Military cultures of violence among British and Commonwealth armed forces in the First and Second World Wars (1914–1945)

Sub-project 6:

Military cultures of violence among British and Commonwealth armed forces in the First and Second World Wars (1914–1945)

A further longitudinal analysis addresses the specific culture of violence in the British armed forces in the period 1914 to 1945. In the first project phase, a look at the Canadian armed forces, which were closely interlocked with the British and fought in the same theatres of war, provides a comparative perspective within the sub-project. A second component part of this sub-project will examine the armed forces of another Commonwealth nation during the world wars, namely South Africa. In a possible second funding phase, an analysis of the Australian and New Zealand armed forces could be added to the completed analysis of the Canadian armed forces. Both sub-projects thus make an important contribution to better understanding the excessive use of violence in the first half of the twentieth century and, by means of contrasting, make the specifics of the well-researched German armed forces in particular more visible.