Destructive War Research Articles

Development of the US Plans for Post-War Japan during World War II

Signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on September 2, 1945 had formally ended the most destructive and bloody war in the history of mankind. Even before that a new balance of power on the international arena began to form, that would persist for almost half a century. At the same time, it was obvious from the outright that the Allies had very different views on how the post-war world order should look like. Traditionally, both Russian and foreign academic literature focused on their disputes regarding the German question. This paper provides a brief overview of the US Department of State planning and recommendation process for the post-war reconstruction of Japan in 1939–1945, which had eventually led to the formation of the socalled San Francisco subsystem of international relations. The first section of the paper outlines the challenges faced by the State Department when it came to planning the post-war architecture of the Far East. In that regard, the author pays particular attention to the staff shortage, which forced the Department of State to strengthen partnership with private research organizations and involve them in long-term planning.The author emphasizes that if before the United States entered the war the US planners adopted a rather tough stance on Japan, after the attack on Pearl Harbor their approaches paradoxically changed. The second section examines the contradictions and tensions between those politicians and experts who believed that in the establishment of the post-war order in the Far East the US should cooperate with China, and those who promoted rapprochement with Japan. These groups were unofficially referred to as the ‘Chinese team’ and the ‘Japanese crowd’ accordingly. The paper shows that as the end of the war approached, these contradictions gradually faded into the background. The needs to promote the interdepartmental cooperation and to reconcile the positions of the State Department, the Military and Naval Ministries on the future of Japan came to the fore. This work resulted in a series of memoranda, which laid the foundation for the US post-war policy towards Japan. In conclusion the author provides a general assessment of the strategic decision-making process in the United States during wartime and emphasizes its consistency, thoroughness and flexibility. As a result, it enabled the US to achieve what seemed impossible: to turn Japan from an ardent adversary of the United States in the Pacific into one of its most reliable allies, and it remains such today.

Settlement and Social and Economic Patterns at Old Basing, Hampshire: The Results of a Community Archaeology Project

A community archaeology project (Dig Basing) was carried out by the Basingstoke Archaeological and Historical Society within the village of Old Basing, Hampshire during 2014–17 to discover more about settlement and social and economic patterns pre-1900 and to simultaneously engage the local community with archaeology. A total of 48 test pits of 1 × 1m were excavated across the village and over 16,000 artefacts recovered. The project provided a wealth of information that adds to and amplifies existing data, particularly medieval and later. Evidence for prehistoric and Roman occupation was slight but it implied a late Mesolithic/early Neolithic focus along the River Loddon. A lack of early medieval artefacts meant that it was not until the 11th century that the archaeological record became increasingly visible. Post- Norman conquest settlement was initially focussed along The Street, where settlement at the northern junction of Milkingpen Lane appeared largely discrete from that further south in the vicinity of St Mary's Church, before later expansion joined the two areas. Important evidence for post-Conquest metalworking, probably smelting, was found to the south-west of Oliver's Battery. A decline in amounts of medieval pottery, mid-period, may be attributable to the ravages of the Black Death, but from c. 1550 the situation had reversed, coinciding with increased occupation at Basing House. Subsequent rebuilding of village properties after the destructions of the Civil War saw Tudor brick robbed from the ruins of Basing House. Thereafter new pottery types and other goods reflected the new opportunities that arrived with the construction of the canal through the village in the 18th century and the railway in the 19th century. Artefacts recovered suggest a low to middling status, with infrequent indicators for greater wealth despite the existence of, at various times, the Norman ringwork, Basing House and the hunting lodge at the Grange.

