1917 was an important year for historical change on a global scale – not only due to the American entry into the War and the Russian Revolution. The year can rightly be considered the turning point of the First World War and the foundation-stone for the decisive structures of the short 20th century. Contemporary observers recognized these global connections very well. But in the historiography limited to the Nation State these global connections did not matter for decades. This has changed during recent years. New research projects have analyzed the transnational links between the innumerable revolts, rebellions and revolutions and the following violent reactions in all parts of the world. They have focused on the scarcely known incidents far away from the global „centers“, investigated south-south relations and revealed new research potentials.
The conference will unite these new investigations and open up space for dialogues. Transnational and comparative approaches will be considered as well as perspectives from social, economic, cultural and political history. The revolutions and counterrevolutions of the years 1917-1920 will be compared. Their entanglements will be analyzed in a global context. How did the revolutionary potential develop in different world regions before 1917? What was the impact of the Russian Revolution? How can transfers of knowledge, experiences and practices be described? What kind of images were spread on a transnational scale? How can the relationship between local and external causes be described? What was the importance of violence in the disputes of the late war years and the early post-war years? What kind of reactions developed? To what extent were revolutionary and counterrevolutionary movements in different contexts and continents linked to each other?
Keynote speaker: Jörn Leonhard (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg)
The following speakers have confirmed their participation: Adam Tooze (Columbia University), David Hopkins (University of Glasgow), Enric Ucelay-Da Cal (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona), Guoqi Xu (Hong Kong University), Jie Hyun Lim (Sogang University, Seoul), María Inés Tato (Universidad de Buenos Aires/ CONICET), Renato González Mello (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Robert Gerwarth (University College Dublin), Tomio Izao (Yamaguchi Prefectural University) and many others.
We invite young scholars to discuss these and related questions. The poster session is an informal format for young scholars‘ presentations. Participants will set up their posters before the session and discuss their projects with conference attendees. The organizers will provide mounting boards. Conference language is English.
We welcome presentations addressing the conference theme „World-Counter-Revolutions: 1917-1920 From a Global Perspective“. Please submit a proposal of no more than 400 words that summarizes the project. Please include a title and a short CV. Send the documents to revolution16@zedat.fu-berlin.de before November 30, 2015 (new deadline).
The ten best candidates will be chosen. Participants will be notified by the end of December. There are no participation fees. The selected candidates will receive a grant which covers conference-related travel and accommodation expenses.