Civil War Research Articles

The Unturned Pages of American Civil War and Afghan History with the References of Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind” and Khaled Hosseini’s “A Thousand Splendid Suns”.

Historical Revisionism in Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind” and Khaled Hosseini’s “A Thousand Splendid Suns”.

The Children in Need in Postwar Macedonia (1944–1950)

The article examines the educational and social needs of children in the devastated and impoverished People’s Republic of Macedonia (Narodna Republika Makedonija – NRM) as one of the constituent units of the yugoslav Federation (Federativna Narodna Republika yugoslavia – FNRJ) in the first years after the end of World War II. The focus is primarily given on the measures and activities that the Macedonian policy makers undertook in the areas of education and social protection of children and the changes their implementation brought in children’s life. Based on the study of a large number of legal acts and other primary sources, the various aspects of the democratization of education and social care in the new postwar political context are examined: expansion of the school network, access to educational and social institutions and services for all children, recognition of the right to education in the mother tongue, establishment of pre-school education, special education and the protection of vulnerable children. The research interest is also focused on the needs of a large number of children refugees, mostly Macedonians, who were evacuated during the civil war in Greece from its northern parts and sent to the socialist states in the Balkans and in Eastern Europe. Most of them were housed in yugoslavia and especially in Macedonia, which in 1948 became the largest transit center and shelter for thousands of children in need. Based largely on archival material and testimonies of child refugees, the article sheds light on the process of evacuation of children, their life in children’s homes throughout Macedonia and the endeavors of the state to meet their needs for shelter, food, education and normal life.

:The Bolsheviks and Britain during the Russian Revolution and Civil War, 1917–1924

:<i>The Bolsheviks and Britain during the Russian Revolution and Civil War, 1917–1924</i>

A finer resolution for historical residential segregation: Geocoding and analyzing the population of 1860 Washington, D.C.

This study geolocates the place of residence for a majority of free residents in Washington, D.C. in the year 1860 using archival data and evaluates their spatial distribution with respect to racialized residential segregation patterns. Transcribed individual census entries were joined to city directory records and geocoded at the household level using a customized historical address locator derived from period street directories in order to extract socioeconomic details at a fine scale. These data points are used here to contextualize early segregation patterns in Washington, and additionally they were joined to city blocks to conduct quantitative analyses of racialized residential segregation. Measurements at the city block level indicate a moderately high degree of unevenness and isolation between the White and Black population already present in the years before the 1861–1865 US Civil War (antebellum) Washington, well ahead of the widespread development of alley style housing that drove microscale racial segregation in subsequent decades.

Final Resting Places: Reflections on the Meaning of Civil War Graves ed. by Brian Matthew Jordan and Jonathan W. White (review)

Final Resting Places: Reflections on the Meaning of Civil War Graves ed. by Brian Matthew Jordan and Jonathan W. White (review)

Oracle of Lost Causes: John Newman Edwards and His Never-Ending Civil War by Matthew Christopher Hulbert (review)

Oracle of Lost Causes: John Newman Edwards and His Never-Ending Civil War by Matthew Christopher Hulbert (review)

The Abolitionist Civil War: Immediatists and the Struggle to Transform the Union by Frank J. Cirillo (review)

The Abolitionist Civil War: Immediatists and the Struggle to Transform the Union by Frank J. Cirillo (review)

Head Shaving: Archives and Repertoires of Shame

Abstract: In this article we address the intersection of the archive and sexual violence by examining the Francoist practice of shaving the heads of Republican women during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and at the start of the dictatorship. We question the limits of the archive to record actions or embodied narratives that leave few material traces, and about the conditions under which memories that are saturated by violence and trauma can be excavated. We analyze two of the few extant photographs: in them we see how the processes of performativity that accompany acts of violence unfold and expand over time. The photographs reify or represent shame and silence, but they also make remembering possible. The ways in which the photographs have circulated heighten the unstable, fragile nature of these haunted archives.

A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF SULTAN MURAD IIS POLITICAL STRATEGIES IN CONSOLIDATING THE OTTOMAN SULTANATE

This study examines the political strategies implemented by Sultan Murad II in consolidating the Ottoman Sultanate during his reign. Sultan Murad IIs rule marked a pivotal phase in Ottoman history, during which he successfully unified the empire and restored its political stability after facing threats of power struggles, civil wars, internal rebellions, and external interventions. This study employs a qualitative approach through historical research design and content analysis. The data for the study were collected through document analysis and subsequently analyzed using thematic methods. The analysis reveals that, in the process of consolidating power, territory, and political stability within the Ottoman Sultanate, Sultan Murad II adopted a strategy that went beyond simply relying on the peaceful policies upheld by his father, Sultan Mehmed I. He also employed a measured military strategy, practicing a limited offensive approach. Additionally, the centralization policy of his grandfather was reinstated, albeit in a more effective and tolerant manner.