فكرة حكم العالم عند جنكيزخان (تيموجين) ومدى تجسيدها على أرض الواقع (549-623هـ/1155-1227م)

The history of Central Asia in the seventh century AH / thirteenth century AD was associated with a Mongolian figure known as Temujin (Genghis Khan), who was able in a short time to unify all the tribes of Mongolia and the stiffs under his authority, and then he was able to control the vast lands of northern China and Turkestan, then overthrew the Khwarezmid state that The rule of vast lands from Transoxania and Khorasan to the outskirts of the city of Iraq, thus terrifying the Abbasid Caliphate, which was going through a period of weakness, and the rulers and kings of Europe, headed by the Pope, rushed to send successive embassies to Temujin (Genghis Khan) to form an alliance with him in order to strike the Muslims, but without Feasibility, the latter did not believe in bipolarity, as he considered himself the only ruler of the world, and he asked the ambassadors either to subordinate to him or to declare war and subjugate Europe by the sword. The article tries to study the historical texts that dealt with the crystallization of the idea of Genghis Khan's control over the world, and he gave this idea a religious sanctity according to which destructive wars were waged against anyone who does not believe in it, and the article tries to follow the historical accounts that touched on the character of Genghis Khan, which sparked widespread controversy in the history of Asia. Central. How was he able to unify the Mongolian tribes and came to power? Where did he come up with the theory of divine mandate and the attempt to rule the world? Is it from the Chinese civilization or from the Turks and Russians? How did he embody his idea on the ground?.

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies: A Reconsideration

This paper reconsiders William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Allegorical writings can illustrate ethical, social or psychological and moral issues using the manipulation of images that have stipulated meanings other than their meanings as imitations of the actual world. Allegory has been used widely throughout history in all forms of art, and comprehensible for the reader, conveys hidden meanings through symbolic figures. Lord of the Flies had been written in relation to historical circumstances of the twentieth-century and to the personal experience of William Golding. Also, it has provided a critical analysis of the novel that treated the prominent perspective and elements in it. The novel is a parallel of life in the late twentieth century, while it looks like society a stage of enhancement in technology whereas, human morality is not completely mature yet. “Lord of the Flies is an allegorical microcosm of the world. The destruction of World War II because of the dictators who initiated this war has a profound impact on William Golding himself”. In the beginning, the paper gives an introduction to Golding’s point of view on humanity with the title of how to draw attention to me through allegory and fable, two forms of imaginative literature that encouraged the reader and listener to look for hidden meanings. Then it deals with William Golding’s Lord of the Flies from the cultural approaches of that time, who is one of the most prominent literary men of postmodernism that was famous for utilizing symbolism within the novel; “he used different kinds of symbols, characters, objects, animals, colors and setting to convey his message about his main theme”, in the last section we analyzed the postmodern features in Lord of the Flies and how they are used to depict Golding’s view. The way Golding uses allegory strengthens the symbolism of his novel. Finally, it tackles the educational value through his experiences in teaching along with critical analysis of Golding’s technique.

Ubuntu: an approach for identity-based conflicts in the contemporary Africa

ABSTRACT The major objective of this study is to critically examine the relevance of African traditional values and social philosophies, particularly Ubuntu to resolve identity-based conflicts in contemporary Africa. Recently, too many African states are experiencing violent conflicts and entering into destructive wars due to identity-based differences. African countries that had experienced protracted colonial subjugation are currently involving in the struggle to control political power and resources at the expense of others lies at the heart of civil wars, armed insurrections, ethnic conflict, genocide, xenophobia, and inter-state wars. These kinds of conflicts have been growing more after colonization because of two major factors. First, since 1884/5 of the Berlin Conference, European colonizers began to divide Africa and its people on the basis of religious, linguistic, and ethnic identities, and this division finally led the people of Africa into violent competition for political power and scarce resource. Second, since colonialism, African people have been imitating the western or modern way of conflict resolving mechanisms by neglecting their own social philosophies like Ubuntu. To this end, the paper examines the palace of Ubuntu in resolving identity-based conflicts and also in preserving peace in contemporary Africa. The study finally proves the fact that the post-2018 transitional government of Ethiopia brings tangible solutions in resolving identity–based conflicts by applying the philosophy of ‘Ubuntu’. In doing this study, the researcher used an analytical method to strengthen the central argument. So, the study largely relied on secondary sources such as books, scientific journals, online articles, magazines, newspapers, conference proceedings, reports and the like. Moreover, the researcher’s observation on the continued social philosophies of African people and cultural practices was of immense importance.

