The Entente at the End: The Allied Experience of 1918

On the Western Front, the final year of war swung from potential disaster to unexpected victory for the Entente allies. The pressure placed on them by the German Spring Offensive almost broke the alliance apart. Whilst the military leaders of Britain, France, and America tried to rescue the situation, relations between soldiers on the ground became tainted by bitter recriminations. The success of the Allied counterattacks in August swept the Entente into the Hundred Days Offensive that would win the war and in these final months soldiers from each nation would come to evaluate the merits and shortcomings of their fellows. This talk will explore how soldiers from Britain, France, and the United States came to view each other amidst the ongoing fighting during the final year of the First World War.

Dr Chris Kempshall is the Historical Consultant for BlackMill Games, an Associate of the Imperial War Museum Institute, a Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the War Studies Department of King’s College London, a Fellow of the Institute for Historical Research, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is also a former President of the International Society for First World War Studies. Free guest lecture as part of the Department of Languages and Cultures’ Armistice lecture series.