Introduction: migration and the First World War

Abstract

ABSTRACT Studies of the nineteenth-century era of mass migration tend to conclude at the outbreak of the First World War. But what happened to these migrants and to patterns of migration during industrialised warfare? This special issue brings together two fields: migration history and First World War studies. We explore the fates and experiences of the large diasporic populations who found themselves in nations recently determined belligerent or neutral, where allegiances and enemies were newly defined. This introduction considers how migration history might inform approaches to First World War studies: who counts as a migrant in this period and how this was impacted by war. The issue consists of articles which address experiences of mobile populations and the infrastructure of mobility in this period. By addressing diverse ethnic and racial populations, including intersections of gender, the articles begin to explore the war as a period of ‘race-making’ and hybridity, where rather than just an acceleration of existing trends, new attitudes and ideas about identity, belonging and patriotism came to light. By considering how policies and processes of migration changed because of the conflict, authors contemplate war as a period of borders shifting and solidified, of immigration regimes tightened or newly controlled, often in tension with existing understanding of citizenship or home.