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The article presents an interview with World War I scholars Piet Chielens and Dominiek Dendooven in which they discusses centenary commemorations of Ypres battle and Enlightenment.

In 2017, one hundred years after the third battle of Ypres (Ras- schendaele), Australia loaned two stone sculptures - the Menin Gate lions - to Ypres, the town that had originally offered them to the commonwealth in 1936. A few months later, with the departure of the originals imminent, the Australian government announced that it would offer the Belgians permanent replicas of the beasts. The rhetoric surrounding these acts of memorial diplomacy focused on how the lions were concrete symbols of a bond "formed of blood, mud and tears" between Australia and Belgium2. However, if we examine the circumstances that led to the lions' arrival in Australia in 1936, their temporary return to Belgium in 2017 and the time in between, this bond has neither been as straightforward nor as strong as we might assume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three years have passed since the centenary of the First World War drew to an end. In our current post-Brexit, pandemic-afflicted times, tourism and travel have come, more or less, to a standstill. This moment may well be the perfect opportunity to look back and reflect not only on the commemorative frenzy of the centenary, but also on more than a century of reconstruction and remembrance activity around theYpres Salient. In the already complex "palimpsest of... multi-vocal landscapes" that is the Western Front, it is in the former salient that the accumulation of a century's worth of memory work - the "dint of human will" necessary for the creation of a lieu de mémoire - lies thickest2. The contributions in this special issue provide nuanced insights into the processes of building and rebuilding, shaping and re-shaping the multi-faceted memorial landscape of the Ypres Salient. The questions tackled range from the pragmatic and concrete to those of a more symbolic nature: What effect did the war have on Ypres' demographics? What role did the war damage tribunals play in Ypres' reconstruction? How has greater recognition ofYpres as a multinational lieu de mémoire informed relationships between locals and international agents of memory, such as those from China, India and Australia? This issue also gives the floor to key local actors who provide behind the scenes perspectives on representations of Ypres' reconstruction, the centenary commemorations and what may lie ahead for the salient now the First World War has passed well and truly out of living memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Passchendaele: The Lost Victory of World War I by Nick Lloyd is a comprehensive account of the infamous Third Battle of Ypres, also known as Passchendaele. The book challenges the prevailing narrative of the battle as a senseless and futile endeavor, instead arguing that it could have been a major victory for the Allies. Lloyd's work stands out due to its inclusion of German perspectives and its use of a wide range of sources. While the book may not offer many new insights for those already familiar with the battle, it provides a balanced and readable narrative that sheds light on the evolving nature of warfare on the Western Front during the final year of World War I. [Extracted from the article]