Skip to 0 minutes and 14 seconds I’m Alison Fell. I’m with four colleagues who have designed this course to help you explore, discuss, and challenge the ways in which First World War heroism has been remembered. Through this course, the learner will go on a journey into historic understandings of heroism, looking at how heroism was understood from beginning of the war right up to the present, not only through time across the 20th century, but also across the continent of Europe.
Skip to 0 minutes and 44 seconds Looking at the way each nation deals with the concept of heroism 100 years on gives us an interesting and important insight into how they see themselves and their role in the world today. The First World War is a kind of key moment in our collective understanding of European history. What I’m particularly interested in is the way the First World War is being memorialised today on film, not just in Britain, but across Europe. We’ll also look at the questions of gender, how heroes were defined by their gender, or not defined by their gender in some cases. Heroism is also very important in propaganda.
Skip to 1 minute and 19 seconds You will that propaganda posters make a lot of use of the idea of the hero and of heroic deeds in order to recruit people, keep morale up, and also to make people engage with the war effort. When looking at heroism, it can be very uncomfortable, even 100 years later, because what you’re celebrating, really, is their success in killing soldiers on the other side. We’re asking whether the First World War made heroism meaningless, or whether in fact, it was the conflict that gave it the most meaning. Drawing on rarely seen archive, you will be curating a mini exhibition, exploring a war memorial, and writing a review of a representation of war.
Skip to 2 minutes and 0 seconds We hope you will join the University of Leeds and the BBC in a fascinating reflection on the place of heroism in the centenary commemorations of the First World War.