In this captivating episode, a lecture given at the Cork Conference in 2023, Professor Stephen Badsey offers a detailed analysis of the Armistice on the Western Front in November 1918.
Stephen Badsey PhD MA (Cantab.) FRHistS recently retired as professor of conflict studies at the University of Wolverhampton.
He is the author of more than 100 books and articles, he has spoken on military matters in many countries, and he continues to talk, publish and advise on several aspects of military history, particularly propaganda and the conduct of war.
His publications include: Arnhem 1944: Operation Market Garden (Osprey, 1993), The Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871 (Osprey, 2003), The British Army in Battle and its Image 1914-18 (Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd, 2009), Doctrine and Reform in the British Cavalry 1880–1918 (Routledge, 2016) and his most recent book, The German Corpse Factory: A Study in First World War Propaganda (Helion, 2019).
In his paper, Stephen Badsey follows the sequence of critical events of September-November 1918 on the Western Front leading to the Armistice. Opening with the meeting of the Armistice delegations in November, it looks back over the previous weeks to place the Allied victories in a wider context, showing how at times events converged to overwhelm the participants. The defeat of the German Army on the Western Front interacted with the collapse of the Central Powers elsewhere, and with the differing political objectives of the Allies, the United States, and Germany, including the role of the German General Staff, and of the senior Allied generals. The presentation concludes by explaining how the Armistice came to be signed, and how the war ended.