Interwar Research Articles

From Sea to Sea to the Caribbean Sea: Canadian sub-imperialism in the British West Indies and Commonwealth Caribbean, 1917–2014

ABSTRACT In 1917, the Privy Council Office of Canada produced a memorandum arguing that London should transfer the British West Indies to Canada as compensation for the Dominion’s efforts in the First World War; Canadian Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and other officials discussed the Canadian proposal for the next two years at the Imperial War Cabinet and up until the Versailles Conference. This plan never came to fruition. But exploring why the British West Indies remained under London’s tutelage instead of Ottawa’s provides a fascinating case study on how the British Empire evolved into the Commonwealth, how the various Dominions accreted their own international legal personalities in the Inter-War Years, and how all this culminated in the Imperial Crown branching out into a personal union of Crowns. Canadian officials in the 1910s did not appreciate the difference between internal, incorporated territories versus external, overseas territories, and their conceptual misunderstandings of how the British Empire operated outside of North America contributed to Canada’s decision to abandon its own proposal of assuming the administration of the British West Indies. The Constitution Act, 1982 now prevents Canada from taking on overseas territories altogether.

Personnel policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the period of formation of the foreign service of the Second Polish Republic – posts and official ranks, remuneration, dismissal of the staff

In the interwar period, the Polish Foreign Service was formed in intricate internal circumstances. Polish diplomatic and consular experience was modest. Specific legal regulations, sufficient funds, and adequately prepared personnel were needed. It is significant that the basic division of the Ministry headquarters and the network of foreign missions were established during the first three years of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs operation. They were perfected in the following years. The main purpose of this article is to present some major aspects of the personnel policy (posts and official ranks, remuneration, dismissal of the staff) pursued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs starting since 1918. The amount of the remuneration was connected with the position and rank, and salary at the ministry was very modest, especially in the early years. In order to find savings, there was a considerable staff reduction in the 1920s. However, a substantive and competent team was created despite many difficulties. Detailed instructions were drafted to regulate personnel matters.

Humor lwowski w Czarnohorze, czyli: Lato spokojnych wariatów. Lipiec–sierpień 1937

The aim of the article is to introduce the humour of the Lviv intellectual milieu of the interwar period. The contribution is based on source material in the form of a preserved journal of the expedition to the Chornohora in 1937. The paper sheds some light on the main issues related to the notion of a sense of humour in human culture and then edits the source material. The material made it possible to identify one of the participants of the expedition, Stanisław Hubert (1905–1983), a Polish professor of law. The journey to the Eastern Carpathians was an expedition that took place shortly after he obtained his habilitation degree at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv. The humour presented in the journal is of an intelligent and affiliative nature referring to the experienced unexpected situations that took place during the expedition. It can be hypothesised that this is a type of surrealist humour that had its origins in the 1920s and is still present in the culture today.

TRANSMISSION OF ANCIENT GREEK TECHNIQUES OF BUILDING ORDERS IN THE ARCHITECTURE OF KHARKIV IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD

The article presents the results of a study on the architecture of the interwar period in Kharkiv. The analysis focused on buildings of local historical significance, particularly those with facades based on the architectural order system. The selected objects included a residential complex with a store designed by architect O. Beketov and constructed between 1925 and 1936; the Metalist Stadium, designed in 1925 by architect Z. Permilovsky; the State Insurance Building, designed in 1927 by architects O. Molokin, H. Ikonnikov, and E. Lymar; and the ticket pavof the Metalist Stadium, designed in 1926 by Z. Permilovsky. The authors of the article analyzed the structure and proportions of the architectural orders used in these buildings, conducting a comparative analysis with ancient Greek architectural analogues to identify common features in the structure of the orders. As analogues, structures with similar proportions and architectural order systems were selected, including the Temple of Concordia in Agrigento (440 BCE), the Temple of Zeus at Olympia (5th century BCE), Temple F at Selinunte (circa 5th century BCE), and the Temple of Apollo at Delphi (circa 6th century BCE). The study employed comparative, structural, and compositional-proportional methods to analyze both the orders themselves and the elements of the selected buildings. Based on the analysis of the architectural orders of Kharkiv's buildings and the comparison with ancient Greek examples, it was established that during the interwar period, Kharkiv architects employed orders with proportions similar to those of ancient Greek temples from the Archaic period. Similarities were observed in the height of the orders, the columns, the ratios of the lower diameters of the columns, the heights of the entablatures, and the ratios of column height to entablature height. The analysis demonstrated a connection and transmission of techniques from ancient Greek craftsmen to the work of Kharkiv architects of the period. This area of research may be further explored, as the use of the order by Kharkiv architects in subsequent periods, such as after World War II, took on a different character and proportional relationships due to the different architectural challenges of that time. Keywords: order, column, entablature, entasis, module, proportions, colonnade.