State Reluctance towards Inclusive Policies in Post-Civil War Sri Lanka

This study aims to identify the factors preventing the state from responding in a manner that will avoid future conflict in post-civil war Sri Lanka. After the government ended the separatist struggle of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by bringing the civil war to an end in May 2009, the protracted and destructive 30-year war presented an opportunity for both state and society to learn many useful lessons from the long war. These lessons could have enabled the government to reconstitute the state as an inclusive institution, one in which minorities could also participate to ensure just and equitable development for all Sri Lankans. This study uses a qualitative research approach that involves analysis of critical categories. Findings of this study offer some crucial insights about Sri Lanka’s ethnic politics, particularly, the various factors have influenced the state to avoid inclusive policies. The key factor is the dilemma of post-independent political culture or traditions amongst ruling elites resulted in the avoidance of inclusive policies. This study also reveals some other factors that contestations between different social forces within society, within the state, and between the state and society still prevail in Sri Lanka, hampering the institution of inclusive policies. Further, the paper highlights the failure of India and the International Community to pressurize the state of Sri Lanka to introduce inclusive mechanisms due to international power balance (China factor).

Опыт систематизации фольклорных сюжетов о восхождении на священные горы (на материале фольклорной традиции кош-агачских теленгитов)

The paper discusses the variants and versions of the legend about the flood – chayik and of the oral stories of how people climbed the sacred mountains, recorded by the author in the Kosh-Agach district of the Altai Republic. The time and place of the event in the legend and oral tales are also considered. The author provides the Index of plots and versions based on the Telengit folklore tradition on the topic: “The Sacred Mountains – Iyik”. The storytellers relate the time of the events in the legend to the distant past. Many performers count the time “after the flood” in their narratives. The people currently living in the Chui Valley are believed to be the descendants of those who survived the flood. In contrast to the legend about the flood – chayik, the time of the events in oral tales about how people climbed the sacred mountains – Iyik, is related to the recent past. The narrator or a person well known to the narrator climbed to the top of a mountain – Iyik. The locale of the event in the legend of the сhayik is the sacred mountain Iyik (Iyik-Kokoru / Tepsen-Bash / Irbistu). During the flood, people survived on the tops of the sacred mountains and left a kazan or fragments of a boat or a raft there. The Altai people traditionally believed the sacred mountains to be their defenders, saviors of human lives, and shelters during natural disasters, destructive wars, and raids.

The Syrian Post-Revolutionary Art: The Lingua Franca of the EU

The Syrian political crisis that swept through the country caused a fierce, exhausting, destructive war and forced hundreds of thousands of Syrians to leave their homes in search of a safe life, though full of deprivation. Many of them have settled in the EU. According to psychologists, the level of stress that a person experiences during the process of adaptation to a new environment and integration into a new society is enormous and equal to 8 (on a scale from 1 to 10), which certainly affects many aspects of life, including the artistic potential. The aim of this study is to analyze the art of the Syrian descendants which is currently becoming a new way of communication and helps to discuss problems in those fields where the artistic expression is more effective than the verbal means of communication.

