n.

1. An account of the personal experiences of an author.
2. An autobiography. Often used in the plural.
3. A biography or biographical sketch.
4. A report, especially on a scientific or scholarly topic.
5. memoirs The report of the proceedings of a learned society.

[French mémoire, from Old French memoire, memory, from Latin memoria. See memory.]

memoirist mem'oir·ist n.

noun

A narrative of experiences undergone by the writer: commentary (often used in plural), reminiscence (often used in plural). See words.

An account of historical events as viewed by a participant or contemporary. These take various forms, depending upon the events being described, the rank and perspective of the writer, and the motives for the production of such an account. Military memoirs may be divided, broadly, into two categories: those produced by politicians and generals, offering an insight into key decisions and a top-down view of events; and those of the officers and men who witnessed front-line action, or of ordinary people who were in some way affected by war.

Since the late 19th century it has become common for the politicians and generals involved in a major conflict to publish personal account of the campaigns or decisions in which they were involved. It is often the case that such works emerge from the desire of the author to justify his part in the conflict, or to explain why particular decisions were taken. The memoirs of Lloyd George, for example, presented a very distinct picture of the British high command in WW I. Lloyd George was highly critical of Haig and many others. There was, of course, more than an element of truth in such criticism, but Lloyd George was also keen to portray his own efforts in the most favourable light. Thus his memoirs, while providing useful information on the British high command and his role within that command, must be viewed through the lens of the author's manifest self-interest.

The wish to justify one's action after the event appears in a number of modern memoirs. Indeed, it is not unknown for quarrels begun during a war to be carried on in print long after the final shot has been fired. Generals Johnston and Hood, for example, continued their vitriolic debate concerning the final year of the American civil war for fifteen years after the Confederate surrender. The debate was cut short only by Hood's death in 1879. Memoirs tainted by such vendettas inevitably lose some of their value, as it becomes clear that only one side of a story is being presented. Even so, such works provide invaluable insight into the mind of the author, and can help a reader to understand the problems and contradictions that so quickly appear when the ‘fog of war’ descends.

Many memoirs begin with less polemical objectives. Some politicians or generals wish to leave a didactic account of the events through which they passed with the aim of helping others to learn from their experiences. Others simply wish to provide an account of their battles and trials in order to preserve the memory of those events, and the people involved, for future generations. Often an author may combine these elements, such as in the case of Panzer Leader by Guderian, published shortly after WW II. Guderian hoped not only to restore his faltering financial position in the immediate aftermath of the war, but also to examine the development of the tank and its part in the conflict. Sherman began his memoirs with a note to his ‘comrades in arms’, in which he expressed the hope that his reminiscences might be of use to future historians, and to future Americans, who ‘may learn that a country and government such as ours are worth fighting for, and dying for’. The USSR produced a remarkable collection of more than 130 war memoirs by senior officers. Many were heavily edited and some were written with the aim of heading off criticism, but they present a remarkable combination of personal reminiscence and analysis of military planning and operations. The memoirs of major historical figures can, therefore, provide valuable information for a wide audience, but must always be read within the context of the time at which they were writing, and the motives which prompted the author to take up his pen. Increasingly these reflect self-justification: few Napoleonic generals wrote memoirs; by WW II most did.

This is, to a slightly lesser extent, also the case with the reminiscences of ordinary men and women who, having passed through the ordeal of war, chose to recount their own thoughts and deeds on the events in which they participated or which they witnessed. Such accounts fill an important position in the source material available to any student of warfare. As the historian Correlli Barnett has noted, neither official documents nor the memoirs of politicians and generals tell us what it was like to live and fight in the front lines. The memoirs of common soldiers can help scholars to understand not only how troops reacted to combat, but also how they lived on a day-to-day basis, how they reacted to great events, and how they perceived their leaders, their enemies, and their objectives.

The memoirs of private soldiers, NCOs, and junior officers became increasingly common during and after the Napoleonic wars. The British army of the Peninsular war is seen clearly through the writings of Rifleman Harris and Lt Kincaid, while Napoleon's 1812 campaign is illuminated by the likes of Capt Coignet, Sgt Bourgogne, and even ‘Cornet Aleksandrov’—the Russian ‘cavalry maiden’ Nadezdha Durova. Subsequent conflicts like the American civil war and the Franco-Prussian war swept thousands of educated men into the ranks, and this flowering of memoirs was eclipsed only by the outpouring from the two world wars. The complexities of the Vietnam war were reflected in accounts like Philip Caputo's A Rumor of War and David Mason's Chickenhawk, while Bob Stewart's Broken Lives is a telling account of the anguish of the former Yugoslavia—and the book's author.

An increased regard for family history at the close of the 20th century has helped ensure that many works which were never designed as formal memoirs, but were written to enable a veteran to put his own service into perspective or leave an account for his relatives, have been rescued from obscurity. Personal accounts like this, published or not, constitute a vein of source material which no military historian can afford to ignore. Sometimes they shake received wisdom. ‘The Somme raised the morale of the British army, ’ wrote Capt Charles Carrington. ‘We were quite sure we had got the Germans beat: next spring we would deliver the knock-out blow.’ And often they remind us that battle is but one element of a life in which more mundane factors predominate. CSM Ernest Shephard reminds us that whatever else may have happened on the first day of the Somme, it was ‘A lovely day, intensely hot.’

Bibliography

• Fussell, Paul, The Great War and Modern Memory (London, 1975).
• Zhukov, Marshal Georgii, Reminiscences and Reflections (Moscow, 1985), trans. Vic Schneierson from Russian orig. (1974).
• Guderian, Heinz, Panzer Leader (London, 1952).
• Sherman, William T., Memoirs of Gen William T. Sherman (New York, 1984)

— Andrew Haughton/Richard Holmes

For more information on memoir, visit Britannica.com.

IN BRIEF: The story of one's life written by oneself.

Only a person who has lived a fascinating life can write a truly interesting memoir for others to read.

Tutor's tip: The "memoir" (a biography or autobiography) of a person with a bad "memory" (the mental faculty of remembering) is often more fiction than fact -- and usually more entertaining!

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - bibliografi, erindringer, memoirer

Nederlands (Dutch)
verslag (uit persoonlijke ervaring), (mv) autobiografie, geleerde verhandeling, memorandum

Français (French)
n. - mémoire

Deutsch (German)
n. - Memoiren, Biographie

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - απομνημονεύματα, αυτοβιογραφία, διατριβή, πρακτικά επιστημονικής εταιρείας

Italiano (Italian)
biografia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - memória escrita (f), dissertação (f)

Русский (Russian)
краткая биография, научная статья, некролог в газете

Español (Spanish)
n. - memoria, biografía, reseña, nota necrológica

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - biografi, uppsats

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
传记, 追思录, 回忆录

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 傳記, 追思錄, 回憶錄

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 회상록, 전기, 논문

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 思い出の記, 自叙伝, 回顧録, 追想録, メモ, 研究報告, 論文, 会報

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) تقرير, مذكرات‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮סיפור חיים, מאמר ביוגרפי, חיבור, מסה, זיכרונות, אוטוביוגרפיה‬

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