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Europe in the Era of the Great War, 1908-1923: Crisis, Conflict and Collapse

Module description

Long before 1914, Europe’s so-called ‘balance of power’ had already begun to unravel. Beginning with the Young Turk Revolution and Austria-Hungary’s annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908, this module assesses the following fifteen years as a transitionary phase in modern European history. By exploring a series of conflicts, including the Balkan Wars, the Russian Civil War, the Irish and Turkish wars of independence and aspects of the First World War, it will consider how these events represented an ‘acceleration’ of existing socio-political trends. Even after 1918, the collapse of the Russian, German, Habsburg and Ottoman empires, alongside British rule in Ireland, had unleashed further waves of violence focused increasingly on eliminating certain groups. As well as analysing source evidence of these events’ societal impact, the module will also reflect on this period’s legacy as precedent for the 1930s and 40s. 

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module offers you the opportunity to engage with an exciting and developing branch of historiography that seeks to build a more internationalised understanding of the First World War and its impact on the course of modern European history. You will explore and consider a range of themes and ideas including debates on the intersection between politics and violence, particularly how both imperialism and nationalism and the nation-building process legitimised such excesses at a cultural level; debates on how the phenomenon of ‘total war’ precipitated a ‘militarisation’ of society; military occupation and its role in aggravating wartime living conditions, as well as humanitarian crises such as forced displacement; and the blurring between the military and civilian spheres through the growth of paramilitarism and other forms of irregular warfare and popular resistance.

A major theme, and one that has focused scholarly attention, is the expanding role and presence of the imperial or nation-state as both a source of societal stability and historical actor. You will look at how efforts to preserve, expand, or acquire state power, usually in accordance with nationalist, Marxist and other ideological frameworks, more often resulted in the most destructive and traumatising outcomes, such as the Armenian Genocide. A core element to this will be the process of state collapse, or partial collapse from 1917 onwards and the ways in which different interest groups attempted to exploit these rapidly changing circumstances through violence, negotiation, propaganda, or a combination of all three. While significant developments such as the Russian Revolution also feature, the module aims to de-centralise historical understanding of this period by moving away from traditional narratives of Western, particularly Anglophone, triumphalism. You will therefore also compare and contrast differing geographical case studies including the prolonged struggle between Irish republicanism and the British state from 1912 to 1922.

This module asks you to engage with the on-line published primary source material, a growing body of which has been translated, digitised and made available by Bringham Young University (EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History) and other higher educational organisations. You will be grounded in both qualitative and quantitative approaches to studying the experiences of war and socio-political upheaval and will be asked to engage critically with source material identified through independent study, which will then be discussed in seminars as a group.

By reviewing the extensive historical debates on the nature of mass violence and political change, this module provides you with an opportunity to approach a single historical field from a variety of critical perspectives.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the main themes relating to the causes and impacts of international conflict and state collapse in early-twenteith century Europe focusing on the period 1908 to 1923.
• 2. Summarise and evaluate different historiographical approaches towards the study of these themes and how they reflect a changing understanding of the historical contingencies that defined society and politics in early twentieth century Europe.
• 3. Critically evaluate the strengths and limitations of primary sources and effectively use these materials to study the module subject.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Demonstrate an ability to analyse the key developments in a defined historical subject.
• 5. Demonstrate an ability to understand and deploy complex historical terminology correctly.
• 6. Demonstrate an ability to handle different approaches to history in a contested area of historical study.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Select, organise and analyse material for written work and oral presentations of different prescribed lengths and formats.
• 8. Present and articulate complex information and ideas orally.
• 9. Present an argument in a written form in a clear and organised manner, with appropriate use of correct English.
• 10. Use the essay planning and writing process to demonstrate the ability to reflect critically, respond constructively to feedback and implement suggestions and improvements to your work.

Syllabus plan

While the content may vary from year to year, it is expected that some or all of the following topics may be covered:

• The breakdown of the nineteenth-centtury European order, c.1908-1913.
• Total War and the militarisastion of society.
• Violence against civilians and mass displacement.
• The collapse (or partial collapse) of the ‘Imperial State’.
• Radicalisation as a consequence of war.  

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Re-assessment also involves completing a 3000-word written assignment but replaces participation in the group project with an individual presentation appropriately scaled to the equivalent of an individual contribution. This must be recorded and submitted alongside supporting materials. In exceptional circumstances, the student can instead submit a written presentation script (750 words) alongside their supporting materials.   

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• O.Bartov and E.D.Witz, ‘Introduction: Coexistance and Violence in the German, Habsburg, Russian and Ottoman Borderlands’, in idem (eds.), Shatterzone of Empires: Coexistence and Violence in the German, Habsburg, Russian, and Ottoman Borderlands (Blomington, 2013), pp.1-20
• F.Caccamo, ‘Italy, Libya and the Balkans’, in D.Geppert, W. Mulligan and A. Rose (eds) The Wars Before the Great War: Conflict and International Politcis Before the Outrbreak of the First World War (Cambridge, 2015), pp.21-40
• E. Dal Lago, R. Healy and G. Barry, ‘Globalising the Easter Rising: 1916 and the Challenge to Empires’, in idem (eds), 1916 in Global Context: An Anti-Imperial Moment (Abingdon, 2017), pp.3-17
• J.Eichenberg, ‘Beyond Comparison? The Challenge of Applying Comparative Historical Research to Violence’, in T.Balkelis and A.Griffante (eds.) The Striken Lands: Vioelnce and the Crisis of Governance in East Central Europe, 1914-1923 (Boston MA, 2023), pp.211-235.
• R.Gerwarth and J.Horne, ‘Vectors of Violence: Paramilitarism in Europe After the Great War, 1917-1923’, The Journal of Modern History, Vol.82, No.3 (2011), pp.489-512
• R.Gerwarth, The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End (New York, 2016)
• R. Gingeras, Sorrowful Shores: Violence, Ethnicity, and the End of the Ottoman Empire (Oxford, 2009)
• W.Höpken, ‘‘Modern Wars’ and ‘Backward Societies’: The Balkan Wars in the History of Twentieth-Century European Warfare’, in K. Boeckh and S. Rutar (eds), The Wars of Yesterday: The Balkan Wars and the Emergence of Modern Military Conflict, 1912-13 (New York, 2018), pp.19-90
• A.Kramer, Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War (New York, 2007)
• V.J. Liulevicius, War Land on the Eastern Front: Culture, National Identity, and German Occupation in World War I (Cambridge, 2000)
• J.Lyon, Serbia and the Balkan Front, 1914: The Outbreak of the Great War (London, 2015)
• R.Okey, Taming Balkan Nationalism: The Habsburg ‘Civilizing Mission’ in Bosnia, 1878-1914 (Oxford, 2007)
• J.A.Sanborn, Imperial Apocalypse: The Great War and the Destruction of the Russian Empire (Oxford, 2014)
• J.Smele, The”Russian” Civil War, 1916-1926: Ten Years that Shook the World (Oxford, 2016)
• J.Winter, ‘The Second Great War, 1917-1923’, in B.Olschowsky, P. Juszkiewicz and J.Rydel (eds.) Central and Eastern Europe After the First World War (Oldenburg, 2021)
• ?.Yosmao?lu, Blood Ties: Religion, Violence, and the Politics of Nationhood in Ottoman Macedonia, 1878–1908 (Ithica NY, 2013)

Key words search

Modern Europe; First World War; War and Society; Violence; State Collapse