Did French economists ask for inflation to reduce public debt at the end of World War Two?

The rapid public debt decrease at the end of World War II is regularly analysed as being the result of inflationary policies initiated by governments. This policy is said to be based on economic thinking that is less virulent towards inflation than during the interwar period. This article seeks to question this view by presenting a relatively unknown debate among French economists. By highlighting out two confidential studies made by the Institut de conjoncture, it shows that a minority of French economists developed a framework in which the call for inflation to reduce debt is well founded.

Cosmos-Politanism: Transhumanist Visions of Global Order from the First World War to the Digital Age

Inspired by developments in artificial intelligence, space engineering, and genetics, discussion of post-human visions of the future is now widespread, especially in the tech world. This reflective essay analyses various ideological configurations of “transhumanism,” a body of thought centred on the pursuit of radical human improvement through technoscientific intervention. It focuses on the political values and world-making projects transhumanists have advocated since the early twentieth century. We argue that transhumanism constitutes a significant strand of international political thought: transhumanists have articulated extraordinarily ambitious visions of global order. Through analysing the work of key transhumanists from the interwar era to the present, we show that assorted socialist and liberal iterations have aimed to overcome the irrationality of a state-centric international order, with projects ranging from Marxist accounts of a world state to anarcho-capitalist visions of market order through to dreams of space colonization. Analysing transhumanist world-making visions helps to clarify the political ideas underlying current techno-utopian projects and debates about existential risks to humanity.

Juraj Neidhardt’s early work

The article covers the early work of Juraj Neidhardt (Zagreb, 1901-Sarajevo, 1979) and the architectural themes he introduced. Aside from the large-scale urban projects Neidhardt worked on at the time, the Archiepiscopal Boys´ Seminary–integrated into its landscape and determined by its ambience–remains his only built design in the interwar period. And that was before his departure for Europe to work in the studios of Peter Behrens in Berlin and Le Corbusier in Paris.In 1925, the Construction Committee defined a detailed program for the metropolitan seminary; Neidhardt made sketches on his initiative under the guidance of Jože Plečnik and, in close cooperation with the Building Committee, designed and supervised the construction until 1928.Neidhardt established himself as a significant large-scale creator very early on. As part of the seminary, he designed an ensemble that can only be experienced by gradual observation and movement. The tension of the compositional axis is achieved by the dominant tower of the observatory (the only echo of Mendelsohn in Croatian architecture) on one side and the chapel on the other. The meander composition he applied–the spatial principle of overflowing space into space–will become one of the leading principles in urban planning.As a testimony of the ambivalence of the architecture of the 1920s–large buildings in a bold monumental stripped classical form, showing traces of expressionism–the seminary is often overlooked by urban architectural knowledge. Its survival was put to the test when the earthquake that hit Zagreb in 2020, left it with the red mark (extensive damage), making this an opportunity, through the method of cross-reading and analysis, to take another closer look to understand the dynamics of change and innovation in terms of urban development and individual architectural practice.

Archaeology and identity in the Malta Pavilion at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition

The interwar period was a delicate stage in the balance of power between the colonial government in London and its colonies around the globe. Malta, then under British rule, was no exception, as its demands for greater self-determination were carefully entertained. Debates about the origin and identity of the ‘Maltese race’ had direct political and economic implications, both regarding their ability to govern themselves, and to determine how they should be categorized in the racist frameworks that imperial administrations depended on. Archaeology was inevitably caught up in these debates. The representations of Malta and its archaeology and history put on display at the British Empire Exhibition held at Wembley in 1924 may be better understood in this context. A series of previously unpublished drawings of the Malta pavilion are used here to shed new light on its design. The Malta pavilion crystallized a new and ambivalent conception of the island's identity, at once European, Christian and civilized, but also claiming a primordial ancestry in prehistory. It is argued that the pavilion deployed the past to shape perceptions of Malta, among the Maltese themselves, and among the wide public that visited the exhibition. It is further argued that the pavilion contributed to some deeply-ingrained conceptions of the past and of Maltese identity that still persist today.

