World War Research Articles

Paton Prize Lecture Winner 2024:Gordon Holmes and the Irish spirit of adventure: Lessons for modern thinkers.

This lecture is given in honour of Sir William Paton (1917-1993), physiologist, pharmacologist and Fellow of the Royal Society. His passion for the history of medicine led to generous donations to the Society, who consequently founded the Paton Prize Fund for historical research. After his death, this eponymous Prize Lecture was debuted in 1994. It has been a singular honour for me to acclaim the similarly influential Irish neurologist Gordon Morgan Holmes (1876-1965), whose work has been a particular preoccupation of mine for my entire career, since I first heard of him as an undergraduate in 1991. Holmes' work on the World War I battlefield completely transformed neurology, in terms both of clinical practice and its knowledge base. Clinical techniques developed by him at that time remain established current practice, and his visual field maps were not superseded for 73 years. His legacy to neurology is extensive, with his editorship of the journal Brain from 1922 to 1937. He had a profound influence both here and across the Atlantic, evinced by global warm tributes published on his death in 1965. The Lecture concentrates on a confluence of events and circumstances existing in the Flanders trenches that met a man singularly suited to overcoming the challenges posed. He received training in neuroanatomy from the German anatomists and clinical skills from the British greats in the National Hospital Queen Square. Coupled with an Irish adventurousness and insatiable curiosity, this experience presaged advances that resonate >100 years on. His legacy speaks profoundly of curiosity, interdisciplinarity and reconciliation.

The North Atlantic Triangle and Canadian ‘Humanitarian’ Policy in the Second World War

The North Atlantic Triangle and Canadian ‘Humanitarian’ Policy in the Second World War

The Bruck inhaler: An ether inhaler misattributed to Ludwig Bruck, an Australian medical publisher and supplier of medical equipment.

The acquisition of an early ether inhaler stimulated research into several inhalers classified as Bruck inhalers. Ludwig Hermann Bruck was a German migrant who arrived in Australia in 1873. He became a medical publisher, importer of medical instruments, and made unique contributions to early Australian medical publishing, most significantly as the first publisher of The Australasian Medical Gazette. He also published The Australian Medical Directory and Handbook which contained lists of unregistered medical practitioners and alternative therapists. In 1914, Bruck joined in business with Richard Thomson who had a company selling medical equipment to doctors and hospitals. During the First World War, both Bruck and Thomson were charged with trading with the enemy. Bruck committed suicide in August 1915 before the case was heard in court. We did not find any evidence that Bruck designed the inhaler later attributed to him. The Bruck inhaler is functionally similar to the Probyn-Williams inhaler and should therefore be regarded as a glass-domed version of this inhaler.

‘A Rightful Share of Prestige and Influence’: The Russian Brigades in Macedonia and Russia’s Ambitions in the Balkans during the First World War

In 1916, a Russian contingent of 24,000 men landed in Salonika to fight alongside the French, Serbian and British armies on the Front d'Orient. Until December 1917, these troops fought against the Bulgarian troops, occupied Greek territory, and helped to bring Greece into line with the Entente. This article explains the reasons that prompted the Russian command to send such a contingent to a distant theatre, at a time when the Russian army was facing a manpower crisis. It reassesses the meaning that the imperial elites gave to the conflict and the role they attributed to Russia in the Balkans.

The Gift that Keeps on Taking: The Liberation in French and American Memory of the Second World War

On 7 March 1966, when President Charles de Gaulle announced France's withdrawal from the military, leadership of NATO, he also called for the removal of American troops from French soil. To this the American Secretary of State retorted, ‘and those in French cemeteries as well?’ The United States saw de Gaulle's action as an insulting and traitorous rebuff of Allied commitments forged during and after the war. For the French, however, the move was considered a justifiable assertion of national sovereignty, having little to do with the Allied ‘Liberation’ of France some twenty years earlier. In this article, I explore French and American perceptions of the Liberation using French anthropologist Marcel Mauss's pathbreaking 1923 work, The Gift. How can applying Mauss's ideas at the transnational level make sense of the meanings, (mis)interpretations, and implications of the Liberation for state actors on both sides of the Atlantic?

