Political History Commons^™

From “Total Destruction” To “Total Dictatorship”: The Influence Of Ernst Jünger’S Visionary Fascism, Nick Schiff

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper seeks to answer one central question: How can the life and work of Ernst Jünger help illuminate the development of fascist ideas, culture, politics, and power across Europe from 1920-1945? The components of that question are: what were the core elements of Jünger’s aesthetics, morality, and politics? How did he synthesize these elements to create his influential vision of German fascism? What were Jünger’s interactions and exchanges with other European fascists, as well as influential Nazis including Carl Schmitt, Joseph Goebbels, and Adolph Hitler himself? How did Jünger’s new Fascist politics and aesthetics affect them? I argue that …

Abusive Abbots And Malevolent Monks, Timothy B. Smart Jr.

University Honors Theses

This investigation examines the conduct of abbots and monasteries from 1066 to 1087 in the context of violence and monasteries. It analyzes monastic chronicles and Anglo-Norman histories. The two historiographical lineages that emerge: the Norman Conquest and religious warfare. After the initial conquest in 1066, four native abbots offer insight into a range of local monastic behaviors during the early years of Norman rule. The Normans, in their combat against rebellious monasteries, developed procedures to remove local abbots in 1070. This connection between rebellions and monasteries drove the militarization of monasteries by both the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons. The militarization …

The Holocaust's Legacy: Influencing Jewish Political Identity, Jordan Eskew

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis addresses the intricate relationship between the historical persecution of the Holocaust and its enduring influence on contemporary Jewish political engagement, a subject of significant contemporary relevance in political and international relations. Despite broad recognition of the Holocaust’s impact, the specific ways in which its memory affects Jewish political attitudes and actions around the world in the modern day have not been sufficiently thoroughly examined. Utilizing qualitative methods, including interviews with 20 individuals—public figures, Holocaust survivors, their descendants, and broader members of the Jewish diaspora— this study focuses on understanding the interplay between historical trauma, community cohesion, and the …

Identity War: World War I Through The Lens Of Carl Schmitt And Ideology, Charles Zambito

All Theses

This thesis will examine World War I from an ideological perspective through the lens of Carl Schmitt. The Central Powers and in particular how Germany represented Romanticism,Social Darwinism,militarism,and tradition more broadly; at the same time however Germany also paradoxically represented modernism and nationalism sometimes called Reactionary Modernism as all of these ideas were the key to German unification in 1871. The Entente powers and especially France and Britain represented liberalism,empiricism,rationalism, stoicism, and internationalism. The philosophical ideas of stoicism and classicism can especially be seen in Britain where the idea of a stiff upper lip and maintaining peace and order were …

Bedeviled Beauty: My Journey Through White American Theater Institutions, J'Aila C. Price

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Game console: Oculus Quest

World: American Theater Institutions

Player: Minority

Place: United States

Level: “Ain’t no way.”

This thesis explores the contrast between the Westernized philosophies ingrained in my education and my identity as a Black female artist. It sheds light on the difficulties of pursuing higher education in the arts and the gaps that arise from limited exposure to culturally diverse Black resources, revealing the systemic issues in Western performance education. The paper also discusses the insights gained from my journey as a Black female artist, focusing on my thesis performance of Blood at the Root, which is …

"Most Catholic Spain": British Evangelical Protestant Views Of The Spanish Civil War And Its Legacy, Chloe Kinderman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

"Most Catholic Spain": British Evangelical Protestant Views of the Spanish Civil War and its Legacy presents a case study of The Churchman’s Magazine and Wickliffe Preachers’ Messenger (CMWPM), a publication of the Protestant Truth Society, between 1930 and 1945. The Protestant Truth Society was a British Evangelical organization that was dedicated to opposing the influence of Catholicism within Britain. This thesis explores how the CMWPM discussed Spain during the interwar and World War II period, especially its coverage of the Second Spanish Republic, the Spanish Civil War, and the early Franco Regime. Ultimately, the CMWPM latched on to Spain as …

Telling A Story Through Posters: A Comparison Of Nazi And Soviet Propaganda Posters During World War Ii, Kolbe Bell

Honors Theses

The time around World War II saw an increase of countries using propaganda to spread their message, the result of which can be seen even today with modern advertising. During the war these countries had to convince their populations to support their militaries in both victories and defeats. Despite the differences between the fascism in Nazi Germany and the communism in the Soviet Union, many of these propaganda posters have some overarching similarities that can be connected. Some of which can be seen in their depictions of the enemy and with their call back to nationalism. To gain a better …