The process of folklorization in contemporaneity: the popular style songs of the composer Dumitru Gheorghiță

Dumitru Gheorghiță (1917-1987) is a distinct personality of the musical culture of Bassarabia. He established himself as an instrumental performer (accordion, trumpet player) and as a composer. He did fundamental studies in the field of music during the interwar period at the Unirea Conservatory in Chisinau (1927-1933). His creation includes symphonic works, pieces for folk music orchestra, choral pieces, lyrical songs, for children, etc. Vocal and instrumental folk music had a special place in his activity as an accordionist and composer. We are particularly interested in his folk-style songs, written on the lyrics of well-known poets from those times or by Dumitru Gheorghiță himself. A large part of these songs, such as Struguraș de pe colină, Frumoase-s nunțile-n colhoz, Cine vine de la deal, Cîntecul miresei, Lung îi druul pîn` la tine etc., became folklorized, that is, they started the path of oral circulation, often the interpreters not knowing who the authors are and supporting their folkloric origin. Studying the folklorization process of these songs reveals interesting aspects of popular culture in contemporaneity.

Land reform catalysts of capitalism and communism: 150 years of agricultural change in Romania

This paper presents a comprehensive overview of historical Romanian agricultural changes from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries, focusing on the main land reforms and their effects on land ownership patterns, spatial disparities and their consequences on individual farms. The study follows a stepwise chronological approach covering these major historical periods: modern Romania before the First World War; Romania in the interwar period and during the Second World War; Communist Romania; and Post-communist Romania. Four major land reforms took place in Romania (in 1864, 1921, 1945 and 1991) within distinct political, economic and social historical contexts. One of the aims of these land reforms was to increase the individual rights of peasants, typically associated with the creation of individual households in agricultural economies. Moreover, this study provides a geographical examination of how the land reforms acted as a catalyst for the transition from capitalism to communism, and later, back to capitalism.

Impressions from Paris: Women Creatives in Interwar Years France ed. by Sylvie Eve Blum-Reid (review)

Impressions from Paris: Women Creatives in Interwar Years France ed. by Sylvie Eve Blum-Reid (review)

Latinčina ako predmet diskusie v rámci reformy strednej školy v 1. ČSR. Význam klasického vzdelania

The Latin language formed an essential component that conveyed the image of antiquity in the secondary schools of the First Czechoslovak Republic. Latin was one of the most controversial topics in the context of secondary school reform. A heated debate stirred up about its limitations within secondary education. This dispute polarized the defenders and opponents of classical languages. Therefore, this study aims to reconstruct, through a critical discourse analysis, how Latin was perceived, how it was discussed and what place was attributed to it by the different parties. The author places the topic in the context of interwar period in the Czechoslovak Republic and the reform of the secondary school. The work is based on the critical study of contemporary periodicals, documents and literature. This thesis can contribute to an assessment of the place of antiquity in present secondary education and, by extension, of the humanities education overall.

Czech philosophy of the interwar period

Abstract The present paper focuses on the development of Czech philosophical thought during the period of the First Republic. It is a time of remarkable diversity in this important part of spiritual culture. Many modern philosophical trends also developed during this time. Here we also encounter a change in the institutional security of theoretical and educational work (the creation of new universities, the publication of journals and monographs, and the organization of a world philosophical congress). This development had a discursive character. The question of the social involvement of philosophy in new political conditions was raised. This concerns one aspect of the discourse on the role of theoretical thought (philosophy, ethics, science) in the development of a program of real humanity within the framework of a democratic society. The so-called “struggle for the freedom of Czech philosophy” represented an intergenerational conflict, reflecting the broader issue of interpreting Czech history and its meaning. This article thus attempts to provide a brief perspective on intellectual diversity as the outcome of this discourse. It illustrates, through a specific historical period, the view that, in Czech philosophy and ethics, many thinkers and ideas can be found which are so original that they may serve as a remarkable source of inspiration even for the present day.

