Hidden Histories OF WWI

Shirkers, Skulkers, Deserters and the ‘Live and Let Live’ Principle: Everyday Resistance to Combat on the Western Front.

St John’s Hall, Rax Lane, Bridport

The ‘Christmas Truce’ of 1914 is sold to us as a brief ‘miracle’ involving a few hundred troops. Most history books ignore the massive scale of everyday ‘hidden’ resistance of Allied and German troops: how they avoided the front-line by many ‘fraudulent’ means and the indirect and direct cooperation between ‘enemies’ in the trenches. Widespread, subversive behaviours lasted throughout WW1 despite attempts by the ‘brass’ on both sides to suppress them. So come and find out why ‘Blackadder Goes Forth’ could have been a lot funnier.