New Publication and Book Launch,
Julia Eichenberg and John Paul Newman, The Great War and Veterans’ Internationalism (Palgrave Macmillan)
Launch: 21 January, TRIARC Seminar Room, Trinity College Dublin, 5.30 – 7.00 (by Professor Patricia Clavin, Jesus College, Oxford)
After the Great War, Veterans were a new transnational mass phenomenon. Their status raised a number of new questions about the presence of ex-soldiers in society, their entitlement in terms of welfare (pensions, disability benefits, etc), and their role in politics and on the international stage. This volume sets national expertise within a transnational framework. It shows traditions of internationalism and of commitment to international institutions among former soldiers that even survived into the post-1945 world. The volume discusses extent and impact of international veterans’ organisations such as CIAMAC and FIDAC and draws out important comparative points between well-researched and documented movements (i.e. France, Britain, Germany) and those that are less well-known. Certainly in terms of geography, the project will show that these cultures did not exclude any part of formerly belligerent Europe, and that ‘fraternal links’ between veterans branched out across the continent and beyond. The volume explores these transformations in the memory of war and the identity of veterans in the interwar period throughout Europe and the wider world.
“A remarkable contribution to the transnational history of modern Europe. With this collection of innovative essays, Eichenberg and Newman challenge conventional understandings of the roles of veterans and successfully reframe the historiography of the inter-war period. Essential reading as the Centenary of the Great War now looms large.” – Professor Pierre Purseigle, University of Warwick, UK.
“This collection of essays is a fine contribution to the trans-national turn in the history of the Great War and its aftermath. Here is a vivid portrait of the solidarities and achievements of men and women who created a world-wide network through which ex-soldiers acted to defend their rights, their families, and their commitment to peace. Essential reading for any student of twentieth-century history.” – Professor Jay Winter, Yale University, USA