”Old Records asserting to the World: Italy stands here”

This paper analyzes the actions taken by the authorities of the Kingdom of Italy concerning the Dalmatian archives between the end of World War I and World War II. It aims to illustrate how Italian hegemonic strategies viewed the Dalmatian historical archives as a useful tool to justify the fascist cultural policy in the Eastern Adriatic.

When Donald Trump Dropped the Bass: The Weaponization of Dubstep in Internet Trolling Strategies, 2011–2016

Abstract This article argues that in the age of social media, the affective power of music can dare listeners to become complicit with misogyny and right-wing populism. It investigates the weaponization of dubstep in internet trolling strategies by examining the genre's relationship with a type of user-generated content called ‘Major League Gaming [MLG] Montage Parodies’. Mixing musical and audiovisual analysis with digital methods, the article considers the origins of MLG Montage Parodies and then investigates the content's development from 2011 to 2016. As a memetic timbral topic, the dubstep drop was initially deployed in MLG Montage Parodies as a form of pubescent power play to troll young male gamers. But then in 2014, it was redeployed as anti-feminist ammunition amid the toxic masculinity of #GamerGate. Finally, it was weaponized by alt-right trolls during the 2015–2016 ‘Great Meme War’ that accompanied the US Presidential Race. The closing remarks reflect on the ethical, ontological, and disciplinary implications of the research and issue a call for memetic musical literacy.

Toward an International Grundnorm for Climate Change: Ensuring Sustainability Away from the Traditional Notion of Security

Climate change has been considered a critical challenge that transcends traditional notions of security, demanding a shift in perspective toward environmental sustainability. Historically, security has been viewed as an inviolable boundary, shaped significantly by the aftermath of World War II, when the international community prioritized peace, territorial integrity, and political independence. However, humanity now faces unprecedented threats that cannot be addressed through rigid or outdated definitions of security. Climate change impacts the entire planet, affecting both living and non-living organisms, and has arisen primarily from anthropogenic activities over the past two centuries. Consequently, solutions must originate from within human societies, emphasizing sustainability alongside action. Despite extensive discourse, meaningful progress remains limited. This paper, drawing on scientific data about climate change’s far-reaching consequences, aims to highlight that climate change, despite theoretical and practical challenges, has the potential to supplant traditional State-centered security as the Grundnorm of international law, serving as the critical threshold that demands a comprehensive reform and reimagining of the international legal framework. It concludes that climate change’s new normativity represents opportunities to reform law and order to ensure life and sustainability.

“The Field of Endless Intrigue”: The Contest for North Iranian Oil, 1916–1947

Abstract The interwar period saw fitful attempts by British, American, French, and Russian interests to secure oil concessions for Iran’s northern provinces, in a region traditionally perceived as a Russian sphere of interest. Drawing on corporate as well as familiar state archives, this article argues that the contest over concessions in this region served political more than narrowly economic agendas. Although this contest was convoluted, repetitive, and ultimately inconclusive, it sheds light on the emergence of a world oil cartel, as well as the relations between oil-producing and oil-consuming countries before World War II. This article challenges familiar state-centered narratives of oil diplomacy and critiques the tendency to view the history of Iranian oil as one of all-out plunder by Britain and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. It outlines the political as well as intellectual obstacles—obstacles not only to achieving a more equitable allocation of Pahlavi Iran’s oil wealth prior to Mossadegh’s 1951 nationalization, but to conceptualizing what such an equitable allocation might have looked like.

Postawa rodziny Ulmów z Markowej wobec Żydów w kontekście etycznego i religijnego wymiaru solidarności

The aim of this article is to demonstrate that, in its deepest dimension, solidarity is expressed through compassion and the willingness to help another person, especially in situations of undeserved suffering. Such solidarity was exhibited by the Catholic family of Wiktoria and Józef Ulma from Markowa towards Jews during World War II in Poland. During the German occupation, they consciously risked their lives, aware of the severe penalties, by helping Jewish escapees. For providing shelter in their home, the Ulmas paid with their own lives.The article describes the historical and social context of those events and characterizes the idea of solidarity. Based on a review of the literature, the thesis is posited that the Ulmas’ inspiration to express solidarity towards Jews was primarily ethical and religious in nature. The analysis highlights the assumption that Christians and people of Jewish origin are primarily united by their shared humanity. The Ulmas’ solidarity with Jews was manifested not only in providing shelter, food, and working together but, most importantly, in moral community and shared death in solidarity.

