The Age Of The Gas Mask: How British Civilians Faced The Terrors Of Total War

Description

The First World War introduced the widespread use of lethal chemical weapons. In its aftermath, the British government, like that of many states, had to prepare civilians to confront such weapons in a future war. Over the course of the interwar period, it developed individual anti-gas protection as a cornerstone of civil defence. Susan R. Grayzel traces the fascinating history of one object – the civilian gas mask – through the years 1915–1945 and, in so doing, reveals the reach of modern, total war and the limits of the state trying to safeguard civilian life in an extensive empire. Drawing on records from Britain's Colonial, Foreign, War and Home Offices and other archives alongside newspapers, journals, personal accounts and cultural sources, she connects the histories of the First and Second World Wars, combatants and civilians, men and women, metropole and colony, illuminating how new technologies of warfare shaped culture, politics, and society. Cover Half title Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare | Series page The Age of the Gas Mask |Title page Copyright Dedication Contents Figures Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1 | Introduction Introduction The Gas Mask: Some Historical and Theoretical Context The Age of the Gas Mask 2 | Inventing an Object for Modern Conflict Introduction The Invention of the Gas Mask during the First World War Gas Masks and Civilians The Immediate Afterlife of the Gas Mask Gas Masks and Plans for the Next War Conclusion 3 | Defending Civilians Introduction Protesting Gas and Gas Masks: The Disarmament Conference and Its Aftermath Preparing to Mask the World Revealing the Official Policy for Civil Defense Responding to the War against Ethiopia and Anti-gas Protection in Britain Conclusion 4 | Unveiling the Gas Mask Introduction Popular Culture and the Normalization of Anti-gas Protection Gas Masks in the Empire after the Second Italo-Ethiopian War Finalizing the Gas Mask’ s Design Preparing for the Gas Mask to Enter Daily Life Gas Mask Sunday and Its Aftermath Conclusion 5 | Curating the Good Citizen Introduction Progress and Dissent: The Babies Get Their Anti- gas Protection The Gas Mask as War Begins Reacting to Gas Masks before the Bombs Fall Hitler Will Send No Warning: The Gas Mask Campaign of 1941 Conclusion 6 | Facing Wartime Introduction The Gas Mask and Wartime Popular Culture The Limits of the Gas Mask in Wartime Gas Masks in an Empire at War The Gas Mask at the War’ s End Conclusion 7 | Conclusion Epilogue As a Vector of Popular Memory As an Emblem of Twenty-First-Century Protest As a Piece of Popular Culture As a Way to Breathe in a World on Fire As a Way to Indicate Community Notes Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Epilogue Bibliography Archival Sources Printed Sources Films and Television Shows Index