Sport Militarism and the Great War

<p>The Great War has been largely ignored by historians of sport. However sport was an integral part of cultural conditioning into both physiological and psychological military efficiency in the decades leading up to it. It is time to acknowledge that the Great War also had an influence on sport in post-war European culture. Both are neglected topics.</p><p>Sport Militarism and the Great War deals with four significant aspects of the relationship between sport and war before during and immediately after the 1914-1918 conflict. First it explores the creation and consolidation of the cult of martial heroism and chivalric self-sacrifice in the pre-war era. Second it examines the consequences of the mingling of soldiers from various nations on later sport. Third it considers the role of the Great War in the transformation of the leisure of the masses. Finally it examines the links between war sport and male socialisation. The Great War contributed to a redefinition of European masculinity in the post-war period. The part sport played in this redefinition receives attention.</p><p>Sport Militarism and the Great War is in two parts: the Continental (Part I) and the Anglo-Saxon (Part II). No study has adopted this bilateral approach to date. Thus in conception and execution it is original.</p><p>With its originality of content and the approaching centenary of the advent of the Great War in 2014 it is anticipated that the book will capture a wide audience.</p><p>This book was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport.</p>