Socialist Women and the Great War: Protest, Revolution and Commemoration, an open access book, is the first transnational study of left-wing women and socialist revolution during the First World War and its aftermath. Through a discussion of the key themes related to women and revolution, such as anti-militarism and violence, democracy and citizenship, and experience and life-writing, this book sheds new and necessary light on the everyday lives of socialist women in the early 20th century. The participants of the 1918-1919 revolutions in Europe, and the accompanying outbreaks of social unrest elsewhere in the world, have typically been portrayed as war-weary soldiers and suited committee delegates-in other words, as men. Exceptions like Rosa Luxemburg exist, but ordinary women are often cast as passive recipients of the vote. This is not true; rather, women were pivotal actors in the making, imagining, and remembering of the social and political upheavals of this time. From wartime strikes, to revolutionary violence, to issues of suffrage, this book reveals how women constructed their own revolutionary selves in order to bring about lasting social change and provides a fresh comparative approach to women's socialist activism. As such, this is a vitally important resource for all postgraduates and advanced undergraduates interested in gender studies, international relations, and the history and legacy of World War I. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollection.com. Open access was funded by Knowledge Unlatched.

This unique volume examines how and to what extent former victims of Stalinist terror from across the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe were received, reintegrated and rehabilitated following the mass releases from prisons and labour camps which came in the wake of Stalin's death in 1953 and Khrushchev's reforms in the subsequent decade.

The history of Eastern Europe during the Cold War is one punctuated by protest and rebellion. Revolution and Resistance in Eastern Europe covers these flashpoints from the Stalin-Tito split of 1948 to the dramatic collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989.Covering East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Poland and Romania, the authors provide comprehensive critical analysis of the varying forms of dissent in the East European socialist states. They take a comparative approach and show how the different movements affected one another. Incorporating archival material only accessible since 1989, they discuss issues such as the diverse manifestations of non-conformity among different strata of the population, the complex relationship between Moscow and the national Communist Parties, the loosening of Soviet control after 1985, and everyday resistance to state authority.This book offers a firm grounding in the tumultuous decades of communist rule, which is essential to understanding the contemporary politics of Eastern Europe.

Although civilian internment has become associated with the Second World War in popular memory, it has a longer history. The turning point in this history occurred during the First World War when, in the interests of 'security' in a situation of total war, the internment of 'enemy aliens' became part of state policy for the belligerent states, resulting in the incarceration, displacement and, in more extreme cases, the death by neglect or deliberate killing of hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world. This pioneering book on internment during the First World War brings together international experts to investigate the importance of the conflict for the history of civilian incarceration.

In November 1918 a revolution overthrew the old imperial system in Germany and inaugurated a republic. The revolution was formally completed in August 1919 when the social democrat Friedrich Ebert was sworn in as president. By this time, however, many of the revolution's original aims and intentions had been swallowed up by new political concerns and lived experiences. For contemporaries the meaning of '9 November' changed, becoming increasingly contested between rival parties, military experts and scholars. This book examines how the debate on the revolution has evolved from August 1919 to the present day. It takes the reader through the ideological battles of the 1920s and 30s into the equally politicised historical writing of the cold war period. It ends with a consideration of the marginalisation of the revolution in academic research since the 1980s, and its revival from 2010. -- .

This edited collection represents the first comprehensive volume in English on the crucial, but under-explored, late period in the history of East European communism. Focusing on developments in Czechoslovakia from the crushing of the Prague Spring in August 1968 to the 'Velvet Revolution' of November 1989, the book examines a broad range of political, social and cultural issues, while also analysing external perceptions and relations. It explores the concept of 'normalisation' in historical context and brings together British, American, Czech and Slovak experts, each with their own archival research and particular interpretations. Overall, the anthology aims to assess the means by which the Prague Spring reforms were repealed and how Czechoslovakia was returned to a 'normal' communist state in line with Soviet orthodoxy. Key themes include the Communist Party and ideology; State Security; Slovak developments; 'auto-normalisation'; women and gender; cultural and intellectual currents; everyday life and popular opinion; and Czechoslovakia's political and cultural relationship with the USSR, the GDR, Poland and Yugoslavia. The volume sheds light on the process of decay of the Czechoslovak communist regime and the reasons for its ultimate collapse in 1989.

In November 1918 a revolution overthrew the old imperial system in Germany and inaugurated a republic. The revolution was formally completed in August 1919 when the social democrat Friedrich Ebert was sworn in as president. By this time, however, many of the revolution's original aims and intentions had been swallowed up by new political concerns and lived experiences. For contemporaries the meaning of '9 November' changed, becoming increasingly contested between rival parties, military experts and scholars. This book examines how the debate on the revolution has evolved from August 1919 to the present day. It takes the reader through the ideological battles of the 1920s and 30s into the equally politicised historical writing of the cold war period. It ends with a consideration of the marginalisation of the revolution in academic research since the 1980s, and its revival from 2010. -- .

