European History Commons^™

The Night Of The Long Knives: Reconsidered, Edward G. Gunning Jr.

Dissertations and Theses

The "Night of the Long Knives"—June 30, 1934, and the murderous days that followed is one of the more fascinating episodes in the history of the Third Reich. A year after taking power, multiple circles of influence challenged Nazi control. The National Socialists perceived enemies everywhere. At times the internal challenges were as significant as the external.

Much of the conflict centered on a myriad of perspectives on the nature and direction of the Nazi revolution. For Hitler, the revolution was complete, at least for now. His real revolution was a racial one, whose full dimensions only became manifest later. …

Seeing Forced Isolation Through New Eyes: Covid-19, Anne Frank, And The Violence Of The Nation-State, Anna Raines

CMC Senior Theses

In my senior thesis, I explore the social, political, and cultural effects and consequences of forced isolation. Forced isolation is a strategy adopted by governments in order to deal with a range of issues in contemporary history, often resulting in exclusionary practices, the redefinition or assertion of national sovereignty and nation-state boundaries, contagion, detention, and imprisonment. As a consequence of these varied processes and actions, when an individual or a social group is forced into an isolated space and ostracized from society, they are cast out of routine socialization, and the effects of this can endure even if a return …

England's Fairest Creatures, Madison Hart

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Set in 1616 Jacobean England, surrounding a tragic chamber pot incident, the place setting of the small fishing town of Lechlade, England, begins our story. From generations of fisherman, Elias Eaton, is the first Eaton not to bear a son. Instead, his fierce daughter in her mid-twenties, Julia, our protagonist, helps her father at the docks daily. Although Julia is a champion for women of her time, she dreams of there being something more out there for her than the town that has shackled Eatons for centuries. Julia’s mother, Sybil, is the daughter to the town baker. Her literate father …

Building An Imperial World: Ideologies Of Imperialism And The Tariff Reform Movement In Britain, 1900-1914, Kevin Jennings Luginbill

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the imperial rhetoric and ideologies articulated during the tariff reform controversy in Edwardian Britain. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the British statesman Joseph Chamberlain organized a new movement, dubbed tariff reform, to enact a series of commercial policies that would integrate the British and colonial economies and, he argued, lay the foundation for the development of a unified imperial federation. Chamberlain’s proposals were controversial and divisive, resulting in years of political debate over the merits of tariff reform. While the tariff reform campaign has been studied in numerous histories, its imperial dimensions have been ignored …

Crossing The 'Color Bar': African American Soldiers In Britain And Australia During The Second World War, Joseph A. Dickinson

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

During the Second World War, African American soldiers were stationed all over the world as part of the American war effort. During these deployments, African Americans encountered a number of white societies, such as those in Britain and Australia, which they generally interacted with cordially. Good relations between African American soldiers and the local white populations angered many white servicemembers, who saw the lack of Jim Crow style segregation as a threat to the racial status quo, and attempted to enforce segregation overseas themselves. These attempts were often resisted fiercely by African American soldiers and the local white populations, both …

Enemies, Allies, And Opportunities: The Politics Of Noblewomen’S Lawsuits In Early Modern Piedmont, Catherine Ferrari

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation considers early modern law courts as political venues in which noble families not only asserted claims to wealth, property, and inheritance but also sought to enhance their reputation and influence. By studying the archives of elite families in Piedmont from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth centuries, I argue that noblewomen used the law to gain a political voice, defending their legal claims against other family members in highly visible conflicts in which not only their property but their standing at the court of the duke of Savoy was at stake. These women exploited legal procedures and drew on …

U.S.-Ukraine Relations And The Concept Of Strategic Partnership, Khrystyna Pelchar

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A strategic partnership has become particularly relevant in the wake of the Russian war in Ukraine. Most studies focus on the historical perspective of particular special relations leaning toward the long-standing nature and stability of those relations. Others describe interstate partnerships as dynamic developments rather than static phenomena. Conventionally, strategic partnerships are multifaceted, including the spheres of economic cooperation, military assistance and partnership, and democracy promotion. Scholars also single out cultural proximity as an important factor facilitating mutual trust and feasibility of strategic partnership.

This thesis will discuss the historical background of the U.S.-Ukraine economic, socio-political, and military cooperation and …

A Case Study Of Poland Regarding The Utility Of Strategic Culture, Christian Pierce Griffith

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

From the Cold War until today, researchers and strategists have worked to find better ways of understanding the strategic decisions of other countries. Many diplomats and international decision makers subscribed to the idea that countries always acted rationally with a rational, cost-benefit analysis approach to problems that laid before them. Others, however, wished to explain the seemingly irrational actions countries have taken, and proposed that not all countries share the same objective values and goals. Academic authors and political strategists claimed that countries have Strategic Cultures, defined as frameworks that policy makers operate within where they are influenced by cultural …

Ukrainian Interfaith Families In The Context Of Church, Marriage, And Social Relations Of The 19th Century, Olena Borodenko, Roman Sitarchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The aim. In the article (based on the materials of church statistical books of Orthodox parishes in the Right and Left Bank of Ukraine, ego-documents, documentation of the directive and administrative direction, canonical and fiction), an imaginary collective portrait of interfaith families is created in the representation of marriage partners of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic faiths—in the context of marriage-social policy of the Russian Empire in the 19th century.

Research methods. The interdisciplinary direction of intelligence led to the use, in addition to general scientific methods, of special historical methods: quantitative, comparative, prosopographic and critical analysis.

