From the colonial wars to the deployment of drones, warfare has been central to defining the American nation and its role in the world. Armed conflicts on the American continents and overseas are not completely new to historical research. The aim of the following conference is to focus on the interrelations between armed conflicts and security. Warfare and security issues are inextricably linked.

In 1914 almost one quarter of the earth's surface was British. When that same empire and its allies went to war in 1914 against the Central Powers, history's first global conflict was inevitable. The statistics speak for themselves in terms of recruited soldiers and auxiliaries from the British Empire: 1,300,000 Indian, 500,000 Canadian, 300,000 Australian, 100,000 New Zealand; 80,000 South African; 15,000 West Indian and Cypriot. They came too, in smaller numbers, from places like Rhodesia, Tonga, the Falkland Islands, Ceylon and Kuwait.

Das Jahr 2014 wird von der internationalen Erinnerung an den Beginn des Ersten Weltkrieges im Sommer 1914 geprägt sein. Zahlreiche Projekte in Deutschland, Europa und weltweit, in Forschung, Lehre und Öffentlichkeit, widmen sich diesem Ereignis in unterschiedlicher Form.

Am 21. Juni 2013 um 11 Uhr wird im Historisch-Technischen Museum Peenemünde die Sonderausstellung "Welt. Krieg. Erbe. - World. War. Heritage." eröffnet. Die Ausstellung setzt sich mit der Bedeutung der Weltkriege für das Kulturerbe auseinander und verdeutlicht den unterschiedlichen Umgang verschiedener Kulturkreise mit der Erinnerung.