Call for Papers

Entangled trajectories: Global connections and legacies of Europe’s ‘Age of Civil Wars’ (1917-1949) 

The UCD Centre for War Studies and the School of History and Archaeology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki invite proposals for a conference to take place in Thessaloniki on 18/19 October 2024.

While in the first half of the twentieth century civil war shaped many European societies and states, the second half witnessed a significant increase in the number of civil wars outside of Europe. This does not mean that non-European states and societies did not engage in civil wars between 1914 and 1949 - the conflicts in Mexico or China are cases in point. Yet the sheer number of civil wars in the non-European world grew substantially in the decades after 1945. 

This workshop explores the global connections and legacies of civil wars in the twentieth century. It aims to provide a comparative and relational analysis of European and non-European civil wars, by bringing together scholars from different disciplines, academic backgrounds, and continents.

The workshop welcomes papers investigating the entangled trajectories of volunteers, mercenaries, military advisors and personnel, diplomats, activists, journalists, political refugees and exiles, League of Nations and UN personnel, and other historical actors who were part of both European and non-European civil wars. It also welcomes papers on organizations, movements, solidarity and diaspora networks, military missions, and humanitarian and UN operations. Papers can also study the direct or indirect transfer of ideas, practices, knowhow, intelligence, training, insurgency and counter-insurgency, and peace-building between European and non-European civil wars.

The workshop is also interested in papers investigating the global legacies that European civil wars had, from forced migration to ‘lessons learnt’ from past experiences. 

The workshop is part of “The Age of Civil Wars in Europe, c. 1914–1949” ERC Advanced Grant Project (2022–2027, www.civil-wars.eu ). The project is hosted by the Centre for War Studies at University College Dublin (www.ucd.ie/warstudies ), and its principal investigator is Professor Robert Gerwarth. 

Date: 18-19 October 2024

Venue: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

Travel and accommodation costs will be covered by “The Age of Civil Wars in Europe, c. 1914–1949” ERC Advanced Grant Project (2022–2027).

Please submit a short abstract of the proposed paper (300 words), and a short bio (150 words) by 1 June 2024. 

Selected speakers will be contacted by the end of June 2024 and will need to confirm their participation by 1 August 2024.