Medical Zoning of Kharkiv in 1945–91: Infrastructure Development and Accessibility of Care

The article studies the development of the Kharkiv medical infrastructure after the Second World War. The author argues that war destructions caused the disruption of medical network zoning as well as equal access of residents from different Kharkiv districts to health care, shortage of hospitals’ spaces, and difficulties in further modernization of medical facilities. Despite the intensive construction of hospitals since the 1960s, the situation had not changed significantly due to population growth and rapid industrial and housing construction that outstripped the medical infrastructure development. The article provides evidence that the main contributor to technological renovation of Kharkiv healthcare system were the local industrial enterprises. In the period of 1970-80s, the policy in development of medical infrastructure made an important turn: the local Communist Party executives had realized the need for advanced planning of the health care development in the city and oblast with the implementation of the best domestic and world experience. The priorities of the long-term development plan of the health facilities in Kharkiv were the creation of the ambulance system, large multi-profile medical complex, specialization, and proximity of the outpatient and polyclinic care to the population. Studying the history of plan development and implementation is vital for an understanding of the degree of freedom in actions of local authorities on the background of centralization and the Communist Party control in the late USSR. On the one hand, the history of the post-war Kharkiv medical infrastructure confirms the typical for large Soviet cities lagging of services behind industry and housing development. At the same time, the implementation of the long-term plan for the health care system development led to the creation of the integral, available, and modern healthcare system that is naturally included in the spatial configuration of Kharkiv.

German Catholicism at War, 1939–1945 by Thomas Brodie

Reviewed by: German Catholicism at War, 1939–1945 by Thomas Brodie Michael E. O'Sullivan German Catholicism at War, 1939–1945. By Thomas Brodie. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. xiii + 275. Cloth $85.00. ISBN 978-0198827023. Thomas Brodie's German Catholicism at War, 1939-1945 contributes admirably to the voluminous literature about the relationship between National Socialism and Catholicism. The book establishes its originality through a commitment to social history and a chronological focus on the war years, which have surprisingly been left out of most other academic studies on the theme. Applying a similar approach to that of Thomas Breuer in Verordneter Wandel? (1992), a study of Bavarian Catholics, Brodie shares evidence about how the Catholic community responded to the important events of the war in the church strongholds of the Rhineland and Westphalia. This monograph advances three major arguments. First, Brodie contends that fractures emerged during the war between bishops, priests, and the laity in a region with a previously cohesive confessional subculture. Furthermore, he shows that despite examples of regime disapproval, no significant element of the church offered [End Page 422] extended opposition to Nazism despite the growing rift between congregants and their spiritual leaders about how to react to the war. Finally, Brodie demonstrates how the Catholic milieu possessed very fluid boundaries, especially regarding National Socialist ideology. Many Catholics mixed their religious identity with the symbols, rhetoric, and ideology of the Third Reich. Throughout most of the book, Brodie examines the attitudes of bishops in western Germany, including Joseph Schulte of Cologne, Clemens August von Galen of Münster, and Josef Frings of Cologne, and then analyzes the sometimes cacophonous public reaction to them. Schulte, like many clergy, greeted the outbreak of war with much more apprehension than had been the case in 1914. Church leadership remained particularly unenthusiastic about the Non-Aggression Pact that preceded the invasion of Poland, given their anticommunism. Although this stance created discord with their followers, bishops and clergy aligned with their coreligionists in passivity about German brutality toward Polish Catholics, in largely accepting the National Socialist othering of eastern Europeans, and in harboring excitement about the fall of France. Despite these points of convergence, Rhineland and Westphalian Catholics reacted positively to Karl Adam's theological writings that attacked the hierarchy and called for more coherence between Nazi racial ideology and religious teaching. Here, Brodie adds to our understanding of how younger Catholics, including some clergy, viewed the traditional nationalism of their religious shepherds as outdated in comparison with that of their fascist political leaders. One of Brodie's contributions includes his treatment of von Galen's famous sermons of protest in the summer of 1941. While reliant on document collections by von Galen defender Joachim Kuropka and conversely Beth A. Griech-Polelle's critical Bishop von Galen (2002), Brodie adds to this debate by exploring public responsiveness with the objective distance needed for the emotional debate about the churchman's legacy. Confirming that these sermons indeed disrupted the regime at a sensitive time, the book also shows how von Galen's popularity emanated from the rhetoric of German nationalism in his critique. The limited scope of this protest enhanced its appeal with those who agreed with the criticism without questioning the dictatorship's legitimacy. Nonetheless, the response became "contested and divided" (85) because even this constrained dissent threatened the morale of the home front. In the end, von Galen accommodated the regime and aligned himself with the more cautious Frings in silence about the resumption of the T-4 killings and the mass murder of the Jews on the eastern front. The latter chapters of the book argue that the chasm between church leaders and the laity grew due to the abstract neoscholasticism that influenced formal public declarations about the impact of war. Frings particularly seemed out of touch in his concern about threats to hierarchical authority caused by the Allied bombing campaigns, even encouraging housekeepers not to eat with priests in the midst of disorder [End Page 423] caused by war destruction (124). While bishops warned followers that bombs were punishment for the sins of secular modernity and threatened class structures and sexual mores, many people young...

