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The Great War and Paramilitarism in Europe, 1917–23

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2010

ROBERT GERWARTH  and
JOHN HORNE
ROBERT GERWARTH
Affiliation:
School of History and Archives, Newman Building, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; robert.gerwarth@ucd.ie.
JOHN HORNE
Affiliation:
Department of History, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland; jhorne@tcd.ie.
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Abstract

In this comparative conclusion, the authors consider some of the most influential trends in the historiography of political and paramilitary violence, with particular reference to the relationship between wartime and post-war violence. The heuristic value of the ‘aftershocks’ metaphor is considered, as are the advantages (and potential pitfalls) of the contributors’ transnational approach. Finally, the authors suggest an agenda for future research on paramilitary violence, which looks at the phenomenon in a global perspective.

La grande guerre et le paramilitarisme en europe 1917–1923

Dans cette conclusion comparative, les auteurs discutent les tendances les plus influentes dans l'historiographie de la violence politique et paramilitaire. Ce faisant, ils mettent l'accent sur la relation entre la violence en temps de guerre et celle de l'après-guerre. Ils examinent ainsi non seulement la valeur heuristique de la métaphore des ‘Aftershocks’, mais aussi les avantages (et éventuels écueils) de l'approche transnationale des contributeurs à ce volume. Finalement, les auteurs proposent un agenda de recherche sur la violence paramilitaire, qui porte son regard sur le phénomène dans une perspective globale.

Der große krieg und paramilitarismus, 1917–1923

In dem vergleichenden Schluss zu diesem Themenheft diskutieren die Autoren einige der einflussreichsten Trends in der Historiographie der politischen und paramilitärischen Gewalt. Dabei gilt ihre besondere Aufmerksamkeit der Beziehung zwischen Krieg und Nachkriegsgewalt. Der heuristische Wert der Metapher vom ‘Nachbeben’ wird diskutiert, ebenso wie die Vorteile und potentiellen Gefahren des transnationalen Ansatzes. Schließlich befürworten die Autoren eine Ausweitung zukünftiger Erforschung von paramilitärischer Gewalt auf eine Sichtweise, die das Phänomen in einer globalen Perspektive betrachtet.

Type
Articles
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 19 , Issue 3: Aftershocks: Violence in Dissolving Empires after the First World War , August 2010 , pp. 267 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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References

1 Important examples of the Historial approach include Becker, J. J., Winter, J. M., Krumeich, G., Becker, A. and Audoin-Rouzeau, S., eds., Guerre et cultures 1914–1918 (Paris: Colin, 1994)Google Scholar; Audoin-Rouzeau, S. and Becker, A., 1914–918: Understanding the Great War (London: Profile Books, 2002; original French edn, 2000)Google Scholar; Horne, J., ed., State, Society and Mobilization in Europe during the First World War (Cambridge University Press, 1997)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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4 See in particular the project on ‘total war’ led by Roger Chickering and Stig Förster, which resulted in a series of volumes exploring the issue from 1864 to 1945, and in particular Roger Chickering, ‘World War I and the Theory of Total War: Reflections on the British and German Cases’, in Chickering, Roger and Förster, Stig, Great War, Total War: Combat and Mobilization on the Western Front 1914–1918 (Cambridge University Press, 2000), 35–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also the collaboration between the Historial de la Grande Guerre and the Institut d'Histoire du Temps Présent in comparing the two world wars in terms of violence: Audoin-Rouzeau, Stéphane, Becker, Annette, Ingrao, Christian and Rousso, Henry, eds., La violence de guerre, 1914–1945 (Brussels: Editions Complexe, 2002)Google Scholar.

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