From Farms to Forests: An Exploration of Afforestation Efforts in Poland Under the Rural Development Programme (2007–2020)

Forests are important in mitigating climate change and addressing biodiversity loss. In Poland, where forest cover has steadily increased since World War II, afforestation of agricultural land has emerged as a key strategy supported by both EU and national policies. This study evaluates the implementation of Poland’s afforestation programs under the Rural Development Programme (RDP) for the periods of 2007–2013 and 2014–2020 using data provided by the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (ARMA) and focusing on the financial incentives offered to private landowners and regional variations in their uptake. Results show that afforestation under the RDP aligned with the EU climate neutrality goals, with a total of 37,721 hectares afforested and PLN 243.5 million handed as financial support, predominantly (81%) over the first studied period. The largest afforestation efforts were observed in the Mazowieckie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie voivodeships, with Warszawa, Poland’s capital, achieving the highest municipal afforestation area across both periods. Financial considerations influenced farmer participation, but rising land prices and historical land use patterns were contributing factors. Urban afforestation and increasing demand for woody biomass further highlight the benefits of afforestation. However, conifer-dominated stands, prevalent on low-quality land, can present challenges to ecosystem stability under future climate scenarios, necessitating diversification towards deciduous species. Additionally, low uptake during the 2014–2020 period showcases the need for improved incentives to bolster participation. Still, afforestation presents significant economic and environmental opportunities, advancing long-term policy objectives while addressing critical challenges in climate.

The Psychical State of British Women during and after the First World War

This article explores the impact of the First World War (1914–1918) on the psyche of the British women at the battle front and on the home front. It examines the origin and nature of the problem, presenting the various types of trauma and mental illness that arose as a result of the war, their symptoms and negative effects. Other issues affecting the female psyche in the post-war period are explored, such as the lack of adequate medical care, possible risks to life and honour, and discrimination and neglect of women’s mental health conditions.

Information of the Commandant of the Yambol Military Prison about the Prisoners, the Administration and the Office of the Prison within the Period 1938–1940

In this publication, we will present information and statistical data on the condition and status of prisoners in the Yambol Military Prison, orders for career development of employees and other reports in the period from 1938 to 1940, stored in Fund 16 of the State Military History Archive in the town of Veliko Tarnovo. In the course of our study we will focus on the data about the age and social composition of the prisoners and about the specific character of their sentences. Our main purpose is to present new touches from the history of the Yambol garrison (in the interwar period) and in particular of the Yambol Military Prison. After abolition of the military restrictions on Bulgaria in the summer of 1938, imposed by the victors of the First World War, the Bulgarian authorities proceeded to quickly restore the combat effectivеness of the Bulgarian Army, respectively its transition from a voluntary into conscript army.

Fighting the Online War: Online Russian Nationalists and the Discourse of Stalingrad in the Early 2010s

Abstract Memory of the Battle of Stalingrad, a pivotal moment in Second World War, is a cornerstone of Vladimir Putin’s nationalist mythology. This study examines how participants of the “In the Whirlwind of Time” forum, a Russian-language online community whose usage peaked in the early 2010s, perpetuated and reinterpreted this war myth through science fiction and alternate history narratives at a grassroots level by co-writing literary texts. “Myth” is defined here as a symbolic narrative that shapes collective memory and identity, through science fiction and alternate history narratives. Writers, driven by nationalist and pro-Soviet sentiments, were informed by Soviet-era literary traditions and modern sociopolitical concerns. Engaging in a collaborative process of memory-making, they merged historical fiction with futuristic elements such as time travel to craft stories where the annihilation and resurrection encoded in the Stalingrad myth solve present-day moral and political crises. By conducting a Critical Discourse Analysis of forum postings and demonstrating how the resultant discourses are present in three key works, the article outlines the norms of the forum’s discourse community to show how these narratives foster a mythic understanding of Stalingrad, transforming it into a timeless and universal battle against purported Western immorality. These stories not only glorify the Soviet past but also serve as ideological tools that both reflect and anticipate Russian state propaganda of the 2020s, suggesting the participatory nature of national identity shaping through mythmaking—and the crucial role that war played in grassroots nationalist narratives in the 2010s.

