Tag Archives: 1916

#TheOxfordSomme

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On 18th November 2016, to mark the 100-year anniversary of the end of the Battle of the Somme, Academic IT are creating an online (Twitter) memorial to those from the University who died in action or from wounds fighting on the Somme in July-November 1916. This forms part of the University’s First World War Centenary Programme and we need your help!

The memorial will be based on the names listed in the University’s Roll of Service. Although the Roll can tell us key details about the many men who gave up their lives, for various reasons it is not exhaustive. Therefore, we are calling out to all college, library and faculty staff who might be able to help us ‘fill in these gaps’. We are looking for information about:
* the Oxford students from Germany or other Central Powers,
* the Oxford students from the Allies, and
* the members of staff who were not matriculated at the University.

Please email sarah.wilkin@oii.ox.ac.uk (@WW1Centenary) and follow #TheOxfordSomme We look forward to hearing from you!

Bodleian Library Exhibition: The Easter Rising – 1916

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One of the many crises afflicting Asquith’s premiership was the Irish rebellion of Easter 1916. This seems to have caught the government by surprise, Asquith confiding to Sylvia Henley that it came as ‘a bolt from the blue’.

We can see the private reactions in high political circles where it seems that at first some found it difficult to take the Rising seriously. The papers of the under-secretary for Ireland, Sir Matthew Nathan, include details of day-to-day occurrences in the streets of Dublin during the Rising as reported to the Dublin Metropolitan Police. The heavy-handed British response turned what had been a small revolt into a national movement.

For further information on the exhibition and the exhibition book, including links to opening times and the Bodleian shop, see here.

CfP: The Major Battles of 1916 – extended deadline

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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.

CfP: Experiences of the Great War in Africa

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5th Great War in Africa Association and 3rd International Network for the Study of the Great War in Africa

Venue: The National Archives, Kew, London
Dates: 3 and 4 May 2016
Deadline for Call for Papers submission: 31 January 2016

1916 was a significant year in the Great War. In Europe it was the year of the Somme and Gallipoli. In Africa it was the year of Salaita and the British allied invasion into German East Africa, the loss of Cameroon to the Allies and the subsequent use of West African forces in East Africa. South African forces detoured via Egypt en route to the Somme and in Ethiopia Menelik was deposed. It therefore seems fitting to explore how those living in Africa experienced the war, both in their own land and elsewhere.

Abstracts and proposals of up to 300 words as well as a short biography should be sent to: greatwarinafrica2014@gmail.com. This email should also be used for any enquiries related to the conference.

Poster submissions must be in English. They should include a 1 page abstract and a draft of the final poster. Please prepare your poster in either portrait or landscape format with the following dimensions: 82cm x 102cm.

Conference fee for the two days: £70 (£35 for one)

Further information here.

CFP: The Major Battles of 1916

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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 on the subject of “The Major Battles of 1916.”

The commemoration of the battles of 1916 runs the risk of treating the latter as if they are self-evident and thus of reducing them to their purely military aspects, whereas the very use of the term “battle” is anything but self-evident. What Maurice Agulhon described as: “a combined series of assaults, of attempts to break through the front or at least to ‘gnaw away’ at the enemy’s defensive lines and so push back the front” stands in sharp contrast to previous meanings of the term “battle.” Indeed, we might ask what a “battle” is in relation to operations covered by the terms: “war”, “campaign”, “offensive”, “combat” or “front”?

The conference will therefore take the “battles” of 1916 in their international dimensions as its problematic. Its object is two-fold: first, to advance knowledge by broadening perspectives and introducing international comparison; second, to introduce a broad audience to the approaches that have renewed the history of the battles of 1916 in recent years, notably on fronts other than the western front.

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 papers must reach the scientific secretariat of the Mission du Centenaire 14-18, 109 Boulevard Malesherbes, 75008 PARIS, (alexandre.lafon@centenaire.org) before 1st December 2015. They should consist of an outline of not more than 1,000 words.

Further information: Colloque Batailles CFP VA; Colloque Batailles CFP VF