Update to blog posting: http://greatwar.history.ox.ac.uk/?p=1843

The French Commission for the Centenary of the Great War, 1914-1918 (Mission du Centenaire 14-18) and its Scientific Council are organizing an international conference in Paris, 22, 23 and 24 of June 2016 about The Major Battles of 1916.

Further information can be found here.

Papers will not be read out by their authors but will be summarized in a report presented by a rapporteur in order to facilitate a broad discussion, during which the authors will be able to express their ideas.

The working languages of the conference will be French, English and German, with simultaneous translation.

Papers in Russian will be accepted.

Proposals for communication plans must reach the scientific secretariat of the Mission du Centenaire 14-18, 109 Boulevard Malesherbes, 75008 PARIS, (alexandre.lafon@centenaire.org) before the 4th of January 2016. They should consist in an outline of not more than 1,000 words.

The Scientific Council will examine the proposals. Those selected must be fully received by the end of March 2016, in order to allow their translation into French if necessary and for the rapporteurs to draft their reports on time.

In addition to the regular sessions consisting of the rapporteurs’ presentation of the papers followed by the general discussion, there will be three or four keynote speeches, including one to open and close the conference. It is also hoped that at the end of the conference two daylong (but mutually exclusive) battlefield visits will be organized, one to Verdun and the other to Somme.