History, Commemoration and National Preoccupation

First volume to cover the Nelson legend to the present, including commemoration events in 2005
- Unique in its comparison with French commemorations of Trafalgar and Napoleon

This is a critical reflection on the complex notions of remembrance, celebration, and commemoration. Taking historical snapshots of the commemoration of Nelson at his death, in 1905, and in contemporary Britain, these papers ask: who drives the commemoration of historical anniversaries and to what ends? Which Nelson has had a role in national memory over the past two centuries? And who identifies with Nelson today?

This volume explores the commemoration of the Battle of Trafalgar and Admiral Lord Nelson's death over the past two centuries. It includes the extraordinary celebrations of 2005, which saw hundreds of official, commercial, and popular events celebrating and commemorating the bicentenary of Trafalgar and the death of Nelson.

Leading historians of Britain and France, reflect critically on the complex notions of remembrance, celebration, honouring, and commemoration. Taking historical snapshots of the commemoration of Nelson at his death, in 1905, and in contemporary Britain, the contributors ask: who drives the commemoration of historical anniversaries and to what ends? Which Nelson, or Nelsons, have had a role in national memory over the past two centuries? And who identifies with Nelson today?

Focusing on Britain, but looking also at imperial and French contexts, the papers consider how memoirs, history writing, visual and modern media and museums, and official and unofficial interests, contribute to keeping and shaping memory. As the changing manner of memorializing key moments in national history allows historians to study cultural meanings and interpretations of national identity, the contributors assembled in this volume exhort the wider profession to engage critically with 'public history'.

This innovative work in the history of memory and commemoration will be of interest not only to the specialist scholar but also to those with general interests in naval, maritime, cultural and public history.

Table of Contents.
Marking Time, Ludmilla Jordanova
'His dirge our groans - his monument our praise': Official and Popular Commemoration of Nelson in 1805/6, Colin White
Remembering Victory - Commemorating Defeat? The Franco-British Trafalgar Centenary in 1905, Bertrand Taithe
Nelson the Hero and Horatio the Lover: Projections of the Myth in Canada, the Cinema, and Culture, John Mackenzie
Trafalgar: Back on the Map of British Popular Culture? Assessing the 2005 Bicentenary, Mark Connelly
The National Maritime Museum's 2005 exhibition, Nelson & Napoléon: Intention and Reception, Margarette Lincoln and Martin Daunton
The Battle of Austerlitz, Collective Amnesia, and the Non-Commemoration of Napoleon in France, Peter Hicks