What did British soldiers disclose to the public, and how did it shape contemporary debates about empire?
In the eighteenth century, when professional war correspondents did not exist, news was disseminated by soldiers writing home. Modern military classification systems were not yet in place, so their words could circulate widely. Despite their significance as eyewitnesses, however, soldiers are critically underrepresented in existing histories of empire in the media. We know that they were important informants, but we don’t have a very good idea of what they wrote, or how their writing was received. This MSCA-funded project will answer these questions, helping us understand the conditions in which public attitudes to empire took shape. In the process, it will trace the historical roots of present-day debates about the relationship between the military and democratic society. Ultimately, the goal is to better understand changing conceptions of, and attitudes towards, soldiers writing home.
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