Defeat, Honour and the News: The Case of the Fall of Breda (1625) and the Dutch Republic
The honour of the polity, closely tied to military success, was of great importance in seventeenth-century European international relations. This article provides an analysis of the importance of the honour of the polity in the early Dutch Republic – the late sixteenth and first half of the seventeenth-century – and the role of military success and failure as crucial matters in this. It also contributes to the debate about the position of the Republic, now no longer seen as an anomaly, in European relations. In existing research scant attention is paid to the role of military glory in this. A military defeat, the loss of Breda in 1625, functions as an analytical tool. Analysing the manner in which this defeat was dealt with enables an assessment of the importance of the Republic’s honour in a ‘national’ and international context.
Quelle: http://ehq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/46/1/6?rss=1
Peripheries and Contested Regions in Nationalist Imaginations: Irish-German Comparisons, 1850-1930
This article is a comparative study of the delineation of national territory by nationalist historians in Germany and Ireland from the mid-nineteenth century to the inter-war period of the twentieth century. The essay examines how the problem of historically contested territories and non-national allegiances was dealt with by these historians, focusing in particular on the Ulster region in the Irish context, and the idea of ‘the German East’, and in particular on the origins of Prussia as an integral part of the ‘German East’. The article, building on recent work that aims at providing a comprehensive ‘mapping’ of nationalist historical traditions throughout Europe, attempts to provide a comparative analysis through a study of two relatively unconnected contexts. This is in order to establish common patterns that cannot be attributed to cause and effect resulting from direct interaction of ‘case A’ and ‘case B’. This comparison argues for the presence of a common pattern of nationalist argument with respect to European contested regions and territory more generally which was underpinned by a particular form of historical narrative.
Quelle: http://ehq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/46/1/27?rss=1
In Defence of Freedom? The Practices of Armed Movements in Pre-1914 Europe: Italy, Spain and France
the purpose of this article is to analyse the role played by organized political violence in pre-1914 Europe, with special regard to labour conflicts, through an analysis of the social composition and the practices of four movements which deliberately resorted to armed organization: the Somatén in Catalonia (Spain), the Jaunes trade union in the French Département du Nord, and the Citizen Patrols and agrarian squads in the Province of Bologna (Italy). Despite their different origins and contexts, these movements pursued similar political strategies based upon the deliberate use of violence and guns, and shared anti-socialist, authoritarian and anti-democratic purposes. Analysis of their practices and political cultures enables us to evaluate the nature of the democratic processes in pre-1914 Europe and also helps to contextualize and understand the political and social violence which came to the fore after the end of the war in 1918.
Quelle: http://ehq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/46/1/48?rss=1
Policemen and ‚Women of Ill Repute: A Study of Male Sexual Attitudes and Behaviour in Fascist Italy
Based on an analysis of personnel documents of the Italian Interior Ministry Police, the article investigates the sexual attitudes of police personnel during the Mussolinian dictatorship and the manner in which their commanders dealt with ‘misconduct’ related to this (particularly liaisons with/exploitation of prostitutes, and other extra-marital relationships). This is considered in the contexts of both the fascist regime’s attempt to ‘moralize’ Italian society in correspondence to its demographic campaign, a task largely entrusted to the police themselves, and the hierarchical regulation of the sexual conduct of policemen which pre-dated Mussolini’s rise to power. The article also examines the impact of the sexual mentality and behaviour of representatives of an authoritarian state on the communities they policed. Though the sexual ‘misconduct’ of police personnel appeared to reflect the sexual culture nurtured by fascism (particularly the squadrismo movement), the article questions this, given similarities in attitudes and behaviour registered during the Liberal period. Such an analysis is also undertaken with a view to reflecting upon the sexual practices of Italian males in general during the fascist period.
Quelle: http://ehq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/46/1/72?rss=1
Becoming Brigadistas: Jewish Volunteers from Palestine in the Spanish Civil War
Nearly two hundred men and women left Mandatory Palestine between the years 1936–1938 in order to defend the Second Spanish Republic. Despite the expressions of solidarity with the Spanish Republic, most of the political parties in the Jewish Yishuv were against sending youth from Palestine to join the International Brigades. The goal of strengthening the Jewish presence in Palestine was given priority over and above international solidarity or the anti-Fascist struggle. Therefore, most of the volunteers were Jewish members of the Palestine Communist Party.
This article relies on autobiographical writings, individual testimonies and personal correspondence, analysed here for the first time. It is here that the private voices of the Jewish men and women who left Palestine in order to fight against the nationalist rebellion in Spain ring more clearly. The paper examines the history of these Jewish volunteers, their motivations, and the process that they went through from the time they left Palestine until they became active members of the International Brigades.
As Communists, most volunteers who left Palestine to fight in Spain tended to emphasize the international solidarity of the working class and similar universalistic motivations. The idea of affirming their Jewish identity was alien to them. Reading their letters and testimonies, however, it becomes clear that their ethnic identity as Jews was certainly a key factor in their decision to risk their lives in the Spanish fratricide.
Quelle: http://ehq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/46/1/92?rss=1