一战西线老兵记忆的两种研究路径:从新军事史到军事环境史

Studies on World War Ⅰ Veterans' Memories:From New Military History to Military Environmental History

西线战场是第一次世界大战的主战场,攻防战略与战役战斗既关乎战争全局和个人命运,也塑造着西线老兵的记忆。新军事史和军事环境史,是研究一战西线老兵记忆的两种路径。老兵记忆是新军事史的重要研究对象。"生活史"或"个人史"著述,是一战西线老兵记忆研究的主要成果形式。战地出版物、老兵家信、日记和回忆录等政府档案之外的一手文献,为进一步审视战争、深入战争亲历者的内心世界、丰富人们对军事与社会之关系的认知,提供了珍贵史料。运用军事环境史的理论与方法,从人地关系入手探讨社会关系,则是研究一战西线老兵记忆新的增长点。从全方位、多角度的具体研究还原战争图景,向读者直观地呈现一战西线老兵的经历,是对环境史理论和方法的应用与检验。

The Western Front was the main theatre in World War Ⅰ where campaigns and battles took place. Directed by offensive and defensive strategies and tactics, these events have not only affected the overall situation of the war and individual fate, but also shaped the memories of the veterans. New military history and military environmental history are two approaches to studying this issue. First of all, veterans memories are an important research object for new military history.“The history of everyday life” and “individual history” are the main forms that deliver the latest studies on WWI veterans memories in the Western Front. Firsthand non-government documents, such as battlefield publications, veteran letters, diaries and memoirs, provide valuable historical materials for historians to reexamine the war, which, in a way, to further understand veterans inner world and the relationship between military and society. The other new approach is to apply theories and methods of military environmental history to making sense of the relationship between man and nature. To restore the panoramic view of the war, these new approaches, on the one hand, attempt to connect the reader with individual experiences of WWI veterans in the Western Front;on the other hand, they have applied the theories and methods of environmental history to military history studies.