This book is the first major study of civilian internment during the First World War as both a European and global phenomenon. Based on research spanning twenty-eight archives in seven countries, this study explores the connections and continuities, as well as ruptures, between different internment systems at the local, national, regional and imperial levels. Arguing that the years 1914-20 mark the essential turning point in the transnational and international history of the detention camp, this book demonstrates that wartime civilian captivity was inextricably bound up with questions of power, world order and inequalities based on class, race and gender. It also contends that engagement with internees led to new forms of international activism and generated new types of transnational knowledge in the spheres of medicine, law, citizenship and neutrality. Finally, an epilogue explains how and why First World War internment is crucial to understanding the world we live in today.

Although civilian internment has become associated with the Second World War in popular memory, it has a longer history. The turning point in this history occurred during the First World War when, in the interests of 'security' in a situation of total war, the internment of 'enemy aliens' became part of state policy for the belligerent states, resulting in the incarceration, displacement and, in more extreme cases, the death by neglect or deliberate killing of hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world. This pioneering book on internment during the First World War brings together international experts to investigate the importance of the conflict for the history of civilian incarceration.

This important book reassesses a defining historical, political and ideological moment in contemporary history: the 1989 revolutions in central and eastern Europe. Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, the authors reconsider such crucial themes as the broader historical significance of the 1989 events, the complex interaction between external and internal factors in the origins and outcomes of the revolutions, the impact of the 'Gorbachev phenomenon', the West and the end of the Cold War, the political and socio-economic determinants of the revolutionary processes in Poland, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, and the competing academic, cultural and ideological perceptions of the year 1989 as communism gave way to post-communist pluralism in the 1990s and beyond. Concluding that the contentious term 'revolution' is indeed apt for the momentous developments in eastern Europe in 1989, this book will be essential reading for undergraduates, postgraduates and specialists alike. -- .

This fascinating book tells the forgotten story of four to five thousand British civilians who were interned at the Ruhleben camp near Berlin during the First World War and formed a unique community in the heart of enemy territory. The civilians included academics, musicians, businessmen, seamen and even tourists who had been in Germany for only a few days when war broke out. This book takes a fresh look at German internment policies within an international context, using Ruhleben camp as a particular example to illustrate broader themes includeing the background to the German decision to intern 'enemy aliens'; Ruhleben as a 'community at war'; the role of civilian internment in wartime diplomacy and propaganda; and the place of Ruhleben in British memory of the war. This study will be of interest to all scholars working on the First World War, and to all those concerned with the broader impact of modern conflicts on national identities and community formation. -- .

This fascinating book tells the forgotten story of four to five thousand British civilians who were interned at the Ruhleben camp near Berlin during the First World War and formed a unique community in the heart of enemy territory. The civilians included academics, musicians, businessmen, seamen and even tourists who had been in Germany for only a few days when war broke out. This book takes a fresh look at German internment policies within an international context, using Ruhleben camp as a particular example to illustrate broader themes includeing the background to the German decision to intern 'enemy aliens'; Ruhleben as a 'community at war'; the role of civilian internment in wartime diplomacy and propaganda; and the place of Ruhleben in British memory of the war. This study will be of interest to all scholars working on the First World War, and to all those concerned with the broader impact of modern conflicts on national identities and community formation. -- .

Germany, 1914-1933: Politics, Society and Culture takes a fresh and critical look at a crucial period in German history. Rather than starting with the traditional date of 1918, the book begins with the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, and argues that this was a pivotal turning point in shaping the future successes and failures of the Weimar Republic. Combining traditional political narrative with new insights provided by social and cultural history, the book reconsiders such key questions as: How widespread was support for the war in Germany between 1914 and 1918? How was the war viewed both 'from above', by leading generals, admirals and statesmen, and 'from below', by ordinary soldiers and civilians? What were the chief political, social, economic and cultural consequences of the war? In particular, did it result in a brutalisation of German society after 1918? How modern were German attitudes towards work, family, sex and leisure during the 1920s? What accounts for the extraordinary richness and experimentalism of this period? The book also provides a thorough and comprehensive discussion of the difficulties faced by the Weimar Republic in capturing the hearts and minds of the German people in the 1920s, and of the causes of its final demise in the early 1930s.

