Few periods of history have been as much studied as has the First World War. This article traces the historiography of the Great War in Britain, concentrating on the last 50 years. The period of domination of military and diplomatic history gave way in the sixties to social history and 20 years later to cultural history, but what precise effect did this have on the questions asked and the sources used by historians ? After bringing us up to date with recent historioraphical debates, the article goes on on to analyse the themes dealt with in the 103 doctoral theses on the war produced in Britain since the year 2000.