The impact of the Great Northern War on Poznań and the lives of its inhabitants

Summary The 18th century began unfavourably for the Commonwealth and for Poznań with the great Northern War (1700-1721), which, with its consequences in the form of war damage, plagues, contributed to the depopulation of Poznań and its suburbs and urban villages. The article was prepared to show the situation of the city before the war and, above all, during the war. Military operations, war destruction, population losses, costs of the war and the actions of the occupiers show the significant changes that took place in the capital of Greater Poland as a result of the Great Northern War. It concludes that Poznań became a participant in the war with all its consequences.

New Perspectives on the Union War ed. by Gary W. Gallagher and Elizabeth R. Varon

Reviewed by: New Perspectives on the Union War ed. by Gary W. Gallagher and Elizabeth R. Varon Mark Grimsley New Perspectives on the Union War. Edited by Gary W. Gallagher and Elizabeth R. Varon. New York: Fordham University Press, 2019. ISBN 978-0-8232-8453-5. 256 pp., cloth, $35.00. Most Northerners understood the Civil War as a conflict to preserve the Union. However, as this superior collection of essays maintains, they differed as to how to define the Union cause. Lincoln and his supporters, for example, saw emancipation primarily as a means to win the war. Critics on his political left saw the destruction of slavery as an end in itself. Moderates viewed the war as a contest against the Southern Slave Power and focused mainly on a quest for policies that would restore the Union on the loyal states' terms. Conservatives opposed both emancipation and the Lincoln administration's expansion of central government authority. They puzzled over how to support the Union government while opposing the president. Each of the eight essays in this collection explores one or more of these competing camps, and most do so through the lens of biography. Frank Cirillo uses an ardently antislavery couple, Stephen and Abby Foster, to make a fresh exploration of abolitionists who rejected a Union war as morally bankrupt—the Union, after all, had upheld slavery for its entire existence—and insisted upon a war for the complete liberation of enslaved Americans, full stop. Tamika Nunley examines the wartime career of Elizabeth Keckly, known primarily as Mary Todd Lincoln's seamstress but also a skillful activist on behalf of black refugees and soldiers. Jack Furniss looks at New York politician Horatio Seymour, who attempted with much success to establish a moderate Democratic position of a loyal opposition that supported the Union war while being critical of the conduct of the war, as well as the machinations of the Radical Republicans. Will Kurtz examines the ways John Hughes, the Irish American archbishop of New York, and Patrick Donahoe, a prominent newspaper publisher, pointed to the valor of Union Catholic soldiers as a compelling argument against anti-Catholic nativism, while at the same time advancing a conservative vision that rejected the elision of a purely Union war into one that included the destruction of slavery. [End Page 316] Jesse George-Nichol assesses Attorney General Edward Bates, a former Whig from Missouri who waged a determined but ultimately losing battle to prevent the Lincoln administration from moving too far in its embrace of emancipation and in its willingness to wage a destructive war against the Confederacy. D. H. Dilbeck examines the German American jurist Francis Lieber's conviction that a successful Union war had to be a just war—a conviction that led him to prepare the rules of war now known as the Lieber Code. Michael Caires focuses on Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, who presided over a fiscal revolution that centralized the Northern banking system in a successful bid to underwrite the immense expense of the Union war effort. The essay by Peter Luebke is the only one that departs from using a biographical lens. It examines dozens of postwar regimental histories to gain insight into the meanings that Union veterans assigned to their service in the salvation of the Republic. In their introduction to the volume, Gary Gallagher and Elizabeth Varon argue that "taken together, these essays show a concept of 'Union' capacious enough to include a wide range of political agendas" (6). Loyal Americans nonetheless held in common three core convictions: that "affection rather than coercion should hold the Union together," that disunionism was "a lethal and highly contagious disease," and that slavery had to be removed "as the principal source of division—whether by compromise, reform, or revolution" (6–7). Gallagher and Varon are senior scholars with major reputations. The contributors, however, are without exception at the start of their careers (and closely connected to the John L. Nau III Center for Civil War History at the University of Virginia). To be sure, three contributors have books either published or forthcoming, and one has edited a new edition of a regimental history originally published in 1896...