Multilingual environments in the Great War

Multilingual environments in the Great War

Effects of land consolidation on moisture and surface temperature regime of agricultural soil blocks using remote sensing data in the Czech Republic

Abstract The Czech Republic has experienced collectivization, transforming individual land ownership into state ownership through agricultural land consolidation after World War II. Land consolidation has led to the expansion of agricultural soil blocks as well as the disappearance of vital landscape features such as shrubs, hedges, lone trees, and wetlands, all of which serve a variety of ecological functions. The disappearance of the landscape elements causes some important problems, such as soil degradation and erosion. The Czech Ministry of Agriculture has enforced a regulation that was developed by the European Union to improve agriculture by enforcing cross-compliance requirements, which encompass the observance of Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) standards. The regulation disincentivizes single-crop cultivation on areas larger than 30 hectares since 2020 to reduce the negative effects of land consolidations on agriculture and soil quality. In this context, the study examines the relationship between land surface temperature (LST) and moisture of agricultural plants and soil blocks in the South Bohemia, Czech Republic, using Landsat-8 remote sensing data from 2018 to 2021. The mono-window algorithm (MWA) was used to obtain LST, and the precision of Landsat LST data was evaluated using MODIS daily LST data. The NRMSE ≤ 0.15 and RMSE ≤ 3.5 C were found with a strong positive relationship r ≥ 0.65 between datasets. Additionally, the density of vegetation and the moisture index of soil and plants were calculated using spectral remote sensing indices such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference moisture index (NDMI), and soil moisture index (SMI). The statistical relationships among those spectral indices with LST were examined. The analyzes showed that the implementation of GAEC 7d improved the relationship between NDVI and NDMI, with the correlation increasing from r = 0.80 in 2019 to 0.92 in 2021. Meanwhile, the inverse relationship between NDMI and LST changed from − 0.71 to -0.67. These changes in correlation suggest that plant water retention in the region increased following the regulation, and the soil structure may have also improved.

Remnants of Wehrmacht Soldiers: Burial and Commemoration Practices of German Soldiers of the Second World War in Russia and Europe, 1941–2023

Remnants of Wehrmacht Soldiers: Burial and Commemoration Practices of German Soldiers of the Second World War in Russia and Europe, 1941–2023

Rock cairn and items from ‘Operation Windmill’ (January 1948) rediscovered in Bunger Hills, East Antarctica

Abstract A rock cairn, with two matchbooks buried beneath, was found on the summit of the highest hill on Thomas Island, Bunger Hills, East Antarctica. The matchbooks are most likely from United States World War II-era ration packs, which were distributed to various military and civilian expeditions from the mid-1940s into the 1950s. Bunger Hills was first visited by United States Navy ‘Operation Highjump’ in February 1947, when a seaplane most likely landed on a marine inlet, rather than a lake as reported previously. Thomas Island was first visited by United States Navy ‘Operation Windmill’ in January 1948, when a survey point was established, and it is probably this location that is marked by the rock cairn. The matchbooks were replaced beneath the cairn and the rocks replaced. Just over 76 years had elapsed between burial of the matchbooks, construction of the cairn and their rediscovery.

David Lee Russell, USS Bogue: The Most Successful Anti-Submarine Warfare Carrier in World War II

David Lee Russell, USS Bogue: The Most Successful Anti-Submarine Warfare Carrier in World War II

Comments on Alexander Field: The Economic Consequences of Mobilization for the Second World War

Comments on Alexander Field: The Economic Consequences of Mobilization for the Second World War