The second issue of Remembrance and Solidarity Studies, entirely dedicated to the European memory of the First World War, is available for free online at www.enrs.eu/studies. The authors, among others Andrzej Chwalba, Christian Wevelsiep, Jenny Wustenberg, and Mark W. Clark, take on new questions concerning the significance and long-term impact of one of the greatest conflicts in 20th-century Europe.
Was the war inevitable? What was the impact on European politics of family connections between the rulers of the various countries in the early twentieth century? How is the Great War remembered in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe? What is its reception in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, or Ireland, where the Great War ended in early 1921, culminating in the struggle for independence ? Finally: how did philosophy and literature influence the post-war discourse?
The First World War... changed radically the political map of Central and Eastern Europe, overthrew a number of seemingly powerful dynasties, provided an extremely strong impetus for anti-colonial movements around the world, and proved to be a necessary (if insufficient) condition for the creation of communism, fascism and Nazism - observes historian Prof. Jan Rydel, editor-in-chief of Remembrance and Solidarity Studies in his introduction to the current issue.
A major problem discussed on 350 pages of Remembrance and Solidarity Studies is also the memory of the Great War victims and considerations about the unique characteristics of the cemeteries of the period. Ample attention is also paid to the question of the collective memory of the First World War and to the contribution to it of intellectuals in different countries. There is also the question of the ‘forgotten war’ in Warsaw, i.e. the topic of everyday life in the capital between 1916 and 1917, which is inexplicably left out by historians.
The centennial of the outbreak of the First World War was a great opportunity to engage in a comprehensive discussion on the historical, social and economic aspects of those events and on their impact on the development of historical memory in various regions of Europe.
Remembrance and Solidarity Studies, an academic periodical published by European Network Remembrance and Solidarity is a forum of cooperation and exchange of opinion between historians, sociologists and representatives of others disciplines engaged in memory studies. It is published online and in a limited edition print.