Britain’s Perceptions of Portugal: The League of Nations’ Portuguese Charybdis

With this article we aim to contribute, with a novel study, to the knowledge of the history of Portugal’s contemporary international relations in the so-called interwar period. The focus of the analysis, centred on the Portuguese case, should be understood as a deepening of historiographical knowledge on the importance and objectives of the diplomatic manoeuvres of small powers in the League of Nations, which has been neglected in the field of Latin nations. This article examines archival records to investigate how British diplomatic viewpoints on Portugal, despite the alliance between the two nations, impeded Portugal’s acceptance into the Council and precluded any of its intellectuals from being evaluated for membership in the International Commission on Intellectual Cooperation. The analysis also examines the diplomatic approach of fostering closer relations with Latin America as a means of weakening British hegemony.

What Did Béla Bartók's Five Hungarian Folk Songs Want to Do at the 1938 Baden-Baden Festival

AbstractThe peasant music Béla Bartók first discovered in 1904 and which he collected systematically between 1906 and 1918 belongs to what he generally described as “Eastern Europe.” His career as pianist and composer was naturally oriented towards Western Europe. His contract with one of the most important publishing houses of the period interested in contemporary music, Universal Edition in Vienna, seems to have conserved a Central European network during the interwar period – a network originating in the by then dissolved Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Apart from pointing out the conspicuous contrast between Bartók's concept of Eastern Europe and his Central European position as an intellectual, this article revisits a particular historic event, the new music festival organized in April, 1938 in Baden-Baden, to examine Bartók's concept through his art and careful politics during a period of heightened tensions. Since the premiere of his Second Piano Concerto in Frankfurt in January, 1933, Bartók had avoided giving concerts in Nazi Germany. When invited to offer a piece for the 1938 festival he proposed Five Hungarian Folk Songs for voice and orchestra (1933). Despite his initial consent, however, he later tried to withdraw the work and forbid its performance shortly before the start of the festival; in the end his work did remain in the program despite his protest. His peculiar strategy on this occasion seems to have been prompted by his dispute with the German copyright office (STAGMA), which categorized his works in which he used folk melodies as mere arrangements, declaring them unoriginal. It appears that Bartók might have consciously offered such a “questionable” work to demonstrate its originality. At the same time, however, it seems that this particular set might have had a special topical message, too. Starting with a deeply-felt composition based on a song considered to belong to the most ancient layers of indigenous Hungarian folk music, it ends with a grotesque arrangement of a folk song which Bartók described as of Western, probably German, origin. One might wonder whether it was intentional to offer a narrative that contrasts the values of indigenous East European folklore with the shallowness of Western, specifically German, influence. The Appendix of the article presents an English translation of Bartók's notes about his composition sent to the organizers of the Baden-Baden festival.

Mahler's Music in Hungary, 1920–1956: Performance, Reception, Politics

AbstractThe music of Gustav Mahler was almost completely excluded from Budapest's concert halls between 1938 and 1945, and again between 1952 and 1957. Its position within the Hungarian public sphere was, however, definitely strengthened in the period from the early 1920s to the mid-1930s, and stabilized again from 1958. Chronological correlations between performance and political history highlight the destructive influence of anti-Semitic discrimination elevated to the level of government policy and of the Stalinist political course on the presence of Mahler's music. From 1921 until 1937, Gustav Mahler's music was performed on a regular basis in the concert halls of the Hungarian capital. During that decade and a half, the majority of Mahler's works were present in Budapest, and, in 1935, even the unfinished Symphony no. 10 was premiered in the city. In the interwar period, the framework of Hungarian social and political life was a conservative parliamentary system with authoritarian elements. However, the public sphere under that regime was, at least until the late thirties, multipolar both in cultural and ideological sense, and it had a pluralistic structure. Mahler's music had conservative as well as left-wing and modernist adherents, while his art was rejected by representatives of folkloristic neo-classicism, by Zoltán Kodály and musicologists belonging to his inner circle. Mahler's music was performed in Budapest owing to the efforts of Hungarian and German-Austrian conductors, who formed a heterogeneous group in terms of socio-cultural background and political orientation. Following the war, the Holocaust and the wave of emigration, Mahler's works were performed again by a largely different group of musicians. But the relative boom of a few years was soon interrupted, and Mahler interpretation in Hungary withered away. The Mahler Renaissance, which took off in 1960, arrived from the Western centers to Hungary, where it produced not insignificant, but typically peripherial results. In my paper, I would like to position the situation of Mahler's music in Budapest within the context of the global reception of the composer. Furthermore, I will also attempt to answer the question to what extent Mahler's personal relationship with Hungarian musical institutions and with the musical elite in Budapest determined the posthumous reception of his music in Hungary.

