World War I and the space-time-war nexus

Abstract

Stating that World War I is both distant and near to us may be seen as both an oxymoron and a truism. The centenary of the conflict was a reminder of the temporal distance that exists between us and the people who fought in that war. In that sense, World War I can be seen as a distant sequence of events that propelled the world into the tumultuous and unprecedentedly violent twentieth century. Yet we are constantly reminded of the presence of World War I in the twenty-first century through its global,state and local legacies. In this way, World War I remains proximate, very much an immediate and daily presence in the lives of1many. In northern France and Belgium, people still live in a landscape shaped by the war, with some areas completely closed to the public owing to the presence of explosive devices, which continue to kill, and other areas so polluted that they cannot be returned to cultivation. For inhabitants of these regions, and others around the globe, the war is long gone but its traces remain2present in everyday experiences. The apparent dichotomy between this past event and its immediate physical presence is a powerful reminder of the scale and intensity of the first truly global conflict.