Event: Passchendaele - A New History

Event recording from 04/05/2017 PASSCHENDAELE - A NEW HISTORY Speaker: Dr Nick Lloyd Chair: Professor Bill Philpott Hosted by the Sir Michael Howard Centre The Sir Michael Howard Centre: [email protected] Between July and November 1917, in a small corner of Belgium, more than 500,000 men were killed or maimed, gassed or drowned - and many of the bodies were never found. The Ypres offensive represents the modern impression of the First World War: splintered trees, water-filled craters, muddy shell-holes. The climax was one of the worst battles of both world wars: Passchendaele. The village fell eventually, only for the whole offensive to be called off. But, as Nick Lloyd shows, notably through previously unexamined German documents, it put the Allies nearer to a major turning point in the war than we have ever imagined. Dr Nick Lloyd FRHistS is Reader in Military & Imperial History at King's College London, based at the Joint Services Command & Staff College in Shrivenham, Wiltshire. He is the author of three books: Loos 1915 (2006); The Amritsar Massacre: The Untold Story of One Fateful Day (2011); and Hundred Days: The End of the Great War (2013). He lives with his family in Cheltenham.