Shaping Modern Europe: Evaluating Napoleon Bonaparte's Governance And Impact On European Statecraft, William R. Thurman

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores Napoleon Bonaparte’s profound impact on Europe, examining the leadership, military strategies, and reforms that reshaped European governance and law. Retracing Napoleon’s rise to power from the chaos of the French Revolution to the height of the Empire, it highlights the political acumen and strategic genius that enabled him to seize power and dominate Europe. Napoleon's reign is illustrated both as a quest for power and as a transformative movement to modernize Europe through systematic reforms in administration, law, and education.

Central to Napoleon’s vision was the Napoleonic Code, which revolutionized legal systems around the world by emphasizing …

War, Remembrance, And Katýn:
How Public Memory Sites Affirm National Identity, Adele Partington

History and Political Science | Senior Theses

The nation of Poland had a well-established national identity based on its culture, religion, language, and history prior to its occupation by the USSR, but this identity was suppressed in the sixty years of Soviet control from 1939 to 1989. After achieving their independence, Poles reexamined their history and identity, in addition to choosing which aspects of Soviet history and identity to keep or do away with. This thesis examines the relationship between public memory sites in or about Poland and the affirmation of the Polish national identity after Polish independence from the Soviet Union in 1989. Building on the …

Historical Trauma: Literary And Testimonial Responses To Hiroshima, Mariam Ghonim

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of trauma is controversial in literature. While one may be able to come up with ways to describe trauma in fiction, representing historical trauma is a hard task for writers. Some argue that trauma can not be described through those who did not experience it, while others claim that, provided some elements are added, one can represent trauma to the reader. This thesis focuses on twentieth-century historical traumas related to a nuclear catastrophe and explores the different literary and testimonial responses to the catastrophic man-made event of Hiroshima (1945). In this thesis, Kathleen Burkinshaw’s historical fiction The Last …

The Trampling Of The White Rose: The Jacobite Impact On British Politics, Joseph Kurtz

Graduate Theses

During the Glorious Revolution, King James II of England and VII of Scotland was deposed, and the main line of the House of Stuart, along with the concept of divine right monarchy and the acceptance of Catholicism, were swept aside in Great Britain. In exile, the remaining heads of the House of Stuart relied on sympathetic Catholic powers or domestic loyalists known as Jacobites. These Jacobites developed distinct versions of their Jacobitism in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Real or perceived Jacobite interference was a constant variable in the rivalry of the Tories and Whigs. The Catholic powers of France, Spain, …

An Ideal Monarch: The Piety, Masculinity, And Kingship Of King Louis Ix Of France, Tell Joyner

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

King Louis IX of France, who ruled from 1226 to 1270, is widely considered to have been one of the greatest European kings of the Middle Ages. His rule was long remembered as an ideal period of good government and prosperity, and future kings sought and were expected to emulate him for centuries. Historians have often discussed the key role that the king’s pious exercise of his kingship played in his reign. In particular, historians have discussed the role that his belief in the twin missions of saving his subjects and making France into a Christian kingdom played in his …

Liberty Lettuce, Fertilizer Bombs, And The End Of Civilization: The American Far-Right’S Strange Relationship With Europe, Jordan K. Matthews

Honors Theses

In 2016, the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville came to a violent end. American news outlets were left with scraps of rhetoric to piece together what would become a popular narrative going forward. Their conclusion was that the American far-right is heavily influenced by European ideas of civilization, race, and immigration. European nativist ideology is what inspired the people at Charlottesville as well as the numerous attacks on different racial groups that were carried out in the years to come. This thesis rejects all of that. The American far-right does not and has never had to be influenced by …

Demythologizing Homer: Investigating Religion In Minoan Crete, Elizabeth Rybarczyk

Student Research Submissions

The Minoan civilization of Bronze-Age Crete has, until recently, been obscured in mythological uncertainty. As a prehistoric civilization, the available evidence for historic analysis is sparse and ambiguous. This paper evaluates the material evidence for ritual activity to chart the religious developments of Minoan Crete. In the earliest periods of their civilization, the Minoans practiced animism, which reflected their ideals towards survival and cooperation. As their prosperity grew due to technological advancements, a social hierarchy formed. The emerging elite employed religion to justify their claim to power by appropriating religion, which culminated in a dual-monotheistic Knossian theocracy. This lasted until …

