ABSTRACT
Taking on the suggestion that crusader medievalism was rendered obsolete along with the ‘traditional’ Victorian-Edwardian culture of prewar Britain by the experiences of the First World War, this chapter demonstrates that the crusades were widely invoked throughout the conflict. On the Home Front, the King, prominent politicians, clergy and laity alike employed crusader medievalism. Abroad, many in the armed forces, particularly chaplains, found meaningful resonance in crusading rhetoric and imagery. Unsurprisingly, crusader parallelism was prevalent in accounts of the Gallipoli landings and Palestine campaign and the postwar memoirs of its veterans and was deployed to frame their contributions to the war as historically significant.
