Battles of the First World War Podcast

The Battles of the First World War Podcast is a podcast that goes in-depth into the battles of the Great War of 1914-1918. The goal is to really go into the details of how and why these battles unfolded and happened as they did. In telling the narrative of these clashes we can revisit some of the stories of the men and women who lived, fought, and died during the first titanic struggle of the 20th Century, for these people have stories that deserve to be told.

A Review of “Pershing’s Tankers: Personal Accounts of the AEF Tank Corps in World War I,” edited by Lawrence M. Kaplan 04/14/2024

Tannenberg - Stallupönen and Gumbinnen 04/01/2024

Tannenberg - Eastern Promises 03/10/2024

Forgotten Veterans, Invisible Memorials, a Discussion with Dr. Allison Finkelstein 02/19/2024

Forgotten Veterans, Invisible Memorials, a Discussion with Dr. Allison Finkelstein Author and historian Dr. Allison Finkelstein comes on the podcast to discuss her book, Forgotten Veterans, Invisible Memorials: How American Women Commemorated the Great War, 1917-1945. From Dr. Finkelstein’s website: In Forgotten Veterans, Invisible Memorials: How American Women Commemorated the Great War, 1917–1945, Allison S. Finkelstein argues that American women activists considered their own community service and veteran advocacy to be forms of commemoration just as significant and effective as other, more traditional forms of commemoration such as memorials. Finkelstein employs the term “veteranism” to describe these women’s overarching philosophy that supporting, aiding, and caring for those who serve needed to be a chief concern of American citizens, civic groups, and the government in the war’s aftermath. However, these women did not express their views solely through their support for veterans of a military service narrowly defined as a group predominantly composed of men and just a few women. Rather, they defined anyone who served or sacrificed during the war, including women like themselves, as veterans. These women veteranists believed that memorialization projects that centered on the people who served and sacrificed was the most appropriate type of postwar commemoration. They passionately advocated for memorials that could help living veterans and the families of deceased service members at a time when postwar monument construction surged at home and abroad. Finkelstein argues that by rejecting or adapting traditional monuments or by embracing aspects of the living memorial building movement, female veteranists placed the plight of all veterans at the center of their commemoration efforts. Their projects included diverse acts of service and advocacy on behalf of people they considered veterans and their families as they pushed to infuse American memorial traditions with their philosophy. In doing so, these women pioneered a relatively new form of commemoration that impacted American practices of remembrance, encouraging Americans to rethink their approach and provided new definitions of what constitutes a memorial. In the process, they shifted the course of American practices, even though their memorialization methods did not achieve the widespread acceptance they had hoped it would. Meticulously researched, Forgotten Veterans, Invisible Memorials utilizes little-studied sources and reinterprets more familiar ones. In addition to the words and records of the women themselves, Finkelstein analyzes cultural landscapes and ephemeral projects to reconstruct the evidence of their influence. Readers will come away with a better understanding of how American women supported the military from outside its ranks before they could fully serve from within, principally through action-based methods of commemoration that remain all the more relevant today. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) awarded this book the 2022 Arline Custer Memorial Award for the best book written in the Mid-Atlantic region. We have a promo code exclusively for BFWWP listeners! Use BATTLE24 to unlock a 30% discount on either format of the book when ordering directly from our website at: 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]. Rate, review, and subscribe to the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. /episode/index/show/firstworldwarpodcast/id/29944088

The French Army in the First World War, a Discussion: Pt 4 02/01/2024

2024 Meuse-Argonne Tour Dates are Here 01/12/2024

Fismes and Fismette - House to House in the Great War 12/18/2023

Support a Congressional Gold Medal for the WWI Hello Girls 12/08/2023

“The Hello Girls: America’s First Women Soldiers,” a Discussion with Elizabeth Cobbs 12/01/2023

“Bullets, Bandages and Beans:” A Talk on United States Army Logistics in France in World War I 11/19/2023

Meuse Argonne - An Oppressive Silence 11/05/2023

Sir Philip Gibbs: A Conversation with Clint Heacock 10/15/2023

Meuse Argonne - A Total D–k Move 10/01/2023

Forgotten Warriors: The US 7th Infantry at Belleau Wood 09/23/2023

Meuse Argonne - “We Can Kill Them But We Can’t Stop Them” 09/09/2023

Meuse Argonne - Continuous Pressure 08/21/2023

Meuse Argonne - Wings Over the Meuse 06/25/2023

The Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World War, a Discussion with Dr. Chad Williams 06/04/2023

The Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World War, a Discussion with Dr. Chad Williams From Dr. Williams’ website: When W. E. B. Du Bois, believing in the possibility of full citizenship and democratic change, encouraged African Americans to “close ranks” and support the Allied cause in World War I, he made a decision that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Seeking both intellectual clarity and personal atonement, for more than two decades Du Bois attempted to write the definitive history of Black participation in World War I. His book, however, remained unfinished. In The Wounded World, Chad Williams offers the dramatic account of Du Bois’s failed efforts to complete what would have been one of his most significant works. The surprising story of this unpublished book offers new insight into Du Bois’s struggles to reckon with both the history and the troubling memory of the war, along with the broader meanings of race and democracy for Black people in the twentieth century. Drawing on a broad range of sources, most notably Du Bois’s unpublished manuscript and research materials, Williams tells a sweeping story of hope, betrayal, disillusionment, and transformation, setting into motion a fresh understanding of the life and mind of arguably the most significant scholar-activist in African American history. In uncovering what happened to Du Bois’s largely forgotten book, Williams offers a captivating reminder of the importance of World War I, why it mattered to Du Bois, and why it continues to matter today. Where to buy: 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]. Rate, review, and subscribe to the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. /episode/index/show/firstworldwarpodcast/id/26968929

The French Army in the First World War, a Discussion: Pt 3 05/14/2023

“The Darkest Year: The British Army on the Western Front 1917” - A Discussion 04/30/2023

Mount Kemmel - What It Means to Take a Trench 04/16/2023

The AEF 2nd Division in WW1: A Discussion with Steven Girard 04/02/2023

Arras - The Raid at Blangy 03/25/2023

The Great War Group with Alex Churchill & Beth Moore 03/15/2023

Meuse-Argonne - The German Army in October 1918: A Discussion with Randy Gaulke 03/05/2023

The French Army in the First World War, a Discussion: Pt 2 02/27/2023

Meuse Argonne - Liggett Takes Charge 02/13/2023

“To the Last Man:” a Discussion on the 103rd Infantry Regiment with Jonathan Bratten 02/03/2023

The French Army in the First World War, a Discussion: Pt 1 01/22/2023

The French Army in the First World War, a Discussion: Pt 1 This was so much fun to host–with the help of Alex Lyons, a fantastic group of WW1 enthusiasts were gathered for what will be the first of a multi-part series of discussions of the French Army and the French experience during WW1. France went to war in 1914 as a country of 40 million people. Its army went to war in 19th century uniforms of dark blue tunics and red trousers, calling up 8.5 million Frenchmen over the next four devastating years. When the guns went silent in November 1918, the Adrian-helmeted and horizon-blue clad PCFs– pauvre con du front, or poor bastards at the front–had seen 1.4 million of their brothers fall on the field of battle, with another 4.2 million wounded–a million of those wounded significantly disabled for the rest of their lives. Joining us for this discussion are: Bart Debeer, who co-wrote a Dutch-language Western Front Guide for Beginners with a friend Bryn Hammond, whose blog “Vingt Frong” aims to “awaken interest in the French experience of the First World War in an English-speaking audience,” Alex Lyons, the man who spends his free time telling us the story of his Poilu great-grandfather on Twitter, Steve Marsdin, a student and researcher of the 1914 Battle of the Frontiers and its effects, Jim Smithson, author of “A Taste of Success: The First Battle of the Scarpe. The Opening Phase of the Battle of Arras 9-14 April 1917” and two guide books on the Arras battlefields, Dr. Rich Willis, author of the forthcoming “Fighting for the Butcher: British Troops Fighting in General Mangin’s Xe Armée, July-August 1918” I’m really excited to present this first discussion on these fascinating topics, and I hope you enjoy this first talk. The BFWWP is on Patreon: . 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. /episode/index/show/firstworldwarpodcast/id/25640046

Meuse Argonne - Black Jack, Pt 2 01/08/2023

Battles of the First World War Podcast

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