The Great War: Aftermath and Commemoration

The legacy of war iscomplex. From the late twentieth century as we moved closer to the centenary ofthe start of World War I, Australia was swept by an 'Anzac revival' and afeverish sense of commemoration. In this book, leading historians reflect onthe commemorative splurge, which involved large amounts of public spending, andalso re-examine what happened in the immediate aftermath of the war itself. At the end of 1918, Australia faced the enormous challenge of repatriating hundreds of thousands ofsoldiers and settling them back into society.

Were returning soldiers astraumatised as we think? What did the war mean for Indigenous veterans and forrelations between Catholics and Protestants? Did war unify or divide us? Thecountry also faced major questions about its role in the world order thatemerged after Versailles. How has the way we commemorate the war skewed ourview of what really happened?

The Great War reflects on the aftermath of World War I and thecommemoration of its centenary. Provocative and engaging essays from a diversegroup of leading historians discuss the profound ways in which World War I notonly affected our political system and informed decades of national securitypolicy but shaped — and continues to shape — our sense of who we are, forbetter or worse. This book reminds us that we live with the legacies of war still,in ways we may not see.

'The Great War: Aftermath and Commemoration is a tour de force. It presents cutting-edge scholarship on the impact of the Great War on Australian society and on the war's commemorative landscape and legacy, which, in Australia today, at the centenary of the Armistice, are both more pronounced and more contested than anywhere else on earth. Thoughtful and provocative, this book is required reading for all those drawn to the war as the defining moment of the last 100 years.' — Jay Winter

'What were the legacies of the Great War in Australia? In this new book, our leading historians contemplate the aftermath — for individuals, politics, the arts — and provide much-needed critical reflection on its commemoration across the course of a century.' — Christina Twomey