The notion of the First World War as 'the great seminal catastrophe' (Urkatastrophe) of the twentieth century is now firmly established in historiography. Yet astonishingly little has been written about the fate of non-combatants in occupied and non-occupied territory, including civilian internees, deportees, expellees and disarmed military prisoners.

This volume brings together experts from across Europe to consider the phenomena of captivity, forced labour and forced migration during and immediately after the years 1914 to 1918. Each contribution offers a European-wide perspective, thus moving beyond interpretations based on narrow national frameworks or on one of the fighting fronts alone. Particular emphasis is placed on the way in which the experience of internees, forced labourers and expellees was mediated by specific situational factors and by the development of 'war cultures' and 'mentalities' at different stages in the respective war efforts. Other themes considered include the recruitment and deployment of colonial troops in Europe, and efforts to investigate, monitor and prosecute alleged war crimes in relation to the mistreatment of civilians and POWs. The final contribution will then consider the problems associated with repatriation and the reintegration of returning prisoners after the war.

This book was published as a special issue of Immigrants and Minorities.

In historical writing the interwar years are often associated with the rise of extreme forms of nationalism. Yet paradoxically this period also saw significant advances in the development of internationalism and international-mindedness. This collection examines previously under-researched aspects of the role played by women's movements and individual female activists in this process. Women campaigners contributed to, and helped to (re)define, what constituted international work in myriad ways. For some, particularly those coming from a radical pacifist background, the central theme after 1919 was the eradication of war and the preservation of world peace. Yet others were more interested in the sharing of medical knowledge across borders, in the promotion of new causes such as physical fitness or the cultural assimilation of immigrants, or in finding fresh and innovative ways of battling for old causes, such as female suffrage and women's access to education. It was even possible for nationalist women to use the language and practices of internationalism to further their own conservative, illiberal or anti-communist agendas, or to argue for revision of the peace treaties of 1919-20. The volume addresses these different kinds of activism, and the many links between them, by way of particular examples. This book was originally published as a special issue of Women's History Review.

This important book reassesses a defining historical, political and ideological moment in contemporary history: the 1989 revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe. Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, the authors reconsider such crucial themes as the broader historical significance of the 1989 events, the complex interaction between external and internal factors in the origins and outcomes of the revolutions, the impact of the 'Gorbachev phenomenon', the West and the end of the Cold War, the political and socio-economic determinants of the revolutionary processes in Poland, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, and the competing academic, cultural and ideological perceptions of the year 1989 as communism gave way to post-communist pluralism in the 1990s and beyond. Concluding that the contentious term 'revolution' is indeed apt for the momentous developments in eastern Europe in 1989, this book will be essential reading for undergraduates, postgraduates and specialists alike. -- .

This wide-ranging collection of essays is the first book in English to examine the impact of Stalinist terror on Eastern Europe in the years 1940 to 1956. Covering the Baltic states, Moldavia, East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania, the authors investigate terror both 'from above', in the form of elite purges and show trials, and 'from below' in the guise of large-scale arrests and deportations of ordinary people. Key questions addressed include the relative importance of Soviet influence versus 'local' factors; the persecution of particular groups, such as 'kulaks', church leaders, the middle-class intelligentsia and members of non-communist left-wing parties; cases where repression was more, or conversely less, intense than elsewhere; and the relevance of key events such as the Tito-Stalin split of 1948, the Rajk trial of 1949 and the Slansky trial of 1952. This book highlights areas of considerable diversity, making this volume an excellent starting point for all scholars and students interested in the wider history of political trials, forced labour and state-sponsored violence in the twentieth century's 'age of extremes'.

This unique volume examines how and to what extent former victims of Stalinist terror from across the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe were received, reintegrated and rehabilitated following the mass releases from prisons and labour camps which came in the wake of Stalin's death in 1953 and Khrushchev's reforms in the subsequent decade.

The notion of the First World War as 'the great seminal catastrophe' (Urkatastrophe) of the twentieth century is now firmly established in historiography. Yet astonishingly little has been written about the fate of non-combatants in occupied and non-occupied territory, including civilian internees, deportees, expellees and disarmed military prisoners. This volume brings together experts from across Europe to consider the phenomena of captivity, forced labour and forced migration during and immediately after the years 1914 to 1918. Each contribution offers a European-wide perspective, thus moving beyond interpretations based on narrow national frameworks or on one of the fighting fronts alone. Particular emphasis is placed on the way in which the experience of internees, forced labourers and expellees was mediated by specific situational factors and by the development of 'war cultures' and 'mentalities' at different stages in the respective war efforts. Other themes considered include the recruitment and deployment of colonial troops in Europe, and efforts to investigate, monitor and prosecute alleged war crimes in relation to the mistreatment of civilians and POWs. The final contribution will then consider the problems associated with repatriation and the reintegration of returning prisoners after the war. This book was published as a special issue of Immigrants and Minorities.

