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So we won. But what did we do with our victory? We unleashed the power of turbo-capitalism. Dominic Sandbrook, Strange Days – Cold War Britain III, BBC 2013
I think of the hymns I sang: I Vow to Thee My Country, Onward Christian Soldiers – battle-cries to the glory, the valour of war. Come the twentieth century British art would destroy that idea for ever. Jon Snow, The Genius of British Art: War, 2010
Richard Nevinson was enthralled to the new face of war. His paintings said Bring it On. ibid.
But the censorship Nevinson suffered makes me think about the moral responsibility of the war artist. Is it to commemorate? Or to question? Or perhaps even to be downright critical? It’s a question war artists themselves had been dealing with ever since. ibid.
To commission was what to become 6,000 pieces of art by modern artists ... But [Kenneth] Clark had a vision that in the struggle for national survival British art would form the cornerstone of our national identity. Clark set up a panel: The War Artists Advisory Committee to Commission Artists to Document Life on the Home Front and Galvanise the War Effort. ibid.
As Clark said, ‘The true horror of this war was the threat imposed to the very fabric of Britain, its people and its landscape. This inaugurated the biggest official war art project ever – Recording Britain. It drew together artists of all kinds.’ ibid.
We often don’t want to confront the realities War leaves behind. But the more I look into Britain’s war art the more I think its overriding message is that the true cost of war is the price paid by the individual. The Dutiful Soldier and the sacrifice he or she is prepared to make. ibid.
We intend to sing the love of danger. The habit of energy and fearlessness ... We will glorify war – the world’s only hygiene – Militarism, patriotism, destructive gesture of freedom bringers ... Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, The Futurist Manifesto, 1909
War has been a staple of British television since, well since the War. When TV Goes to War, BBC 2012
What’s the dividing line between television drama and historical fact? ibid.
War and television always have had an explosive relationship. ibid.
The birth of television was directly linked to the war effort. ibid.
The War Game blurred the line between documentary and journal. ibid.
In ’70s television the war was never over. ibid.
Our history has been shaped by centuries of war. From the armies of the Romans to the modern global conflicts of today. Saul David, Bullets, Boots and Bandages: How to Really Win at War I: Staying Alive, BBC 2012
It’s the nuts and bolts of how you house and feed your army, how you move it and how you kit it ready for battle that is the real key to winning wars. ibid.
If you don’t keep your soldiers fed they’ll never even make it to the battlefield. ibid.
The detail of military logistics: the real story of how wars are won and lost. ibid.
The Roman Empire was built and sustained by a vast army. At its park 450,000 men patrolled Pax Romana. ibid.
No army can survive long without being able to wash. ibid.
When it goes wrong the price is high for kingdoms as well as men. ibid.
Henry’s was only one of a long history of campaigns. ibid.
The scale of the effort needed to sustain Wellington’s army was simply staggering. ibid.
Once they had received their rations it was up to the men to cook it themselves. ibid.
The Crimean War was a huge turning point in British military history. ibid.
Most campaigns took place in the summer months ... War had been a summer activity. ibid.
World War I generals were no longer swashbuckling leaders on the charge but managers calling the shots from a boardroom of war. ibid.
World War I was the first industrial war. ibid.
Civilian innovations in kit and supply transformed war just as much as the guns. ibid.
Death on a scale that had never been seen before. Over the course of World War I three million British soldiers were killed or injured. ibid.
A key to winning any battle lies in having the right kit. Saul David, Bullets, Boots and Bandages: How to Really Win at War II: Stealing a March
Impatience to fight has caused many generals to overlook some basic rules of kit and logistics. ibid.
It was his [Marlborough’s] ability to move his armies swiftly that was the key to his military success. ibid.
Napoleon styled his army on that of ancient Rome. ibid.
Just like horses, tanks needed feeding. ibid.
D-Day, June 6th 1944: the greatest sea-borne invasion in history. ibid.
A secret project codenamed Mulberry ... a huge artificial floating harbour. ibid.
Weapons. The cutting edge of battle. From longbows to cruise missiles – the very tools soldiers need to fight – has always been a deciding factor in fighting wars. Saul David, Bullets, Boots and Bandages: How to Really Win at War III: Raising Arms
Having a better kit than your enemy has always been critical for success. ibid.
Large guns firing barrages from distance would change the very nature of war. ibid.
The Boar War was a wake-up call to British commanders. ibid.
In 1908 the entire army was upgraded. ibid.
World War I changed everything: modern total industrial war. ibid.
Automatically feeding ammunition, the Vickers machine gun used up bullets at the same rate as eighty conventional rifles. ibid.
During the Vietnam War an incredible seven million tons of bombs were dropped on Indo-China. ibid.
It’s estimated that Afghanistan has already cost the British Taxpayer £18,000,000,000. ibid.
A century ago these fields were the bloody arena for the most terrible conflict in human history: in 1913 an alien invasion shook the world and hurled it into an unimaginable future ... The Land of the Vanished. Great Martian War 1913-1917, History 2013
England under occupation 1985: Hi, my name’s Screwball. The Comic Strip Presents ... s1e2: War, Coltrane, Channel 4 1983
I know, it’s the same every day, love, rape and pillage and looting; I don’t know. They’re not Mexicans, darling, they’re local. Nice boys really. Bit high-spirited of course. They do watch a little bit too much television. ibid. French to Saunders
All war is a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal. John Steinbeck