Jake Gasson
Leave to Supplicate Granted: June 2024
DPhil Research Topic
The 'deadliest enemy': Experiencing and Enduring Boredom in the British Salonika Force, 1915-1918
I am a fourth-year DPhil student at Pembroke College specialising in the Macedonian Front of the First World War. My doctoral research seeks to understand the endurance and morale of British soldiers in Macedonia, with a focus on the psychological challenges presented by boredom. The adage that war is 90% boredom and 10% terror is perhaps more applicable to the Salonika campaign than any other theatre of operations during the conflict. British soldiers found almost everything boring, from the lack of fighting and tedious manual labour, to the desolate scenery at the front. On a deeper level, British soldiers felt 'existentially' bored by serving on a front with little prospect of offensive operations and no clear connection to the broader war. The war of endurance for those at Salonika was coping with day-to-day boredom and the inescapable sense of purposeless rather than the horror of industrial warfare, as on the Western Front. But boredom was more than an unpleasant mental state, presenting a serious threat to the military effectiveness of the British Salonika Force. Men became stale, disinterested in their duties, and prone to suicide. British officers recognised the threat and accordingly devoted considerable effort to keeping their men mentally stimulated through various forms of entertainment. By exploring how British soldiers and their commanders experienced and coped with boredom, my thesis seeks to shed light on this under-explored campaign and an emotion that has been, surprisingly, equally neglected. This is an interdisciplinary study, utilising the extensive literature on boredom in psychology, sociology, and philosophy to understand an emotion that must be understood as both historically sited and universally experienced.
I previously studied for my BA in History at King's College London and my MSt in the History of War at Oxford. My master's research focussed on the multinational composition of the Salonika campaign, examining how British soldiers viewed the armies of the Allies and the Central Powers.
Beyond boredom, my research also examines the militarised cultural encounters which took place in the Balkans during the First World War, both amongst the belligerent armies and with the region's inhabitants, as well as the colonial dimensions of the campaign. This extends beyond the British perspective and I am currently researching the experience of the Italian expeditionary force as a side project. More broadly, I am interested in the conduct of irregular or 'small war' during the First World War, the longer history of British military encounters with the Balkans, and the experience and significance of boredom throughout the history of modern warfare.
I can be contacted on Twitter @jakegasson1918 and found on Instagram @historyofwarblog, where I post regularly on my research and battlefield travels across Europe, and also Academia.edu.
Teaching
I have supervised undergraduate projects on the interrelationship between football and national identity for British soldiers serving in the 'sideshow' theatres of the First World War and on homosexuality in the British Army during the First World War.
I have also taught the first-year undergraduate Optional Subject '1919: Remaking the World' and the second-year undergraduate Further Subject 'A Global War, 1914-1919'. I will be teaching the former again this forthcoming Trinity Term.
I have completed both the Preparation for Teaching and Learning at Oxford (PLTO) and Training in Lecturing courses.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
J. Gasson, 'The Application of 'Small Wars' Theory and Experience by the British Army in Macedonia during the First World War'. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 35/5 (2024), pp. 777-806.
J. Gasson, ''The most weird mixture of humanity': British Views of Friends and Foes at the Onset of the Salonika Campaign, October - December 1915', in A. Bamford (ed.), One Hundred Years of Army Historical Research: Proceedings of the SAHR Centenary Conference (Warwick, 2022), pp. 181-205.
Other Publications
J. Gasson, 'Fighting with the Greek 'Johnnies': British encounters with the Greek army on the Macedonian Front, 1918', Stand To! The Journal of the Western Front Association, 130 (2023), pp. 41-7.
Book Reviews
Review of Armies in Retreat: Chaos, Cohesion, and Consequences eds. T.G. Heck and W.D. Mills. Canadian Military History, 32/2 (2023), pp. 22-5
Review of The Forgotten Front: The Macedonian Campaign, 1915-1918 by J. Lewis. Stand To! The Journal of the Western Front Association, 130 (2023), pp. 55-6.
Invited Talks
Religion and Nationalism in the Balkans: 1914 and 2024.
Panellist for 'Religion and Conflicts: 1914 and 2024', part of the 'Addressing Global Challenges' stream at the Pembroke 400 Festival of Research and Impact.
'Imboscati dell'Oriente': The Italian experience of the Macedonian Front, 1916-1918.
Lecture given at the Salonika Campaign Society AGM, 1 October 2022.
Fighting with 'Johnny Greek': British and Greek soldiers on the Salonika Front in 1918.
Lecture given to the Lincoln and Chesterfield Branches of the Western Front Association, 22 September 2021.
Conference Papers
'the most remarkable army of all times': The Dynamics of Inter-Allied Encounters in Macedonia during the First World War. Britain and the World Conference, Winchester, 21 June 2024.
'But we had been bored - bored stiff': The 60th (2/2nd London) Division and the Psychological Demands of Soldiering on the Macedonian Front, December 1916-June 1917. London Pride: The London Territorial Force in Peace and War, London, 15 June 2024.
'No unit that is either dull or bored can hope to be a first-class fighting machine': Boredom, Endurance, and Effectiveness in the British Salonika Force during the First World War. International Society for First World War Studies Early Career Researcher Conference, London, 17 May 2024.
The ‘deadliest enemy’: The Psychological Challenge of Boredom on the Macedonian Front, 1915-1918. Zentrum für Militärgeschichte und Sozialwissenschaften der Bundeswehr Nachwuchskolloquium zur Militärgeschichte und Förderpreis [Centre for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr Young Talent Colloquium on Military History and Sponsorship Award], Potsdam, 7 March 2024
The 'deadening atmosphere of nothing doing'': Existential Boredom in the Experience and Memory of British soldiers on the Macedonian Front, 1915-1918. British Commission for Military History New Researchers' Conference, Hull, 21 October 2023.
Colonial Mindsets and the Governance of Informal Empire: Approaches to Pacification during the British occupation of Macedonia, 1915-1918. Governing the Lives of Others: Global Histories of Empire: Theories and Practice, Turin/online, 14 September 2023.
The 'deadliest enemy': The Psychological Challenge of Boredom on the Macedonian Front, 1915-1918. British Commission for Military History New Researchers' Conference, Manchester, 15 October 2022.
A Colonial Mindset: British approaches to the pacification of Macedonia, 1915-1918. A Great(er) War of Military Occupations in Europe: antecedents, experiences, and legacies, Brussels, 24 June 2022.
'the most weird mixture of humanity': British views of friends and foes at the onset of the Salonika campaign, October - December 1915. Society for Army Historical Research centenary programme, online, 21 April 2021.
'all uninteresting and monotonous': Boredom and the Morale of the British Salonika Force in the 'Birdcage', December 1915 - July 1916. Oxford History of War Seminar Postgraduate Workshop, online, 21 February 2021.
Podcast Appearances
'Managing boredom in Salonika in WW1', Combat Morale Podcast, Season 2 Episode 5
'Managing boredom in Salonika amongst British troops', Mentioned in Dispatches, The Podcast of the Western Front Association Episode 275
Conference Organisation
I was a co-organiser of the Women & War Conference held at All Souls College on 22 March 2024, a collaboration between the University of Oxford and the Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War at King's College London.
I am the co-organiser of the New Research in the History of War Conference, a collaboration between the University of Oxford and the Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War at King's College London which will be held on 28 June 2024.
Academic Prizes and Grants
PhD Grant, The Western Front Association (2022)
Minor University Research Grant, Society for Army Historical Research (2021)
First Place, Society for Army Historical Research Undergraduate Essay Prize (2018). This can be read online here.
