Mentioned in Dispatches

In this episode, Nick Higham explores Britain’s extraordinary and often overlooked campaign in the Caucasus during the closing stages of the First World War. Drawing on his book Mavericks, he discusses the diverse group of soldiers, diplomats and intelligence officers sent to Baku to prevent Ottoman and Bolshevik control of critical oil resources. The interview highlights the strategic importance of oil, the chaotic political environment and the personalities involved in the mission. Nick also examines why this episode has been largely forgotten and what it reveals about the wider geopolitical stakes at the end of the war.

In this podcast interview, Linden MacIntyre discusses his exploration of Sir Hugh Tudor, a deeply controversial figure in the Irish War of Independence. He explains the motivations behind writing An Accidental Villain and examines Tudor’s transformation from a respected British Army officer into a central figure in Britain’s coercive policy in Ireland. The conversation explores Tudor’s relationship with Winston Churchill, his role in militarising the Royal Irish Constabulary and the creation of the Black and Tans. Linden also reflects on the complexity of Tudor’s character, questioning whether he was a willing architect of repression or a man caught in circumstances beyond his control.

In this episode of the Western Front Association’s Mentioned in Dispatches, David Griffiths discusses his new book The Guards 1915–17: An Elite Division at War. The book is the first major history of the Guards Division in nearly a century, drawing on war diaries and memoirs to follow the unit through Loos, Flers-Courcelette, Morval and Pilckem Ridge. Griffiths also examines the culture, reputation and experiences of an elite force under the pressure of modern war. Published by Helion & Co.

In this episode of the Western Front Association’s Mentioned in Dispatches, Kelsey Moriarty examines the bureaucratic and cultural processes that reshaped grief during and after the First World War. Her thesis Kafka in the Trenches: Death, Bureaucracy, and the Written Record in Britain 1914–1920 explores how official letters, forms and memorials affected the experience of mourning. From government notices of death to the rise of street shrines, her research highlights how state systems collided with private grief and altered the citizen–state relationship.