Main results. Based …

A Distinguished U.S. Ambassador To Switzerland— Joseph B. Gildenhorn, C. Naseer Ahmad

Swiss American Historical Society Review

For over two hundred years, Switzerland and United States have enjoyed strong bilateral relationship. This relationship has endured so long due to the shared interests and common values. Leadership at governmental and business level in both countries have helped keep the bonds between Switzerland and United States strong and enduring.

Bernstadt: The Last Swiss Colony, Jan Sparkman

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The final attempt by Swiss immigrants to develop an independent colony in the United States was made in Laurel County, Kentucky, in 1881. This settlement was the result of efforts on the part of Kentucky’s newly-formed Bureau of Immigration to compensate for the fact that the state had been all but ignored by European immigrants in the past. This endeavor was assisted by the active intervention of three men in Switzerland—Otto Brunner, Paul Schenk, and Karl Imobersteg—who were eager to capitalize on Kentucky’s deficiency.

Living In The Ruins Of Utopia: The Collapse Of The Soviet Union And The Formation Of Russia's Postcolonial Identity, Erik G. Livingston

Senior Independent Study Theses

No abstract provided.

The Path From Paramilitary To Politics: Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin, And The Good Friday Agreement: 1986-1998, Brenann Hamilton

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Although the Troubles often have been written about by historians through a nationalistic or cultural context, pitting the Irish Catholic Nationalists against the Protestant British loyalists, much of the action took place within the political sphere, as the Nationalists’ and Unionists’ representatives fought for concessions and control. Rather than focusing on the religious differences or the ethnographic backgrounds of the people living in Northern Ireland, this thesis examines through a political context how the leaders of Sinn Féin shaped popular opinion and gained support through nonviolent means. While the national identity and cultural differences between the Nationalists and Unionists inform …

Policy And Polity: Space, Boundaries, And Governance In Early Modern London, 1580-1640, Michael Britton

Dissertations - ALL

The kingdom's principal city for law, governance, trade, and consumption, early modern London experienced a period of rapid growth and sprawl from the mid-sixteenth century. This nurtured more dense and frequent mobility and produced a dynamic, kinetic city. For civic authorities, however, boundaries took on greater urgence. Drawing on theories and principles of border studies, this dissertation treats the city's boundaries as processes forged and transformed by engagement, by the interplay between popular activity, political programs, and perceptions of space and authority. Policy and Polity, Space, Boundaries, and Governance in Early Modern London, 1580-1640 examines bordering at London Bridge, the …

Arts & Literature: Making Art Out Of History’S Tragedies—An Interview With Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, Sanford M. Jacoby

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Grzegorz Kwiatkowski is a Polish poet and musician. Here he reflects on the violence perpetrated in Poland during the Second World War, and the dualities of the Polish experience. Is it possible for art to reckon with the darkness, free of melodrama and kitsch?

The American Immigrant Experience Through A Photographic Lens, Olivia Sevits

Honors Projects

My goal is to assess how the photographic medium has historically been used to document the American immigrant experience. Then, I will create my own photo book to provide a different perspective and serve as a response to these traditional portrayals. As the granddaughter of Hungarian immigrants and refugees, I often reflect on my grandparents’ experiences and how they impacted my own life.

By researching both traditional and contemporary photographers whose work focused on American immigrants, I can compare how these immigrants were presented through different lenses. With my own photography, my intention is to provide an honest look into …

Intentional International Presence Of United Nation's Locations, Kelsea Nicole Duvall

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

The United Nations chose specific locations to house its main headquarters and major offices. While there are many smaller regional offices of the United Nations, this focuses only on the four main offices and the Hague, which houses the International Court of Justice. The different locations of New York, the Hague, Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi were chosen over a time period of fifty years with New York, the first permanent location, chosen in 1946, and Nairobi, the most recent addition, finalized in 1996. The locations were not chosen purely because of monetary concerns but because they met specific qualifications set …

A Workers' Paradise: Re-Integrating Newfoundland Into Colonial American History, Elena Hynes

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The island of Newfoundland is conspicuous in colonial British and North American histories, most particularly and paradoxically, in its absence, a state of affairs which this study aims to help address. Multiple factors, including a paucity of documentary sources and various historiographic trends, have traditionally contributed to Newfoundland’s marginalization within colonial historical narratives. However, developments in recent years have made Newfoundland’s potential integration into the broader colonial dialogue more feasible including the advent of the Atlantic perspective, the expansion of available sources, and the work of multiple regional historians who have challenged enduring historiographic trends characterizing Newfoundland colonial settlements as …

Methods Of Memorialization: Holocaust Commemoration In The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Kylee Bolinger

University Honors Theses

Memorials, both formal and informal, both private and public, have long participated in the pursuit to honor the victims of tragedy, disaster, or genocide. Memorial museums serve both to memorialize victims and to foster an environment conducive to reflection and education about these stories. Such memorial museums have especially made their mark after one of the most notable and devastating genocide events in history: the Holocaust in twentieth-century Europe. This thesis examines how memorialization methods utilized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) make up the American interpretation of Vergangenheitsbewältigung, the concept typically applied to how Germans deal …

Life And Health Concerns Of A European Monastic Scribe During The 14th Century, Jared Reiling, Christopher O'Neill, Nick Curatolo

2021 Festschrift: The Interpolated Roman de Fauvel in Context

Writing in a quiet, candle-lit room may sound hygge to some, but monks during the 14th century would describe their work on the scriptorium as cold, depressing, tedious, mundane, and exhausting. The copying of all texts, including biblical and musical, was done by hand with monks working around the clock copying, illuminating manuscripts, and binding books. With the regimented schedule of monastic life, the Church worked scribes till exhaustion which created health problems and aggravated underlying conditions. Though cataracts were a common problem, commoners performed surgery on each other to restore sight, but it only made the situation worse.