Event: The First World War and the Americas: from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego

The National Archives is hosting a conference on the Americas, which will address the impact of the conflict across the length and breadth of the two continents.

Speakers will discuss the conflict experiences of those living far from the battlefield, including war enthusiasm, loss and the longer term impact on memory and national identity. They will also consider some of the other ways in which the conflict affected the Americas, notably through trade and economic development. In doing so the event will explore some of the war’s untold stories far away from the Western Front and highlight why it was a truly global conflict.

PROGRAMME
Sat 1 July 2017, 09:30 – 17:00
The National Archives
Bessant Drive
Richmond
TW9 4DU

9:30 Registration, tea and coffee

9:45 Introduction

10:00 Keynote lecture
Prof Ian Beckett, University of Kent
‘1917: Year of Decision’

11:00 Break

11:15 Session 1: ‘Associated Powers’
Dr Sam Edwards, Manchester Metropolitan University
‘The Great War and the Great Republic: the American Experience of the First World War’

Dr Rory Miller, University of Liverpool
‘War, Business and Uncertainty in South America: A Bumpy Ride on the Periphery’

12:30 Lunch

13:30 Session 2: ‘Empire’
Dr Bonnie J. White, Memorial University of Newfoundland
‘‘Sorrow, Gratitude, and Pride’: Newfoundland’s Cultural Memory of the Great War’

Dr Kent Fedorowich, UWE Bristol
‘‘The True North Strong and Free’? Canada’s War at Home, 1914-1919’

Dr Richard Smith, Goldsmiths, University of London
‘‘That our national and allied hopes be speedily realized’: West Indian war experiences and aspirations during 1917′

15:00 Break

15:30 Round Table

16:00 Wine Reception

Cost: £24-£30. Purchase tickets here.