Gene Tempest
"Humane War: The Horses of the Western Front, 1914-1920"
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Abstract
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Sixteen million horses served during the Great War; by the war’s close half of them were dead. My dissertation will challenge the most widespread tenet of WWI historiography: the idea of the Great War as mechanized war. While the cavalry effectively died on the Western Front and the charge that had been so important in the history of warfare would never be again, horses were at war in larger numbers than ever before. Their crucial role remains to be revealed.
My dissertation, “Humane War: The Horses of the Western Front, 1914-1920” will comprise four major aspects: 1. native impacts of the relocation of entire equine populations (consequences in agriculture, as well as the founding and expansion of animal humane societies in support of the war horse); 2. the remount mission in Germany, France, Britain, their colonies, and the United States; 3. equine service on the Western Front (including military roles, forage, veterinary corps, and relationships to soldiers and officers); 4. post-war demobilization and commemoration.
I will begin my research on the Western Front—in France. The vast holdings of the national military archives, the archives of the national veterinary school, the Historial de la Grande Guerre and the Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale Contemporaine (B.D.I.C.) will give me insight into the horse’s essential role in the trenches and his absence on the farm.
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