From Civil War to Red Bulls

From Civil War to Red Bulls

A New Higher Education Model in Nation-Building: The Republic of Vietnam’s Liberal Arts Education and Its Performances during the Vietnam War (1965–1975)

ABSTRACT This study examines liberal arts education model influences in Vietnam’s higher education throughout the Vietnam War (1965–1975). Liberal arts education advanced due to the necessity to match market norms and unite qualified people to oppose communism, as well as US specialists. This research article uses source materials from the former Republic of Vietnam and previous studies to identify two major elements of national liberal arts education. First, South Vietnamese educators stressed academic independence, which allowed students to critically think about varied views and widen their worldview. Second, community colleges combined liberal arts and pre-professional courses to stress educational practicality and social duty. South Vietnamese students were civically responsible and dedicated to research and innovation. However, the Vietnamese Civil War, declining financial backing and international recognition, and internal discord concerning this paradigm hampered the collective attempt to embody the Republic of Vietnam’s liberal arts education during the war.

Why do Insurgents Target Religion? The Case of Shining Path in Peru

ABSTRACT Under what conditions do insurgents target religious communities, faith leaders, places of worship in conflicts that are not primarily about religion? Building on insights from scholarship on violence against non-combatants in civil wars, war and religion, and religion–state relations, this article proposes that insurgents who are not primarily motivated by religion are most likely to engage in violence against religion when they are engaged in contested efforts to control territory and encounter resistance from faith leaders. It then probes the plausibility of the argument through a mixed-method case study of the Shining Path insurgency in Peru, showing that variations in the spatial and temporal distribution of Shining Path’s attacks on religion are consistent with theoretical expectations.

The Intelligentsia in the Civil War: Vikentii Veresaev’s V tupike

Vikentiy Veresaev’s novel V tupike (In a Dead-End) was the first major Soviet literary work set in the civil war of 1918-21. It continued Veresaev’s already established literary focus on the evolution of the political and spiritual outlooks among Russia’s socialist intelligentsia, those educated members of society whose life was guided by a commitment to improving the life of the toiling classes. This article focuses on the novel’s depiction of attitudes among the intelligentsia to a central question of the novel: the contradiction between the revolutionary regime’s professed humanistic, socialist goals and the often violent and arbitrary means which it adopted. The article ends with a brief discussion of the novel’s reception, before its ultimate banning in the early 1930s.

A decisive factor? Pro-government external interventions in civil wars

Civil wars have been the most prevalent type of armed conflicts post-World War II. Despite the internal nature of such conflicts, foreign assistance is frequently provided to one of the parties involved, with official governments being the most frequent beneficiaries. This study employs extensive empirical evidence to analyze how external involvement in support of government forces influences the outcome of civil wars. Drawing on the bargaining model of war, a civil war is portrayed as a continuous process where the parties constantly reassess their chances of success based on individual battle outcomes. One-sided foreign intervention complicates this evaluation by exacerbating power and information asymmetries inherent to internal conflicts, leading to increased uncertainty about the opponent’s capabilities and intentions, as well as doubts about their ability to credibly commit to peace agreements. Using Cox proportional hazards model, the author finds that external pro-government support primarily serves to sustain the recipient’s ability to continue fighting rather than significantly enhance its chances of victory in a civil war. Furthermore, the impact of such support varies depending on the type of intervention: indirect assistance is associated with a reduced likelihood of the opposition prevailing, whereas direct military intervention does not have a statistically significant influence on the outcome.

Destruction, delay and déjà vu: the restoration of Dublin’s O’Connell Street after the Irish civil war, 1922–1933

Abstract During the opening phase of the Irish civil war, Dublin’s O’Connell Street was subjected to large-scale destruction of properties and businesses for the second time since the 1916 Rising. Utilizing newly available compensation claims as well as state and local government records, this article examines four aspects of the post-civil war restoration of O’Connell Street for the first time: the scale of the destruction; the compensation scheme devised by the Irish government which accorded O’Connell Street a unique status in the Damage to Property Compensation Act of 1923; the context of the town-planning regulations introduced, as well as the concerns of property owners, the local authority and central government; and the process of reconstruction – how compensation was paid, what properties were rebuilt, in what manner and when.

