Wilcox, Vanda

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Vanda Wilcox graduated with a B.A. (Hons) in Modern History (First Class) from the University of Oxford where she then completed a Masters in Historical Research and a D.Phil. in History. Her doctoral thesis focused on morale and discipline in the Italian army during the First World War. Her research interests focus on the military, cultural and social history of the First World War in Italy, as well as the memory and commemoration of the two World Wars. She is also interested in sports history, particularly Italian football culture. Her current research focuses on the Italo-Turkish war (1911-12) and on the colonial and imperial dimensions of Italian participation in the First World War. At John Cabot she teaches courses in European and Italian history in the nineteenth and twentieth century as well as on the World Wars, the history of imperialism, memory and popular culture, and modern sports history.

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    Killing to commemorate, dying to remember? Authenticity and the practice of memory in Isonzo
    (2024) Kempshall, Chris; Wilcox, Vanda
    First World War video-games have grown in importance and popularity since the centenary of 2014-18. But what does it mean to both develop and play these games? What vision of history is being constructed or transmitted between developers and players? Drawing on interviews with both these groups, this article examines the game Isonzoset on the Italian Front –an unfamiliar setting to most in the anglosphere –to explore the constructions of memory and historical meaning which the game produces.
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    Georgette Heyer, Wellington’s Army and the First World War
    (2021) Wilcox, Vanda
    This chapter first positions Heyer’s work within the landscape of interwar fiction as shaped by the First World War. It then explores her depiction of Wellington’s army across several novels. Finally it considers Heyer’s construction of gender roles in wartime.
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    Teaching the Difficult Heritage of Italian Fascism
    (2024) Daly, Selena; Malone, Hannah; Wilcox, Vanda
    In recent years, the architectural legacy and so-called ‘difficult heritage’ of Fascist Italy has become a flourishing field of research. These topics have also begun to make their way into the undergraduate classroom. To date, however, there has been little research carried out into the methods we use to teach the history of Fascism in particular. In this short article, we outline how we have applied problem-based learning and scenario-based learning approaches to tackle this topic. After presenting three assignments, we explain the benefits associated with a PBL/SBL approach, summarised under the headings of interdisciplinarity, creativity and authenticity, before highlighting some aspects on which colleagues may wish to reflect if they are considering adopting a similar approach in their teaching.
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    A European History of Michael Howard’s War in European History
    (2022) Wilcox, Vanda
    Michael Howard’s War in European History, published in 1976, was one of his most influential works. This article traces its reception in France, Italy and West Germany, contextualising the book within the post-Second World War development of military history in those countries. The ‘war and society’ approach for which Howard is celebrated developed along distinctive lines in each, so international scholars focused on different aspects of the book. War in European Historywas also used by Umberto Eco to explore the relationship between force and power. His insights offer fresh ways to examine more recent developments in the field of military history.
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    ‘Weeping Tears of Blood’: Exploring Italian Soldiers’ Emotions in the First World War
    (2012) Wilcox, Vanda
    Emotion plays a vital role in any rounded history of warfare, both as an element in morale and as component in understanding the soldier's experience. Theories on the functioning of emotions vary, but an exploration of Italian soldiers' emotions during the First World War highlights both cognitive and cultural elements in the ways emotions were experienced and expressed. Although Italian stereotypes of passivity and resignation dominated contemporary discourse concerning the feelings and reactions of peasant conscripts, letters reveal that Italian soldiers vividly expressed a wide range of intense emotions. Focusing on fear, horror and grief as recurrent themes, this article finds that these emotions were processed and expressed in ways which show similarities to the combatants of other nations but which also display distinctly Italian features. The language and imagery commonly deployed offer insights into the ways in which Italian socio-cultural norms shaped expressions of personal war experience. In letters that drew on both religious imagery and the traditional peasant concerns of land, terrain and basic survival, soldiers expressed their fears of death, isolation, suffering and killing in surprisingly vigorous terms.