The century of total war

Only a few survivors of the Somme and Passchendaele will experience the twenty-first century, and most memories of the thousands whose names are inscribed on the Menin Gate at Ypres (leper) are now hearsay reminiscences of grandfathers or great-uncles. In the year 2000 Battle of Britain pilots are in their 70s and 80s, and no one under 60 can recall the shock of evacuation in 1939, or the thump of Luftwaffe bombs. Yet the two world wars remain points of conversational and scholarly reference, compulsively fascinating to students of all ages in diverse disciplines. An industrial archaeological analysis of the impact of the wars powerfully illuminates many questions.