Away from the Western Front

The 'Away from the Western Front' project took place between January 2017 and January 2019. It was a national project delivered by the charity ‘Away from the Western Front’. The project explored the campaigns in other areas of the world such as the Balkan Front, including Gallipoli and Salonika, the campaigns in Egypt, Palestine and Syria, the Mesopotamian campaign, including Iran, the East African campaign and the Italian campaign. The project encompassed fourteen discrete projects, including three national activities, ten regional ones and one international activity: National activities: • Music Project • Creative Writing Competition • Conference Regional activities: • Castle Drogo to Salonika • Horses in the War • Salonika Stories • From Islington to Egypt Palestine and Syria • Holy Lands • From Lancashire to Mesopotamia • The First World War: the Iranian perspective • Health: the Hidden Enemy • Food away from the Western Front • A family goes to war. International activities: • The Turin Men In addition, the project offered a platform for individuals to present their research into family or local histories related to the war away from the Western Front. As the central element of the project, a website was developed and historians were invited to write or edit articles about selected campaigns. In all, therefore, the project set out to raise awareness of the lesser-known aspects of the First World War (FWW), bringing the stories to wider and non-specialist audiences. A key feature of the 'Away from the Western Front' project was to provide opportunities for people to use the arts to interpret these other theatres of war in ways which were relevant to their own lives. Involving theatre groups, film makers, musicians and artists, the project has created a wealth of resources easily accessible to a wide range of people. Depicting events through theatre and art has not only helped those creating it to broaden their understanding of the campaigns but has presented the information in easily accessible format to reach others. All performances were recorded and are digitally available. The project was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund with a small grant from the Centre for Hidden Histories (University of Nottingham).