Civilians at Stake: Mass Violence in Asia and Europe from 1931 to the Present

On the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II, the Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence organized an international and interdisciplinary meeting.

By bringing together key innovative specialists in philosophy, political science, law and history, the conference intended to reflect on the definition and role of civilians during mass violence. Civilians are understood here as victims of bombing or as actors resisting to ground-based mass violence.

The meeting focused on World War II as a touchstone period but also tried to assess its role in the longue durée up to the present. It took the term “world war” literally, with special emphasis on the Asian continent, aiming at the opening of new horizons leading to more globally oriented research.

Find the program of the entire conference HERE.

Articles:

England’s sole responsibility? West German historians and the Bombenkrieg, by Bas von Benda-Beckmann.

The horror and the glory: Bomber Command in British memories since 1945, by Andrew Knapp.

Defending Civilians against Aerial Bombardment: A Comparative/Transnational History of Japanese, German, and British Home Fronts, 1918-1945, by Sheldon Garon

Napalm in US Bombing Doctrine and Practice, 1942-1975, by Marine Guillaume

Blockbusters, Nukes, and Drones: trajectories of change over a century, by Matthew Evangelista