God and the British Soldier: Religion and the British Army in the First and Second World Wars

"Historians of the First and Second World Wars have consistently underestimated the importance of religion in British society in the first half of the twentieth century. In this compelling and fascinating study of the role of religion in the British army in both World Wars, Michael Snape shows that religion had much greater currency and influence among British soldiers than has previously been recognised." "By drawing on a wealth of new material from military, ecclesiastical and secular civilian archives, Snape re-evaluates the complex religious attitudes of the British soldier, the role of the army chaplain and the wartime work of civilian religious agencies such as the Salvation Army and the YMCA. In doing so, he shows that religion was a key component of British national identity and that it served as a major buttress to British military morale during the two World Wars." "Rejecting the myth that religion was unimportant to the soldiers of this era, God and the British Soldier demonstrates how the British soldier of 1914-18 and 1939-45 was far from being the irreligious product of a fundamentally secular society. Indeed, and contrary to the widely accepted view that war helped to advance the secularisation of British society, Snape argues that the nation's religious culture emerged intact and even strengthened as a result of the citizen soldier's experience of the two World Wars."--BOOK JACKET.