Terracotta oil lamps from the excavation at the Bey 004 site (Beirut, Lebanon)

The excavation of site Bey 004 in the urban center of Beirut was done as part of a major salvage-archaeology operation in the 1990s, in reparation for the redevelopment of the city after the Lebanese Civil War. War destruction had given archaeologists the opportunity to investigate the topography, history and everyday life of Beirut over the millennia since its establishment and before a new city would be built on top of the ruins in the 21st century. Terracotta oil lamps, like tableware, are a sensitive guide to the passage of time and cultures, spanning the ages the 5th century BC through the 9th century AD, from Persia to Islam. The article reviews the assemblage from the Bey 004 site, broken down by a local site typology that reflects major periods of occupation, and relates it to existing typologies of ancient Near Eastern lamps from the Canaanite to the Islamic.

Zróżnicowanie przyrynkowej zabudowy i jej funkcji a typy genetyczne rynków w małych miastach województwa łódzkiego

Celem badania jest ocena przestrzeni publicznych rynków w małych miastach województwa łódzkiego pod względem zróżnicowania w zakresie współczesnego zagospodarowania i funkcji zabudowy przyrynkowej. Tak postawiony cel i zakres badania podyktowany jest przede wszystkim niewielką liczbą tego rodzaju opracowań w literaturze przedmiotu. Przywołanie kontekstu genetycznego elementów struktury urbanistycznej stanowić ma w tym wypadku punkt wyjścia dla rozważań nad współczesnymi różnicami w zagospodarowaniu i funkcjach zabudowy przyrynkowej. W pracy posłużono się metodami z zakresu badań krajobrazowych, morfologii miasta oraz funkcjonalizmu (struktury funkcjonalnej). Najważniejszymi źródłami danych były inwentaryzacje urbanistyczne oraz mapy historyczne z XIX wieku i pierwszej połowy XX wieku. Oceniono poziom otwarcia rynków oraz istniejącą strukturę funkcji mieszkaniowej i usługowej według powierzchni całkowitej kondygnacji. Odnotowano w tym zakresie duże zróżnicowania w grupie badanych rynków. W niektórych spośród badanych miast na niski poziom obudowania placu rynkowego wpływ mają wciąż zniszczenia II wojny światowej. W większości badanych miast funkcją dominującą w zabudowie przyrynkowej są usługi. Wyjątek stanowią najsłabsze ekonomicznie Krośniewice, gdzie przy rynku dominuje funkcja mieszkaniowa. Na współczesny stan zabudowy i jej funkcji przyrynkowych zauważalny jest wpływ uwarunkowań historycznych, a także potencjału demograficznego oraz ekonomicznego miast.

Reconstruction under siege: the Gaza Strip since 2007.

