Selection announcement for the awarding of n.1 research grant (Postdoc), which shall last for 32 months, for the research project entitled “The Dark Side of the Belle Époque: political violence and armed associations in Europe before the First World War. The Case of Germany”.

The research project “The Dark Side of the Belle Époque. Political Violence and Armed Associations in Europe before the First World War” is a comparative historical investigation which examines the role played by militias, paramilitary movements, armed organisations, and vigilante groups before the First World War (from the late 19th century to 1914). Its goal is to investigate how and to what extent organised political violence permeated European societies even before the outbreak of the Great War.
The practice of organised violence represents a mass transnational experience in an era – the so-called Belle Époque – which has generally been seen as characterised by peace and progress. Hundreds of thousands of male Europeans engaged in various violent practices as members of these groups. Examples are the Spanish militia Somatén (44,000 members in 1909); the Ulster Volunteer Force, a paramilitary organisation which fought against the Irish nationalists (100,000 men, at least); and the large number of shooting clubs and military training societies which characterised the daily life of European citizens all over the continent.

The project seeks to compare the practices, social backgrounds and political cultures of these groups, and their connections with more general contexts (state, Church, other social movements and political cultures), in all major states of pre-WWI Europe: Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, and the United Kingdom. All these different forms of organised violence may be defined as armed associations. In pre-WWI Europe, an armed association may be defined as non-state organisation of male civilians that acts publicly and in which the practice of violence is a legitimated course of action. Violence may be experienced as either an actual or potential practice. Often, violence is implemented and put into effect (e.g. against opponents); other times, it is simply experienced as a possibility and potentiality, albeit a fully legitimate and plausible one (e.g. through military training).

Principal Investigator
Prof. Matteo Millan (Università degli Studi di Padova)

DEADLINE 7 NOVEMBER 2018 (no later than 13:00)

The application may only be submitted by completing the online procedure available at:
https://pica.cineca.it/unipd/assegni-dissgea-10-2018/