The Central Powers entered the closing act of the war conflict with hope that with the last blow they might enforce peace according to their own ideas. Like when gamblers, in the final desperate move, bet not only the very last they have on a single card, but get fatally indebted, too. No wonder that the hinterland, the greatest creditor of the belligerent countries, lost patience and refused any further sacrifice after the failure on the front. Hardship, losses and accumulated grievances of the previous years exposed the compromised state authorities to the pressure, which could no longer be resisted. This war has buried the old world – without a requiem.
New authorities have risen in the chaos of the defeat, which competed for the opportunity to build a new world on the ruins of the old one. How to bring harmony into the society derailed by the war? How to remedy the damage to the bodies and souls of the millions of inhabitants affected by the war? And many other obvious and less apparent tasks awaited the grieving or fortunate heirs of the world of yesterday. The deeply engraved gashes have left distinct scars and unhealed wounds, which resounded ominously even years later.
The fifth in the sequence of conferences, it intends to maintain the broad thematic spectre and multifarious composition of contributions attempting to sketch the image of the final year of the war joust.
Composing the programme of the conference, we will prioritise contributions dedicated to the following subject matters:
- diplomacy
- coalition warfare
- peace initiatives
- strategy
- war aims
- conduct of war
- combat tactics
- military operations
- organization and replacement of troops
- demobilization
- prisoners of war
- war losses
- war crimes
- military health services
- internal politics
- life behind the lines
- civil associations and organizations
- resistance movements
- state administration and self-government
- economy
- social care
- propaganda and public opinion
- art
- science and technology
This conference will also provide the opportunity to introduce research and documentation projects concerning the First World War (e.g. digitisation of sources and literature, creation of databases and other applications).
The annotations of papers to be sent together with a brief CV of the author at the latest by 29 June 2018 to the address: konference@vhu.cz.
The Military History Institute Prague reserves the right to modify the programme of the conference depending on the number and structure of entered papers. The presented contributions will be published in a separate publication.
The languages used during the conference are Czech, English and German.