China and Europe as Geo(bio)graphical/Auto(geo)biographical Spaces: Croatian Experiences of the Interwar Period

China and Europe as Geo(bio)graphical/Auto(geo)biographical Spaces: Croatian Experiences of the Interwar Period The subject of this article is two Croatian travel accounts created in the interwar period, featuring an encounter between Europe and China. In the text Izlet u Rusiju: U Drezdenu (Mister Vu–San–Pej zanima se za srpsko–hrvatsko pitanje) (1924), Miroslav Krleža creates a narrator who tries to explain to a Chinese the intricacies of European (especially South Slavic) identification and territorial issues. As a result, an opportunity availed itself to chal­lenge the Eurocentric view of the world and to present first-class self-criticism. In his accounts entitled Na Dalekom Istoku – uspomene našega dobrovoljca iz Sibirije, Mandžurije, Mongolije i Kine (1931), Hrvoje Grgurić introduces the reader to the mysteries of the Chinese cultural landscape. In both texts, the auto-geo-biographical experience of space is (and remains) a clash with mystery and incomprehensible otherness. Chiny i Europa jako przestrzenie geo(bio)graficzne/auto(geo)biograficzne. Chorwackie międzywojenne doświadczenia Przedmiotem zainteresowania autorki są dwie chorwackie relacje z podróży powstałe w okresie międzywojennym, w których dochodzi do spotkania europejsko-chińskiego. W tekście Izlet u Rusiju: U Drezdenu (Mister Vu-San-Pej zanima se za srpsko-hrvatsko pitanje) (1924) Miroslav Krleža kreuje narratora usiłującego Chińczykowi rozsupłać sieć europejskich (zwłaszcza południowosłowiańskich) identyfikacyjno-terytorialnych zawiłości, co staje się okazją do podważenia europocentrycznego spojrzenia na świat i zaprezentowania mistrzowskiego autokrytycyzmu. Hrvoje Grgurić w relacji Na Dalekom Istoku – uspomene našega dobrovoljca iz Sibirije, Mandžurije, Mongolije i Kine (1931) wprowadza w tajniki kulturowego krajobrazu Chin. W obu tekstach autogeobiograficzne doświadczenie przestrzeni jest (i pozostaje) zde­rzeniem z tajemnicą i niepojętą odmiennością.

Native Administration Sanitary Inspectors and the British Colonial Hygiene Programme in Western Nigeria, c. 1930–1940s

Summary This article explores a colonial sanitation programme in Nigeria during the interwar period: the training and employment of Africans as sanitary inspectors to improve public health. From the early 1930–45, local health inspectors trained to educate the African public on modern hygiene principles emerged in a society where poverty made people pursue their changing personal interests in ways that challenged colonial laws and deviated from ethical standards governing behaviour in African society. In this landscape, some African sanitary inspectors and local chiefs articulated other meanings to the colonial hygiene project. Beyond the conventional racial analysis of colonial health, the article critiques the agentive role of local rulers and sanitary inspectors who shaped the health intervention. It concludes that by 1945, the well-intentioned programme had developed complications expected in an environment of budget restraint and economic hardship, transforming Yoruba towns into sites of power struggle between sanitary inspectors and the people.

