Armed Forces between the World Wars
Armed Forces between the World Wars
- Ort:
- Potsdam
Please click here for German version
The 63rd International Conference on Military History will take place this year from September 11 to 13, 2024. We will look at the armed forces between the world wars and place experiences and expectations at the center of our discussions. The focus will go beyond the national perspective and include transnational and international perspectives.
Armed Forces between the World Wars. Experience and Expectations in National and
Transnational Discourses
Since 2020, the Bundeswehr Center for Military History and Social Sciences (ZMSBwZentrum für Militärgeschichte und Sozialwissenschaften der Bundeswehr) has been pursuing a research project entitled Reichswehr. The Republic and its Armed Forces, 1919-1935. The discussions and initial research results quickly revealed the inadequate integration of previous scholarship in an inter- and transnational framework. Since its beginnings, (West and East) German historiography has generally been oriented towards the German national experience.
Reinforced by the politico-military framework imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, the idea of a German military Sonderweg took hold. Even if the situation of the Reichswehr differed from other European countries, the interwar period presented similar challenges for all the large- and medium-sized military powers. Significant example of this are the experience of demobilization, a particular uncertainty with regard to the rapid developments in the military domain, the surprising return of the professional army, the importance of alliances, and the prospect of a future war that was ideologically framed and threatened to embrace whole societies.
The conference examines the transformation of the military between the two world wars within a global framework, with a particular focus on mutual perceptions and the significance of forecasting the nature of future war. The starting point for all considerations are the armed forces themselves.The organizers also welcome contributions from disciplines related to history. Proposals which pursue comparative or transnational military history are of particular interest.
Possible Sets of Questions
A proposal for a conference paper should address one of the following questions:
Armed forces and their state: How did armed for#ences deal with the challenge ofdemobilization and the rebuilding of for#ences and structures in the context of national and alliance defence plans? What role did paramilitaries play as a military instrumentand as a challenge to the state’s monopoly on the use of force?
Transnational security schemes: How did the security concerns of empires and nation states differ after 1919? What significance did international cooperation and alliances have for the military?
Military learning: How did the armed forces organize learning after the First World War? Can the formation of transnational expert cultures (epistemic communities) be observed for the era?
Military prognostics: How did armed forces organize the assessment for potential military futures? Who designed future war scenarios and what was the agenda?
Armed forces and gender: What efforts to redefine notions of soldierly masculinity can be observed between 1919 and 1939? What expectations did the armed forces and other social groups formulate regarding the role of women in a future war?
The signatures of an ambivalent modernity: motorization, mechanization, time and speed, objectivity, rationalization and totalitarianism – where did the military pick up on societal trends and where did it introduce them into its own ranks?
Legitimization and delegitimization of war: In what ways was war confirmed, questioned or redefined as a means of politics between 1919 and 1939 in political communication, in art and culture and in universities? To what extent did pacifism become relevant to action or politically acceptable to the majority of the population?
Practical Issues and contact
The conference will take place from 11 to 13 September 2024 in Potsdam. The conference languages are German and English. Simultaneous translation will not be available. The organizers will cover the costs of travel and accommodation in accordance with the Federal Travel Expenses Act. An internationally visible, English-language publication is planned as a result of the conference.
Organizers for the ZMSBwZentrum für Militärgeschichte und Sozialwissenschaften der Bundeswehr: Dr. habil.habilitatus Markus Pöhlmann and PDPrivatdozent Dr. John Zimmermann
Contact address: ZMSBwITMG@bundeswehr.org
Contact press and public relations:
Major Michael Gutzeit
Head of Public Relations
Telefon: 0331 9714 400