When East Meets West - The Second World War in Global Perspective

Second World War Research Group (KCL) 2017 Annual Conference
Datum: 
Donnerstag, 22. Juni 2017 bis Freitag, 23. Juni 2017
Ort: 
London
Deadline: 
Dienstag, 31. Januar 2017

The Second World War was the largest conflict the world has ever experienced. The war drew in combatants from nearly every continent, affected the lives of hundreds of millions, fundamentally changed societies and rewrote the global balance of power.

It was, as Richard Overy has argued, "a truly global war". Nevertheless, scholarship on the war frequently remains confined to the boundaries of national history. Moreover, many of the most creative and well-researched analyses have focused exclusively on the conflict either in the West or in the East. Over seventy years on from its end, there is an opportunity to integrate analyses of the wars in Europe, Africa and Asia and the numerous home fronts in order to explore the complexities of waging a multi-national, multi-front war at supra-state, state and sub-state levels.

The conference aims to explore the changes in perspective that emerge from a global rather than national approach to studying the Second World War. With that aim in mind, the organisers invite paper proposals on themes including, but not limited to:

-   The meeting of different cultures and ideologies

-   Alliance and coalition warfare

-   Grand strategy

-   Propaganda and diplomacy

-   Mobilisation

-   Neutrality and belligerence

-   Intelligence

-   Political and social Change

-   Empire

-   Writing the history of the Second World War

-   Inter-theatre and inter-combatant learning

Paper proposals should include an abstract of no more than 300 words and a one-page CV. Panel proposals for groups of three to four speakers are also welcomed; they should, in addition to individual paper abstracts and CVs, include a brief description of the panel theme (no more than 500 words).

Submissions and expression of interest to attend should be addressed to Richard Hammond (richard.hammond@kcl.ac.uk).

Conference Venue:  King's College London (Waterloo Campus), Stamford St, Lambeth, London SE1 9NH, UK

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Contact:

Dr Richard Hammond

King’s College London

+44 (0) 1793 788198

richard.hammond@kcl.ac.uk