European History Commons^™

Ua51/1 Collections & Connections, Jennifer Wilson

Collections & Connections

This is the Fall 2013-Winter 2014 issue of the biannual newsletter of the Western Kentucky University Libraries. It headlines WKU Manuscript/Folklife Archives Coordinator Jonathan Jeffrey's collection of the remembrances of JFK's visit to Bowling Green in 1960 and an excerpt from Ann Denes Wagner's recollection of her father Nick Denes, head coach at Western Kentucky State during the 1960s. Other major events featured in this issue include the Libraries' co-sponsorship of the International Film Series, its participation in the university's homecoming activities, its continued effort in offering the Far Away Places speaker series and the SOKY Reads program, and the …

Miller Studies Germany’S Economic History, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

First World War Central Power Prison Camps, Kenneth Steuer

History Faculty Publications

This is an introduction to the First World War Central Power POW Camps photo gallery that is a companion work to Steuer's e-book, Pursuit of an "Unparalleled Opportunity": The American YMCA and Prisoner-of-War Diplomacy among the Central Power Nations during World War I, 1914-1923. The images include a wide range of photographs, drawings, paintings, maps, and other images from Austrian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, German, and Turkish prison camps during the First World War which illustrate the daily life of Allied war prisoners in and outside of prison facilities. The text and database images show the activities in these camps and …

Indivisible And Inseparable: The Austro-Hungarian Army And The Question Of Decline And Fall, Kyle D. Woods

CMC Senior Theses

The title of this work is “Indivisible and Inseparable” the motto of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This motto is just one of many ways in the Austro-Hungarian Empire fought against the centrifugal forces seeking to destroy it. I argue here that the historic theory of decline and fall is misguided as a model for understanding the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and question its usefulness when applied to other nation states and empires as well. I suggest that the Austro-Hungarian military, specifically its condition prior to the First World War, is an ideal lens for exploring the dissolution of the Empire …

Detente Or Razryadka? The Kissinger-Dobrynin Telephone Transcripts And Relaxing American-Soviet Tensions, 1969-1977., Daniel S. Stackhouse Jr.

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation argues that through a secret backchannel, US National Security Adviser and later Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Soviet Ambassador to the US Anatoly Dobrynin formed a relationship which provided the empathy needed to bridge many of the ideological differences between their two countries. It examines transcripts of their telephone conversations from 1969-1977 when the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in detente, or a relaxation of tensions, during the Cold War. The dissertation concludes that the Kissinger-Dobrynin backchannel serves as a case study of the effectiveness of back channels in international diplomacy.

Internal Colonization: Russia's Imperial Experience, Austin Jersild

History Faculty Publications

A review of the book "Internal Colonization: Russia's Imperial Experience," by Alexander Etkind is presented.

Stalin’S Boots And The March Of History (Post-Communist Memories), Roland K. Végső

Department of English: Faculty Publications

I would like to propose here is precisely the invention of a relation to history and the public sphere of sociality that deconstructs the trauma/nostalgia opposition. The theoretical goal is to separate concrete narrative forms from actual political contents. It follows from the previous point that it might be possible to conceive of historical moments or concrete rhetorical situations in which we need to rely on nostalgic rather than traumatic narratives in order to imagine progressive political change. In these situations, the political task could be the development of a certain “critical nostalgia” that does not try to replace trauma …

Introduction To The Naked Communist: Cold War Modernism And The Politics Of Popular Culture, Roland K. Végső

Department of English: Faculty Publications

The first half of The Naked Communist is devoted to the theoretical and historical foundations of my reading of anti-Communist fictions. After the theoretical introduction, I examine anti-Communist aesthetic ideology by first analyzing its political and then its aesthetic components.

In the second half, I examine the way the culture of anti-Communism defined the “world” as the ultimate horizon of political imagination. Included is a brief overview of some of the most popular texts of the given genre.

Finally, I conclude these chapters with a reading of particular authors.

Europe’S Little Tiger?: Reassessing Economic Transition In Slovakia Under The Mečiar Government 1993-1998, David A. Wemer

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

Vladimir Mečiar, the first Prime Minister of independent Slovakia, is often criticized for his suppression of free media, political repression, and the widespread corruption of his government from 1993-1998. Mečiar has also been attacked for his economic policies, which critics suggest slowed down privatization and left Slovakia in a huge debt crisis. A closer look at macroeconomic data, however, demonstrates an impressive economic record for Mečiar, who oversaw several years of strong GDP growth, and relatively low levels of unemployment and inflation. By slowing down the privatization process, retaining control of key industries, and maintaining the social safety net, Mečiar …

Rape As A Weapon Of War: The Demystification Of The German Wehrmacht During The Second World War, Alisse Baumgarten

CMC Senior Theses

The German Armed Forces were originally thought to be completely innocent of all war crimes associated with unethical Nazi racial policies. This has been proven not to be the case. History has adjusted itself to show that Wehrmacht forces were guilty of virtually every war crime except for the sexual violation foreign women. Due to the long-standing assumption that Nazi racial ideology prevented the intermingling of the “Aryan” race with the “unworthy” Eastern European races, this myth was rarely questioned. Given the lack of hard evidence proving that civilian women were raped by invading Wehrmacht troops, a firm conclusion is …

