Matt Leonard

University of Bristol
Dr Matthew Leonard is a modern conflict archaeologist and the author of Poppyganda, published by Uniform Press. His PhD research concerned the engagement of man and the underground worlds of the Western Front during the First World War. As a conflict archaeologist, his research adopts a modern interdisciplinary approach, incorporating elements of anthropology, military history and archaeology. He is using this framework to explore how these subterranean landscapes, which themselves are a distinctive kind of conflict landscape with their own repertoire of material culture of the Great War, were created and experienced, and how existentialism, sensorial interaction and the human body coped with and mediated the extreme pressures of war life underground. Matthew is a member of the Durand Group and carries out frequent fieldwork in France beneath the battlefields of the First World War. As part of a select group of academics, he is helping to advise the BBC on their television, radio and online coverage of the anniversary of the war. He is also a contributor to the edited volume Beyond the Dead Horizon: Studies in Modern Conflict Archaeology and a regular feature writer for Military History Monthly. More information concerning Matthew's research can be found on his website www.modernconflictarchaeology.com.

Poppies, Paris and the power of objects

Only a week ago the remembrance poppy was still in full bloom as millions remembered the lives of millions, and a time when the world was at war. The human experience of the Western Front is now confined to that … Continue reading

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The subterranean sanctuaries of the Somme

In the British psyche, the 1st July 1916 has become a date that seemingly represents the entirety of the First World War. Type ‘The Battle of the Somme’ into Amazon and it will produce 2945 results, and that’s just in … Continue reading

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Conflict Culture

How much do we really know about the experience of the average individual soldier? In this video and audio podcast, Matthew Leonard, University of Bristol, discusses the unique conflict culture that developed on the front lines during the First World … Continue reading

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Continuations or New Beginnings? Changing attitudes to the First World War

“I adore war. It’s like a big picnic without the objectlessness of a picnic. I have never been so well or so happy . . . Here we are in the burning centre of it all, and I would not … Continue reading

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The War Underground: An Overview

When war broke out in 1914, no one could have possibly foreseen what the conflict would be really like. At the time, in the common idiom, war was a glorious business, an exciting adventure that offered the chance to become … Continue reading

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Mutiny on the Aisne

The appalling conditions that the average soldier experienced during the First World War are almost impossible for 21st century society to appreciate. Mud, filth, lice, death, disease and macabre landscapes were the grotesque realities of the frontline, making everyday life, … Continue reading

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The Ypres Salient: A global commitment to total war

On 7th October 1914, some 8,000 soldiers of the Imperial German Army proudly marched into Ypres. They represented the vanguard of a nation hell-bent on claiming its share of empire, and although the Great War was still in its infancy, … Continue reading

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The Durand Group: modern conflict archaeology beneath the Western Front

Archaeologists are well aware of the contested nature of all landscapes, but modern conflict landscapes tend to be more contested than would be the norm, and this is particularly so in regard to the old battlefields of the First World … Continue reading

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A senseless war?

The historian David Lowenthal once stated that, ‘in talking about the past we lie with every breath we draw’ (2011: 185). Of course, Lowenthal didn’t mean to imply that historians, archaeologists, anthropologists and other academics who attempt to reach back … Continue reading

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The foundations of the Battle of Arras

95 years ago to the day, the April weather around Arras was utterly miserable. Unseasonably low temperatures combined with snow, sleet and driving rain to transform the area around the beleaguered French town into a muddy hell. The incessant shelling … Continue reading

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Eastern culture on the Western Front

When war broke out in 1914, the Chinese declared they would remain neutral – after all, the madness occurring on the continent was nothing to do with them. But by 1916, they too had been sucked into the vortex of … Continue reading

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The First World War of Objects

Throughout history, conflicts have always been waged with the incorporation of all the modern technology at the belligerents’ disposal. But before 1914, industry was not capable of producing the materiel of war in the vast amounts required to turn localised, … Continue reading

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Bronze caribou and Monchy le Preux

The First World War is often viewed as a monstrous conflict that consumed vast amounts of materiel and men in grand battles, fought by titanic armies, which in turn changed the course of history. It is regarded as a war … Continue reading

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New worlds, old worlds and underworlds: ‘conflict culture’ and the First World War

The overwhelming effects of global, industrial war dictated that the soldier’s experience of the First World War was one very different to that of previous, non-industrialised conflicts. During the war, battles regularly raged for several months, often over a piece … Continue reading

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Verdun, 1916

The full horror of 20th century industrialised warfare was nowhere more intense than at Verdun in 1916. A French and German battlefield, it is rarely visited by other nationalities. Considering it is the key to understanding the huge loss of … Continue reading

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