OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR
History of War|Issue 118
Eleanor Dickens, curator at the British Library, reveals how 60 years ago a radical Stage musical changed perceptions of the First World War
OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR

On 19 March 1963, the musical Oh! What a Lovely War premiered at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London to great acclaim. Directed by British theatre director Joan Littlewood, the production was a biting satire about the First World War. Making extensive use of songs that were popular during 1914-18, the musical mixed comedic and tragic themes to make its 1960s audience reconsider what they thought they knew about the conflict.

The nightmarish horrors of the war had already been subjected to cultural critique during the conflict itself by soldier-poets like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. The posttraumatic aftershocks were also depicted in the interwar period by playwrights such as RC Sherriff, who wrote the 1928 play Journey's End based on his own experiences of fighting on the Western Front.

However, men like Owen, Sassoon and Sherriff were members of the officer class and the experiences and sufferings of the ordinary 'Tommy' had largely been glossed over by popular culture. This changed in the 1960s with revisionist histories of the war that heavily criticised the British high command.

For example, Alan Clark's 1961 military history book The Donkeys popularised the phrase "Lions led by donkeys", with Oh! What a Lovely War emerging as part of this new reassessment. Told from the perspective of the common soldier, the musical was noticeably political and angry at the enormous casualties. This struck an emotional chord that chimed with audiences who had survived or were intimately familiar with the experience of both World Wars.

この記事は History of War の Issue 118 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

この記事は History of War の Issue 118 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

HISTORY OF WARのその他の記事すべて表示
NAUMACHIA TRUTH BEHIND ROME'S GLADIATOR SEA BATTLES
History of War

NAUMACHIA TRUTH BEHIND ROME'S GLADIATOR SEA BATTLES

In their quest for evermore novel and bloody entertainment, the Romans staged enormous naval fights on artificial lakes

time-read
6 分  |
Issue 138
OPERATION MANNA
History of War

OPERATION MANNA

In late April 1945, millions of Dutch civilians were starving as Nazi retribution for the failed Operation Market Garden cut off supplies. eet as In response, Allied bombers launched a risky mission to air-drop food

time-read
10+ 分  |
Issue 138
GASSING HITLER
History of War

GASSING HITLER

Just a month before the end of WWI, the future Fuhrer was blinded by a British shell and invalided away from the frontline. Over a century later, has the artillery brigade that launched the fateful attack finally been identified?

time-read
8 分  |
Issue 138
SALAMANCA
History of War

SALAMANCA

After years of largely defensive campaigning, Lieutenant General Arthur Wellesley went on the offensive against a French invasion of Andalusia

time-read
8 分  |
Issue 138
HUMBERT 'ROCKY'VERSACE
History of War

HUMBERT 'ROCKY'VERSACE

Early in the Vietnam War, a dedicated US Special Forces officer defied his merciless Viet Cong captors and inspired his fellow POWs to survive

time-read
7 分  |
Issue 138
LEYTE 1944 SINKING THE RISING SUN
History of War

LEYTE 1944 SINKING THE RISING SUN

One of the more difficult island campaigns in WWII's Pacific Theatre saw a brutal months-long fight that exhausted Japan’s military strength

time-read
10+ 分  |
Issue 138
MAD DAWN
History of War

MAD DAWN

How technology transformed strategic thinking and military doctrine from the Cold War to the current day

time-read
3 分  |
Issue 138
BRUSHES WITH ARMAGEDDON
History of War

BRUSHES WITH ARMAGEDDON

Humanity came close to self-annihilation with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Broken Arrows’ and other nuclear near misses

time-read
3 分  |
Issue 138
THE DEADLY RACE
History of War

THE DEADLY RACE

How the road to peace led to an arms contest between the USA and USSR, with prototypes, proliferation and the world’s biggest bomb

time-read
3 分  |
Issue 138
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
History of War

THE MANHATTAN PROJECT

Einstein, Oppenheimer and the race to beat Hitler to the bomb. How a science project in the desert helped win a war

time-read
3 分  |
Issue 138