A new book by two historians at the University considers how the Belgian city of Ypres became an iconic symbol for Britons and Germans following World War One.
Making use of rare archive material and other source material, authors Professor Mark Connelly and Dr Stefan Goebel, of the School of History, consider the city’s history from the perspective of all the main combatants in the conflict.
The book, entitled Ypres, was launched on 22 January by Oxford University Press as part of its Great Battles series.
Over the last century, Ypres has become an iconic city for the British and the Germans, as well as retaining its significance for the Belgians and French.
In this new book, the authors take a look at the image of Ypres, sometimes known as ‘Wipers’ by the British, as it was built up in wartime media coverage – through painting and photography – and in the post-war years to look at the memorial projects undertaken by the Britain and the Germany.
It considers the way in which Ypres was also woven into the Second World War public debate, and then how it featured in the revival of a battlefield tourism industry after 1945.
Dr Goebel said: ‘The key thing about our book is that we bring together the perspectives of all the main combatants of the Ypres battlefields. We also make a detailed study of how the differing commemorative traditions developed, and the media through which they were expressed.
‘Finally, we also put the ‘imagined Ypres’ into a pre-1914 context, and show how pre-existing understandings of the city influenced the way it was interpreted during the war, and has been commemorated since.’