Looking into the Future: the Spread and Realization of Guerrilla Warfare Tactics in Lithuania in 1944–1953

The post-war guerrilla warfare in Lithuania was nothing new since the traditions of the guerrilla movement dated back to the 1919–1923 battles for independence and confrontations with Polish forces in the neutral territory. In the interwar period, the Lithuanian military authorities did not discard guerrilla warfare tactics, and this form of warfare was essentially legitimised by the Hague Convention on Warfare of 1907. In 1935, upon the militarisation of the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union and its integration in the regular army structures, the training of riflemen for the eventual occupation of the country’s territory by the enemy was rather intensive. The ideas of partisan warfare were promoted by means of the periodical Trimitas (The Trumpet) and incorporated in the documents of the General Staff, which provided for the action of partisans in small units on well-known territory by using light armament and setting the objective of continuous assaults on the enemy, thereby demoralising him. In 1940, following the Soviet occupation and liquidation of the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union, the structure, after its development for two decades, remained, and the personal contacts of riflemen were quite intensive. A network of riflemen units, the locally operating unit serving as the main tactical and administrative entity of the union, covered the entire territory of Lithuania and was a suitable basis for the organisation of post-war guerrilla warfare, while the former riflemen and officers acted as organisers and leaders of the resistance movement. The above facts allow us to conclude that the guerrilla warfare waged against the Soviet forces of repressions and military units in Lithuania in 1944 to 1953 was influenced by pre-war Lithuanian military plans, while the warfare itself was a legitimate defence of the nation’s sovereignty with respect to international military law and should be regarded as pre-planned resistance to eventual occupation.

The impact of the Islamic Community processes on Bosniak Emigration through the analysis of the journal Bosanski pogledi

The paper analyzes the role of the journal „Bosanski pogledi” in the context of the processes within the Islamic Community (IVZ) during the 1960s, a period when Reis-ul-Ulema Sulejman ef. Kemura led this religious institution. He was referred to as the “red reis” by defeated circles both within and outside of Yugoslavia. The ahistorical label “red” served to indicate the proximity of Reis-ul-Ulema Kemura and by extension, the Islamic Community to the Yugoslav state leadership. With the establishment of the Democratic Federative Yugoslavia (from 1946, FNRJ), Bosnian-Herzegovinian Muslims experienced a profound political and national transformation. Real and potential opponents of the regime were removed from political life, and cultural and religious institutions faced a similar fate. Yugoslav communism sought to eliminate autonomy and any distinctiveness in relation to the state. The preservation of complete autonomy and distinctiveness concerning the state apparatus after World War II appeared to be an unattainable goal, given the nature of communist ideology. During this period, the Islamic Community found itself in a precarious situation. The staff and infrastructural disintegration resulting from World War II accelerated the process of the state apparatus gaining control over this institution. The unfavorable financial situation of the Islamic Community and its officials was cleverly exploited by the state through a carrot-and-stick approach. Within the Islamic Community, a group of religious officials emerged who represented the interests of the state, and thus those of the Islamic Community. Discontent with the developments, defeated circles of Bosnian-Herzegovinian Muslims, who escaped death during the revolutionary upheaval and continued their national-political mission abroad, expressed critical views towards the newly established leadership of the Islamic Community. This politically negative stance towards the leadership represented actors from the political life of the Independent State of Croatia. Initially, the criticism of the Islamic Community’s leadership came from Muslims who identified as Croats, with the ultimate goal of reinstating the Croatian state. The later emergence of Bosniak emigration, initiated by Adil Zulfikarpašić, adopted the principle of criticizing the Islamic Community as reflected in „Bosanski pogledi”, but did not seek the dismantling of Yugoslavia. „Bosanski pogledi” systematically reported on events within the Islamic Community, violations of religious freedoms, and the interference of the state leadership in the institution’s operations. During the years when „Bosanski pogledi” was published, contacts were reactivated with emigration, involving individuals from the interwar and wartime periods of Muslim civic politics who had previously been sentenced by communist courts. The editorial board of „Bosanski pogledi” obtained sensitive materials through dissatisfied individuals in the homeland, which were later published in the journal, alongside elaborations on the difficult position of the central religious institution of Yugoslav Muslims. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of this topic, it is necessary to analyze several components, including the conditions within the Islamic Community before the emergence of „Bosanski pogledi” and the situation among Bosnian-Herzegovinian Muslims in emigration. A significant question arises: was the initial orientation of Bosnian-Herzegovinian Muslims towards Serbian or Croatian emigration a historical reality or a necessity? The research subject spans the period from 1945 to 1967, when the last issue of „Bosanski pogledi” in emigration was published.