Geographies of Mobilization and Territories of Belligerence during the First World War

Olivier Compagnon (1) , Pierre Purseigle (2)

1 CREDA - CREDA - Centre de Recherche Et de Documentation sur les Amériques - UMR 7227
2 University of Warwick [Coventry]

The global history of the First World War is still in its inception. To contribute to its development, this article proposes to “de-europeanize” the historiography of the conflict. It suggests some of the ways in which scholars of the war can go beyond “centres” and “peripheries” and combine different spatial scales of analysis. On the one hand, it demonstrates the need to look beyond the European theatres of war to investigate battlefields hitherto deemed to be marginal. For in many regions of world, the distance from – or the absence of – combat did not preserve from the manifold impact and legacy of the war. On the other hand, it also invites scholars to focus on truly global phenomena and objects, such as the environment, natural resources, or diasporas, which allow to break with national framework of analysis and to do justice to the global impact of the Great War. This combined approach underlines the value of a new geography of mobilization and belligerence that matches the diversity of experiences and the truly global dimensions of the First World War.

Domaines: Histoire

Olivier Compagnon, Pierre Purseigle. Geographies of Mobilization and Territories of Belligerence during the First World War. Annales. Histoire, Sciences sociales, 2016. ⟨halshs-01667792⟩