The historiographies on war and protest are still largely separated. Clausewitz"s famous aphorism is conventionally applied to military history and high politics. However, it also points to the political means employed by those who, for various reasons, disagreed with the use of force to compel an enemy. In the final revision of his unfinished manuscript Vom Kriege, Clausewitz acknowledged this factor: "War is simply the continuation of political intercourse with the addition of other means. We deliberately use the phrase "with the addition of other means" because we also want to make it clear that war in itself does not suspend political intercourse or change it into something entirely different." This creates a relationship between the legitimisation of war by those waging it, and competing political impulses that question the war effort. In most cases, the challengers embraced alternative means of political articulation due to established channels of political decision making being controlled or dominated by the supporters of the war in question. Focusing on these various forms of protest politics, the session will explore dissent vis-à-vis vast machineries of war from the First World War to the present.

Papers are welcome that pose and pursue one or several of the following (or related) questions: What were the social backgrounds of anti-war protesters? Which cultural resources did protesters mobilise? How have literature and arts contributed to protest? How did political violence enter into protest scenarios?

Comparative approaches (both diachronic and synchronic) are especially welcome, but also case studies and interdisciplinary analyses of various historical constellations.

Chair: Dr. Alexander Sedlmaier, Bangor University, School of History, Welsh History and Archaeology

Abstracts (maximum 500 words) must be submitted to Alexander Sedlmaier (a.sedlmaier@bangor.ac.uk) by 3 May 2013.

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Kontakt:

Alexander Sedlmaier

School of History

Welsh History & Archaeology

Bangor University

Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2DG

UK

+44 1248 38 3604

+44 1248 38 2759

a.sedlmaier@bangor.ac.uk

URL: For more information, please visit the conference website: http://esshc.socialhistory.org/esshc-vienna-2014