This collection of thirteen essays examines reactions in Eastern Europe to the Prague Spring and Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Countries covered include the Soviet Union and specific Soviet republics (Ukraine, Moldavia, the Baltic States), together with two chapters on Czechoslovakia and one each on East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia and Albania. The individual contributions explain why most of these communist regimes opposed Alexander Dubcek's reforms and supported the Soviet-led military intervention in August 1968, and why some stood apart. They also explore public reactions in Eastern Europe to the events of 1968, including instances of popular opposition to the crushing of the Prague Spring, expressions of loyalty to Soviet-style socialism, and cases of indifference or uncertainty. Among the many complex legacies of the East European '1968' was the development of new ways of thinking about regional identity, state borders, de-Stalinisation and the burdens of the past.

This collection of thirteen essays examines reactions in Eastern Europe to the Prague Spring and Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Countries covered include the Soviet Union and specific Soviet republics (Ukraine, Moldavia, the Baltic States), together with two chapters on Czechoslovakia and one each on East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia and Albania. The individual contributions explain why most of these communist regimes opposed Alexander Dubcek's reforms and supported the Soviet-led military intervention in August 1968, and why some stood apart. They also explore public reactions in Eastern Europe to the events of 1968, including instances of popular opposition to the crushing of the Prague Spring, expressions of loyalty to Soviet-style socialism, and cases of indifference or uncertainty. Among the many complex legacies of the East European '1968' was the development of new ways of thinking about regional identity, state borders, de-Stalinisation and the burdens of the past.

This is the first major study of German attitudes towsrds England during the Great War, 1914-18, continuing the story of Anglo-German antagonism where previous studies have ended. In particular it focuses on the extremity of anti-English feeling in Germany in the early years of the war, and on the attempt by writers, propagandists and cartoonists to redefine Britain as the chief enemy of the German people and their cultural heritage. New material is also offered concerning the development of an extreme rightist network in Munich and Berlin during the war years, which used anti-English feeling as a focus for attacking the supposedly defeatist government of Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg. Such views formed the background to the disastrous decision to begin unrestricted submarine warfare against England in January 1917; and they also contributed to the ideological polarization of German politics at a crucial juncture in European and world history.

This major study of German attitudes toward England during the Great War, 1914-18, continues the story of Anglo-German antagonism where previous studies have ended. It shows how German propaganda sought to portray Britain as the main enemy of the German people, and focuses on the decision to launch unrestricted submarine warfare against Britain in January 1917, thus bringing the United States into the conflict. The book concludes by examining the contribution of anti-English feeling to the growth of right wing extremism in Germany after the war.

Germany, 1914-1933: Politics, Society and Culture takes a fresh and critical look at a crucial period in German history. Rather than starting with the traditional date of 1918, the book begins with the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, and argues that this was a pivotal turning point in shaping the future successes and failures of the Weimar Republic. Combining traditional political narrative with new insights provided by social and cultural history, the book reconsiders such key questions as: How widespread was support for the war in Germany between 1914 and 1918? How was the war viewed both 'from above', by leading generals, admirals and statesmen, and 'from below', by ordinary soldiers and civilians? What were the chief political, social, economic and cultural consequences of the war? In particular, did it result in a brutalisation of German society after 1918? How modern were German attitudes towards work, family, sex and leisure during the 1920s? What accounts for the extraordinary richness and experimentalism of this period? The book also provides a thorough and comprehensive discussion of the difficulties faced by the Weimar Republic in capturing the hearts and minds of the German people in the 1920s, and of the causes of its final demise in the early 1930s.

In historical writing the interwar years are often associated with the rise of extreme forms of nationalism. Yet paradoxically this period also saw significant advances in the development of internationalism and international-mindedness. This collection examines previously under-researched aspects of the role played by women's movements and individual female activists in this process. Women campaigners contributed to, and helped to (re)define, what constituted international work in myriad ways. For some, particularly those coming from a radical pacifist background, the central theme after 1919 was the eradication of war and the preservation of world peace. Yet others were more interested in the sharing of medical knowledge across borders, in the promotion of new causes such as physical fitness or the cultural assimilation of immigrants, or in finding fresh and innovative ways of battling for old causes, such as female suffrage and women's access to education. It was even possible for nationalist women to use the language and practices of internationalism to further their own conservative, illiberal or anti-communist agendas, or to argue for revision of the peace treaties of 1919-20. The volume addresses these different kinds of activism, and the many links between them, by way of particular examples. This book was originally published as a special issue of Women's History Review.