Ep275 – Managing boredom in Salonika amongst British troops – Jake Gasson

Jake Gasson, a doctoral candidate at Pembroke College, University of Oxford, talks about his research into how British soldiers experienced and endured boredom as part of British forces deployed to Salonika. Soldiers endured long periods of little activity and suffered from non-combat hardships notably the harsh climate and endemic disease. Rather than fight, men spent much of their time labouring or holding an uneventful front. Boredom was a major problem and Jake talks about the impact it had and how the army sought to counter the problem.