© 2009 The Author Journal Compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd History Compass 7/4 (2009): 1123–1145, 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00616.x Blackwell Publishing Ltd Oxford, UK HICO History Compass 1478-0542 1478-0542 © 2009 The Author Journal Compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 616 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00616.x April 2009 0 1123??? 1145??? Britain & Ireland The Empire’s War Recalled The Empire’s War Recalled The Empire’s War Recalled: Recent Writing on the Western Front Experience of Britain, Ireland, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies John Connor* University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy Abstract The ninetieth anniversary of the end of the First World War in 2008 was marked with the publication of a number of works in many parts of what was once the British Empire. We saw an increased output in publications on the Western Front. In Britain, the recent literature attempts to rehabilitate Douglas Haig and define the ‘learning curve’ that enabled the British army to defeat Germany in 1918. In Australia, Canada and New Zealand, the performance of their soldiers on the Western Front is seen as central to national identity and this now focuses on military success rather than sacrifice in a futile war. In India, South Africa and Jamaica, there is a renewed interest in linking the First World War to national identities based on the independence or liberation struggle. In Ireland, the Great War is seen as a shared experience that can link the Nationalist and Unionist traditions in Northern Ireland and the Republic. The article concludes that this interest in the Western Front will continue into the next decade in the lead-up to the centenary of the First World War. The ninetieth anniversary of the end of the First World War in November 2008 received widespread public and media attention in many parts of what was once the British Empire. This increasing interest in the Great War, which is likely to continue into the next decade as the centenaries of the events of 1914–1918 are commemorated, has also resulted in an increasing output of popular and academic books on the conflict. This literature is so vast, and in specialisms ranging from gender relations to cultural history, that this article will limit itself to recent books on the Western Front relating to Britain, Ireland, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies. While the Great War was fought in many theatres, it is the scale and destruction of the battles fought in Belgium and France that have retained public attention. A survey of these publications suggests four main trends. The first is a revisionist trend to rehabilitate Douglas Haig, the previously reviled British commander,