Description
Book SynopsisThe volume focuses on violence during the breakdown of East Central European states brought by one of the most violent periods in modern European history: from the start of the Great War in 1914 until 1923 when Europe, finally, achieved peace after a series of civil conflicts and interstate wars. The contributors offer several case studies that cover the vast region stretching from the Baltic states to Hungary. They explore different types of violence against its civilian populations with a particular focus on communal violence committed by civilians onto their neighbors. They suggest that disintegration of state power brought by the Great War was a key condition that produced violence. Yet the process of post-WWI state building was equally or more violent as nascent East Central European states institutionalized the use of violence to achieve their political agendas.
Trade Review“East Central Europe was transformed by war, revolution, and the birth of nation-states after the First World War. The Shaken Lands excels by examining 1914 to 1923 as an interconnected ‘Greater War’. Combining conceptual insights with solid case studies, it suggests both national comparisons and transnational overviews of the manifold violence that shaped the entire region, including the Baltic states. It is an indispensable study in this rapidly emerging field.”
— John Horne, emeritus Professor of History, Trinity College Dublin
“Based on the latest scholarship and written by some of the leading historians in the field, this volume makes an outstanding contribution to a better understanding of one of the most violent periods in modern European history and the deeper historical origins of present-day conflicts such as Russia’s current war against Ukraine.”
— Prof. Robert Gerwarth, University College Dublin
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Introduction
Tomas Balkelis and Andrea Griffante
Contributors
1. The Evolution of Wartime Criminality in Lithuania, 1914–1920
Vytautas Petronis
2. War Violence and Its Representation: A Comparison of Civilian Experiences of the Great War on Both Sides of the Former Russian-German Border
Vasilijus Safronovas, Vygantas Vareikis, and Hektoras Vitkus
3. The Military Pogroms in Lithuania, 1919–1920
Darius Staliūnas
4. Scandinavian Volunteers as Perpetrators of Violence and Crime in the Estonian War of Independence
Mart Kuldkepp
5. The Rich and the (In)famous: Social Conflicts and Paramilitary Violence in Hungary during the Counterrevolution, 1921–1923
Béla Bodó
6. The Polish Central Government, Regional Authorities, and Local Paramilitaries during the Battle for the Western Borderlands, 1918–1921
Jochen Böhler
7. Eisenbahnfeldzug: Railway War in East Central Europe
Maciej Górny
8. Beyond Comparison? The Challenges of Applying Comparative Historical Research to Violence
Julia Eichenberg
