World War I in Central and Eastern Europe: Politics, Conflict and Military Experience: 126 (International Library of Twentieth Century History) - Hardcover

`This volume promises to be a very valuable addition to the rapidly growing literature on Central and Eastern Europe in World War I. It is extremely timely: due to the current wave of interest in East-Central Europe and the fascinating and under-researched topics it covers, the volume has every chance of attracting considerable attention.' - Alexander Watson, Professor of History, Goldsmiths, University of London, `This is a truly exciting collection of new research on World War I in Eastern and Central Europe. A new generation of scholars have provided us with indelible accounts about a wide variety of social groups, including refugees, invalids, and policemen. Just as importantly, their insights regarding memory, violence, and dislocation collectively paint a picture of the origins of the dark century that loomed ahead.' - Joshua Sanborn, David M. '70 and Linda Roth Professor of History, Lafayette College, and author of Imperial Apocalypse: The Great War and the Destruction of the Russian Empire (2014), "Rich in pioneering research and full of fascinating insights." - Alan Kramer, Professor of European History, Trinity College Dublin

In the English language, World War I has largely been analysed and understood through the lens of the Western Front. This book addresses this imbalance by examining the war in Central and Eastern Europe. The historiography of the war in the West has increasingly focused on the experience of ordinary soldiers and civilians, the relationships between them and the impact of war at the time and subsequently. This book takes up these themes and, engaging with the approaches and conclusions of historians of the Western Front, examines wartime experiences and the memory of war in the East. Analysing soldiers' letters and diaries to discover the nature and impact of displacement and refugeedom on memory, this volume offers a basis for comparison between experiences in the two areas. It also provides material for intra-regional comparisons that are still missing from the current research. Was the war in the East wholly `other'? Were soldiers in this region as alienated as those in the West? Did they see themselves as citizens and was there continuity between their pre-war or civilian and military identities? And if, in the Eastern context, these identities were fundamentally challenged, was it the experience of war itself or its consequences (in the shape of imprisonment and displacement, and changing borders) that mattered most? How did soldiers and citizens in this region experience and react to the traumas and upheavals of war and with what consequences for the postwar era? In seeking to answer these questions and others, this volume significantly adds to our understanding of World War I as experienced in Central and Eastern Europe.