The Photograph, the Archive, and “Reinterpreting” the Past in a Time of Civil War

The Photograph, the Archive, and “Reinterpreting” the Past in a Time of Civil War

Getrennte Wege der Rezeption: Susanne Hornfecks Roman Ina aus China in Taiwan und Festlandchina

Abstract Hornfeck’s novel “Ina aus China” tells the story of a little girl who is taken from Shanghai to safety in Germany before the Japanese attack on China, and who moves to Taipei after the end of the civil war. Its popularity in Taiwan, Germany, and mainland China differs significantly. While research on Hornfeck’s work has stagnated in mainland China since the publication of translations by Huang Lingxiao and Nelly Ma in 2010, the publisher’s marketing strategy has made Hornfeck famous in Taiwan. Dedicated to the translation and publication of Hornfeck’s novel and its reception in academic and non-academic contexts, this paper addresses the influence of censorship, collective memory, marketing strategies on its reception in the People’s Republic and in Taiwan.

Environmental displacement and political instability: Evidence from Africa

Does environmental displacement provoke political instability? Though migration has long been considered an intermediary in the causal path between environmental change and political upheaval, the relationship remains theoretically underdeveloped and evidence has been limited. This article examines the impact of displacement caused by sudden-onset natural hazards on disruptive antigovernment events including armed conflict, protests and violent riots. It leverages the new Environmental Displacement Dataset (EnDis), an original dataset that identifies quantities of human movement in response to six types of sudden-onset natural hazards in Africa from 1990 to 2017, including floods, storms, wildfires, landslides, earthquakes and volcanic activity. The results of the analyses show that while environmental displacement is not associated with civil war onset or protests, it does increase the incidence of attacks by armed non-state actors and violent riots. Importantly, these destabilizing effects occurr primarily (1) in the context of displacement driven by floods and storms, and (2) when levels of displacement are well above average. Collectively, these findings portend deepening security crises and violent political upheaval as climate change drives more frequent episodes of extreme weather and excessive environmental displacement.

Same, same but different? A Discourse Network Analysis of the EU’s framings of refugee arrivals in 2015 and 2022

ABSTRACT The European Union (EU) experienced two major instances of refugee influx: in 2015, refugees, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq fled civil war, persecution, and dire conditions in neighbouring countries and in 2022, Ukrainians fled from Russia’s full-scale invasion. Fusing theoretical insights on framing and crisification of migration, we ask: How do EU actors frame situations of refugee mass influx? Employing a Discourse Network Analysis, we examine EU representatives’ framing of both instances with respect to three analytical foci: (1) who or what they considered to be in crisis, (2) their framing of refugees; and (3) who they saw to be responsible for solving the crisis. We show how, in 2015, EU representatives framed mass displacement predominantly as a crisis at and of Europe’s borders, and refugees as threats to Member States’ public, economic and cultural security. In contrast, in 2022, crisis framings are almost absent or pertain to Ukraine’s – and by extension the EU’s – security. Ukrainian protection seekers are framed as ethnically and culturally similar and their protection as a humanitarian imperative. Our analysis empirically substantiates debates about double standards in refugee governance and draws attention to actor constellations and the factors that shape crisification of mobility.

Culinary sustainability as a resilience practice for Syrian refugees amidst urban precarity in Istanbul

ABSTRACT In a context of urban precarity and food insecurity, our research examines how Syrian women in Istanbul (Turkey) (re-)create “Syrian cultural foods” as part of fulfilling gendered expectations for homemaking. Fleeing civil war since 2011, Syrians find safety in Turkey, but they struggle with a financially and politically insecure temporary protection status making the daily act of cooking a significant challenge. In contrast to research focused on sustainability primarily in terms of health and nutrition, we show the important role that culture plays in determining what food is considered sustaining. Specifically, we identify “culinary sustainability” strategies which are culturally embedded food practices that foster resilience for migrants in a new setting. Based on semi-structured interviews and participant observations in the kitchens of Syrian women in Istanbul, we identify three strategies: 1) Homemade food practices, 2) Adjustment, and 3) Recycling. Addressing a burgeoning literature that tries to integrate sustainability and resilience studies, we show how each strategy corresponds to a feature of cultural resilience (engaging forms of resistance, adaptation and innovation). Under severe socio-economic constraints, Syrian women use creative adaptations to innovate tasty new ways of showing culinary care in a new country and an unfamiliar megacity, Istanbul.