Over 100 years after the end of the First World War, one might be tempted to ask if there is anything left to say about this conflict. Yet, the contemporary relevance of an historical topic is unusually clear in the case of First World War studies. The conflict continues to intrude on the public sphere of former belligerent societies, and in many instances, historians have been called upon to engage in controversies that have produced more heat than light.
Indeed, it seems that World War I has gained in importance since the 1990s. The growing interest in commemoration and the increased ‘social demand’ addressed to professional historians account, to a certain extent, for the dynamism of First World War studies. Indeed, as we conclude the centennial commemorations of the war, the history of what George F. Kennan called “the great seminal catastrophe of the twentieth century” remains a vibrant field of investigation.
This special subject will allow students to develop a comparative understanding of the experience of the First World War in the context of the period between 1912 and 1923. The students will also consider the evolution of the historiography of the conflict since the late 1980s. Transformed by a comparative and cultural turn, the field was also reinvigorated by gender studies and innovative approaches to warfare. Questions of methodology as well as of chronology are now at the core of the historiographical debate.
This course will challenge the conventional focus on national experiences and offer a pragmatic approach to the comparative and transnational history of the First World War. It will explore a range of historical questions including: war and social modernization, nationalism and cultural mobilization, the experiences of soldiers and commanders, economic mobilization, the transformations of the state, gender and citizenship, race and imperialism, the reconstruction of Europe, international relations and peace-making. It will combine a thematic approach with a particular attention to key military engagements.
Seminar Work
Seminar Themes
Readings
Students are expected to participate actively in the seminar discussions and to collaborate with each other. Each student will be asked to make an oral presentation limited to 7 minutes. Presentations will be based on an essay title or on a specific military engagement.
Each student will indeed be asked to produce a “battle focus” for the benefit of the entire cohort. It consists of a short narrative of the chosen battle and a brief assessment of its significance in 4-500 words. Each battle focus will include: one map; one source extract (text or image); one short bibliography (3-5 references). These will be shared on the course’s Moodle website for revision purposes.
In 2018-2019, students were asked to focus on the following battles:
1914 – Battles of the Frontiers, Tannenberg, Marne, Masurian Lakes, First Ypres, Tanga
1915 – Gallipoli, Neuve-Chapelle, Gorlice-Tarnów, Artois, Loos, Champagne
1916 – Verdun, Jutland, Kostiuchnówka, Gorizia, Somme, London air raid
1917 – Baghdad, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, Riga, Caporetto, Jerusalem
1918 – Operation Michael, Belleau Wood, Tampere, Amiens, St Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne
What is left to say about the First World War?
Origins and war aims
Mobilizations and invasions
Battle focus: Tannenberg, 1914
Economic mobilization
The experience of combat
Warring states and the politics of wartime
Battle focus: Gallipoli, 1915
Gender and sexual identities at war
Race and empires
Occupations
Genocide
Peripheries
Battle focus: Jutland, 1916
Mutinies, social conflicts, and resilience
Battle focus: Caporetto, 1917
A revolutionary war
The transformations of warfare
Battle focus: Amiens, 1918
Peacemaking and the continuation of war
Reconstructions
Making sense of the Great War, 1914-1939
The First World War in contemporary memory and politics
Set text:
You will be expected to have read the following book by the end of the year. It is available for purchase at the campus bookstore. A reading schedule will be circulated to help you plan your reading.
WARNING! This is a long book. Do start reading as soon as possible.
Leonhard, Jörn, Pandora’s Box: a history of the First World War, trans. Patrick Camiller (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2018)
General bibliography:
Horne, John (ed.), A Companion to World War I (Oxford, 2010)
An excellent collective volume, synthetic and comprehensive and very useful bibliography
Neiberg, Michael S., Fighting the Great War: A Global History (Cambridge, MA, 2005)
Clear and concise, an invaluable military history of the First World War
Stevenson, David, 1914 – 1918: the history of the First World War (London, 2004)
A very good general history of the conflict.
Strachan, Hew (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War (New edition, Oxford, 2014)
A brilliant collection of thematic essays by leading authorities.
Winter, Jay M (ed.), The Legacy of the Great War: Ninety Years On (Columbia : Kansas City, Mo, 2009)
A very interesting book aimed at a general audience but articulated around dialogues between historians of the war.
Winter, Jay M. (ed.), The Cambridge History of the First World War, vol. 1. Global War (3 vols, Cambridge – New York, 2014)
— (ed.), The Cambridge History of the First World War, vol. 2. The State (3 vols, Cambridge – New York, 2014)
— (ed.), The Cambridge History of the First World War, vol. 3. Civil Society (3 vols, Cambridge – New York, 2014)
An outstanding multi-volume history of the war as a global conflict.