Socialist Legality On Trial: The Purge Of The Ukrainian Nkvd, 1938-1943, Reide Petty

Honors Theses

In the winter of 1938, Grigorii Iufa was put on trial in a Soviet court for the violation of socialist legality, a charge alleging that he had manipulated Soviet legal processes and undermined the rule of law during his work. Prior to his arrest, Iufa had worked in the Moldavian division of the NKVD, the Soviet Union’s state security agency. In that capacity, he had played a significant role in the Great Terror, which was a highly concentrated campaign of mass violence conducted by the Soviet Union between 1937-1938 against perceived enemies among its own citizenry. This campaign primarily consisted …

The Commonwealth Of Independent States: A Symbolic Union Or Another Ussr?, Luka Donovan Linich

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

From Schleswig To Anschluss: The Plebiscites And Referendums Of Interwar Germany, Matthew J. Rocha

Honors Theses

This paper aims to bridge the gap between the plebiscites following the First World War and the referendums of the Third Reich. To this point, the literatures on these sets of votes have remained completely separate. No scholars have considered the NSDAP’s votes in the context of the postwar votes. By comparing and contrasting these groups of plebiscites for the first time, this paper will shed light on the democratic backsliding of interwar Germany.

This paper argues that when planning their referendums, the leaders of the Third Reich had the immediate postwar plebiscites in mind and were, in some cases, …

Zerschlagen: German Unification And Divided Identity, Harrison Quinn

Honors Theses

The Unification of East and West Germany ended one of the Cold War’s longest divides, but only on paper. After decades under a unified German state, former East Germans face lower standards of living, economic opportunities, and access to national utilities compared to their Western counterparts. This inequality stems from the bifurcated German identity, which remains largely unaddressed amid German state ambitions for a central role in international institutions. The failure to properly acknowledge East German identity and the suppression thereof demonstrates the failure of Unification to unite the German nation. Political ambitions outweighed a true reconciliation of German nationhood, …

A Nation On The Periphery Of History: A Discussion Of Poland-Lithuania During The Reformation, Dillon Piorkowski

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project hopes to establish several key points. One of which is that Poland is unfairly represented in Western historiography. Specifically, this means that in the English-speaking academic world, Poland is discussed disproportionately. Countries like Germany, France, and Britain have thousands of pages written about them discussing their roles during the Reformation. But Poland does not. This is evidenced by the many Western textbooks that misrepresent the nation. In turn, the project will use these various textbooks as evidence. The second point this project aims to cover is why Poland’s underappreciation is unfair. Simply demonstrating how Poland is underrepresented is …

Bloody Sunday: Death & Press, Joseph Gaffney

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project is a historical paper on Bloody Sunday, a day of violence in Dublin during the Irish War for Independence on November 21, 1920, analyzing primary and secondary sources centered on the subject to answer specific historiographical research questions. The primary objective of this research project is to understand the immediate social and political ramifications of Bloody Sunday in Ireland and England as reflected in the spread of information via the written press. The goal of the written analysis will be to answer a series of historical research questions. How were both the IRA’s killings and the subsequent reprisal …

Translating "La Parola Ebreo": Rosetta Loy And A Child's-Eye View Of Italian Fascism, Amelia Muniz

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis is a translation of an excerpt from the 1997 memoir of Italian author Rosetta Loy, La Parola Ebreo, and an accompanying paper which explains my translation process, gives historical context and provides an argument for the continued relevance of the text. La Parola Ebreo recounts Loy’s memories of growing up in Rome, Italy, under Benito Mussolini’s Fascist rule. This translation is not meant to be an official English version of the memoir, as it is only a short excerpt, and was not done in collaboration with Loy’s estate or publishers. Instead, it is intended to bring attention to …

The Party’S Over: How Russia’S War On Queers Spelled Its Downfall, Lucy Papachristou

Capstones

The test of any democracy, the Russian philosopher and sexologist Igor Kon once wrote, lies in how it treats the citizens it most despises. In Russia, the government of Vladimir Putin has fashioned many enemies: migrant workers, ethnic and religious minorities, and women. But none have come under such vicious fire as the LGBT. As the war in Ukraine rages and Putin tightens his grip on power domestically, an almost obvious story unfolds: that this all began long ago, with the queers. And it is Russia’s queers — scorned, brutalized, shunned, and exiled — that can best tell the story …

