Latest posts by Jessica Edwards (see all)
- What will defy, embrace or become a disruption in scholarly publishing? - September 20, 2017
- Contention in the British Press: The Rise of Fascism - November 2, 2016
- Contention in the British Press: WWI – Likelihood and Leadership - October 20, 2016
- Rogue Bras to Bogarts: April Fool’s Day in the Media - April 1, 2016
- Romantic Writing: The History of Valentine’s Cards - February 10, 2016
The British press – one of the noisiest, most opinionated and longest-running media institutions in the world – is known for its history of wide-ranging debate and reporting. Encompassing so many digital newspaper archives, the Gale Primary Sources programme offers a comprehensive view of the landscape of opinions and commentary which have featured in the British press at any one time. This makes it a great resource for those studying contemporary opinions about a particularly issue or controversy, or how attitudes have evolved over time. This is the first of two posts looking at how persuasion, debate and clashes of opinion have coloured the British press at particular historical moments; in this case, during the First World War. Next week I’ll be posting about the altercations that arose around the rise of Fascism. As well as some of the most well-known arguments, these posts will bring to the fore views which have now been side-lined, discredited or simply eclipsed by modern interpretations.
Before plunging into impassioned articles and heated exchanges, it’s interesting to provide a quick outline of the political positions held by the newspapers in Gale Primary Sources – though of course, these have sometimes changed over time.
It seems timely with the approach of Remembrance Sunday to consider contemporary press opinion towards what was to become one of the most momentous events of the twentieth century – the First World War. One point of contention debated in newspapers prior to WWI was whether or not Europe was actually heading for war. Many newspapers preached in the early years of the twentieth century that war with Germany was impossible or avoidable, but the Daily Mail was steadfast in its belief that a conflict between the great powers of Europe was inevitable. It subsequently prided itself on being the paper that foretold the war, and The Daily Mail Historical Archive clearly shows that for many months ‘the newspaper that persistently forewarned the public about the war’ was printed throughout the paper.
(Also note use of the tagline stating that the Mail forewarned the public about the war.)
A more widespread denouncement and understanding of the failings of Douglas Haig, however, has come largely in the decades since the war, rather than being expressed in the contemporary press. In fact, we can see in The Telegraph Historical Archive that during the war, the paper championed – and acted as a mouthpiece for – Haig, printing numerous reports written by the General. For example, along with others such as The Times, they printed Haig’s correspondence with the French General following part of the Somme offensive, which made it out to have been a great success.

Post-event analysis, however, has been far less supportive of the General. Many have placed the responsibility for the horrific slaughter of the Somme squarely on the shoulders of Haig. Judgement on this controversial figure is far from settled, however; our archives show passionate and conflicting judgements continue to be expressed by a variety of cultural commentators to the present day.





Nb. Some of the content explored here previously appeared in our NewsVault Case Studies.