Soldier Newspapers: A Useful Source in the Social and Cultural History of the First World War and Beyond

To memoirs and soldiers’ letters, the new military historian must add soldier newspapers as a rich and useful source for understanding the fears and hopes of the troops of all ranks. By analysing the production and creation of these newspapers for the British, French, and German armies in the First World War, and indicating both the unique national traits of each nation’s journals and the universal stories found across the three armies’ newspapers, it is hoped that this article will point researchers toward the vast archive of soldier newspapers available for many of the wars of the last 250 years.