Call for Papers From the Balkans to the World : History and memories of the Great War. A Local and Global Perspective International Conference, Sarajevo, 24-27 June 2014

The CISH has a project of conference to be held in Sarajevo in June 2014 about the First World War for the 100th anniversary of the well known event which led to the 1st World War. Other projects of conference – same topic, same place, same period - exist. But the funds of the Foundation “Sarajevo, heart of Europe” will only be given if there is a merger between these projects. It is necessary to mobilize now the scientific resources of the CISH able to contribute to this unified project.

1)      The general topic

The title is to be discussed with our partners. But, the convergence between the projects could roughly lead to the following topic: “From the Balkans to the World : History and memories of the Great War. A Local and Global Perspective”.

-            The conference should be about the process of globalization of the war, from the Balkans to the whole world: how the world entered this war between 1914 and 1917 ? and how all the parts of the world waged or perceived this war between 1914 and 1918 ?

-            The local perspective (infra-national and national) is also an important issue, linked to the global one : what were the different fighting experiences on the different frontlines ? how politics, ideologies, identities influenced war here and there, and how were they influenced by this long conflict ? how did the different societies live the transition from a state of peace to a state of war ? 

2)      Six sessions

Papers should bring a new light on the following six issues.

a) The evolution of the historiography of the Great War: historiography of the outbreak of the war, including the debate about the "war guilt" ; the debates about the « brutalization » of the XXth century, due to the violence of the First World War. Comparisons may be made with the historiography of the Second World War or of the Cold War.

b) Going to War, the decision making process: the weight of the Balkan issues and stakes in the process ; the relations between civilian and military authorities in the decision ; the first military and economic mobilization ; the first war government experiences ; the first political and military relations between Allied States ; the first reactions of public opinions and the political debates about entering the war ; the reactions of the society to the transition to a state of war ; the new relations of the people with death, with life values ; the new representations of time and future ;

c) Waging War. The Front Lines, Warriors and Military Occupation: the fighting experiences (including on sea), the war violence, the relations between allied soldiers, between colonial troops and other soldiers, the images of the enemy, the experiences of military occupation (with possibilities of comparisons).

d) Politics, ideologies and identities: propaganda, weight of ideologies in the conflict, evolution of the identities, including the building of new national identities.

e) Economic and social change: economic mobilization ; economic warfare ; war economy ; social  and cultural life ; the changes in the family life, in the relations between men and women,  between adults and children, in the gender images and representations.

f) The memories of the Great war (1914-2014): in literature, cinema, public celebrations, text books, etc. ; the political debates after the war about the decision to go to war ; the impact of the following wars (Second World War, Cold War, Balkan wars of 1992-1999) on the memories of the Great War ; the evolution of the image of the Sarajevo assassination in the interwar period, during the Second World War, the Cold War, during and after the Bosnian war.

(Note that the evolution of the scientific debates between historians on the outbreak of the war since 1919 does not belong to this session but to the first one).

3)      The contribution of the CISH

In the framework of the six sessions mentioned above, the CISH may give a relevant contribution in matter of global history and local history of many parts of the world, but also on specific issues and themes.

- Proposals expected from the historians of the CISH could deal with the following countries or regions of the world: 

. Outside of Europe: the British colonies, the mobilization of India, the Dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South-Africa), the French Empire, the United States, Brazil, the neutral countries of Latin America, Japan (for instance the battle of Tsingtao in 1914 between Japanese and Germans in the Shandong), China, the Ottoman Empire, Arabia, the Middle East.

. In Europe: Russia, Serbia, United Kingdom (and the different parts of the UK; especially the Irish people), Nordic countries, Belgium, Italy, the Holy See, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenes, Croatians and Bosnians in the Austro-Hungarian armies, the Poles fighting in the two sides, Neutral States such as Spain, Switzerland, Sweden or Netherlands (how do they perceive the outbreak of war? and their domestic debates about going or not to war).

- Proposals on the following issues are welcome: historiography; gender ; comparative and transnational history.

France and Germany, well known cases, are not in the core of the conference. They may however appear in the historiographical issues (1st session) ; in the comparisons (the six sessions) ; in the gender issues (5th session) ;  and in the memory issues (4th session).

Proposals may be sent to me directly (sgcish1@gmail.com) : as soon as possible ; preferably before the 15 September, but as it is a very short notice, before the 20 September 2013 as a deadline. The proposals consist only of: the title of the suggested paper ; which session ? ; from 5 to 10 lines of explanation ; a short CV.

Robert Frank

Secrétaire général du CISH