to impose their own narratives on the city and the region around it. They explore the city's growth as a tourist destination and examine the sometimes tricky relationship between local people and battlefield visitors, on the spectrum between respectful pilgrims and tourists seeking shocks and thrills. The result of new and extensive archival research across a number of countries, this new volume in the Great Battles series offers an innovative overview of the development of a critical site of Great War memory.

About this title

Review:

... the book offers the first transnational interpretation of the meaning of Ypres and, by extension, the Western Front ... The book has been thoroughly researched from state archive material in six countries. (History of War)

From the Back Cover:

The Great Battles Series. The story of the world's most important battles - how they were fought, how they have been commemorated, and the long historical shadows that they have cast.

The story of Ypres - the sleepy city which became the site of some of largest and most devastating battles of the Great War.

Moves away from traditional British and Commonwealth rememberances of the battles to compare all combatant nations views on events and commemorations.

How the region has been remembered, from the immediate aftermath to the present day - and what this tells us.

About this edition

• Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PR
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0198713371
• ISBN 13: 9780198713371
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288