This paper examines the siege of the Gaza Strip, a self-governing Palestinian territory, since 2007. Research on sieges tends to concentrate on the coping strategies of besieged communities, humanitarian issues associated with the impacts, humanitarian access, and the prioritisation of needs, with little or no attention paid to reconstruction. However, Gaza is unusual as a siege environment within which reconstruction has become a high priority in the aftermath of its three destructive wars with Israel. Following an overview of research on sieges in contemporary warfare and a brief contextualisation of Gaza, this paper examines why reconstruction outcomes have varied over time through the application of a theoretical framework that stipulates the importance of four key factors: time; needs; scarcity; and political context. Based on an analysis of these variables, Gaza was found to be a most-likely case for reconstruction under siege. Nonetheless, the large-scale reconstruction necessary to transform Gaza has not been actualised.

“Квартирне питання” київських археологів у 1940–1950 роках

The article analyses the living and working conditions of Kyiv archaeologists in the 1940s and 1950s when Kyiv gradually recovered from the terrible war destruction. Like all Kyiv citizens, archaeologists suffered from a lack of housing and the necessary equipment and furniture but continued their research. All this was compounded by the intensification of post-war repression. After the restoration of its activity, the Institute of Archeology was located on Taras Shevchenko Boulevard with several other institutes of the Academy of Sciences until 1960. In the same building, there was a dormitory for employees. All this did not improve the work of the institution, but also led to interpersonal conflicts. The sluggish bureaucratic system created in the USSR forced the use of the Institute's administrative resources to solve ordinary household issues. To improve the living conditions of staff, as well as to ensure relatively normal working conditions, Directorate of Institute of Archeology had to repeatedly escalate by writing numerous letters, both to the leadership of the Academy of Sciences, and to the Soviet institutions of various levels for the purpose of “knocking out” at least some living quarters for archaeologists. This situation continued for many years after the war. In addition to the everyday problems of the Kyiv archaeologists, the directorate of Institute of Archaeology tried to assist Lviv archaeologists in such situations, who formally were a part of Institute of Archaeology. However, in most cases, this assistance did not produce any results. In addition, the “housing issue” also concerned the Institute of Archeology, because for many years the institution had major problems with the lack of space not only for staff but also for the collection of finds. These problems were also exacerbated by the plundering of the Institute itself and its collections during the war. Key words: history of archaeology, everyday life of Kyiv citizens, everyday life of archaeologists, Taras Shevchenko boulevard, 14.

Dzieje i obraz majętności charłupskiej w rękach Walewskich herbu Kolumna w drugiej połowie XVII i XVIII wieku na podstawie inwentarzy dóbr

Wsie Charłupia Wielka, Rowy i Drzązny tworzyły majętność charłupską, która położona w województwie sieradzkim w Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów należała do XVII w. do rodu Świnków, Malskich herbu Nałęcz i Zapolskich herbu Pobóg. Na skutek umów małżeńskich i procesów sądowych dobra te trafiły w ręce Jana Franciszka Walewskiego, stolnika sieradzkiego, i jego żony Konstancji Bogumiły z Zapolskich. W XVIII w. właścicielami dóbr byli kolejni przedstawiciele rodu Walewskich herbu Kolumna: kasztelanowie rozpierscy Jan i Franciszek oraz Jan Nepomucen, chorąży większy sieradzki. Na podstawie zachowanych inwentarzy z końca XVII i XVIII w. można śledzić losy Charłupi Wielkiej, Rowów i Drzązny. Dobra te, które przeżywały okres rozwoju za czasów stolnika sieradzkiego, podupadły na początku XVIII w. z powodu problemów z wierzycielami. Następni właściciele przejęli owe dobra w swoje ręce i podjęli się spłaty zobowiązań. Jednocześnie przez całe stulecie inwestowali w nie, podnosząc ich wartość. Opisy dworu i budynków towarzyszących wskazują, jak wiele zmieniało się na przestrzeni lat. Dwór stał się siedzibą tej gałęzi Walewskich, a różnorodność zabudowań świadczyła o tym, że właściciele oprócz dochodu z pracy na roli czerpali korzyści finansowe z hodowli owiec czy koni. Ważną kwestią było również zmienne zaludnienie dóbr. Od momentu przezwyciężenia kryzysu z początku XVIII w. liczba ludności zależnej wzrastała, a co za tym szło – rósł również dochód z produkcji rolnej. Losy majętności charłupskiej pokazują, w jaki sposób szlacheckie majątki położone na terenie województwa sieradzkiego starały się podnieść z okresu zniszczeń z czasów wojny północnej oraz jak radzono sobie z problemem ich zadłużenia i zarządzania w różnych okresach koniunktury gospodarczej.

