Abstract
In recent decades, historians have shown an increasing interest in the relationship between warfare, society, and the environment. The works of Edmund Russell, Judith Bennett, Jacob Hamblin, Lisa Brady, and others have opened up many fascinating avenues of inquiry, shining important light onto the ways in which conflict and militaries can reshape, destroy, deplete, and pollute the environment. Lately, the field has seen a steady rise in the publication of edited collections, which have brought together a diverse range of scholars and topics organized around specific conflicts, such as the Environmental Histories of the Cold War (2010), The Blue, the Gray, and the Green: Toward an Environmental History of the Civil War (2015), and The Long Shadows: A Global Environmental History of the Second World War (2017). Therefore, this most recent offering on the First World War fits within longstanding trends in the study of warfare and the environment.
Edited by some of the biggest names in the field, Environmental Histories of the First World War is an engaging and thoughtful collection of essays that will appeal to a wide variety of academic and public audiences interested in military and environmental history, food and resources histories, and the ecological legacies of conflict. It contains one introductory and 13 body chapters that are organized into four parts: Europe and North America; resource extraction; Africa and the Middle East; and legacies and memory. Taken collectively, the essays span a wide range of topics, geographies, and themes. Almost every continent is represented, while one chapter focused on the fishing industry in the North Sea and several others offer fascinating accounts of food, oil, minerals, and timber.
The strongest element of Environmental Histories of the First World War is its transnational focus and emphasis on the war outside of Western Europe. Recent trends in the historiography of the First World War have stressed its international character, describing the war in global terms that move beyond Eurocentric approaches primarily centred on the experiences of white, male soldiers on the Western Front. Thematic topics and comparative studies have characterized much about this shift towards transnationalism, and it is here that the book's coverage of food and famine is most exemplary. The chapters by Alice Weinreb, Ernst Langthaler, Graham Auman Pitts, Zachary J. Foster, and Steven Serels, for example, offer diverse and insightful perspectives into the war's impact on food systems, distribution, military strategy, and human suffering beyond the front lines. Using food and famine as a lens into the war reveals much about the exploitation and callousness of Western imperialism and militarism, especially in Africa and the Middle East, but it also casts in sharp relief the ways in which the environment was mobilized and weaponized by the exigencies of total war.
In a work of such breadth and importance, it was striking how little was said about the major Entente powers. Although the book's transnational discussions soften this critique to some extent, the environmental histories of the French, British, and Russian war efforts make only cameo appearances throughout, often in comparative contexts and without the depth one might expect in a study of the First World War. It would have been very beneficial to have specific chapters devoted to each of the major powers with, perhaps, some stronger connections and comparisons between the two world wars. The British Empire, in particular, was poorly represented, as the book offers little information about the Empire outside of Africa. This left major question marks surrounding the environmental impacts of the war in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and the British Isles.
Military historians will find that the book offers less on the role of geography and climate in combat operations and military strategy than they might otherwise expect. The book's primary focus is on the home fronts of belligerent nations and colonies, which is not in itself a drawback or oversight (in fact it is quite refreshing), but it did obscure the devastation on battlefields, the topography affecting operations, and the environments in which the soldiers lived and died. Moreover, those readers interested in subjects like logistics and transportation might be left wanting more. Although the chapters by Gerald J. Fitzgerald, Roy MacLeod, Dan Tamïr, and Jack Patrick Hayes offer innovative and valuable perspectives on the global supply chains feeding the conflict, the actual movement of troops and resources is another matter altogether. It is unfortunate that the book did not offer more on transportation technologies and infrastructure development, or on the contributions of animals and veterinarians to the war effort.
However, one scholar's musings about what the book could have done differently, should not detract from the accomplishments it achieved. Environmental Histories of the First World War is filled with well-researched, innovative, and engaging chapters that elucidate many understudied aspects of the war's catastrophic environmental legacies.