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The small neutral states of Europe have until now only marginally been included in the historiography of the First World War. This volume deals in depth with The Netherlands, and specifically its war preparations. Being a small country close to the battlefield of the Western Front, it could not be sure its neutrality would be repected by the warring states. How did the country prepare itself militarily and how did these preparations differ from the way the warring states adjusted to the reality of modern, total war? Was modern, technological warfare even possible for small states and if not, in what way could it ensure its survival when the worst came to worst? This volume analyses technological innovation, intelligence and ideas on the societal and political impact of modern warfare in The Netherlands before, during and after the Great War.
Total War was the core concept around which military thought revolved during the interwar period. Total War was also a multifaceted, confusing concept that affected both civilian and military life. How did small states conceive of their place in such a destructive war? Did they close their eyes, relying on international law to protect them, or did they seek creative solutions?This book examines how Dutch officers, in the shadow of three great powers, considered their military future, analysing the impact of European military ideas on a small state. This approach offers a new perspective on interwar dealing with assumptions about a new world war.
This collection of case studies investigates the significance and function of national identity. The authors see national consciousness in terms of the circumstances in which it arose, and in terms of the meaning which it had for a specific group or individual. Representations of the nation could serve to legitimize or support specific political or social agendas, or to provide people with a point of fixity amidst changing circumstances. The articles in this volume trace these aspects of national consciousness in the case of a single country: The Netherlands.
The First World War is a subject that has fascinated the public as well as the academic community since the close of hostilities in 1918. Over the past thirty years in particular, the historiography associated with the conflict has expanded considerably to include studies whose emphases range between the economic, social, cultural, literary, and imperial aspects of the war, all coinciding with revisions to perceptions of its military context. Nevertheless, much of the discussion of the First World War remains confined to the experiences of a narrow collection of European armies on the battlefields of Northern France and Belgium. This volume seeks to push the focus away from the Western Front...
With a foreword by Michael Kowalski, Chairman of the Netherlands Intelligence Studies Association Many intelligence practitioners feel that the statutory footing on which intelligence agencies have been placed forms an impediment to confronting unprecedented contemporary challenges. On the basis of case studies spanning the period from the First World War to the present, this book argues that while the intelligence community in the era of globalization has indeed come to face new and complex challenges that require adaptation, operating in demanding and changing environments is not new at all. This book questions the conventional wisdom of 9/11 or the end of the Cold War as caesurae. It also...
The essays in this collection cover not only multiple countries, but also multiple aspects of the concept of neutrality: political, economic, cultural and legal. These case studies have led to a re-evaluation of the notion of neutrality, and the role of neutrals, during the First World War, making this collection of great value to all scholars of neutrality, the history of individual neutral countries, and of the war itself.
The First World War and Health: Rethinking Resilience considers how the First World War (1914-1918) affected mental and physical health, its treatment, and how the victims – not only soldiers and sailors, but also medics, and even society as a whole - tried to cope with the wounds sustained. The volume, which contains over twenty articles divided into four sections (military, personal, medical, and societal resilience), therefore aims to broaden the scope of resilience: resilience is more than the personal ability to cope with hardship; if society as a whole cannot cope with, or even obstructs, personal recovery, resilience is difficult to achieve. Contributors are Carol Acton, Julie Anderson, Leo van Bergen, Ana Carden-Coyne, Cédric Cotter, Dominiek Dendooven, Christine van Everbroeck, Daniel Flecknoe, Christine E. Hallett, Hans-Georg Hofer, Edgar Jones, Wim Klinkert, Harold Kudler, Alexander McFarlane, Johan Meire, Heather Perry, Jane Potter, Fiona Reid, Jeffrey S. Reznick, Stephen Snelders, Hanneke Takken, Pieter Trogh, and Eric Vermetten. See inside the book.
During World War II, the United States earned the nickname "the arsenal of democracy" due to its sheer productive output, which included over 3,000,000 trucks and jeeps, 86,000 tanks, 6,750 naval platforms, 300,000 aircraft of all types. It was also the arsenal of democracy in a second sense, as a large portion of that hardware was supplied to countries fighting fascism. When Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the Lend-Lease Act, Allied countries of the antifascist coalition were supplied with aid, hardware, and food. Beyond material aid, the United States also hosted and trained over 20,000 foreign pilots and aircrew between 1941 and 1945. This book presents the history of one such training p...
In Neutrality as a Policy Choice for Small/Weak Democracies: Learning from the Belgian Experience, Michael F. Palo has three main objectives. First, he employs a counterfactual approach to examine the hypothesis that had permanent neutrality not been imposed on Belgium in 1839, it would have pursued neutrality anyway until war broke out in 1914. Secondly, he analyses why, after abandoning obligatory neutrality during World War I, the Belgians adopted voluntary neutrality in October 1936. Finally, he seeks to use the historical Belgian case study to test specific International Relations’ Theories and to contribute to Small State Studies, especially the behaviour of small/weak democracies in the international system.