Overview
For a generation after the 1952 publication of The Private Papers of Douglas Haig, 1914-1919, the tide of scholarly opinion ran strongly against Haig and his reputation. John Terraine was almost alone in defending Haig through his many books between 1960 and 1990, with The Great War BBC television series in 1964, and later as an outstanding Honorary President of the Western Front Association.
A swathe of writings in the 1980s brought to prominence fresh material, plus some new arguments on both sides. As a result, some accounts of the First World War underwent a degree of revision. Close friends of John Terraine felt that his work needed to be continued, and a small group led by Kathy Stevenson and Nigel Cave launched the Douglas Haig Fellowship (DHF) in 1994.
In his lecture, John Hussey will look across the 30 years since the DHF’s foundation and give his own assessment of how it has developed, and where work on the First World War and its participants’ reputations stand today.
About the speaker
John Hussey OBE FRHistS worked for British Petroleum for 30 years, including in the Congo in the 1960s and Nigeria in the 1970s. He was the Douglas Haig Fellowship’s second annual Haig Fellow (1996–97), in succession to its founder John Terraine. In 2019, he was awarded RUSI’s Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History for his work entitled Waterloo: The Campaign of 1815.
Joining Instructions
This event is open to RUSI members and invited guests and will take place at RUSI, 61 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET. If you have any questions regarding this event, please email [email protected].
Please note that Platinum and Premium Individual RUSI members have the opportunity to bring a guest to this event.