“‘Gulag’—Slavery, Inc.”: The Power Of Place And The Rhetorical Life Of A Cold War Map, Timothy Barney

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

In 1951, the American Federation of Labor produced a map of the Soviet Union showing the locations of 175 forced labor camps administered by the Gulag. Widely appropriated in popular magazines and newspapers, and disseminated internationally as propaganda against the U.S.S.R., the map, entitled “‘Gulag’—Slavery, Inc.,” would be cited as “one of the most widely circulated pieces of anti-Communist literature.” By contextualizing the map’s origins and circulation, as well as engaging in a close analysis of its visual codes and intertextual relationships with photographs, captions, and other materials, this essay argues that the Gulag map became an evidentiary weapon in …

Business Partnerships And Practices From The 19th-Century Ottoman Balkans, Evguenia Davidova

International & Global Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article compares samples in commercial and epistolary guides, which provide a discursive framework to 'real' business partnership contracts and correspondence, dispersed in merchant archives that contextualize (and humanize) the dry contractual language. The guides offered pragmatism and standardization of economic behavior, envisioning commerce not only as a tool for achieving wealth but also a broader activity in the service of social progress and national prosperity. Contracts provide insights into everyday business practices, such as local economic reconfigurations, multiethnic regional cooperation, long-distance trade, and intergenerational communication. The article suggests that while the contract form followed old formulaic structure and language, …

Croatians (Research Report #119), Amada D. Cawley, Mark J. Schafer, Troy Blanchard

LSU AgCenter Research Reports

This is the fifth in a series of reviews about the experiences of various racial and ethnic groups in the Gulf of Mexico region.This one focuses on the experiences of Croatians. Although relatively small in number, Croatians have had considerable influence in the southeastern United States, particularly in the economic life of southern Louisiana. Commonly known to have transformed and substantially grown the oyster industry, Croatians also have a complex history and culture.

Popular Legal Journalism In The Writings Of Maria Vérone, Sara L. Kimble

School of Continuing and Professional Studies Faculty and Staff Works

No abstract provided.

Review Of Angelo Poliziano’S Lamia: Text, Translation, And Introductory Studies, Brian Maxson

ETSU Faculty Works

This book reviewed discusses the life of Angelo Poliziano who was a leading humanist in Lorenzo de' Medici's Flroence. Poliziano was brought into the household of Lorenzo as a secretary and tutor for the Medici children in the early 1470's.

Review Of Marriage In Premodern Europe: Italy And Beyond, Brian Maxson

ETSU Faculty Works

Jacqueline Murray's Marriage in Premodern Europe collects a wide-ranging series of essays on marriage covering nearly four hundred years and almost the entire European Continent.

“This Sort Of Men”: The Vernacular And The Humanist Movement In Fifteenth-Century Florence, Brian Maxson

ETSU Faculty Works

This article focuses on a sliver of the individuals we now know as the Neo-Latinists, who viewed the vernacular as a vehicle for expression throughout the quattrocento.

Security, Prestige, And Realpolitik : Sir Eyre Crowe And British Foreign Policy 1907-1925, Patricia Lynn Pillsworth

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Sir Eyre Crowe is known to historians primarily as the author of the 1907 Memorandum on French and German relations in which he concluded that Britain must maintain the Entente with France because Germany's aim was to gain hegemony over Europe. He was also arguably the central figure of the British Foreign Office for the first two-and-a-half decades of the twentieth century, and his career in the Foreign Office spanned forty years.

Non-Lutheran Denominations Among The Danish Immigrant Churches, Robert A (Bob) Olsen

The Bridge

The combined 2012 Issue (Volume 35) of "The Bridge" was a translation of Max Henius' "Den Danskfodte Amerikaner" (The Danish-Born American), published in 1912. It is a fascinating addition for the English speaking "Danes" dealing with many aspects of the lives of the approximately 300,000 Danish-born that emigrated to the United States in the years prior to that time. It discusses many aspects of Danish-American life at the time, ranging from schools, societies, the Danish press, old people's homes, organizations and churches. Unfortunately when it comes to schools, churches, and newspapers there is barely a mention of anything outside of …

A Journey To Denmark In 1928, Anton Gravesen

The Bridge

It is now just 3 months ago that I packed my valise and said goodbye to Askov to make a journey to Denmark. It was with some mixed feelings. Half my life I have lived here and my other half over there in the old country.

