'Spreading fields of victory’? : the reporting of Gallipoli, Jutland and the Somme in The War Illustrated

The War Illustrated was a popular weekly magazine which informed the British public about the details and controversies of the First World War. Its image-led depiction of the conflict comprised maps, photographs and war artists’ work alongside reporting, editorials and articles from notable figures such as H.G. Wells and Millicent Fawcett. While there is ample evidence of War Illustrated accepting establishment views and broadcasting the staples of propaganda, it also articulated what today may appear to be vocal, democratic and justifiable criticism of the conduct of the war. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the coverage of the Gallipoli campaign and the Battle of Jutland stand as some of the most outspoken examples of this critical stance. However, the battle which might now be considered to epitomise the conflict’s mismanagement, waste and futility, the Battle of the Somme between July and November 1916, received positive and extensive coverage in this contemporary publication. This essay considers the War Illustrated’s reporting of these three landmark moments in the First World War, assessing its often intricate and ambivalent balance of propaganda, patriotism and criticism which by turns anticipates and contradicts the retrospective evaluations of the conflict.