312. History, Hijacking, and the Poppy Thong: A Rant on War Commemoration with Peter Caddick Adams, and Alex Churchill | IWM History Festival Live 2

Stop commercializing historical grief and ignoring the true scale of global warfare.

Recorded live at the Imperial War Museum Festival, host Paul Bavill sits down with two of History Rage’s favourite returning guests—Dr. Peter Caddick Adams and Alex Churchill—for an unfiltered, hilarious, and deeply insightful look at how we commemorate global conflicts.

From the tacky monetization of grief to the complete erasure of French contributions on the Western Front, this live crowd episode pulls no punches. Why has our memory of the First World War become so lazy? The team breaks down the "Airfix School of Military History," explores the forgotten British conflicts post-1945, and takes aim at the deeply problematic world of Axis reenactment cosplay. Finally, they tackle the terrifying future of AI-generated history slop and explain why preserving your personal family archives on physical paper is the ultimate act of historical preservation.

Recommended Episodes to Unleash More Rage

If you loved this live panel, dive back into the archives with these essential episodes:

• Episode 75: Dr. Peter Caddick Adams rages on Bernard Montgomery and explains why "Monty" might not be all he’s cracked up to be.
• Episode 210: Alex Churchill rages against the narrow British lens of the First World War, proving it truly was a global conflict.

Featured Book

Support the authors who keep history honest. Grab your copy of Alex Churchill's brilliant book, which balances the scales of global wartime contributions:

• Buy the Book: Ring of Fire: A Global History of the Great War by Alex Churchill. Order directly from the History Rage Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10120/9781035903429

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