The Fearful State Of England: The Amalgamation Of Fin-De-Siècle Anxieties And Anarchist Outrages In The Public Deconstruction Of The Liberal State, 1892-1911, David R. Speicher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes a series of Anarchist crimes, occurring in England from 1892-1911, and concentrates on the public dialogue that emerged in the popular press as a result of these crimes. British newspapers and periodicals published extensively on the crimes, and the crimes became a way for the British public to discuss wide-ranging topics, such as liberalism, labor, immigration, poverty and national degeneration. Many Britons believed that these crimes had revealed an Anarchist danger hidden within England, and, as a result, many Englanders perceived Britain's social and political customs to be outdated and unsafe. These crimes occurred at a time …

The Roots Of Bloody Sunday, James Campbell

Wayne State University Theses

There has been much written on the Bloody Sunday Massacre and Northern Ireland during the late-1960s to early-1970s period. Many of the works focus on the role of the IRA in the struggle against Great Britain throughout the 20th century and argue that the events of Bloody Sunday marked an intensification of violence in the conflict, but treat the event as one of many in a long struggle. Some writers choose to focus on the armed struggle between the IRA and the British. Others examine the rise and fall of leaders and policies that helped shape the struggle in Northern …

“La Bretagne Aux Bretons?” : Cultural Revival And Redefinition Of Brittany In Post-1945 France, Gabriella L. Hornbeck

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

A sense of national identity in France is something that has been defined and redefined throughout the twentieth century. With a history that includes two world wars, the creation of the European Union, in addition the the notable action of decolonization on the part of France, particularly in Indo-China and Algeria, there have been evident increases in immigration into France in recent history. These actions have forced France, as a nation, to question what its identity really is, particularly in terms of its cultural identity. In addition to these immigrants who may arrive from former French colonies, however, there are …

Seventeenth-Century Perceptions Of The Henrician Reformation In Print Culture, Clare W. Smith

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

[Book Review Of] Reformation Und Konfessionelles Zeitalter (1517-1648), By Martin H. Jung, Denis Kaiser

Faculty Publications

This book on the reformation and the confessional era (1517-1648) is succinct, informative, and very readable. It is a textbook that contains fifteen neatly arranged chapters. The advantage of Jung’s textbook lies in the fact that it is not merely another book about the reformation and post-reformation period for its real strength is found not as much in the presentation of the historical facts and developments per se as in the enclosed pertinent syllabus for university studies and exams on both epochs. Instructors and professors may benefit from Jung’s teaching experience, using the materials and adapting them according to their …

Madame Tussaud And The Women Of The French Revolution, Leah Craig

Undergraduate Research Awards

A critical examination of Madame Tussaud's life, especially focusing on self-representation in her memoir and her methods of surviving the French Revolution. The PDF includes the author's entry submission essay from the 2013 Undergraduate Research Awards.

Sacred, Suspect, Forbidden: The Use Of Space In Early Modern Venice, Julie D. Fox

Theses and Dissertations--History

This dissertation argues that Venetian space in the sixteenth century was embedded with various boundaries that individuals challenged and that communities and Venetian secular and ecclesiastical authorities reinforced. The development of Venetian urban space played an essential role in the formation of Venetian civic identity, which in turn was predicated upon the myth of Venice. The time period examined includes the re-establishment of the Roman Inquisition, and the early period of the Inquisition in Venice, which were concomitant with a time of religious and social disruption. Documents of the Venetian government and contemporary diarists offer contextual evidence; however, trials before …

Honor, Reputation, And Conflict: George Of Trebizond And Humanist Acts Of Self-Presentation, Karl R. Alexander

Theses and Dissertations--History

The present study investigates the verbal strategies of self-presentation that humanist scholars employed in contests of honor during the early fifteenth century. The focus of this study is George of Trebizond (1395-1472/3), a Cretan scholar who emigrated to Italy in 1416, taught in Venice, Vicenza, and elsewhere, served as an apostolic secretary in Rome, and composed the first major humanist treatise on rhetoric, his Rhetoricorum libri quinque, in 1433/34. Trebizond feuded with many prominent humanists during his career, including Guarino of Verona (1374-1460) and Poggio Bracciolini (1380-1459). His quarrels with both men illustrate how humanist conflicts were the sites upon …

Soldiers Of Science--Agents Of Culture: American Archaeologists In The Office Of Strategic Services (Oss), Despina Lalaki

Publications and Research

"Scientificity" and appeals to political independence are invaluable tools when institutions such as the American School of Classical Studies at Athens attempt to maintain professional autonomy. Nonetheless, the cooperation of scientists and scholars with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), among them archaeologists affiliated with the American School, suggests a constitutive affinity between political and cultural leadership. This relationship is here mapped in historical terms, while, at the same time, sociological categorizations of knowledge and its employment are used in order to situate archaeologists in their broader social and political context and to evaluate their work not merely as agents …

Weathering Extremes: Climate, Colonialism, And Indigenous Resistance In The Dutch Atlantic, Nicholas Cunigan

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Weathering Extremes demonstrates how seventeenth-century climate changes mingled with cultural, social, economic, agro-ecological, and geopolitical forces to catalyze three simultaneous, though geographically disparate, indigenous resistance movements between 1636 and 1645. In Brazil, Curaçao, and the Hudson Valley, indigenous peoples deployed violent and non-violent means of resistance to confront the Dutch West India Company. This broadly interdisciplinary project utilizes natural proxy sources such as pollen samples, ice cores, and tree rings in conjunction with ethnohistorical and Dutch archival sources to reconstruct how early seventeenth-century extreme weather events catalyzed these movements. El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, volcanic eruptions, and reduced sunspot activity …