Twentieth-Century China as an Object of Thought: An Introduction, Part 1 The Birth of the Century: The Chinese Revolution and the Logic of Politics

This two-part article explores the question of how to constitute China in the twentieth century as an object of thought. This means, first of all, releasing the twentieth century from the position of being a mere object, such that one no longer regards this era as an annotation or appendage to contemporary value systems and ideologies, but instead approaches it as a process in which, passing through the liberation of the object, we may reconstruct a relation of dialogue between ourselves and twentieth-century China. Part 1 proceeds from a temporal analysis of the twentieth century, and Part 2 analyzes this era from a spatial perspective. Part 1 encompasses three sections: first, the long twentieth century, the European fin de siècle, and the century as a trend of the times; second, the conditions of the short century, imperialism, and the rise of the Pacific century; third, the Chinese Revolution and the rise of the short century: unevenness and “the weakest link.” Having pursued an analysis of the global conditions of the imperialist epoch, I assert that any discussion of the birth of the “short twentieth century” must begin with an analysis of “the weakest link.” In seeking the roots of the revolutionary moment, one must look not at the geopolitical contestations in Eurasia, but instead the revolutionary conditions produced by the new situation in Asia (especially the rise of Japan and Japan’s victory over Russia). That is, it was not imperialist wars pure and simple, but instead the “awakening of Asia” called into being by these wars that constituted the multifaceted point of departure for the “short twentieth century.” Thus, from the perspective of temporality, the “short twentieth century” did not, as is often believed, begin in 1914, but rather in the period 1905–1911; from the perspective of spatiality, it did not begin at a single point of beginning, but from a whole series of points of beginning; from the perspective of the moment, it did not begin through destructive wars, but instead was born in a series of attempts to break free of the imperialist system and the archaic regime.

The Sturdy Child vs. the Sword of Damocles: Nuclear Weapons and the Expected Cost of War

Is the world better off with nuclear weapons or without? Nuclear pessimists point to the potentially devastating costs of a nuclear war. Nuclear optimists argue that nuclear weapons reduce the likelihood of war and are thus beneficial. This debate is inconclusive in part because it misses an important conceptual point. We should care both about the cost of war and the likelihood of war, as they combine to form the expected cost of war, which is the product of the two. I discuss five implications of focusing on expected costs. Three support the pessimists: (1) nuclear weapons raise the upper limit on how destructive wars can be; (2) there may be a floor on how low the likelihood of war can go; and (3) risk aversion over damage will raise the expected cost of nuclear war. The remaining two support the optimists: (4) strategic models exhibit a declining expected cost of war; and (5) casualty data show that the expected cost of war is declining over its observed range in the past two hundred years.

‘Are we downhearted? NO!’: representing war damage and destruction following bombardment on the First World War ‘home front’

ABSTRACT Using four bombarded coastal locations in north-east England as case studies, this article explores the phenomenon of bomb damage imagery and its use in propaganda and commemorative processes during the First World War. Through an analysis of postcards, souvenirs and other aspects of wartime material culture, this article posits that depictions of bomb-damaged and destroyed buildings – both monumental and vernacular – were central to local and national efforts to memorialise and make sense of the passing of enemy actions on the home front, during a period when civilians were increasingly seen as legitimate targets.