Are we forgetting the First World War?

It might seem an odd question to pose on a podcast about the Great War,

but I think sometimes we do have to ask these kind of questions.

And in this first episode of 2026, a major anniversary year connected to Verdun and Somme, perhaps it's a good thing to do as we turn a fresh page.

What's for certain is that the First World War shaped the century that followed it and shaped our modern world too, but with living memory

of the conflict, long gone with the death of the final veterans and the centenary over for nearly

a decade, is public interest in the period slipping back?

Are we beginning to get too far from the Great War?

So in this episode, we will ask, is the First World War in danger of being forgotten?

And if it is, what can we do about it?

Along the way, we'll look at post-centenary public engagement, schools, the book and podcast and YouTube worlds, and practical ideas to renew

some interest in this subject. First of all, let's remind ourselves of why the Great War is important still, after more than a century.

For Britain, it was truly a world war, the first people's war in many ways.

It affected every aspect of society, and the dead, the fallen, the glorious dead dominated the post-war obsession with the conflict

from war memorials to the construction of the cemeteries across the old battlefields.

The war became part of the landscape, figuratively in terms of a national mindset, but also quite literally too.

So this was true on the landscape of the past across the old battlefields where the pathways of

that conflict met, and also on the landscape at home in Britain, how war memorials of all kinds dominated British society in the 1920s and 30s,

and with that through the collective memory families had of those who had served

and perhaps never returned.

That concept of the lost generation, a generation of young men, disappeared.

Even though exaggerated, as we now know, most men survived, of course. Despite that, it held strong

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