Conclusion

Abstract

Men’s identities are never set in stone and nowhere is this more evident than in the microcosm of war with its power to disrupt the gender order. Viewed over the course of the First World War, British servicemen’s perceptions of their own identity as soldiers can be seen to have been contingent upon a number of factors, including the imminence of danger, the weather, the location and nature of military service, the ability to remain in contact with the home front and access to sources of bodily comfort. Postwar domestic identities were equally contingent on the specific social and cultural situation in which men found themselves, being informed by factors such as age, the availability of work and housing, a man’s health and that of his family.