Émigrés As Aneks: Polish Intellectuals Between East And West, 1968–1989, Lukasz Chelminski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This work focuses on Aneks (1973-1989), a publication that a small group of post-1968 émigrés, mostly Polish Jews, created in exile. Conceptualized as an “annex” to intellectual life in Poland, the publication was founded to help Polish intellectuals look beyond the country to better understand national problems. At the core of the enterprise were the Smolar brothers, who were in a unique position to offer such help: soon after their forced emigration due to rising antisemitism in communist Poland, Aleksander began to study with the great French liberal, Raymond Aron, and Eugeniusz began a career at the Polish section of …

Humoring The Third Republic: Le Rire In French Politics And Popular Culture, 1894–1918, Andrew C. Kotick

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation studies the illustrated satirical periodical Le Rire in its historical context between its debut during the Dreyfus Affair and the conclusion of World War I. Adopting a multivalent approach to the historical study of graphic humor, it argues that Le Rire constitutes a significant corpus of evidence for understanding the political, commercial, social, and cultural novelties of its time, and maintained an ambivalent relationship with the young institutions and functionaries of the French Third Republic. As France’s leading satirical periodical, Le Rire served as a powerful medium for broadcasting nascent and extreme ideas to a mass reading public …

To The Shores Of Tripoli: A Barbary Retrospective, Kathleen J. Brett

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

The First and Second Barbary Wars were incredibly influential in shaping the diplomatic and military tactics of the early United States. These wars were fought against the Barbary states of Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers, located on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. The First Barbary War lasted between the years of 1801 to 1805. The First Barbary War began due to the United States’ desire to no longer pay tribute sums to the Barbary states, along with an increase in the number American merchantmen captured and enslaved by the Barbary states. Tripoli served as the primary aggressor in the …

​​​​From Repression To Appropriation: Soviet Religious Policy And Reform, 1917-1943, Andriy Dyachenko

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyses the dynamics of religious reform in the USSR from 1917 to 1943. It argues that the early Bolshevik policy of persecution was increasingly substituted by state co-optation. This dynamic was shaped primarily by Stalinist concerns with state security and problems of ideology.

The Siege Of Calais During The Hundred Years War: An English Perspective, 1344-1347, Jordan J. Bruso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the siege and capture of the port city of Calais in 1347 by King Edward III of England (1312-1377) during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). The capture of Calais was the culminating event of King Edward III’s 1346-7 military campaign in Normandy and France. This victory provided the English military with a strategically strong foothold on the European continent to conduct future military and economic operations. This thesis blends the methodological approach of “old military history” from the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries with “new military history” beginning in the latter half of the twentieth century in an …

Rabble-Rousers: A Brief Treatise On Populism And Its Ascent In The West, Andrew Baechtel

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This project aims to examine the causes for the recent ascent of populism in the West during the last dozen or so years with a lens focused on the United States and France. The primary area under observation is both the historical and contemporary role that populism and its adherents have played within our cultures. I aim to address the following: What is populism, how has it been broadly understood and how do its adherents regard it and what causes populist movements to develop. Academics in the field have produced a rich historiography that reveals a divided discourse. Previously analysts …

The Contradiction Of The Welfare Dictatorship: The Stasi’S Role In Preserving And Undermining East German Human Rights, Mallory Wooldridge

Honors College Theses

Constructed four years after WWII in a kind of pendulum swing response to the Third Reich, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was an experiment in socialism. Under the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (The Socialist Unity Party of Germany, SED) no East German was to go hungry, unemployment would be eradicated, housing guaranteed, women treated as equals, and human rights interwoven into the fabric of this socialist society. However, SED socialism in practice did not conform to this original vision and would eventually represent the disillusionment with the socialist project as a whole.

This project seeks to understand human rights in the …

History, Ritualization, And The Rhetoric Of Legitimacy In Decem Libri Historiarum And Wei Shu, Bo Wen (Kent) Zheng

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Historical scholarship since the Second World War has, in general, successfully challenged the nationalist notion that ethnic identities are essential and stable markers of self-hood. One of the most influential entries from this bibliography is Benedict Anderson’s seminal study on the “horizontal” affect of the nation-state, Imagined Communities(1983), wherein the author identifies print capitalism and mass literacy as key contributors to the birth of “national communities” in the modern parlance. Less well defined in Anderson’s story of the nation, however, is the potential effect of pre-modern historical experiences on trajectories of modern state-formation. In response, this thesis explores the …